The African business environment presents distinct challenges and opportunities, yet comparative longitudinal analyses of enterprise-level strategic navigation within specific national contexts remain limited. Egypt, as a significant economy, offers a critical case for understanding the evolution of corporate strategy amidst institutional and market complexities. This study aims to diagnose the primary challenges faced by Egyptian enterprises and comparatively analyse their strategic responses over a multi-decade period. It seeks to identify evolving prospect domains and evaluate the relative efficacy of different strategic postures. A comparative longitudinal design was employed, integrating archival analysis of corporate reports and policy documents with structured interviews of senior executives. A diagnostic framework was applied to data from a stratified sample of firms across manufacturing, services, and technology sectors. Findings reveal a persistent dominance of bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles, cited by over 70% of firms as the principal constraint. A strategic shift from reliance on state patronage towards digital transformation and regional export diversification was identified as the most significant thematic change, correlating with improved resilience. Egyptian enterprises have demonstrated adaptive strategic capacity, but continued structural impediments necessitate a more profound institutional alignment to fully realise growth prospects. Strategic success is increasingly contingent on leveraging digital tools and pan-African market integration. Policymakers should prioritise streamlining business registration and licensing procedures. Firms are recommended to institutionalise continuous environmental scanning units and invest in strategic partnerships for market access beyond traditional regions. Business environment, strategic diagnosis, corporate strategy, institutional hurdles, digital transformation, Egypt, Africa This paper provides a novel longitudinal diagnostic framework that integrates institutional analysis with firm-level strategic choice, applied to generate a unique temporal dataset on Egyptian enterprise adaptation.
Amr El-Sayed (Tue,) studied this question.