Master of Uncertainty: How Strategic Resilient Organizations Navigate Crisis

Strategic resilient organizations (SROs) adapt and recover from adversity by drawing on dynamic and context‐specific internal capabilities. This study investigates the combinatory conditions under which small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve strategic resilience. Using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we analyze how different configurations of internal mechanisms such as slack, planning, expertise, resources, and strategic innovation interact to produce resilience outcomes. Our findings identify three distinct configurational paths, each sufficient for achieving high levels of strategic resilience, though nonreliant on a single factor alone. Across all configurations, organizational slack consistently emerges as a critical enabler, though not universally sufficient in isolation. Contrary to linear or additive models, our results support a configurational approach where resilience arises through interdependent mechanisms. The study advances theory by integrating insights from dynamic capabilities and the resource‐based view, challenging the notion of a homogeneous path to resilience. Managerially, the findings offer actionable guidance on how SMEs can cultivate resilience by aligning internal features to context‐specific demands. Future research should explore the temporal dynamics and cross‐sector applicability of these configurations.