Strategy, Structure and Environment: Context Influences Upon Some Bivariate Associations

In studying organizational adaptation most researchers tend to draw sample- wide conclusions about the relationships among strategic, structural, and environmental variables. More often than not, the findings of different investigators are in conflict. Particular variables are said by some to covary positively, while different studies demonstrate a negative relationship. This paper attempts to show that the direction and significance of bivariate product-moment correlations may vary significantly, logically, and systematically according to the adaptive approach used by firms. A sample of firms is segmented into four parts, which are internally homogeneous in the evolutionary patterns among environmental, organizational, and strategy-making variables. The findings from a correlational analysis of each sub-sample indicate how some common discrepancies in the literature show the promise of being resolved when the differences in the contexts of the bivariate relationships are examined.