Managing Technological, Sociopolitical, and Institutional Change in the New Normal

• Published in: Journal of management studies Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 411 - 437
• Main Authors: Ahlstrom, David, Arregle, Jean‐Luc, Hitt, Michael A., Qian, Gongming, Ma, Xufei, Faems, Dries
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2020
• Subjects: Change agents; communication technology; Companies; Demography; Economic crisis; Entrepreneurs; innovation; Institutional change; institutions; new normal; nonergodic change; small events; Sociopolitical factors; state intervention
• ISSN: 0022-2380; 1467-6486
• DOI: 10.1111/joms.12569

A New Normal environment for business has emerged in the years after the 2008 financial crisis based on numerous changes in the world's economic, technological, demographic, and sociopolitical factors. This combination of changes has created a New Normal environment for firms with major implications for managers, strategists, and entrepreneurs alike. It has resulted in an environment with new challenges and opportunities that are considerably different from what firms had to contend with in the years previous. In this paper, we present the main changes that characterize the current New Normal business environment and highlight some key implications for strategy and management. Then, we present the nine articles in this special issue dealing with different dimensions of this new environment for firms. Subsequently, we outline some future research questions that could help to advance our knowledge of the New Normal environment and its implications for firms and management theories. In examining the New Normal, it is important to be reminded that the world is indeed round and even small actions on one side of the globe can have a major impact on organizations on the other side of the globe.