Strategic Agility and Competitive Advantage: Exploration of the Ontological, Epistemological and Theoretical Underpinnings

Abstract

This paper aims and seeks to explore the question of ontological and epistemological foundations of the major constructs in the study – strategic agility and competitive advantage - by reviewing relevant literature on related theories such as: Game, industrial organisation (I/O), resource-based view (RBV), dynamic capability, institution, population ecology, strategic choice perspective, and organisation learning theories. The main purpose is to ensure that the study on strategic agility and competitive advantage in Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria meets the scientific prescription that every research worth its salt must be rooted in and traced to a specific baseline theory (ies) within, in this case, the body of management theory. Hence, a review of literature was carried out to trace and identify the specific theory (ies) in which to ground the study. Based on the insights gained from the literature review, we have opted to anchor the study on dynamic capability perspective (DCP) which is an extension of the resource-based-view (RBV), strategic choice perspective (SCP), organization learning (OLT) and industrial organization (I/O) theories which culminate in what we refer to as RBIO hybrid theory. It is significant to add that the outcome of this study would go a long way to enrich the extant literature in the field of strategic management in particular and knowledge within the purview of management in general.