To ensure their long-term survival and prosperity, many industries have to deal with increasingly dynamic and complex environments. Due to this situation, they are confronted with major challenges.Manuela Stoll investigates why some firms cope with change successfully, while others do not. She focuses on two strategies to address change: adapting to change and creating change. Using a large-scale survey among top executives of manufacturing firms in Germany, she evaluates the importance of a range of resources, competences, and “isolating mechanisms” (shields against imitation) for the success of these strategies. The results show that adapting to change has an important effect on firm performance and is mainly influenced by a firm’s industry foresight abilities. A separate analysis illustrates how these abilities can be strengthened.

To ensure their long-term survival and prosperity, many industries have to deal with increasingly dynamic and complex environments. Due to this situation, they are confronted with major challenges.Manuela Stoll investigates why some firms cope with change successfully, while others do not. She focuses on two strategies to address change: adapting to change and creating change. Using a large-scale survey among top executives of manufacturing firms in Germany, she evaluates the importance of a range of resources, competences, and “isolating mechanisms” (shields against imitation) for the success of these strategies. The results show that adapting to change has an important effect on firm performance and is mainly influenced by a firm’s industry foresight abilities. A separate analysis illustrates how these abilities can be strengthened.