LOADSTAR COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND

LEADERSHIP, MBA PROGRAM

Strategic Management Article Review Assignment

Title of Article:
“Impact of Strategic Management on Competitive Advantage and
Organizational Performance – Evidence from Nigerian Bottling
Company”

Group Member:

May, 2022
Addis Ababa

2
1. Full Bibliographic Reference

Olanipekun, P., Abioro, M., Akanni, L., and Rabiu, R. (2015). “Impact of Strategic Management on
Competitive Advantage and Organizational Performance – Evidence from Nigerian Bottling
Company”, Journal of Policy and Development Studies Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 185 - 198.

2. Introduction

The title of the article addresses the main topic of the research work as it was titled as ‘Impact of
Strategic Management on Competitive Advantage and Organizational Performance – Evidence
from Nigerian Bottling Company’. Thus, the topic itself is self-explanatory as it clearly indicates to
readers what the researchers intends to accomplish. Though many researches have been conducted
in relation to Impact of Strategic Management on Organizational Performance, the uniqueness of
the topic is that it was conducted in Bottling Company in Nigerian context.

The article was published in Journal of Policy and Development Studies (JPDS). JPDS mainly aims
to publish the best research on international development issues in a form that is accessible to
practitioners and policy-makers as well as to an academic audience. As the journal mainly target
research work in field of policy and development issues, the article is note published in appropriate
journal. This is because the mainly concerned with strategic management. There are more
appropriate journals like Journal of Competitiveness, Journal of Strategy and Management, that
best fit the present article.

The introduction of the article provides background information and about the study. The article
began with discussion on the strategic management and its role in organizational performance in
current business environment. Thus, one can infer from the introduction of article that the focus of
the study was on the roles of strategic management in organizational performance. Thus, the main
aim of the article was to determine the relationship and examine the impact of Strategic
management and Organizational Performance with in the context of Bottling Company in Nigerian.
The article is empirical research. The researcher used empirical data from sample of 158 employees
of Nigerian Bottling Share Company. The author makes a detail quantitative analysis and as such it
is quantitative empirical research.

2
3. Brief Summary

The study examined the impact of strategic management on competitive advantage and
organization performance in Nigerian bottling company. The resource-based theory was used as the
study's theoretical foundation because it shows how an organization's competitive advantage and
superior performance are explained by the uniqueness of its resources and capabilities, which are
essential considerations in creating its strategy. Study is based upon the survey questionnaire. The
study was based upon the data collected from 158 employees Nigerian Bottling Share Company.

The findings demonstrated that there is significant relationship between adoption of strategic
management practices and organizational performance. The study has been established that
adopting and implementing strategic management methods causes a company to not only be
proactive in responding to changes, but also to initiate positive changes, resulting in a competitive
advantage and long-term performance. Based on the finding the study was suggested that
organizations maintain, sustain, and improve strategic management practices on a constant basis
because they are an essential instrument for business organization performance.

4. Results

The article presented clear summation of the result of the study. Result analysis is discussed for
each Hypothesis formulated that led to conclusion. The result from the research finding does
support both hypotheses H1 nor H2 (i.e., it accepts alternative hypothesis and rejected null
hypothesis). The results of testing hypothesis H1 shows a significant relationship between adoption
of Strategic management practices by a firm and competitive advantage. That is result from Chi-
square value and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the significant relationship
between adoption of strategic management practices and competitive advantage.

More so, the results of testing hypothesis H2 shows a significant relationship between adoption of
Strategic management practices by a firm and organizational performance. That is result from Chi-
square value and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the significant relationship
between adoption of strategic management practices and organizational performance.

2
5. Contributions

The paper has contributed to existing knowledge on the relationship between strategic
management, competitive advantage, and organizational performance. The study contributes to the
field of study by emphasizing the relevance of investigating how strategic management is linked to
competitive advantages and company performance. The article gives key message that it is
imperative to emphasize that indeed strategic management does not only gives a firm competitive
advantage which makes it outperform competitors in the industry but also go a long way in
enhancing organizational performance.

6. Foundation

The resource-based theory was used as the study's theoretical foundation. The RBT theory shows
how an organization's competitive advantage and superior performance are explained by the
uniqueness of its resources and capabilities, which are essential considerations in creating its
strategy. The study uses and consider this theory in way that the competitive advantage and
superior performance of an organization is explained by the distinctiveness of its capabilities
(Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2008; Barney, 1991).

7. General Critique

The research work is contextual as it addressed strategic management on competitive advantage

and organization performance, who participate, where to conduct the research (in Nigerian bottling
company), why to conduct the research (research problem) and how the research conducted
(methodology). Materials in the article are well organized as they have logical flow and also
focused on the problem at hand. The arguments and presentations are understandable to readers as
the authors used simple words and clear statements.

In the introductory part the background of the study is discussed and the research objective was
identified. But the introduction of the article did not identify the scope and significance of the
study. The study reviewed both theoretical and empirical literature that is related to most of the
issues discussed. The research hypotheses are directed by different literature. The study has
formulated 2 hypotheses’ that are developed from literature on the relationship between strategic

2
management, competitive advantage and organization performance. Each hypothesis is clearly
stated and the results are measured and validated.

The article described the research methodology used to carry out the research. The study used
quantitative survey research approach which was used to examine the relationship between
strategic management, competitive advantage and organization performance. However, the article
doesn’t justify identify and justified the sampling method used. The authors had also adequately
described the measures used in the study. More so the methodology has its own limitations. The
authors used subjective performance measures based on employees’ perspectives which may not
reflect the objective or actual performance of the company. More so, the cross-sectional nature of
the data reduced the efficiency of the estimation of the econometric model. Furthermore, although
the authors properly conducted analysis of empirical data, they did not make discussion on the
findings (i.e., they did not make compare and contrast the present findings with the previous
empirical studies). The Article also not discussed the limitation of the article and neither suggested
future areas of investigation.

Nevertheless, the article well-written and organized article that provide an important insight on the
relationship between study strategic management, competitive advantage, and organizational
performance. The study adds to the field of research by emphasizing the importance of looking at
how strategic management affects competitive advantage and company performance.

8. Issues (listed by the author)

The authors of study address the all the objectives of the study. As such they were addressed all the
issues that they intended to solve in the current study. But they are not suggested future areas of
research. More so, the organizational performance is

9. Issues (in your opinion)

The reviewers of the article raised some important issues that are not addressed by the article but
that need to be addressed in the future research. First it important to identified which strategic
management tool more affected the performance of organization. As there are lots of strategic
management tools, firm may not apply all the strategic management tools and techniques once
upon the time. Thus, it is important to identified those strategic management tools and techniques

2
that best contributed to firm competitive advantages and firm performance. More so, it is better to
measures organizational performance in objective measures and to see if there any change in the
result if when we can use objective measures of organizational performance.

10. Questions

After reading the article, the reviewer of the article, want to ask the following three questions that
need to be answered.
 Is there any difference in strategic management practices between large, medium and small
size firm? Does strategic management apply to all firms regardless of their size?
 Is there any relationship between strategic management and firm sustainability?
 What is the effect strategic management on firm growth?

11. Annotated Bibliography

 Barney, J. (1991). “Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage”. Journal of

Management, 17: p99-120

 Johnson, I. Scholes, H and Whittington, O. (2008). “Exploring Corporate Strategy”. (8thed).

London: Pearson Education Limited