The Effectiveness of Strategic Political Management: A Dynamic Capabilities Framework

We present a dynamic capabilities framework to explain the effective strategic management of the political environment. We argue that the effectiveness of political strategies will be a function of firms' dynamic political management capabilities and propose four firm-level strategies—proactive, defensive, anticipatory, and reactive— for managing the political environment effectively. We develop propositions to explain how particular dynamic capabilities are associated with the effectiveness of alternative political strategies and conclude with suggestions for future research into effective strategic political management.