Slack organizzativo e shadow options: le opzioni reali in una prospettiva path dependent

Abstract

Firms who want to survive in a dynamic and uncertain environment must keep some degrees of strategic flexibility to catch emerging opportunities. The flexibility acts as a buffer to risk and as a stock of resources to create a portfolio of real options. In this work we assume that firms' development is path dependent and that the buffer is constituted by what is known as "organizational slack". We introduce the idea that different combinations of slack could take the shape of "shadow options". Shadow options are latent and potential opportunities, waiting to become salient for the firm.