Strategic Biomimicry for Organisational Sustainability: case of Zimbabwe’s Sports and Tourism Sectors
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Abstract
This study sought to develop a strategic management framework that draws on principles from nature to enable organizations in the Zimbabwean sport and tourism sectors to adapt, survive and attain their strategic goals under the prevailing volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) operating conditions. The study used an embedded mixed-methods research strategy where data was collected from forty-eight (48) organizations using a predominantly qualitative questionnaire with a small quantitative strand nested within it. The findings suggest that most organizations in Zimbabwe’s sports and tourism sectors fail to achieve organizational sustainability because they use strategic management approaches misaligned with their prevailing VUCA operating environment. The study also established that nature offers rich lessons that can inform organizational decision-making and strategy in these two sectors and used the findings to construct the Strategic Biomimicry Framework for Organisational Sustainability. According to the framework, just like in the natural environment where organisms, plants and animals develop behavioural and physiological mechanisms to adapt to adverse environmental conditions for survival, organisations operating under VUCA conditions can use these lessons to develop pragmatic strategies for adaptation to the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments, as this will enable them to achieve optimum organisational sustainability.
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