The Impact of Strategic Factors on Organizational Performance with the Mediation of Entrepreneurship Variable (Case Study: Gas Company of Bandar Abbas City)

In the face of intensifying global competition and the explosion of knowledge, organizations around the globe are trying to maintain and improve their competitive position by strengthening their ability to deploy and utilize tangible and intangible assets. Increasingly the ability of organizations to maintain a competitive advantage depends on their successfull management of intangible assets such as human skills and knowledge. Survival in such a complex and uncertain environment is only possible by obtaining superior organizational performance which requires paying attention to factors affecting organizational performance. In this direction, strategic planning and corporate entrepreneurship are among the factors that will improve organizational performance. The world's second gas reserves and half of the gas reserves of the Middle East are in possession of Iran. The strategic importance of this resource in national development, meeting the needs of society and the global energy gives a specific rank to Iran. The use of this special privilege requires a comprehensive plan to gain maximum benefits for our country. Considering the importance of organizational learning and innovation in organizational performance, the problem that is often seen in the gas companys is lack of up-to-date knowledge, database, innovation and the leading spirit in this strategic industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of strategic factors and entrepreneurship on organizational performance.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKOrganizational performance is a complex phenomenon, and perhaps the simplest interpretation for it is the collection activities directed towards achieving organizational goals. In this respect, organizational performance concerns with how an organization reaches its goals. Organizations must be able to identify indicators of organizational performance in difficult conditions that could provide respond to new problems with maximum speed. Entrepreneurship and strategic management are two dynamic processes that affect the behavior and performance of the company. It is claimed that the dynamic capabilities of the new paradigm are emerging in the field of entrepreneurship and strategic management. Organizational learning and innovation are considered as two dynamic capabilities that are essential for fostering entrepreneurship. Organizational learning and innovation simultaneously integrate a series of strategic factors (i.e., personal mastery, Transformational leadership, shared vision, proactivity, and environment).
METHODOLOGYSince the purpose of this research is determining the causal relationships between strategic factors, entrepreneurial (organizational learning and innovation) and organizational performance, this research in terms of aim is a kind of applied study and in terms of data collection method is a kind of descriptive - correlation research. Because of the specificity of frame sampling and universality of behavior for all members of the society, simple random sampling method was used. Statistical population of the persent study was all managers and employees of Bandar Abbas Gas Company (N=400), and based on Morgan table, 196 persons were selected. This tool is a questionnaire and was used to analyze the data collected from smart-pls2 software.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONThe results of this study show that personal mastery has a direct and meaningful impact on organizational learning, but had no significant effect on organizational innovation. The direct impact of transformational leadership and proactivity on organizational learning and and innovation was confirmed but no direct impact of environment's shared vision on organizational learning and innovation was verified. The study also showed that organizational learning has a significant and direct impact on organizational innovation, and that organizational learning and innovation have a significant and direct impact on organizational performance.
CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONSIf managers design and implement individual development plans and training needs assessment softwares, then they can hire employees with a higher level of personal mastery because the development of personal mastery enable members of organization to be faster and more initiative and responsibile in both learning and innovation. Transformational leadership possibility of creating a shared vision, strategy formulation and organizational structure enable organizations to meet the challenges of the knowledge of society. Therefore, it is recommended that the gas company managers provide the possibility of formation of quality circles to evaluate quality services to clients and that a proposed comprehensive system in the context of software be designed and implemented. Organizational commitment to personal mastery and leadership can be very naive and foolish if leaders are not able to create a shared vision. To improve shared vision it is recommended that the manager of Gas Company increase the participation of employees in meetings and conferences to explain and clarify what they want to create. Managers can play an important role in conceting the organization to the environment by deploying a performance-based recruitment system and a compensation system in gas companies, which can result in gaining support and acceptance from the environment for innovation and organizational learning. When that organization's mission, customers, capacity and strategies are determined, organizational learning can lead to radical innovation in products, services and organization processes, and finally increase organizational performance.