The Effect of Structural Capital on Identifying Business Opportunities with the Mediating Role of Strategic Agility (Case Study: Iranian Food Industry)

Given the shortening of the life cycle of products and the competition intensity in the food industry, opportunism and the timely implementation of opportunities is regarded as a key and winning feature in this industry. Related companies have used various measures to improve this capability, including structural capital and strategic agility. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of structural capital on identifying business opportunities in the food industry through the mediating role of strategic agility.

This empirical study is a descriptive correlational research. In terms of philosophy, this research is a deductive research based on the positivist paradigm. Besides, this research is considered cross-sectional in terms of time. The structural capital questionnaire proposed by Yasin et al. (2016), the strategic agility questionnaire proposed by Konha et al. (2019), and the opportunity identification questionnaire by Sambasivan, Abdol, and Yousef (2009) were used to measure the research variables. Structural equation modeling and PLS software have been used to analyze the data.

This study investigates the relationship between structural capital and strategic agility, as well as the effect of such relationships on the opportunism among 200 Iranian food companies with a variety of products. These large companies are regarded as leaders in offering new products. The results of PLS-SEM reveal that there are significantly positive relationships between structural capital, strategic agility, and opportunism of companies. In addition, strategic agility variables such as strategic sensitivity, resource fluidity, and bright perspectives have a significantly positive effect on identifying business opportunities. Besides, strategic agility plays the mediating role between structural capital and the identification of opportunities. Therefore, the present study can confirm the significant effect of structural capital on increasing strategic agility and identifying business opportunities in the food industry.

The findings of this study can help raise awareness of strategists and senior managers of food companies about the significant role of structural capital and strategic agility in the constant monitoring of the industry. In addition, it can improve opportunism capability in these companies.