How Competitive Strategies Affect Organizational Structure: A Research in Technology Development Zones in Turkey

Introduction

Due to the rapid change caused by globalization and the increase in competition conditions, it has become more important for enterprises to achieve harmony both within themselves and with the external environment. Enterprises that want to achieve this harmony and survive must change their strategies and organizational structures (Pearce & Robinson, 2015). Organizational structures can change according to the strategy determined by the enterprises. For the strategies to be successful, it is especially important to design a correct organizational structure and to make it work (Drago, 1997). It has especially important effects on organizational structures because of the coordination, technical and control tasks required by the strategies (Miller, 1988). In this framework, it has always been discussed in the literature that the structural components of the organization must be compatible with the strategy to implement organizational strategies and achieve organizational goals (Miller, 1986).

This discussion is based on two fundamental assumptions that have long been accepted in business policy (Bart, 1986). One of them is that there is a relationship between business strategy and organizational structure and the second one is the assumptions that some structural adjustments are needed to realize business strategies (Bart, 1986). According to this point of view, the harmony of the structural components that are designed properly with the strategy is essential for the implementation and achievement of the strategy (Bart, 1986; Ginsberg & Venkatraman, 1985; Miller, 1986).

Although there are many studies examining the relationship between business strategy and organizational structure in the literature, it is seen that the number of studies examining the relationship between Michael Porter's generic strategies at the enterprise level and the types of organizational structure of Tom Burns and George M. Stalker are few. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to examine the findings obtained from the research in the literature in this field by examining theoretically and conceptually the relationship between M. Porter's competitive (generic) strategies and the types of structures of Burns and Stalker and to present both a conceptual model proposal and empirically analyze the model and share the results.

In this direction, firstly, the theoretical and conceptual framework of organizational strategy and organizational structure concepts are presented in the study. In the following section, studies that deal with the relationship between Porter's generic strategies and the organizational structure types of Burns and Stalker are examined and a literature review is made. In the last section, the competitive strategies and organizational structures of the enterprises considered within the scope of the research section are examined and evaluated.