Track: Master Thesis Competition

Abstract

Nowadays, it is crucial for any business to implement a unique strategy to compete and survive in the market. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the interactions between business environment, generic strategy, operations strategy, and business performance in the Lebanese economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, this study will examine the mediation effects of both generic and operations strategies between the business environment and business performance. Hence, drawing upon the theory of contingency, theory of strategic management, and resource-based view theory, a conceptual model was developed and empirically tested. The study was conducted by analyzing data collected via an online questionnaire from employees working in different Lebanese companies. Several statistical techniques were employed to conduct the data analysis phase of the study using the statistical software SPSS package. The statistical techniques included reliability and validity analysis, factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis, hypothesis testing, and mediation analysis. From our findings, results confirmed the significance of the direct effects at the aggregate level. In addition, analysis at the sub-dimensions level revealed mixed results regarding the significance of the proposed relationships. Moreover, partial mediation effect was detected as the generic strategy was found to partially mediate the relationships between business environment and operations strategy. Similarly, generic strategy partially mediated the relationship between business environment and business performance.