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Most models of the strategy formulation process suggest organization performance is related, to at least some degree, to the ability of top management to accurately assess the external environment and to reach a degree of consensus in this assessment. The research reported here tested these assertions within two distinct industry segments, U.S. producers of corrugated shipping containers and U.S. passenger airlines, andfound very limited support for these relationships. The results suggest that in complex, unstable environments, accuracy and consensus in assessing environmental uncertainty may actually detract from organization performance. Directions for future research are recommended.

The manner in which the key managers of entrepreneurial firms perceive the environment of the firm has important implications for decisions regarding organizational structure, processes and performance. Entrepreneurial behavior has traditionally been characterized as one type of strategic response to uncertain environments. This research takes a unique position in exploring how the entrepreneurial orientation of the firm's key manager may in fact influence managerial perceptions of the environment. Utilizing survey data drawn from more than 800 key managers in three countries this study proposes and tests a model of perceived uncertainty. The results suggest that the greater the entrepreneurial orientation of the key manager the more likely he or she is to characterize the environment of the firm as uncertain. Although this relationship holds true in general the results also suggest that there are strong differences in the relationship across countries and industries and that certain firm characteristics have a potential impact on managerial perceptions.

The use of readership research to shape editorial content is becoming increasingly common at U.S. daily newspapers. This practice reflects a "marketing concept" of journalism, which emphasizes tailoring a product to customers' wants and needs. Data from seventy-eight daily newspapers suggest that as uncertainty about the organization's environment increases—specifically, uncertainty about how to serve readers—an organization will strengthen its marketing orientation. The data also suggest that environmental uncertainty is generally not affected by structural characteristics of the community in which the newspaper publishes. That is, there is little evidence that changes in or characteristics of the newspaper's "real" environment strongly influence the degree of uncertainty that editors have about their newspaper's environment.

The authors test whether acquisitions and divestitures are related to environmental uncertainty and diversification strategy. Drawing from transaction cost economics, they predicted that increases in environmental uncertainty would reduce a company's ability to manage its subsidiaries efficiently and would lead to divestiture. Conversely, they predicted that decreases in environmental uncertainty would enable a company to manage its subsidiaries more efficiently and would lead to acquisition. Those predictions were expected to be strongest for firms with intermediate levels of diversification, as such firms are believed to be the most difficult to manage efficiently. Repeated measures analyses of a panel of 164 Fortune 500 companies supported the predictions for highly diversified firms (e.g., unrelated businesses) only. Less diversified firms reacted to increases in uncertainty by acquiring and to decreases in uncertainty by divesting. The results suggest that the relationship between diversification strategy and portfolio restructuring depends on environmental uncertainty. In addition, the study findings imply that there may be limits in the hierarchy's governance efficiency in relation to market modes and that those limits may be affected by environmental uncertainty and diversification strategy.

This empirical study examines the influence of environmental uncertainty on industrial product innovation. Addresses a perceived shortcoming in the new product development literature and explores direct and moderating effects of environmental uncertainty on the development process, project organization, and on new product success. Finds that several external market and technology factors do impact new product success directly. Further, finds that several market and technological uncertainties moderate the relationship between development process, project organization, and new product success. Consequently, innovating companies benefit by adapting their development approaches to different environmental conditions and to varying degrees of uncertainty. The results of 82 product development projects indicate, among others, that under conditions of high market and technology unpredictability process compression may increase time efficiency and product profitability.