Performance Effects of Strategic Action Patterns in Rapidly Changing Environments

While the empirical evidence on the merits of fast-paced strategic decision-making and action in high velocity environments is compelling, it remains unclear whether the effect is driven by the speed, volume, or continuity of the actions. We examined this research question by analyzing all the announced actions of 401 firms of the S&P 500 sample during a ten-year period from 2003 to 2012. We coded the activities into different activity categories and the diversity of the industries allowed us to also perform comparisons between higher and lower velocity industries. Based on our analysis, we find that industry velocity enhances the performance effects of high activity levels and that firms that pace their actions above the industry average outperform their peers.