Enhancing organizational resilience through entrepreneurial strategic thinking: The mediating role of strategic renewal

Aim and Introduction: Extensive research has been done on the characteristics of successful organizations, and in each of them, characteristics for successful organizations have been mentioned. One of the characteristics of successful organizations that has been mentioned in most researches is organizational resilience. Organizational resilience refers to the organization's ability to predict, prepare and respond to continuous changes in the environment. Organizational resilience is defined as the organization's ability to predict, avoid and adjust positively against environmental disturbances and changes. This ability is a combination of the organizational capacity to restore efficiency after a disruption and build the necessary capabilities before responding to a crisis. Business resilience is influenced by many factors. One of the factors that affect resilience is the employees and their way of thinking. Entrepreneurial strategic thinking is an important tool that today's senior managers should be equipped with, and it is known as a trump card in various economic and social fields, and it also allows managers to evaluate the risk, profit and costs of their decisions. In the management literature, several theories have been developed to explain the success of the organization during the last few decades. One of the major and central areas that examines the growth and resilience of organizations is the area of strategy. The focus of researchers in this field is on how to change and develop the organization's business according to the situation and environmental changes; in such a way that its long-term survival and success is realized. However, some theories and concepts raised in the field of strategy have been less discussed. One of these concepts is strategic innovation in the organization. The meaning of strategic renewal is the process of content and the result of updating or replacing the characteristics of the organization, which have the ability to significantly influence the long-term vision of the organization, and in the changing environment, it is necessary for the survival and growth of organizations. The main question of this research is posed as; Does entrepreneurial strategic thinking have a significant effect on organizational resilience considering the mediating role of strategic renewal in small and medium enterprises of Ilam province?

Methodology: The current research is practical in terms of purpose and is based on the nature of the descriptive-correlation method. It is also based on the method of data collection (field survey). The statistical population of this research includes small and medium companies of Ilam province, whose number is equal to 250 companies. For sample selection, 148 companies were selected using Morgan's table and based on simple random sampling method. The main tool of data collection in this research is standard questionnaires in the field of research variables. In this research, structural equation model analysis using Visual PLS software was used to analyze the data.

Findings: In this research, an attempt has been made to investigate the impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on organizational resilience with regard to the mediating role of strategic renewal. To investigate the main goal of the research, according to the theoretical foundations and the presented model, a total of three hypotheses were designed and formulated. After collecting research data using standard questionnaires and analyzing them using structural equations, it was finally determined that all three designed hypotheses were confirmed. One of the results obtained in this research is the confirmation of the positive and meaningful impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on organizational resilience (confirmation of the first hypothesis of the research). This result means that the governance of entrepreneurial strategic thinking in companies empowers companies, creates strategic capabilities and improves their competitive power, and ultimately the resilience of companies will increase. Another result obtained in this research; Confirming the positive and significant impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on strategic innovation (confirmation of the second hypothesis of the research). This result means that entrepreneurial strategic thinking by combining strategic and entrepreneurial solutions creates a creative atmosphere in the organization and causes innovative solutions to emerge. Another result obtained in this research is the confirmation of the positive and significant impact of strategic renewal on organizational resilience (confirmation of the third hypothesis of the research). This result means that organizations that have an innovative climate and pursue strategic renewal are usually more resistant and durable to changes and competitors. These organizations will have high resilience.

Discussion and Conclusion: Regarding the general conclusion of the current research, it can be said that; In this research, it adds to the literature of strategic management and entrepreneurship by examining the impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on organizational resilience through the variable of strategic renewal, which has not been investigated in previous researches. Limited studies have been done on the impact of strategic thinking on resilience, but the distinguishing feature of this research is the presence of the strategic renewal variable as a mediating variable in the impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on organizational resilience. Second, this study was conducted in small and medium companies in Ilam province, which has not been conducted in this area. Regarding the managerial consequences of this research, it can be said that, in the current research, the impact of entrepreneurial strategic thinking on organizational resilience has been confirmed in both direct and indirect ways. Understanding the importance of strategic renewal, we investigated the role of entrepreneurial strategic thinking and the integration of two strategic and entrepreneurial perspectives in organizational resilience, which in turn affects organizational productivity, competitive power, and the final performance of the organization and has significant managerial consequences. has it.
Keywords: entrepreneurial strategic thinking, organizational resilience, strategic innovation.