Are opportunities and threats enough? A development of the labels of strategic issues

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study joins the scholarly discussion that uses strategy in media management and provides a developed framework of strategic issues. This paper assists organisations in overcoming uncertainty by helping them construct issues and not impose the opportunity or threat labels on ill-defined issues. Based on a qualitative case study of two newspapers that represent an industry in disruption, this paper extends the existing conceptual framework on strategic issues by providing an additional strategic issue label, amorphous issues, that captures the uncertainties organisation members face during periods of disruption. Moreover, this paper also illustrates how the construction of issues can change over time. This emphasises the dynamic nature of strategic issues construction, which more closely aligns with the disruptive environment in which many contemporary organisations operate.