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A large body of research has analyzed individual psychological characteristics as antecedents of strategic decision-making. However, this research has mainly focused on trait-based characteristics that explain impaired strategic decision outcomes. Recently, PsyCap has been proposed as an alternative driver of strategic decision outcomes that, in contrast to other drivers, can be influenced by management.

Drawing on research on psychological capital (PsyCap), a psychological construct conceptualized as a state-like individual strength that is malleable, the authors argue that PsyCap exerts an inverted curvilinear effect on strategic decision outcomes. The authors use a computerized strategic decision simulation involving 102 managers to empirically test our hypotheses.

The authors show that PsyCap improves strategic decision outcomes up to an inflection point, after which it negatively affects those outcomes. The authors also show that this effect is mediated by heuristic information processing.

For the empirical study the authors relied on a sample of 102 practicing managers from the financial services industry in Germany.

PsyCap has been shown to be malleable through, for instance, micro-interventions and dedicated web-based trainings. Therefore, depending on managers' PsyCap levels, either further increases in PsyCap or a regulation of this characteristic might be appropriate in order to optimize strategic decision outcomes.

As a state-like individual strength that is malleable, PsyCap might serve as a management characteristic that is particularly important in challenging situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper contributes to research on strategic decision making by introducing PsyCap as an important antecedent of strategic decision outcomes that – in contrast to other individual characteristics – is state-like and, hence, malleable.

Research focussed on the scenario method has increasingly criticized the widely used intuitive logics (IL) approach to scenario development and introduced enhanced approaches, such as the backwards logic method (BLM) or the antifragile (AF) method, to overcome the restrictions associated with the IL approach. The BLM and the AF method have contributed to the further development of the scenario method by integrating backward reasoning and by increasing the method’s effectiveness for decision making. The purpose of this paper is to build on these ideas and introduce strategy scenarios as a further enhancement of the scenario method that directly applies the benefits of scenario-based planning to strategy development in corporations.

The authors argue that the existing methodologies do not fully integrate the benefits of scenario-based planning for strategic decision making and strategy development, as they mostly aim to develop macroenvironmental scenarios and test organizations’ existing strategies.

The paper suggests that changing the scope of scenario planning from environmental developments to the organization’s strategies themselves can further strengthen the method’s effectiveness for decision making.

The strategy scenario approach provides an enhanced approach to more comprehensively utilize the benefits of scenario-based reasoning for strategic decision making.

The aim of this study is examine customer relationship management (CRM) effect on enhancing customer satisfaction and on improving customer retention. In this study, the impact of CRM on loyalty in the pharmaceutical sector in Tunisia is studied. Service quality perception, customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention and firm profitability have been tested as independent variables. This study highlights the importance of CRM and service quality perception in maintaining a sustainable and profitable relationship with customers.

A survey research design was used to collect data. In total, 221 respondents from 5 pharmaceutical companies in Tunisia were involved in the study. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses were adopted to examine the effect of CRM technology on profitability. Structural equation modeling was used to validate results.

The results show that there are significant relationships between CRM and quality perception, satisfaction and loyalty. However, there are no significant relationships either between CRM and retention or between CRM and profitability.

Fitting CRM scale with the context of the study and the number of the survey companies was the limitation of this research.

This study provides significant results to practitioners to understand the role of establishing a CRM strategy and to understand the selected factors affecting customer satisfaction and retention as well.

This study was conducted in Tunisia to contribute to enrich literature in the implementation of information technology and customer satisfaction.

Researchers within the business‐to‐business relationship literature have argued that the loyalty concept is only partially understood, and, consequently, call for an increased attention to identify the interaction needs of the customers as well as customers’ perception of the relationship. Further investigates this empirically, through in‐depth interviews, the mental models of tradesmen, a defined segment within the small business sector, and identifies the presence of a unique sub‐cultural ethos among them. The ethos is based on unique values, morals, and way of life, and contrasts the purely utilitarian approach to understanding key criteria in emerging business‐to‐business relationships. Based on these findings suggests that current business‐to‐business relationship models are inadequate and need to include more of a consumer behavior, value‐driven focus. Suggests that this segment is located between and betwixt the business‐to‐business and the consumer markets as both utilitarian‐driven (brand trust) and symbolic/value‐driven (brand affect) criteria are necessary for establishing long‐term relationships. Suggests that investigating the role of brand affect may shed further light upon the presence or absence of loyalty within the business‐to business markets.