Regulation, Deregulation, and Free Market: The Food Manufacturing Industry in Zimbabwe

This article investigates the relationship among environment, strategy, and organizational characteristics and performance in an industry at various stages of deregulation in a developing economy. The focus of the study is organizational adaptation under different market conditions. The article seeks to establish the contingency perspective of adaptation. The research findings suggest that once an organization has chosen its strategy, organizational characteristics must be consistent with that strategy irrespective of the environment in which the organization operates. The results, with respect to organizational variables, indicate that the environment is neither a quasi-moderator nor a homologizer. However, with respect to organizational performance, the environment influences the form of the strategy–performance relationship hence it is a quasi-moderator. The article then discusses the implications of these findings for managers and policy makers within the context of a developing economy and for academic research in general.