The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of textual analysis techniques to inform strategy development in a small business. An evidence-informed, theoretical framework was developed moving from abstract ideas and concerns to enhanced strategic insights through an application of the textual analysis techniques of term frequencies, n-gram frequencies, and thema tic analysis to an author-created corpus comprised of 250 independent writings created by firm leadership. The findings of this study suggest that term and bigram frequencies, along with AI-identified themes are useful for revealing points of strategic focus and concern. Correlation analysis of term-usage preferences between the participants provided a rigorous and objective approach for assessing and establishing the degree of strategic alignment between the founder and senior partner. This research provides a foundation for engaging more consistently with organizational strategy development by reducing the randomness associated with impromptu participation in strategic meetings and contributes to the research literature on applied textual analysis and strategy development.
Aaker, D. A. (1984). How to Select a Business Strategy. California Management Review, 26, 167-181. https://doi.org/10.2307/41165087
Allen, J. A., & Prange, K. (2021). Another Meeting Just Might Do It!: Enhancing Volunteer Engagement Using Effective Meetings. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 45, 49-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2020.1823545
Ames, M. D. (2015). Rethinking the Business Plan Paradigm: Bridging the Gap between Plan and Plan Execution. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 5, 69-76. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/284
Anastasia, C. (2015). Exploring Definitions of Small Business and Why It Is So Difficult. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 16, 88-99.
Anfara, V. A., & Mertz, N. T. (2015). Theoretical Frameworks in Qualitative Research (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Barger, S. L., & Lambin, E. F. (2020). Sustainability Strategies by Companies in the Global Coffee Sector. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29, 3555-3570. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2596
Bates, W. (1992). Aligning Information Systems with Business Strategy. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 1, 205-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/0963-8687(92)90036-V
Beck, T., & Demirguc-Kunt, A. (2006). Small and Medium-Size Enterprises: Access to Finance as a Growth Constraint. Journal of Banking & Finance, 30, 2931-2943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2006.05.009
Beckner, C., & Bybee, J. (2009). A Usage-Based Account of Constituency and Reanalysis. Language Learning, 59, 27-46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2009.00534.x
Bedingham, K., & Thomas, T. (2006). Issues in the Implementation of Strategic Change Programmes and a Potential Tool to Enhance the Process. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 1, 113-126. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSCM.2006.011106
Beer, M., & Eisenstat, R. A. (2000). The Silent Killers of Strategy Implementation and Learning. Sloan Management Review, 41, 29-40.
Berger, J., Humphreys, A., Ludwig, S., Moe, W. W., Netzer, O., & Schweidel, D. A. (2020). Uniting the Tribes: Using Text for Marketing Insight. Journal of Marketing, 84, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242919873106
Berisha, G., & Pula, J. S. (2015). Defining Small and Medium Enterprises: A Critical Review. Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences, 1, 17-28.
Bharadwaj, P., & Shao, Z. (2019). Fake News Detection with Semantic Features and Text Mining. International Journal of Natural Language Computing, 8, 17-22. https://doi.org/10.5121/ijnlc.2019.8302
Biggs, A., Brough, P., & Barbour, J. P. (2014). Strategic Alignment with Organizational Priorities and Work Engagement: A Multi-Wave Analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 301-317. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1866
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11, 589-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and Design Thinking for Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9, 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000196
Brezina, V. (2018). Statistics in Corpus Linguistics: A Practical Guide. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316410899
Brink, L. L. (1947). Extemporaneous Speaking in the English Class. The English Journal, 36, 474-477. https://doi.org/10.2307/807996
Burke, G. T., & Wolf, C. (2020). The Process Affordances of Strategy Toolmaking When Addressing Wicked Problems. Journal of Management Studies, 58, 359-388. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12572
Burt, K. (2022). Writing Dangerously: Creating Fictional Narratives as an Alternative Form of Critique within Business Schools. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 22, 219-232.
Chrisman, J. J., Chua, J. H., De Massis, A., Minola, T., & Vismara, S. (2016). Management Processes and Strategy Execution in Family Firms: From “What” to “How.” Small Business Economics, 47, 719-734. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9772-3
Coleman, S., Göb, R., Manco, G., Pievatolo, A., Tort, M. X., & Reis, M. S. (2016). How Can SMEs Benefit from Big Data? Challenges and a Path Forward. Quality & Reliability Engineering International, 32, 2151-2164. https://doi.org/10.1002/qre.2008
Czarniawska, B. (1999). Writing Management: Organization Theory as a Literary Genre. Oxford University Press.
Czarniawska, B. (2008). A Theory of Organizing. Edward Elgar.
Didonet, S. R., Fearne, A., & Simmons, G. (2019). Determining the Presence of a Long-Term/Short-Term Dilemma for SMEs When Adopting Strategic Orientation to Improve Performance. International Small Business Journal, 38, 90-110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242619879369
Eggers, F. (2020). Masters of Disasters? Challenges and Opportunities for SMEs in Times of Crisis. Journal of Business Research, 116, 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.025
Evans, B. C., Coon, D. W., & Ume, E. (2011). Use of Theoretical Frameworks as a Pragmatic Guide for Mixed Methods Studies: A Methodological Necessity? Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 5, 276-292. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689811412972
Ewick, P., & Silbey, S. S. (1995). Subversive Stories and Hegemonic Tales: Toward a Sociology of Narrative. Law & Society Review, 29, 197-226. https://doi.org/10.2307/3054010
Feurer, R., & Chaharbaghi, K. (1994). Defining Competitiveness: A Holistic Approach. Management Decision, 32, 49-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749410054819
Fritzsche, B. A., Rapp Young, B., & Hickson, K. C. (2003). Individual Differences in Academic Procrastination Tendency and Writing Success. Personality & Individual Differences, 35, 1549-1557. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00369-0
Gagnon, M. A., Jansen, K. J., & Michael, J. H. (2008). Employee Alignment with Strategic Change: A Study of Strategy-Supportive Behavior among Blue-collar Employees. Journal of Managerial Issues, 20, 425-443. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40604622
George, B., Walker, R. M., & Monster, J. (2019). Does Strategic Planning Improve Organizational Performance? A Meta-Analysis. Public Administration Review, 79, 810-819. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13104
Gibson, S. G. (2010). The Influence of Strategic Focus & Gender on Performance: An Examination of Small Businesses. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 21, 47-58. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/147
Greene, P. G., Brush, C. G., & Brown, T. E. (1997). Resources in Small Firms: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 8, 25-40. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/367
Grün, B., & Hornik, K. (2022). Topicmodels: Topic Models. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/topicmodels/index.html
Gupta, R., Mejia, C., & Kajikawa, Y. (2019). Business, Innovation and Digital Ecosystems Landscape Survey and Knowledge Cross Sharing. Technology Forecasting and Social Change, 147, 100-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.07.004
Gurcan, F., & Cagiltay, N. E. (2023). Research Trends on Distance Learning: A Text Mining-Based Literature Review from 2008 to 2018. Interactive Learning Environment, 31, 1007-1028. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1815795
Hannigan, T. R., Haans, R. F. J., Vakili, K., Tchalian, H., Glaser, V. L., Wang, M. S., Kaplan, S., & Jennings, P. D. (2019). Topic Modeling in Management Research: Rendering New Theory from Textual Data. Academy of Management Annals, 13, 586-632. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2017.0099
Hsieh, M., & Juan, H.-C. (2020). The Influence of Cognitive Load and Anxiety on the Performance of Impromptu Speech for Pre-Service Principals. International Journal of Intelligent Technologies & Applied Statistics, 13, 65-76.
Hu, M. K., & Kee, D. M. H. (2022). Fostering Sustainability: Reinventing SME Strategy in the New Normal. Foresight, 24, 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-03-2021-0080
Iyer, P., Davari, A., Zolfagharian, M., & Paswan, A. (2019). Market Orientation, Positioning Strategy and Brand Performance. Industrial Marketing Management, 81, 16-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.11.004
Jackson, R. (2022). Management in Quandary: A Critique of Organizational Power. Ross Jackson.
Jackson, R. A., & Heath, B. L. (2022). Gaging Corpus Linguistically the Past & Prospects of Anthropology in Organizations Studies. In M Verver, L. van den Ende, & H. Dahles (Eds.), Sub-Theme 67: Whatever Happened to Organizational Anthropology? Past & Prospects, Organizing: The Beauty of Imperfection (38th EGOS Colloquium). European Group for Organizational Studies.
Jarzabkowski, P., & Seidl, D. (2008). The Role of Meetings in the Social Practice of Strategy. Organization Studies, 29, 1391-1426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840608096388
Jasimuddin, S. M. (2008). A Holistic view of Knowledge Management Strategy. Journal of Knowledge Management, 12, 57-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270810859514
Jockers, M. L., & Thalken, R. (2020). Text Analysis with R: For Students of Literature. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39643-5
Kassambara, A. (2022). Ggpubr: ‘Ggplot2’ Based Publication Ready Plots. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ggpubr/index.html
Kehoe, A., & Gee, M. (2009). Weaving Web Data into a Diachronic Corpus Patchwork. Language & Computers, 69, 255-279. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042025981_015
Kerr, I. R. (2006). Leadership Strategies for Sustainable SME Operation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 15, 30-39. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.451
Khedhaouria, A., Gurău, C., & Torrès, O. (2015). Creativity, Self-Efficacy, and Small-Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation. Small Business Economics, 44, 485-504. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43553764 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9608-y
Köhler, T., Tenzer, H., & Cramton, C. D. (2022). Culture-Driven Scripts for Meetings: An Integrative Theoretical Lens for Studying Workplace Meetings. Organizational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/20413866221128968
Kornberger, M. (2017). The Visible Hand and the Crowd: Analyzing Organization Design in Distributed Innovation Systems. Strategic Organization, 15, 174-193. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26369336 https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127016648499
Krippendorff, K. (2019). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071878781
Kushwaha, A. K., Kar, A. K., & Dwivedi, Y. K. (2021). Applications of Big Data in Emerging Management Disciplines: A Literature Review Using Text Mining. Insights, 1, Article ID: 100017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2021.100017
Lawrence, W. W. (2007). Small Business Operations Strategy: Aligning Priorities and Resources. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 18, 89-104. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/93
Lewis, C., & Young, S. (2019). Fad or Future? Automated Analysis of Financial Text and Its Implications for Corporate Reporting. Accounting and Business Research, 49, 587-615. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.2019.1611730
Li, W., Liu, K., Belitski, M., Ghobadian, A., & O’Regan, N. (2016). E-Leadership through Strategic Alignment: An Empirical Study of Small- and medium-Sized Enterprises in the Digital Age. Journal of Information Technology, 31, 185-206. https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2016.10
Linder, B., & Flowers, W. (1996). Student Responses to Impromptu Estimation Questions. In Proceedings of the ASME 1996 Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers in Engineering Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1115/96-DETC/DTM-1518
Lonial, S. C., & Carter, R. E. (2015). The Impact of Organizational Orientations on Medium and Small Firm Performance: A Resource-Based Perspective. Journal of Small Business Management, 53, 94-113. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12054
Loughran, T., & McDonald, B. (2020). Textual Analysis in Finance. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 12, 357-375. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-financial-012820-032249
Ma, L., & Sun, B. (2020). Machine Learning and AI in Marketing—Connecting Computing Power to Human Insights. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37, 481-504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.04.005
Malagueño, R., Lopez-Valeiras, E., & Gomez-Conde, J. (2018). Balanced Scorecard in SMEs: Effects on Innovation and financial Performance. Small Business Economics, 51, 221-244. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44697334 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9921-3
Malogianni, C., Luo, T., Stefaniak, J., & Eckhoff, A. (2021). An Exploration of the Relationship between Argumentative Prompts and Depth to Elicit Alternative Positions in Ill-Structured Problem Solving. Educational Technology Research & Development, 69, 2353-2375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-021-10019-2
Mantere, S., & Whittington, R. (2021). Becoming a Strategist: The Roles of Strategy Discourse and Ontological Security in Managerial Identity Work. Strategic Organizations, 19, 553-578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127020908781
Maritan, C. A., & Lee, G. K. (2017). Resource Allocation and Strategy. Journal of Management, 43, 2411-2420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317729738
McEnery, T., & Wilson, A. (2001). Corpus Linguistics: An Introduction (2nd ed.). Edinburgh University Press.
Michel, L. (2007). Understanding Decision Making in Organizations to Focus Its Practices Where It Matters. Measuring Business Excellence, 11, 33-45. https://doi.org/10.1108/13683040710740916
Monin, N. (2004). Management Theory: A Critical and Reflexive Reading. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203356814
Mosadeghrad, A. M., & Ansarian, M. (2014). Why Do Organisational Change Programmes Fail? International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 5, 189-218. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSCM.2014.064460
Mroz, J. E., Landowski, N., Allen, J. A., & Fernandez, C. (2019). Organizational Meeting Orientation: Setting the Stage for Team Success or Failure over Time. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 812. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00812
Nash, C. (2021). Online Meeting Challenges in a Research Group Resulting from COVID-19 Limitations. Challenges, 12, Article No. 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe12020029
Nolan, C. T., & Garavan, T. N. (2015). Human Resource Development in SMEs: A Systematic Review of the Literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18, 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12062
Ocasio, W., & Radoynovska, N. (2016). Strategy and Commitments to Institutional Logics: Organizational Heterogeneity in Business Models and Governance. Strategic Organization, 14, 287-309. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26369314 https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127015625040
Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (1999). Writing Apprehension among Graduate Students: Its Relationship to Self-Perceptions. Psychological Reports, 84, 1034-1039. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1999.84.3.1034
Osanloo, A., & Grant, C. (2016). Understanding, Selecting, and Integrating a Theoretical Framework in Dissertation Research: Creating the Blueprint for Your “House”. Administrative Issues Journal: Connecting Education, Practice, and Research, 4, 12-26.
Owalla, B., Gherhes, C., Vorley, T., & Brooks, C. (2022). Mapping SME Productivity Research: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence and Future Research Agenda. Small Business Economics, 58, 1285-1307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00450-3
Ozkan, K. S. (2020). International Market Exit by Firms: Misalignment of Strategy with the Foreign Market Risk Environment. International Business Review, 29, Article ID: 101741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101741
Pünchera, V. R. (2021). The Exercise of Power in Strategy Meetings: A Comparison of Political Behavior in Online and Offline Meetings. Junior Management Science, 6, 852-890.
Robson, I. (2004). From Process Measurement to Performance Improvement. Business Process Management Journal, 10, 510-521. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637150410559199
Rusko, R. (2015). Strategic Change and Narrative Turn Perspectives in Media Texts: Learning and Coopetition in Strategising. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 6, 35-58. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSCM.2015.069521
Samujh, R. H. (2011). Micro-Businesses Need Support: Survival Precedes Sustainability. Corporate Governance, 11, 15-28. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720701111108817
Saura, J. R., & Bennett, D. R. (2019). A Three-Stage Method for Data Text Mining: Using UGC in Business Intelligence Analysis. Symmetry, 11, Article No. 519. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym11040519
Scharp, K. M., & Sanders, M. L. (2019). What Is a Theme? Teaching Thematic Analysis in Qualitative Communication Research Methods. Communication Teacher, 33, 117-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2018.1536794
Schiemann, W. (1993). Organizational Change Starts with a Strategic Focus. Journal of Business Strategy, 14, 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb039537
Schonlau, M., Guenther, N., & Sucholutsky, I. (2017). Text Mining Using N-Gram Variables. The Stata Journal, 17, 866-881. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2759033
Seidl, D., & Guérard, S. (2015). Meetings and Workshops in the Practice of Strategy. In D. Golsorkhi, L. Rouleau, D. Seidl, & E. Vaara (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice (2nd ed., pp. 564-581). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139681032.033
Shanock, L. R., Allen, J. A., Dunn, A. M., Baran, B. E., Scott, C. W., & Rogelberg, S. G. (2013). Less Acting, More Doing: How Surface Acting Relates to Perceived Meeting Effectiveness and Other Employee Outcomes. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 86, 457-476. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12037
Shields, J., & Shelleman, J. M. (2015). Integrating Sustainability into SME Strategy. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 25, 59-78. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/561
Silge, J., & Robinson, D. (2016). Tidytext: Text Mining and Analysis Using Tidy Data Principles in R. Journal of Open Source Software, 1, Article No. 37. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.00037
Silge, J., & Robinson, D. (2017). Text Mining with R: A Tidy Approach. O’Reilly.
Sloan, J. (2020). Learning to Think Strategically (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429030529
Smith, G. (1997). Learning to Speak and Speaking to Learn. College Teaching, 45, 49-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567559709596190
Stemler, S. (2001). An Overview of Content Analysis. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 7, Article 17.
Storey, D. J. (1994). Understanding the Small Business Sector. Routledge.
Tawse, A., Patrick. V. M., & Vera, D. (2019). Crossing the Chasm: Leadership Nudges to Help Transition from Strategy Formulation to Strategy Implementation. Business Horizons, 62, 249-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2018.09.005
Verma, S., Sharma, R., Deb, S., & Maitra, D. (2021). Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: Systematic Review and Future Research Direction. International Journal of Information Management Data Insight, 1, Article ID: 100002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2020.100002
Volkema, R. J., & Niederman, F. (1995). Organizational Meetings: Formats and Information Requirements. Small Group Research, 26, 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496495261001
Walter, J., Kellermanns, F. W., Floyd, S. W., Veiga, J. F., & Matherne, C. (2013). Strategic Alignment: A Missing Link in the Relationship between Strategic Consensus and Organizational Performance. Strategic Organization, 11, 304-328. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43581903 https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127013481155
Weick, K. E. (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. SAGE.
Weinzimmer, L. G., & Nystrom, P. C. (1996). The Search for Opportunities by Small Business Owners. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 7, 1-14. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/346
Werner, A., Schröder, C., & Chlosta, S. (2018). Driving Factors of Innovation in Family and Non-Family SMEs. Small Business Economics, 50, 201-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9884-4
Wickham, H. (2022). Dplyr: A Grammar of Data Manipulation. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dplyr/index.html
Zámborský, P. (2021). A Blueprint for Succeeding Despite Uncertain Global Markets. Journal of Business Strategy, 42, 168-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-01-2020-0010
Zamel, V. (1982). Writing: The Process of Discovering Meaning. TESOL Quarterly, 16, 195-209. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586792
Zhao, L., Wang, J., & Li, Z. (2022). The Management System Framework of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises Based on Strategic Flexible Management. Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2022, Article ID: 7503566. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7503566