Taking into account the relevant mediating and moderating variables is very important to understanding the link between strategy process and company performance (Rajagopalan et al., 1993). This research takes into account this dimension by extending the debate over the relationship between rational strategic planning and company performance. It highlights criticisms of previous empirical studies which generally studied only direct and bivariate relationships producing unclear and contradictory results. The reasons for the results contradiction are multiple, some authors noted that it is due to methodological errors, while others thought that the results contradiction is perhaps due to the fact that rational strategic planning may indirectly affect company performance (Rudd et al., 2008). In other terms, the last group of authors argued that there are mediator variables that would explain the relationship between rational strategic planning and company performance. For this reason, this research takes into account this view by attempting to examine the mediating effect of employee strategic alignment on rational strategic planning-company performance relationship. To this end, a quantitative empirical study has been conducted among European companies reveals the following results: first, rational strategic planning affects positively and significantly employee strategic alignment. Second, we have observed that employee strategic alignment has a positive and significant effect on both financial and non-financial performance. Accordingly, we concluded that employee strategic alignment plays a mediating role in the relationship between rational strategic planning and company performance. The last result is a new empirical knowledge that had never been found before.
During recent decades, management research has paid particular attention to the importance of the involvement of middle managers in the conduct of organizations. This study is in the vein of a growing literature arguing for middle managers to play a central role in developing organizational capabilities and thus improving company performance. Research has suggested that this involvement may add value not only to the implementation of strategy but also to its formulation. The aim of this study is to examine how the involvement of middle managers in strategy making processes as well as their autonomous actions can develop organizational capabilities and thus improve company performance. In other words, we examine how organisational capabilities have a mediating effect on the relationship between the involvement of middle managers as well as their autonomous actions and company performance. To this end, a quantitative empirical study was conducted among European companies revealing the following results: first, organisational capabilities have a mediating effect on the relationship between middle managers involvement in the strategy making as well as their autonomous actions and company performance. Second, no direct effect was identified between either middle managers’ involvement or middle managers’ autonomous actions and company performance.
