Adaptation is a crucial challenge for organizations, and an important theme in the strategy and organization theory literature. Lately, more has been written about adaptive or flexible strategic planning processes by which adaptation is achieved. In this paper we focus on a basic element of the adaptation process, i.e. flexibility within the strategic planning process. Many authors have depicted strategic planning as being excessively formal and rigid, arguing some flexibility is essential in strategic planning process. This article attempts to contribute to this debate at both theoretical and operational levels by taking into account a commonly evoked contingency factor (environmental dynamism) and by putting a particular emphasis on the operationalization of firm performance. An international quantitative empirical study conducted among firms from all around the world (Europe, North America, and Asia) reveals a positive association between strategic planning process flexibility and firm performance regardless of the level of environmental dynamism.
