Resistance to change as issue selling in multinational firms

Abstract

Strategic change is a challenge because it tends to have repercussions for the organization as well as its members. Existing literature promotes a view that resistance to change is detrimental to an organization, especially during strategic change processes. However, resistance to change can alternatively be viewed as a beneficial factor. Given that middle- and operating-level managers are close to customers and markets and therefore have access to a different source of information than top managers, this article develops ideas about resistance to change as issue selling presents a conceptual model, and proposes a series of testable propositions.