Exploring strategy and board structure in nonprofit organizations Academic Article

abstract

• This research explores how nonprofit managers conceptualize their organizations strategic orientation toward products and services and in what way the governing board is structured to match that orientation. Using the Miles and Snow typology of strategy and a survey of 132 nonprofit organizations, organizations were categorized into four strategic types (e.g., defenders, prospectors, analyzers, or reactors), and distinctive structural patterns in board committees and composition were found. Prospectors had broader, more inclusive structures, whereas defenders tended to have tighter, more focused structures. Although some patterns appeared muted, through in-depth interviews with selected exemplars, several characteristics were found that helped define and clarify nonprofit strategy. This included the use of mission statements to help communicate the organizations strategic orientation.

authors

• Brown, William

published proceedings

• NONPROFIT AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR QUARTERLY

author list (cited authors)

• Brown, W. A., & Iverson, J. O.

citation count

• 88

complete list of authors

• Brown, WA||Iverson, JO

publication date

• January 2004

publisher

• SAGE Publications  Publisher

published in

• Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly  Journal

keywords

• Governance
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Organizational Strategy
• Organizational Structure

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1177/0899764004265428

start page

• 377

end page

• 400

volume

• 33

issue

• 3

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0899764004265428