Abstract

Enterprise slack, defined as undistributed profit and earned surplus, is a key factor to consider when developing enterprise strategy based on opportunity and risk management. Slack also provides an unrestricted, but indispensable, financial resource for firms to carry out improvement and innovation, exploitation and exploration, and financial activities according to their strategy. In the comprehensive opportunity and lost opportunity control model previously developed by the author (Nishimura, 2015; 2016), slack fulfills its function effectively. Therefore, to make the model more practicable and functional, this paper will examine the substance and functions of slack more definitely by analyzing financial slack and its relationship with business strategy in five innovative manufacturing companies in Japan.

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