Resources versus structure: a comparative analysis of financial, human and organizational drivers of strategic success in Zimbabwe

Scholarly debate has long oscillated between the primacy of firm resources and that of organisational structure in explaining strategic performance, yet little empirical work has disentangled their comparative salience in volatile emerging markets. Drawing on a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, this study examines responses from 224 respondents drawn from medium-to-large Zimbabwean enterprises to assess whether financial, human and technological assets or leadership-centred structural attributes exert the stronger influence on strategy-implementation success. Survey data were analysed through hierarchical multiple regression and interaction testing, then enriched with thirty-two executive interviews. Resources alone explained 42 per cent of variance in a multidimensional success index, with human-capital depth and disciplined financial allocation emerging as the most potent asset categories. When leadership effectiveness, communication quality and decision decentralisation were introduced, explanatory power rose to 63 per cent and leadership became the single strongest predictor (β = 0.35, p < 0.001). A significant interaction effect showed that the marginal returns to resources intensified under high-leadership conditions, indicating that leadership amplifies rather than substitutes for asset endowments. Qualitative evidence revealed weekly “strategy clinics,” cloud-based dashboards and rapid budget re-allocations as the concrete mechanisms through which agile structures mobilised resources during currency volatility and regulatory flux. The findings advance theory by integrating resource-based and contingency perspectives, demonstrating that in hyper-uncertain contexts structural agility governs the conversion of scarce assets into realised advantage. Managers are advised to prioritise leadership-development and real-time communication infrastructures while safeguarding critical skills and liquidity. Policymakers can enhance national competitiveness by incentivising executive capability building and stabilising regulatory regimes that currently erode strategic momentum.