Searching for opportunities for development and innovations in the strategic management process

The search for opportunities is generally associated with some factors -primarily the changes, creativity and innovations. So this is an ambiguous concept, but it can be assumed that it is of innovative character. Opportunities are developing dynamically and change along with the occurring changes, therefore in the approach to opportunities it is a challenge to take an active attitude. Hence, it seems that the key settlements concerning the strategic management process should appear to be helpful. The implementation of the strategic management process imposes the preparation for changes and initiates a search for new development opportunities. There are many questions relating to the practice of strategic management. When analysing the strategic management process, it is justified to indicate the need to deal with the challenge posed by the paradox of variability and durability. The aim of the study is to analyse and identify the elements or areas of the strategy that are associated with the search for new fields of operation. The study indicated that the formalization of the strategy, the preparation of development plans in a long time horizon, the selection of ambitious development priorities, taking expansive measures or long-term cooperation with business partners were linked with the search of opportunities as an expression of the striving for innovations. The results of the studies presented in this paper are a part of the project entitled "Strategic management practices in publicly listed enterprises and joint-stock companies", which was financed from funds of the National Science Centre as the research project No. N N115 402240. The studies were conducted on a sample of 150 Polish companies.