Abstract: In the anti-globalization background, Chinese enterprises are in urgent need of strategic flexibility to cope with the escalation of environmental uncertainties. Through a longitudinal case study, this paper constructs a strategic flexibility model driven by crisis awareness under the trend of environmental uncertainty escalation. The research findings are as follows: (1) Crisis awareness is the driver of strategic flexibility, and it is dynamic and evolutionary; (2) The “exploitation-exploration-backup” ternary strategic action framework of creating real options is an intermediate mechanism for enterprises to realize strategic flexibility driven by crisis awareness; (3) The “exploitation-exploration-backup” ternary strategic action framework enables Chinese enterprises to cope with the “extreme” environmental change more calmly. The theory constructed in this paper not only fills the gap in the existing research on strategic flexibility, but also tentatively constructs Chinese management theory based on Chinese management practice.

Key words: strategic flexibility, real options, crisis awareness, exploitation, exploration, backup