Interrelationships between environmental dependencies: A basis for tradeoffs to increase autonomy

General managers of large industrial plants in Israel were asked to evaluate the effects of environmental dependencies on their freedom of action. It was found that most segments of the environment were perceived as homogeneous—affecting the firms' autonomy in similar ways. Different components of government, however, were perceived as having conflicting interests both within the segment and with other segments of the environment. When a segment of the environment is heterogeneous, it is possible that managers use a tradeoff strategy, in which pressures generated by one component of the environment can be used as a means to reduce pressure of the other components.