The Strategic Management Special Interest Group (SIG) is devoted to promoting state of the art strategic thinking. We encourage dialogue along several interrelated lines of inquiry crucial for increasing scholarly and managerial understanding regarding strategic choice, competitive advantage, adaptation, and long-term performance and survival. We are committed to each year bring together scholars from all around the world to engage in the development and exchange of high-quality research ideas with the potential to fertilize and drive the future directions of scholarly and practitioner strategic thinking alike.
SIG OFFICERS (2024-2025):
Albena Björck, bjoe@zhaw.ch – SIG Co-Chair
Audrey Rouyre, a.rouyre@montpellier-bs.com – SIG Programme Co-Chair
Pit, Martin m.k.pit@rug.nl-SIG Programme – Co-Chair
Silvia Blasi silvia.blasi@univr.it – SIG Development chair
Oleksandra Kochura, oleksandra.kochura@essca.fr – Communication Co-Chair
Nicole Steller, Nicole.Steller@uni-wh.de – Communication Co-Chair
Charlotte Chappert, charlotte.chappert@umontpellier.fr – Team Online Conference and Special Projects
Anisha Varughese, a.varughese@lancaster.ac.uk – Team Online Conference and Special Projects
Isabel Estrada Vaquero, i.estrada.vaquero@rug.nl – SIG Development chair
Anne-Sophie Fernandez, anne-sophie.fernandez@umontpellier.fr – SIG Develoment Chair
Nuno Barros De Oliveira, N.R.BarrosDeOliveira@tilburguniversity.edu – SIG Programme Co-Chair of kick off activities
Katharina Cepa, k.c.cepa@vu.nl – SIG Programme Co-Chair of kick off activities
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SIG STANDING TRACKS
GT13_00 – Strategic Management General Track
Strategic management is about setting the direction of a corporation and steering it through challenges in its environment. The discipline “deals with (a) major intended and emergent initiatives (b) taken by general managers on behalf of owners (c) that utilize resources (d) to enhance performance (e) of firms (f) in their external environments.” (Nag, Hambrick, Chen, 2007). The purpose of this Strategic Management General track is to foster research in areas not covered by the other more focused tracks. The track is open to innovative submissions about new fields, research ideas and theories that are not mainstream (yet) in the other tracks
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people; Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact
Audrey Rouyre – a.rouyre@montpellier-bs.com
ST03_01/ST06_01/ST13_01 – Business Model – Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Venturing (co-sponsored ENT / INNO / SM)
The business model topic attracts continued interest in business research and practice, spanning the fields of strategy (Leppänen et al., 2023; Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart, 2010), innovation (Spieth et al., 2023; Foss & Saebi, 2017) and entrepreneurship (Snihur and Zott, 2020). While business models are conceptualized as boundary-spanning activity systems encompassing value creation, value capture, and value delivery activities (Teece 2018; Snihur and Zott 2020), business model innovation describes “designed, novel, nontrivial changes to the key elements of a firm’s business model and/or the architecture linking these elements” (Foss and Saebi 2017).
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact
Dirk Schneckenberg – dirk.schneckenberg@rennes-sb.com
ST13_03 – CENA – Coopetition, Ecosystems, Networks and Alliances
To face today’s grand challenges and to achieve higher levels of performance, companies widely rely on cooperation with other firms by creating alliances with partners or collaborating with competitors (i.e., coopetition) in their ecosystems and networks. To ensure firm survival, it seems essential to understand how companies can adequately implement alliances and coopetition strategies in networks, and ecosystems. Both these strategies and configurations can be explored at several levels (inter-organizational, intra-organizational, inter-individual) in different types of organizations and in different industries. Finally, grand challenges drive companies into changing their business model for more sustainability by cooperating and coopeting.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact
Audrey Rouyre – a.rouyre@montpellier-bs.com
ST13_04 – Mergers & Acquisitions and Divestitures: A Glimpse into the Future
Can M&As and divestitures be managed with purpose? The track aims to provide a forum for interdisciplinary discussion to further the analysis of Mergers & Acquisitions (‘M&As’) dynamics. It includes all elements of the M&A process: acquisition decision-making, target selection, due diligence, negotiation, implementation, maintenance, and divestitures that have a performance outcome(s) . As an interdisciplinary track, strategic, organizational, cultural or human relations, financial and economic perspectives are welcome, particularly when combined to shed light on some of the conundrums in this area of research. We are eclectic in methodology and encourage submissions that are conceptual, qualitative, quantitative and mixed.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact
Audrey Rouzies – audrey.rouzies@tsm-education.fr
ST13_04 - Mergers & Acquisitions and Divestitures: A Glimpse into the Future
ST13_05 – Microfoundations of Strategy: Dynamic Capabilities, Behavioural Strategy and Knowledge Mechanisms
Microfoundations have emerged as a pivotal area in strategy research, serving as the crucial link between micro-level mechanisms and macro-level organizational processes and outcomes. To deepen our understanding of these foundations, we are particularly interested in research that explores dynamic capabilities, behavioral strategy, and knowledge management. We welcome both empirical studies and conceptual contributions that push the boundaries of this field.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 10: Reducing inequalities; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact
Mait Rungi – maru@tlu.ee
ST13_06 – Strategic Ambidexterity: Solving the tensions between existing and new processes
Addressing today’s challenges puts additional pressure on organisations to manage existing routines and new processes simultaneously. In the process of going digital, companies transform their operations into collaborative systems of physical, software and human agents, resulting in the fusion of technical and business processes. Enterprise-wide change management requires ambidextrous managers who can lead change while maintaining profitability. This is true regardless of size or industry. SMEs, large companies and government organisations all face the same forces to become smart in construction, manufacturing, services or urban development. We welcome contributions that are at the intersection of academic research and professional practice.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Primary Contact
Lilla Hortovanyi – hortovanyi.lilla@mcc.hu
ST13_07 – Strategic Processes and Practices
The SPP track brings together processual and practice-based approaches to deeply understand strategy in the making (Chia & Holt, 2009), whether it is emergent or deliberate. With rapid global changes and the reassessment of the why behind our work (Cnop, 2023), companies are dedicating themselves to embracing a purpose that extends beyond generating profit (Von Ahsen & Gauch, 2022), including reorienting their business towards its humanistic essence (Pirson & Lawrence, 2010). Therefore, we welcome contributions that explore, through various ontological and epistemological perspectives, how companies embed purpose into their strategic processes and practices and the impact this has on sustainability.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 10: Reducing inequalities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Primary Contact
Zohor Kettani – zohorkettani@gmail.com
ST13_08 – Artificial Intelligence, data and digital ecosystems
The rise of generative artificial Intelligence have reshaped business ecosystems, work dynamics, and societal structures. Along with this transformation, data emerges as a cornerstone, acting as the new lifeblood fueling the digital engine. As digitalization intertwines more stakeholders within ecosystems, new challenges also come to the forefront such as AI-human synergy, data governance, privacy concerns. Amidst these advancements, the call to reintroduce humanism into AI and data management practices grows louder. This track invites scholars to explore these evolving topics in digital ecosystems.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Primary Contact
Ke Rong – r@tsinghua.edu.cn
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SIG TRACKS
T02_04 / T13_09 – Purpose-Driven Strategies, Transformation, Corporate Governance, and Resilience (co-sponsored COG & SM SIGs)
With a majority of growth coming from companies with a higher purpose, a purpose is seen as drivingcompetitive advantage, harnessing high stakeholder engagement, and fostering corporate resilience in the 21st century. The purpose is defined as the fundamental reason for the being of an organization and directs the academic discussion to the normative strategies and their impact on the corporate, business, network, and functional levels. This new and major issue can be explored from different perspectives (strategic ambition, transformation process, stakeholder relationships, structure, controlling), in different types of organizations (for-profit, NGO, start-ups, incumbants, ecosystems) and industries.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty; Goal 2: Zero hunger; Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people; Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation; Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy; Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 10: Reducing inequalities; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 14: Life below water; Goal 15: Life on land; Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals;None of the above
Primary Contact:
Albena Björck, Zurich University of Applied Sciences – bjoe@zhaw.ch
T13_10 – Supply chain strategies for a sustainable business
Implementing innovative solutions to supply chains (SC) is essential to develop effective strategies that contribute to building a sustainable business. By integrating digital solutions, companies can monitor SC activities, ensuring adherence to environmental standards, labor practices, and ethical sourcing regulations. Digital solutions and innovative practices enable compliance with sustainability-related mandates and drive SC optimization. We welcome contributions that explore the role played by digital solutions and innovative business practices for rethinking SC processes as well as strategic approaches towards sustainability; together with contributions related to the role of emerging digital technologies to foster innovative solutions across the SC.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Climate action; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact:
Silvia Blasi, Department of Management, University of Verona – silvia.blasi@univr.it
T13_11 – Sport Management with Purpose
We aim to develop new perspectives on the responsible management and governance in sport organizations. Sport is an area that has a more important social and environmental impact than its economic role. Sport has the ability and the popularity to drive forward great social change, so choosing the right long-term purpose is of particular importance for the leaders of sport organizations. Thanks to the media impact of sports federations, clubs, and events, they can help to get messages to a wide audience and support efforts to tackle major challenges. The track aims to cover wide management issues including stakeholders perspective.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 1: No poverty; Goal 3: Good health and well-being for people; Goal 5: Gender equality; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 10: Reducing inequalities; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
Primary Contact:
Igor Perechuda, LUNEX, Luxembourg and Warsaw University of Technology – igor.perechuda@gmail.com
T13_12 – From Division of Labour to Division of Agents? Exploring AI-human Interplay in Dynamic Capabilities
AI is challenging fundamental assumptions about human agency in the dynamic capabilities (DCs) perspective and broader strategy theory. As AI evolves to augment, automate, or even replace human roles, we face a critical juncture: Are we witnessing a shift from division of labor to division of agents? How might AI integration reshape our understanding of DCs and strategic management? This potential paradigm shift warrants creative and rigorous exploration. We call for thought-provoking papers investigating the AI-DC nexus, from reconceptualizing DC classifications to unraveling AI”s role in capability development, probing AI-induced market dynamism, and addressing ethical dilemmas of AI-integrated strategies.
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals
Primary Contact:
Yongjian (Ken) Chen, Trent University – kenchen@trentu.ca