Ecosystems, Stakeholders, and Grand Challenges

Abstract

The past five years have seen a surge of interest among strategy and organizations scholars in “grand challenges”, which are massive social and environmental problems whose scale and complexity necessitate coordination across diverse stakeholders, yet whose intractable nature renders that collaboration fundamentally challenging. This growing body research has made great strides in illuminating the coordination challenges that grand challenges pose. Yet, less is known about the processes and mechanisms that shape how and when collaborative responses to grand challenges unfold. The goal of this symposium is to advance our collective understanding of these processes. We do so by showcasing cutting-edge unpublished work from top scholars who are publishing in the areas of stakeholder theory, ecosystems, and strategy-as-practice. These papers draw on multiple empirical settings (i.e., healthcare, disaster response, corporate philanthropy, and sustainability) and diverse research methods to explore a set of closely-related, under-researched, and important questions: how do individuals and organizations perceive grand challenges, how do these (divergent) perceptions shape strategic action and resource allocation, and how does institutional context shape the dynamics and efficacy of coordination? Collectively, these papers advance our understanding not only of grand challenges, but also contribute more broadly to research and theory on managerial cognition, ecosystems, industry emergence, and corporate social responsibility. Following the four presentations, two expert discussants will discuss the four studies, as well as the broader research agenda and the theoretical issues they highlight. In the middle of the COVID-storm: A framing perspective on medical professionals in COVID wards Presenter: Madeleine Stefanie Rauch; Stanford U. & Copenhagen Business School Corporate social responsibility and pandemic response: Evidence from India Presenter: Christiane Bode; Imperial College Business School Presenter: Aline Gatignon; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Doron Tadmor; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Ecosystems as vehicles of robust action against grand challenges Presenter: Douglas Hannah; Boston U. Worlds apart: Stakeholder governance in different institutional environments Presenter: Sinziana Dorobantu; NYU Stern School of Business