Thirty-five years of strategic management research. A country analysis using bibliometric techniques for the 1987-2021 period

Abstract

As a significant field of study, thirty-five years of strategic management research has accumulated a substantial amount of knowledge. This bibliometric study explores whether the unlimited flow of knowledge and the globalization of education & research in this time period, could drive away (or deter) the identification and specific interest of research in phenomena of national importance. Using bibliometric techniques and visualization of similarities (VOS) procedures of citation and co-citation analyses, this Paper explores research trends at the country level over 35 years using data from the Web of Science database. The aims are to identify: 1) the most visible and prominent actors at the country, regional, and global-level; 2) the evolution of the subjects of research into strategic management at the country, global, and supra-regional level; and 3) the evolution of journals publishing strategic management research articles by location. Findings suggest that common research subjects coexist at higher levels of aggregation, establishing the “paradigm” or general agreement about the field’s boundaries. Additionally, findings show that at the country level, rather than following a global trend, there is an enduring diversification of research agendas that bow to national and supranational factors from geographically close places.