Strategic Management Journal Research Articles

The Role of Sampling in Strategic Management Research on Performance: A Two-Study Analysis

Strategic management researchers often note the inability of many phenomena to consistently explain organizational performance. Using a two-study format, we examine the possibility that sampling practices may contribute to this inability. We chronicle sampling practices within 437 studies investigating the determinants of organizational performance published between 1980 and 1999 in the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. Our results reveal that fewer than one in five studies rely on a random sample and that researchers offer little a priori acknowledgement of sample limitations. Although the first study suggests that sampling issues have been problematic, it cannot offer direct evidence. Thus, in the second study, we examine the effect of sample selection on empirical results by testing one popular relationship from the strategy literature (chief executive officer duality and performance) using four different samples. Whereas a stratified random sample offers some evidence of a positive relationship, a purposive sample detects a negative relationship and an available sample and simple random sample detect no relationship. Taken together, the studies suggest that sampling practices must improve if strategic management is to approach its objective of explaining performance. Accordingly, several exemplar studies are described and recommendations are offered to guide future sampling practices.

MNE Competence-Creating Subsidiary Mandates: An Empirical Investigation

The determinants of RD but for non-mandated subsidiaries R&D depends instead upon entry mode, and local demand conditions. A revised version of this paper has appeared in the Strategic Management Journal, Vol.26, No. 12, pp. 1109-1128, 2005.

Impediments to Inter-Firm Transfer of Best Practice in an Enterprise Systems Context

A survey of major issues with Enterprise Systems was administered within the State Government of Queensland, Australia and a subset of these issues mapped against Szulanski’s model of inter-firm best practice transfer stickiness (Szulanski, G. 1996. Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(Special Issue), 27-43). The paper discusses impediments to knowledge transfer within this context, presents findings from the a posteriori application of Szulanski’s model to the survey responses, and suggests future research directions.

Does market orientation matter?: a test of the relationship between positional advantage and performance

AbstractA recent series of articles in the Strategic Management Journal has discussed the potential value of an organization developing a market orientation in its quest to achieve success. We posit that market orientation can enhance success, but that its potential value should not be considered in isolation. Specifically, we draw on the resource‐based view of the firm to suggest that four capabilities—market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning—each contribute to the creation of positional advantages for some firms. The data used are drawn from 181 large multinational corporations (MNC). The results indicate that positional advantages arising from the confluence of market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning have a positive effect on MNC performance (five‐year average change in ROI, income, and stock price). Overall, the results support the contention that market orientation can enhance success, albeit within the context of other important phenomena. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Issues of Research Design and Construct Measurement in Entrepreneurship Research: The past Decade

Articles appearing in the mainstream entrepreneurship literature in the past decade are reviewed with respect to the methodologies employed. Journals reviewed include Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Management Science, and Administrative Science Quarterly. Articles were systematically analyzed. Results indicate trends toward more multivariate statistics and some increase in the emphasis on reliability and validity over the past decade. The authors call for greater emphasis on multiple source data sets, increased emphasis on reliability and validity issues, the development of more sophisticated theoretical models and subsequent analysis, and more longitudinal research.

Corporate health care purchasing among Fortune 500 firms.

Trends Health AffairsVol. 20, No. 3: Lessons From Abroad TRENDSCorporate Health Care Purchasing Among Fortune 500 FirmsJames Maxwell, Peter Temin, and Corey WattsPUBLISHED:May/June 2001No Accesshttps://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.20.3.181AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextView PDFPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions View articleTOPICSQuality of careManaged carePremiumsHealth benefitsIndemnitiesHealth maintenance organizationsQuality measurementPrivate health insuranceQuality improvementCost containment Loading Comments... Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. DetailsExhibitsReferencesRelated Article MetricsCitations: Crossref 26 History Published online 1 May 2001 InformationCopyright 2001 by Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.PDF downloadCited by"Choose the Plan That’s Right for You": Choice Devolution as Class-Biased Institutional Change in U.S. Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance1 January 2022 | Sociological Science, Vol. 9Red, blue, and purple firms: Organizational political ideology and corporate social responsibility21 July 2016 | Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 38, No. 5Do Leveraged Firms Underinvest in Corporate Social Responsibility? Evidence from Health and Safety Programs in U.S. Firms13 December 2014 | Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 135, No. 4Let Them Have Choice: Gains from Shifting Away from Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance and Toward an Individual ExchangeAmerican Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Vol. 5, No. 1Competitive bidding for health insurance contracts: lessons from the online HMO auctions6 December 2012 | International Journal of Health Care Finance and Economics, Vol. 12, No. 4Sleight of Hand? Practice Opacity, Third-party Responses, and the Interorganizational Diffusion of Controversial Practices16 October 2012 | Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 4Are Leveraged Firms Focused on the Short-Run? Evidence from Health and Safety Programs in U.S. FirmsSSRN Electronic JournalThe $640 Billion Question — Why Does Cost-Effective Care Diffuse So Slowly?New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 364, No. 21The Nixon-in-China Effect: Activism, Imitation, and the Institutionalization of Contentious Practices1 September 2008 | Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 3Hospital Responses to the Leapfrog Group in Local Markets28 November 2007 | Medical Care Research and Review, Vol. 65, No. 2Healthcare marketing: what is salient?International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 3A Physicians' Agenda for Partnering With Employers and Insurers: Fresh IdeasMayo Clinic Proceedings, Vol. 81, No. 12Policymaker use of quality of care information21 July 2005 | International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Vol. 17, No. 6Why Employers Need To Rethink How They Buy Health CareRobert S. Galvin and Suzanne Delbanco2 August 2017 | Health Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 6Are California's Large Employers Moving To Catastrophic Health Insurance Coverage? Results from a study of large California employers finds that high-deductible PPOs and consumer-driven plans are making inroads but are nowhere near dominant.James Maxwell, Peter Temin, Saminaz Zaman, and Tanaz Petigara5 June 2018 | Health Affairs, Vol. 24, No. Suppl1Commentary on “Opportunities and Challenges for Measuring Cost, Quality, and Clinical Effectiveness in Health Care”: The Fault Lies Not in our Stars but in Our System16 November 2016 | Medical Care Research and Review, Vol. 61, No. 3_supplPrivate Health Purchasing Practices In The Public Sector: A Comparison Of State Employers And The Fortune 500James Maxwell, Peter Temin, and Tanaz Petigara2 August 2017 | Health Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 2Corporate contracting for health careJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 52, No. 3The End of an Era: What Became of the "Managed Care Revolution" in 2001?Health Services Research, Vol. 38, No. 1p2Managing Costs, Managing Benefits: Employer Decisions in Local Health Care MarketsHealth Services Research, Vol. 38, No. 1p2Corporate Management of Quality in Employee Health PlansHealth Care Management Review, Vol. 28, No. 1Voices Unheard: Barriers to Expressing Dissatisfaction to Health PlansMilbank Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 4Association Between Health Insurance Coverage of Office Visit and Cancer Screening Among WomenMedical Care, Vol. 40, No. 11Obstacles To Employers’ Pursuit Of Health Care QualityJ. Lee Hargraves and Sally Trude17 August 2017 | Health Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 5The Benefits Divide: Health Care Purchasing In Retail Versus Other SectorsJames Maxwell, Peter Temin, and Saminaz Zaman17 August 2017 | Health Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 5The Evolution of Quality Management in State Medicaid Agencies: A National Survey of States with Comprehensive Managed Care ProgramsThe Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement, Vol. 28, No. 2

Trade-offs among the elements of flexibility: a comparison from the automotive industry

Flexibility has long been recognized as a manufacturing capability that has the potential to impact the competitive position and the business performance of an organization ( [1]: Cox Jr, T. Toward the measurement of manufacturing flexibility. Production and Inventory Management Journal 1989; First Quarter:68–72, [2]: De Meyer A, Nakane J, Miller JG, Ferdows K. Flexibility: the next competitive battle. Strategic Management Journal 1989;10:135–144). This recognition, however, has not led to a unanimous approach to flexibility. For example, Japanese manufacturers emphasize flexibility more than North American or European manufacturers ( [2]: De Meyer A, Nakane J, Miller JG, Ferdows K. Flexibility: the next competitive battle. Strategic Management Journal 1989;10:135–144). While this finding provides insight into the strategic choices made by these organizations in these countries, it does not provide an in-depth comparison of specific aspects of flexibility that are leveraged and emphasized differently. Such a comparison is necessary, however, if flexibility is to be more fully understood. This paper takes a step in that direction by first breaking down the concept of flexibility into its constituent elements and dimensions. Then we introduce the notion of looking at flexibility as a capability that must be planned for and built by a firm over a period of time along these constituent elements and dimensions. Questions are subsequently raised regarding whether trade-offs occur among different elements for a given flexibility dimension. We use industry wide as well as firm-specific qualitative data from the automotive industry to answer these questions, and show that several key aspects of manufacturing flexibility have been acquired and leveraged differently by American and Japanese producers. While linkages to business performance are not directly explored, our analysis reveals that even within the same industry, firms from different countries do indeed follow different strategies to developing their flexibility capability. Implications of these results for managerial practice, along with avenues for further research in this area, are also presented.

Strategic innovation: Constantinos Markides on strategy and management

Executive Overview Constantinos Markides is Professor of Strategic and International Management and Chairman of the Strategy Department at the London Business School. A native of Cyprus, he received his B.A. (with distinction) and M.A. in economics from Boston University, and his M.B.A. and D.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has worked as an associate with the Cyprus Development Bank and as a research associate at the Harvard Business School. Dr. Markides has published on the topics of strategic innovation, corporate restructuring, refocusing and international acquisitions. His book Diversification. Refocusing and Economic Performance, was published by MIT Press in 1995, and All the Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy, was published by Harvard Business School Press in 1999. A third book, based on a special issue on strategy of Sloan Management Review which he edited, will be published by Jossey-Bass next year. His publications have also appeared in such journals as Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Directors & Boards, Leader to Leader, Long Range Planning, Business Strategy Review, British Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal and the Academy of Management Journal. He has taught in many in-company programs and is on the Academic Advisory Board of the Cyprus International Institute of Management. He is also a non-executive director of Amathus (U.K.) Ltd., a tour operating company. He is the associate editor of European Management Journal and is on the editorial board of Strategic Management Journal and The Academy of Management Journal. Dr. Markides is a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society and is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. His current research interests include the management of diversified firms and the use of innovation and creativity to achieve strategic breakthroughs.

MNE's dependence on foreign operations and performance: a study of MNEs from the “Triad” regions

The impact of the dependence of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on foreign operations and corporate performance has been widely recognized as an important issue for researchers and practitioners (see Kim, Hwang & Burgers (1989), Strategic Management Journal, 10, 45–57). However, previous studies have tended to focus on MNEs located in a single country or a comparison of firms in two different countries. To address this gap in the literature, this study examines the relationship between foreign dependence and performance of multinational enterprises originating from the Triad regions of the Pacific Rim, Western Europe and North America. Results show a positive significant relationship between the extent of foreign dependence and performance, although the nature of this relationship is moderated by the region of origin in the Triad. Multiple performance measures were utilized to capture the long- and short-term orientations. The results show that short-term orientation measures are associated with higher performance for North American and European MNEs with high dependence on foreign operations but not for Pacific Rim MNEs. However, Pacific Rim MNEs were found to focus more on achieving long-term performance goals when compared to the North American and European MNEs.

A revealed preference study of management journals’ direct influences

Our study develops and uses a new methodology for analyzing journal citations to recent publications to determine which management journals now have the greatest influence on the field of management. It analyzes the 23637 academic journal references cited in the 1275 articles published in 17 key management journals during 1993 and 1994, focusing on citations to references published up to the modal vintage of 4 years earlier. Most cited as a percentage of all these references was Strategic Management Journal (11%), followed by Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Sciences Quarterly, and Journal of Management—accounting in total for 51 percent of all citations. Strategic Management Journal, whose subfield of strategic management has become a major concern of management in general, has developed as the predominant academic journal influencing the field of management. Our measures of journal influence provide information which can aid management scholars, practitioners, department heads, and university libraries to decide on efficient choices of journals for research and for manuscript submissions, for evaluation, and for subscriptions. Just seven management and social science journals, led by Strategic Management Journal, contain more than half of the cited articles published recently. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A revealed preference study of management journals’ direct influences

Our study develops and uses a new methodology for analyzing journal citations to recent publications to determine which management journals now have the greatest influence on the field of management. It analyzes the 23637 academic journal references cited in the 1275 articles published in 17 key management journals during 1993 and 1994, focusing on citations to references published up to the modal vintage of 4 years earlier. Most cited as a percentage of all these references was Strategic Management Journal (11%), followed by Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Sciences Quarterly, and Journal of Management—accounting in total for 51 percent of all citations. Strategic Management Journal, whose subfield of strategic management has become a major concern of management in general, has developed as the predominant academic journal influencing the field of management. Our measures of journal influence provide information which can aid management scholars, practitioners, department heads, and university libraries to decide on efficient choices of journals for research and for manuscript submissions, for evaluation, and for subscriptions. Just seven management and social science journals, led by Strategic Management Journal, contain more than half of the cited articles published recently. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

(Review of B & ESI Conference Paper Titled) 'Comparative International Analysis of Strategic Management Journals: Character of Spanish Journals' by M.Valle Santos Alvarez, M.Teresa Garcia Merino, Javier Rodriguez Pinto

(Review of B & ESI Conference Paper Titled) 'Comparative International Analysis of Strategic Management Journals: Character of Spanish Journals' by M.Valle Santos Alvarez, M.Teresa Garcia Merino, Javier Rodriguez Pinto

Replication in strategic management: scientific testing for validity, generalizability, and usefulness

A number of studies have shown that little replication and extension research is published in the business disciplines. This has deleterious consequences for the development of a cumulative body of knowledge in these same areas. It has been speculated, but never formally tested, that replication research is more likely to be published in lower tiers of the journal hierarchy. The present paper indicates very low levels of replication in management and strategic management journals, regardless of their prestige. Moreover, even those replications that are published tend not to be critical—odd in applied social sciences that are largely preparadigmatic and where extensibility, generalizability and utility of scientific constructs tend to be low. The goal of science is empirical generalization, or knowledge development. Systematically conducted replications with extensions facilitate this goal. It is clear, however, that many editors, reviewers, and researchers hold attitudes toward replication research that betray a lack of understanding about its role. Long-run strategies to dispel these misconceptions must involve changes in graduate training aimed at making the conduct of such vital work second nature. It is further suggested that journals in all tiers create a section specifically for the publication of replication research, and that top-tier journals take the lead in this regard. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Replication in strategic management: scientific testing for validity, generalizability, and usefulness

A number of studies have shown that little replication and extension research is published in the business disciplines. This has deleterious consequences for the development of a cumulative body of knowledge in these same areas. It has been speculated, but never formally tested, that replication research is more likely to be published in lower tiers of the journal hierarchy. The present paper indicates very low levels of replication in management and strategic management journals, regardless of their prestige. Moreover, even those replications that are published tend not to be critical—odd in applied social sciences that are largely preparadigmatic and where extensibility, generalizability and utility of scientific constructs tend to be low. The goal of science is empirical generalization, or knowledge development. Systematically conducted replications with extensions facilitate this goal. It is clear, however, that many editors, reviewers, and researchers hold attitudes toward replication research that betray a lack of understanding about its role. Long-run strategies to dispel these misconceptions must involve changes in graduate training aimed at making the conduct of such vital work second nature. It is further suggested that journals in all tiers create a section specifically for the publication of replication research, and that top-tier journals take the lead in this regard. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Factors Affecting Permanent Workforce Reduction: Evidence from Large Canadian Organizations

AbstractDespite an extensive practitioner literature on workforce reduction, relatively few Canadian studies have empirically examined the determinants of workforce reduction policies. Using data from more than 1,000 organizations across the country, this study investigated factors associated with permanent workforce reduction strategies. Fifty‐three percent of the respondents permanently reduced their workforce during the two‐year period of the study (with an average reduction of almost 15% of the workforce). Multinomial logit was used to compare organizations that had and had not engaged in employee cutbacks. The results revealed that differences in workforce reduction strategies were associated with the economic environment, characteristics of the organization, and human resource management policies.RésuméMalgré l'abondance de la documentation qui existe sur la pratique de la réduction des effectifs, relativement peu d'études canadiennes ont examiné empiriquement les déterminants des politiques de réduction des effectifs. Basée sur les réponses de plus de 1,000 organisations dans tout le pays, cette étude se penche sur les facteurs qui déterminent les stratégies de réduction permanente des effectifs. Cinquante‐trois pour cent des répondants ont réduit leur personnel de façon définitive pendant les deux années de l'étude (réduction moyenne de près de 15% des effectifs). Des organisations qui ont et qui n'ont pas réduit leurs effectifs ont été comparées au moyen d'un logit multinomial. Les résultats montrent que les stratégies de réduction des effectifs dépendent de la con‐joncture, des caractéristiques de l'organisation et des politiques de gestion des ressources humaines.

THE INTERACTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMPETITIVE INFLUENCES ON STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE

Despite much debate in the strategy literatures, there is little consensus as to whether organizational capabilities or market competition are more important in shaping firms’ actions and performance. We suspect that simply comparing firm-level and industry-level influences will continue to prove fruitless for two reasons. In the first place, both organization and competition are clearly important in shaping strategy and performance. In the second place, we suspect that the inconclusive nature of much of the existing research reflects the fact that organizational capabilities, competition, strategy, and performance are fundamentally endogenous. That is, reciprocal interactions at multiple levels of analysis between the environment and the firm shape business strategy and performance, while interactions between strategy and performance, in turn, shape both organizational capabilities and competitive environments. This special issue of the Strategic Management Journal includes papers that focus attention on several dimensions of these interactions. A common theme emerges from the work concerning the sequential nature of the interrelationships. The papers suggest that firms develop organizational capabilities as they act in competitive, institutional, and cognitive environments, where capabilities arise both by design and as the unexpected by-products of firm actions. The capabilities, managers’ understanding of the capabilities, and the historical context that surrounds them then condition firms’ reactions to changes in their environment. The reactions and firm performance in turn affect the structure of the industry, and all these changes generate new information which in turn creates new learning opportunities. Thus, the papers view strategy and performance as an ongoing sequence of capabilities-conditioned adaptations by firms which in turn become exogenous events in the environments of the managers of other firms. For strategy researchers, the important question is not that of which disciplinary perspective or mode of explanation is a more appropriate one, but rather that of the conditions under which a given mode of explanation is most appropriate. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE 1997 SUMMER SPECIAL ISSUE: THE INTERACTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMPETITIVE INFLUENCES ON STRATEGY AND PERFORMANCE

The 1997 Summer Special Issue of the Strategic Management Journal is introduced by the Editor-in-Chief, Dan Schendel. The Special Issue deals with what Guest Editors, Rebecca Henderson and Will Mitchell call ‘reciprocal interactions’ among environment, strategy, capabilities and performance. Why study of these reciprocal interactions may be useful to better understanding of performance outcomes is discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Survival of businesses using collaborative relationships to commercialize complex goods: Will Mitchell and Kulwant Singh, Strategic Management Journal (March 1996), pp. 169–195

Survival of businesses using collaborative relationships to commercialize complex goods: Will Mitchell and Kulwant Singh, Strategic Management Journal (March 1996), pp. 169–195

The role of strategic alliances in high-technology new product development: Masaaki Kotabe and K. Scott Swan, Strategic Management Journal (November 1995), pp. 621–636

The role of strategic alliances in high-technology new product development: Masaaki Kotabe and K. Scott Swan, Strategic Management Journal (November 1995), pp. 621–636

The effect of introducing important incremental innovations on market share and business survival: Catherine M. Banbury and Will Mitchell, Strategic Management Journal (Summer 1995), pp. 161–182

The effect of introducing important incremental innovations on market share and business survival: Catherine M. Banbury and Will Mitchell, Strategic Management Journal (Summer 1995), pp. 161–182