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For higher Ed market: The basis of this book is an in-depth empirical study of strategy and strategizing in universities. It provides insights into how strategies of research, teaching and commercial income are shaped over time, as well as considering the problems of size and scope faced by modern universities. Theoretically, the study is robustly framed within the strategy literature, while the detailed empirical analysis makes a clear contribution to our understanding of putting strategy into practice in both the university and wider contexts. Many practical stories and exhibits about doing strategy in universities are included that will be evocative and thought-provoking for those researching, studying or managing higher education institutions. With its unusual combination of a strong strategy framework and rich empirical insights into strategizing in universities, this book is of interest to students of higher education management, as well as to practising managers in higher education. ′This volume will appeal to researchers, students and those engaged in strategic management in higher education. The case study material provides a detailed portrait of the ways in which senior managers engage in strategic development. Overall, the volume provides rich insights on strategic management in higher education′ -Professor Bob Burgess, Vice-Chancellor, University of Leicester ′This is a completely original account of three contrasting universities′ approach to creating and managing strategy in modern conditions. The problem of multiple strategies which interact with one another will be recognised by every practitioner but have not been described in this way before.\" Strategy as Practice\" represents an important contribution to higher education literature because it theorises decisions and strategies which are for the most part instinctive responses to external realities′ - Professor Michael Shattock was Registrar of the University of Warwick before taking up his Visiting Professorship at the Institute of Education, University of London, where he is Director of the MBA in Higher Education Management. ′Strategy is something all organizations are encouraged to have. Many that do get it wrong. Their strategies are empty black box ′diamonds′ or other modish schemes. In this book Jarzabkowski argues, cogently, that strategy should be seen in terms of practice - in terms of what it is that organizations and strategic actors do when they do strategy. The book signals a major re-orientation and intellectual maturation of a field that is too important for organizations to leave to the odd blend of occasional scholarship, analysis based on aggregate data, and inspired prescription that has characterized much of strategy to present. In addition, it charts how organizations in one of the most important institutional areas of contemporary societies, the universities, actually do strategy′ Stewart Clegg, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Rather than introducing radical new \"grand theory\" paradigms, most theory contributions in strategic management extend, clarify, or apply received theories in new and interesting ways. Here we offer a guide on how to make these kinds of contributions to theory. Theory usually begins with a research question, which can come from the phenomenon of interest, variations/limitations of existing theory, or intellectual creativity. Along with the question, there are a number of more craftsmanship-level aspects of a theory where contributions can be made: the mode of theorizing, the level of analysis, an understanding of the underlying phenomenon, causal mechanisms, constructs and variables, and boundary conditions. These aspects of the theory lead to a set of outcomes in the form of explanations, predictions, or prescriptions. The articles in this special issue are interpreted through our framework as illustrations of this approach to making theory contributions.

\"Starting a business is hard, but keeping an established company going can be equally challenging. In the long run, every business will need to adapt to changing market conditions, technologies, and competitive environments. Achieving Longevity explains how to manage those changes through entrepreneurial thinking. As Jim Dewald shows, the most successful companies thrive by establishing decision-making processes that constantly engage new opportunities, enabling the firm to quickly adapt to disruptive technologies and business models. They allow for tinkering and experimentation and strive to both exploit their competitive advantage today and explore new ideas that will give them an edge tomorrow. Achieving Longevity provides a framework for introducing the tools and culture necessary to foster entrepreneurial thinking, as well as advice on how to overcome common obstacles to corporate entrepreneurship. Drawing on Dr. Dewald's own experience as an entrepreneur, a successful corporate executive, and a professor of strategy, the book offers numerous examples of how to combine the strengths of an established firm with the innovative, outside the box thinking of a start-up venture.--Jacket flaps.

Research summary: The recent surge of interest in \"ecosystems\" in strategy research and practice has mainly focused on what ecosystems are and how they operate. We complement this literature by considering when and why ecosystems emerge, and what makes them distinct from other governance forms. We argue that modularity enables ecosystem emergence as it allows a set of distinct yet interdependent organizations to coordinate without full hierarchical fiat. We show how ecosystems address multilateral dependences based on various types of complementarities—supermodular or unique, unidirectional or bidirectional—which determine the ecosystem's value-add. We argue that at the core of ecosystems lie nongeneric complementarities, and the creation of sets of roles that face similar rules. We conclude with implications for mainstream strategy and suggestions for future research. Managerial summary: We consider what makes ecosystems different from other business constellations, including markets, alliances, or hierarchically managed supply chains. Ecosystems, we posit, are interacting organizations, enabled by modularity, not hierarchically managed, bound together by the nonredeployability of their collective investment elsewhere. Ecosystems add value as they allow managers to coordinate their multilateral dependence through sets of roles that face similar rules, thus obviating the need to enter into customized contractual agreements with each partner. We explain how different types of complementarities (unique or supermodular, generic or specific, uni- or bi-directional) shape ecosystems and offer a \"theory of ecosystems\" that can explain what they are, when they emerge, and why alignment occurs. Finally, we outline the critical factors affecting ecosystem emergence, evolution, and success—or failure.

Is your company spending too much time on strategy development--with too little to show for it? If you read nothing else on strategy, read these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you catalyze your organization's strategy development and execution. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy will inspire you to: Distinguish your company from rivals; Clarify what your company will and won't do; Craft a vision for an uncertain future; Create blue oceans of uncontested market space; Use the Balanced Scorecard to measure your strategy; Capture your strategy in a memorable phrase; Make priorities explicit; Allocate resources early; Clarify decision rights for faster decision making. -- Publisher description.

This study builds on insights from both upper echelons and agency perspectives to examine the effects on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of CEO's narcissism. Drawing on prior theory about CEO narcissism, we argue that CSR can be a response to leaders * personal needs for attention and image reinforcement and hypothesize that CEO narcissism has positive effects on levels and profile of organizational CSR; additionally, CEO narcissism will reduce the effect of CSR on performance. We find support for our ideas with a sample of Fortune 500 CEOs, operationalizing CEO narcissism with a novel media-based measurement technique that uses third-party ratings of CEO characteristics with validated psychometric scales.

Research Summary Despite a wealth of research on competitive and cooperative strategy, gaps remain with respect to how firms successfully navigate cooperation and competition over time. This is especially true in ecosystems, in which firms depend on one another to collectively provide components and create value for consumers. Through an in‐depth multiple case study of five firms in the U.S. residential solar industry from 2007 to 2014, we induct a theoretical framework that explains how firms navigate nascent ecosystems over time. We identify three strategies, each with a distinct balance of cooperation and competition, as well as unique advantages, disadvantages, and required capabilities. Overall, we contribute to research on ecosystem strategy, crystallize the pivotal role of bottlenecks, and shed light on the dynamic interplay of cooperation and competition. Managerial Summary Competition and cooperation are fundamental to strategy, and often closely intertwined. But how firms navigate and balance cooperation and competition over time, especially in ecosystems where firms depend on one another to deliver value to consumers, is unclear. In this article, we conduct an in‐depth multiple‐case study of five firms in the U.S. residential solar industry to examine how firms can successfully navigate nascent ecosystems over time. We identify three distinct strategies, each with a distinct balance of cooperation and competition, and examine the unique advantages, disadvantages, and required capabilities of each. In doing so, we also contribute novel insights into the evolution of ecosystems and bottlenecks.

Research summary: The use of Heckman models by strategy scholars to resolve sample selection bias has increased by more than 700 percent over the last decade, yet significant inconsistencies exist in how they have applied and interpreted these models. In view of these differences, we explore the drivers of sample selection bias and review how Heckman models alleviate it. We demonstrate three important findings for scholars seeking to use Heckman models: First, the independent variable of interest must be a significant predictor in the first stage of a model for sample selection bias to exist. Second, the significance of lambda alone does not indicate sample selection bias. Finally, Heckman models account for sample-induced endogeneity, but are not effective when other sources of endogeneity are present. Managerial summary: When nonrandom samples are used to test statistical relationships, sample selection bias can lead researchers to flawed conclusions that can, in turn, negatively impact managerial decision-making. We examine the use of Heckman models, which were designed to resolve sample selection bias, in strategic management research and highlight conditions when sample selection bias is present as well as when it is not. We also distinguish sample selection bias, a form of omitted variable (OV) bias, from more traditional OV bias, emphasizing that it is possible for models to have sample selection bias, traditional OV bias, or both. Accurately identifying the type(s) of OV bias present is essential to effectively correcting it. We close with several recommendations to improve practice surrounding the use of Heckman models.