Has Strategic Management Research Lost Its Way?

Abstract

Strategic management research has strayed from its primary focus on efficient and effective management practice. We suggest a refocusing of strategic management research, based on the logic of discovery of real-world phenomena and strategic problems, with the goals of better enabling scholars to refine existing and develop new management theories. We demonstrate that historically, such a pragmatic, engaged, and problem-focused process helped produce many of the seminal works, groundbreaking concepts, and core theories in the strategic management field. We express our concern that many scholars are no longer developing or practicing sufficient skills to generate such impactful research. We propose that re-adopting this logic of discovery within the knowledge production process of engaged scholarship can produce both scientifically rigorous and practically relevant research. Such a research approach both develops new theoretical contributions and bridges the theory-practice gap by addressing real-world problems (and thereby creating economic value). We discuss some of the existing impediments to doing so and suggest changes in incentive systems ∗We thank Guatam Ahuja, Richard Bettis, Seth Carnahan, Lillian Cheng, Felipe Csaszer, Don Hambrick, Bruce Kogut, Michael Leiblein, James Mahoney, Cathy Maritan, Will Mitchell, Arvind Parkhe, Olga Petricevic, Jeff Reuer, David Teece, Alain Verbeke, and Sidney Winter for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of the paper. We also thank those who provided comments at our presentation at the 2016 annual Academy of Management meeting, and at subsequent seminars at Temple University, the University of Calgary, and the University of Michigan. Finally, we thank Strategic Management Review for the editors’ and reviewer’s helpful comments and suggestions for improving this manuscript through the review process. The usual disclaimer applies. ISSN 2688-2612; DOI 10.1561/111.00000004 © 2020 now Publishers, Inc.