Call for Participants
Competitive Strategy Research and Paper Development Workshop
Saturday, September 17, 2016
9:00am - 4:00pm
Submission deadline: August 12, 2016
The Competitive Strategy Interest Group (IG) is pleased to offer a research-focused junior faculty paper development workshop at the 2016 Strategic Management Society meetings in Berlin. Although all members of the Competitive Strategy IG are invited to participate, preference will be given to junior faculty who defended their dissertations after September 2011. This workshop will consist of two parts: a session about theory development in strategy papers in the morning, and a paper development session in the afternoon. A more detailed description of each of these sessions is as follows:
Theory Development Session: In the past 20 years, quantitative and qualitative empirical methods used in strategy research have grown increasingly sophisticated, as research methods have advanced in academia more generally. Theoretical research in strategy, however, has received less attention during this period. Yet, we know that "there is nothing as practical as a good theory." Good theory comes in many forms, including verbal theory, simulations, and closed-form mathematical analysis. In this workshop, four senior strategy faculty (Alfonso Gambardella (Bocconi), Giovanni Gavetti (Tuck), Constance Helfat (Tuck), and Phanish Puranam (INSEAD)) will provide practical guidance for doing good theoretical research in strategy, both in standalone papers and in papers that have accompanying empirical analyses. The workshop will cover topics such as: Where does good theory come from? What are the elements of good theory that are common to all approaches (verbal and mathematical)? How can scholars learn the skills of theory development, including verbal and mathematical theory? How should scholars marry theory with empirical evidence? The workshop will include brief presentations by the senior faculty, interactive discussions with participants, and hands-on analysis of published theoretical papers as a guide for theorists.
Paper Development Session: The workshop organizers (Emilie Feldman (Wharton) and Feng Zhu (HBS)) will group 3-5 papers that are similar in topic and/or methodology and distribute them to the participants. Prior to the workshop, participants in each group will prepare written comments and feedback on the other papers in their group. They will exchange feedback during the paper development portion of the workshop, with each group's discussion being facilitated by one or more senior scholar(s) familiar with the topic or method in question. The senior scholars include: Gautam Ahuja (Ross), Olivier Chatain (HEC Paris), Alfonso Gambardella (Bocconi), Giovanni Gavetti (Tuck), Javier Gimeno (INSEAD), Connie Helfat (Tuck), Marvin Lieberman (UCLA), Evan Rawley (Columbia), Jasjit Singh (INSEAD), and Brian Wu (Ross).
To apply to participate, please upload your CV and the paper that you would like to receive feedback on by August 12, 2016 at the SMS Annual Conference website (under the Saturday Workshops link). Please combine your CV and paper into one PDF file. Please use your first and last name when you are naming the file to be uploaded (e.g., First_Last.pdf). Selected participants will be notified by August 26, 2016.
Competitive Strategy Research and Paper Development Workshop Timeline
August 12, 2016 Submission Deadline for Applications
August 26, 2016 Accepted Participants Notified
September 17, 2016 Junior Faculty Paper Development Workshop
September 17-20, 2016 SMS Annual Meeting