AOM 2007 PDW - Examining, Clarifying, and Refining Theories of Competitive Advantage: Doing (Research) Well by Doing Good (Theory
Application and Empirical Testing)
VENUE AND SCHEDULE
Philadelphia Marriott, Friday, August 3, 2007, 4:30PM - 6:30PM
MOTIVATION FOR THE WORKSHOP
The field of management has experienced an explosion of theoretical advances in the study of firm-level sources of competitive advantage during the past two decades. Perspectives such as the Resource-Based View, Knowledge-Based View, and Dynamic Capabilities have emerged to explain the relationship among firm competencies such as knowledge, resources, and capabilities, and persistent performance differences among firms. Further, currently many scholars are advocating unifying these "theories" of competitive advantage, largely under a dynamic RBV framework. Such attempts, however, might be in effect, putting the proverbial "cart before the horse," given continued debate in the literature which may indicate that some of the fundamental assumptions and boundary conditions of these perspectives remain in contention theoretically and under-supported empirically. Thus, efforts to unify the theoretical perspectives need to be preceded by research that not only clarifies the fundamental assumptions of the theory, but more importantly, provides clear empirical support for the constructs and their underlying measures. Skipping or accelerating past this natural evolutionary step may potentially impede further development of the field through unintentionally proliferating theoretical misspecification and empirical mismeasurement. Therefore, through this PDW, we seek to encourage the development of research that examines, clarifies, and refines competence- and flexibility-based theories of competitive advantage through empirical validation of the fundamental assumptions and boundary conditions of these perspectives.
DISTINGUISHED PANELISTS
Thomas Brush, Krannert School of Business, Purdue University
Russell Coff, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Glenn Hoetker, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Michael J Leiblein, Fisher School of Business, Ohio State University
Ed Levitas, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Jeffrey Macher, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
Doug Miller, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Laura Poppo, Virginia Tech University
CO-ORGANIZERS
Craig E. Armstrong, Dickinson College, Email: (
armstroc@dickinson.edu),
Paul L. Drnevich, Culverhouse College of Business, University of Alabama, Email: (
dren@ua.edu)
Rajiv Nag, Sam Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Email: (
Rnag@walton.uark.edu)
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Although this is an open workshop, pre-registration is strongly encouraged (via AOM PDW registration system). Pre-registered participants wishing to receive direct personalized feedback on their research from the panelists should also submit a summary of a proposed (or work in-progress) empirical research project fitting the theme of the workshop to Craig Armstrong (
armstroc@dickinson.edu) by June 1st, 2007. The summary should be limited to two-pages (1,000 words) and contain:
(1) a one-paragraph summary of the main research question(s),
(2) a discussion of the constructs and proposed relationships,
(3) a description of the proposed measures of key constructs, sample data, and analytical method(s).
(4) a rank order preference of 3 panelists with whom you would like to discuss your work
Proposals selected for discussion will receive highly focused feedback from a panelist through a round-table discussion format at the session.