The slow down in investment in innovation in large corporation is obviously concerning but it is also puzzling. In a recent SMJ paper, Trey Cummings and Anne Marie Knott argue that some of that decline may be the unintended consequence of corporations relying on outside CEOs. According to the authors, the emphasis on general managerial … More Are outside CEOs detrimental to innovation?
Summary by SMJ Associate Editor, Olivier Chatain (HEC Paris) Arora A, Belenzon S, Patacconi A. The decline of science in corporate R&D. Strat Mgmt J. 2017;1–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2693 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.2693/full The topic and the findings of this paper are of interest to anyone who wants to know about the role of firms in the production of scientific knowledge … More SMJ Article – The Decline of Science in Corporate R&D
Corporate political activity in the United States has been a growing and increasingly controversial phenomenon following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizen’s United case (2010). In Citizen’s United, the Supreme Court stated that because of freedom of speech considerations, the government cannot restrict political expenditures of corporations. Corporations may have many reasons to contribute … More How Do Investors React to Covert Political Activity of Corporations?
Civil war and violent social conflict drove headlines around the world in 2016 with conflict in Syria, the Mediterranean refugee crisis, and the backlash to immigration taking center stage across Europe and the US. But citizens are not the only actors who have to choose whether to flee or persist when armed conflict hits a country. … More “Caught in the Crossfire”: MNCs in armed conflict zones
Downtowns and cities are hot. But if we look at it carefully, is this more than an anecdotal trend? Strategy has a long history of studying location effects for business. What will the urban revival mean for businesses and strategy? We discuss recent research on the geography of work and entrepreneurship. Research cited in the discussion: … More Research Chatter 8: The Urban Revival
In this episode we discuss Steven Klepper’s new book, Experimental Capitalism. The book synthesizes Klepper’s wide-ranging industry studies to examine the origins and impact of US high tech industries. Where did some of America’s greatest industries come from and why did they falter? What was the role of government in fostering them? We talk about … More Research Chatter 6: Experimental Capitalism
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the hottest topics in classrooms and boardrooms around the world. But do we really know that companies that “do good” also “do well”? And are companies actually making real social impact with all of these heavily-publicized initiatives? In this episode of Research Chatter, we review cutting edge work on CSR that … More Research Chatter 5: Is Corporate Social Responsibility for Real?
Disruptive innovation is an idea that leapt from the pages of Strategic Management Journal to the lips of business people and entrepreneurs around the world. But its widespread, sometimes indiscriminate, application has lead to a backlash against the very concept. In this episode of the research chatter we discuss what the theory actually says; what the research … More Research Chatter 4: Is disruptive innovation still a useful theory?
This month we meet up in person at the SMS conference in Denver. In our free-wheeling, face to face discussion we talk about research on corporate venture capital. When big companies invest in speculative ventures, like Google’s billion dollar investment in Space X, does it payoff? Can companies learn from their investments? How? Research cited in … More Research Chatter 3: Can Big Companies Succeed as Venture Capitalists?
In this episode we discuss recent research on the economics of management. How do managers add value to companies… and to economies? Given their value, why are good management practices so slow to spread? Research cited in the discussion: 1) “New Empirical Economics of Management” Bloom, Lemos, Sadun, Scur, and Van Reenen. Centre for Economic … More Research Chatter 2: (How) Do Managers Add Value?
