What is strategic management,really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field

It is commonly asserted that the field of strategic management is fragmented and lacks a coherent identity. This skepticism, however, is paradoxically at odds with the great success that strategic management has enjoyed. How might one explain this paradox? We seek answers to this question by relying first on a large‐scale survey of strategic management scholars from which we derive an implicit consensual definition of the field—as tacitly held by its members. We then supplement this implicit definition with an examination of the espoused definitions of the field obtained from a group of boundary‐spanning scholars. Our findings suggest that strategic management's success as a field emerges from an underlying consensus that enables it to attract multiple perspectives, while still maintaining its coherent distinctiveness. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dr. PC: A Multimedia Management Control Case*

Dr. PC is a 50–80‐minute, in‐class management control case. The case asks students to develop a management control system for a small computer repair business. Informed initially by personal experiences, and then from viewing a consumer affairs video that depicts an employee repeatedly violating his firm’s code of conduct, students work together to outline key management controls. After viewing the video and discussing key management controls, students are then exposed to Simons’s levers of control framework and asked to develop a comprehensive management control system for the small business. The case was developed over three years with the help of 344 undergraduate, master’s, and executive students. Student feedback from earlier versions of the case indicates they found the case stimulating and effective at reaching its learning objectives of understanding the purpose of and how to design a management control system for a small business.     

A Theory of Endogenous Coalition Structures

Consider an environment with widespread externalities, and suppose that binding agreements can be written. We study coalition formation in such a setting. Our analysis proceeds by defining on a partition function an extensive-form bargaining game. We establish the existence of a stationary subgame perfect equilibrium for such a game. Our main results are concerned with the characterization of equilibriumcoalition structures. We develop an algorithm that generates (under certain conditions) an equilibrium coalition structure. Our characterization results are especially sharp forsymmetricpartition functions. In particular, we provide a uniqueness theorem and apply our results to a Cournot oligopoly.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: C71, C72, C78, D62.     

Learning curves in collaborative planning,forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) information systems: An empirical analysis from a mobile phone manufacturer

While Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR) information systems have been increasingly deployed to improve supply chain operations in a cross section of industries, the extant literature has largely overlooked the learning effects within organizations, thereby resulting in incomplete assessment of their business value. Using an operational-level panel data for nine product lines over 2.5 years, we empirically examine the learning curves in CPFR between Motorola, a mobile phone manufacturer, and one of its U.S.-based national retail partners. We found that the two key components of CPFR, collaborative forecasting (CF) and collaborative replenishment (CR), exhibit distinct learning curves. Forecast accuracy improves immediately following CPFR implementation but the rate of improvement slows over time, whereas inventory levels increase at first and begin decreasing after a period. Further, we found different learning effects in terms of inventory levels when products are later replaced with new form factors. Product replacements have lower inventory levels than their antecedents, at least for low-end products. We discuss important implications for theory and practice at the interface of information systems and operations management.     

Sales force modeling: State of the field and research agenda

Inspired by Erin Anderson’s contributions to sales force research, this paper focuses on research that utilizes quantitative models to investigate important questions in sales force management. The purpose is to summarize several significant developments in knowledge over the last 40 years and identify major opportunities for impactful theoretical, empirical, and decision model-based research in the future.