A true competitive advantage? Reflections on different epistemological approaches to strategy research

In this paper, the authors focus on the theory of truth underlying specific traditions in strategy research. They distinguish positivism, constructionism, scientific realism, and pragmatism as viable, but fundamentally different epistemological approaches. The authors argue that each of these approaches is based on a specific theory of truth.truth; strategy; competitive advantage

Prestigious organizations and heterodox choice in institutionally plural contexts

In unsettled fields with multiple ideal-typical institutional logics, why do organizations tend to weaken or conform to prevalent logic order? The authors argue that prestige, defined as a tribute paid by field members to a select few with valued distinctive traits, plays a determinant role in explaining institutional heterodoxy (i.e., the choice to stop instantiating dominant logics or start instantiating less prevalent logics). In unsettled fields, prestigious organizations adopt institutional heterodoxy to maintain their distinctiveness because they consider logics as means rather than constraining ends and because awarding bodies cannot impose strict obedience rules. Controlling for alternative explanations, a study of 165 French industrial design agencies (1989 to 2003) provides evidence that prestige favors the decision to undertake heterodox choices. This relationship is weakened when organizations diversify their expertise, is marginally reinforced when organizations have high-status clients, and is influenced by peers’ heterodox choices. The authors discuss contributions to the neo-institutional theory of organizational choices, the socio-cultural analysis of field’s evolution, and the strategic perspective of the firm.strategy; organizational choices logistics; industrial design

The missing lens in family firm governance theory: a self-other typology of parental altruism

In this paper, the authors derive a typology of five parental altruistic archetypes that exhausts the possible altruistic influences in the governance at family firms. They argue that when taken in concert, these five types comprise a more balanced explanation of the cross-sectional variance in the governance efficiency of these firms and therefore can better explain why some family firms are more able than others to capitalize on the family governance's positive attributes.family firms; parental altruism; governance

Optimally Distinct? Understanding the motivation and ability of organizations to pursue optimal distinctiveness (or not)

The question of how distinctive organizations should strive to be, compared to peers, has seen a resurgence of attention. A central focus in this stream of work has been on identifying optimal distinctiveness—distinctiveness that yields superior performance relative to peers. The resulting recommendation has been that organizations should strive to pursue such optimal distinctiveness. In this paper, we argue that organizations are neither equally motivated nor equally able to pursue optimal distinctiveness and explore the implications of variation in such motivation and ability. We focus on two questions, centered on (1) better understanding the extent to which organizations pursue optimal distinctiveness, for which we offer possible arguments based on four combinations of motivation and ability, and (2) the conditions that shape organizations’ ability and motivation to optimize their distinctiveness. We then offer a number of methodological suggestions that would support further inquiries into these questions and close by delineating a renewed research agenda for optimal distinctiveness.</p

Product Categories as Judgment Devices: The Moral Awakening of the Investment Industry

Product categories are more than classification devices that organize markets; when reflecting market actors\u27 purposes, they are also judgment devices. Taking stock of the literature on product categories and drawing on the distinction between the faculties of knowing and judging, we elaborate a framework that accounts for how and why market actors include or exclude normative attributes in a product category definition. Based on a field study of the development of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds in France, we describe the phases and conditions of a judgment framework for category definition, for both established and nascent categories. We discuss implications for research on product categories and the workings of markets more broadly

A structural approach to handling endogeneity in strategic management: The case of RBV

In this paper we posit that the lack of consensus about empirical tests of resource based view (RBV) could be the result of endogenous resource picking on the part of firms. If resources are endogenously selected, regression based methods that examine their connection to firm performance will be mis-estimated. We show that traditional remedies for endogeneity do not resolve this problem when returns to resources are heterogeneous (as theorized under RBV) and when managers act with at least partial knowledge of the expected, idiosyncratic return (as theorized under the strategic factor market hypotheses). As such, we develop a Bayesian approach that solves this endogeneity problem by directly incorporating resource picking into the modeling framework. We illustrate the validity of our approach through the use of a comprehensive simulation study and show that our proposed approach outperforms traditional linear models (including traditional cures of endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity) under a variety of conditions. Our findings suggest that: (1) research in strategy requires a more careful and deeper understanding of potential sources of endogeneity and (2) the use of Bayesian methods in management can help develop more theoretically motivated empirical approaches to hypothesis testing. © 2014 European Academy of Management

Category Stretching: Reorienting Research on Categories

abstract We advocate for more tolerance in the manner we collectively address categories and categorization in our research. Drawing on the prototype view, organizational scholars have provided a &apos;disciplining&apos; framework to explain how category membership shapes, impacts, and limits organizational success. By stretching the existing straightjacket of scholarship on categories, we point to other useful conceptualizations of categories -i.e. the causal-model and the goal-based approaches of categorization -and propose that depending on situational circumstances, and beyond a disciplining exercise, categories involve a cognitive test of congruence and a goal satisfying calculus. Unsettling the current consensus about categorical imperatives and market discipline, we suggest also that audiences may tolerate more often than previously thought organizations that blend, span, and stretch categories. We derive implications for research about multi-category membership and mediation in markets, and suggest ways in which work on the theme of categories in the strategy, entrepreneurship, and managerial cognition literatures can be enriched