A Word From the CSIG Chair - Strategic Management Society · A Word From the CSIG Chair Gianmario Verona Competitive Strategy Interest Group Chair Bocconi University It is a great

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY NEWSLETTER

Fall 2010

Published twice a year by the Competitive Strategy Interest Group

Volume 4, No 1 Page 1

A Word From the CSIG Chair Gianmario Verona

Competitive Strategy Interest Group Chair Bocconi University

It is a great honor to address you one last time as Chair of our Interest Group. This has been an in‐credible year for me as I had the pleasure of con‐currently serving our IG and co‐organizing the 30th annual Strategic Management Society confer‐ence in Rome. I must say that this would have been quite literally a “mission impossible” had I not been part of two generous and highly‐productive teams: the leadership of our IG, with the invaluable support of Michael Leiblein (The Ohio State U.) and Govert Vroom (IESE), and the organizing committee for the Rome conference, composed of Giambattista Dagnino (U. of Cata‐nia), Rosario Faraci (U. of Catania), and Maurizio Zollo (Bocconi U.). In this letter, I briefly summarize the work our IG has done in the past year, including the results of our leadership elections, and draw your attention

to the Rome conference, which will be more cov‐ered in more depth by the other articles in this newsletter. The current leadership team has worked hard to continue the trajectory established by the CSIG founding team (Will Mitchell [Duke U.], Margie Peteraf [Dartmouth College], and Javier Gimeno [Insead]) and my direct predecessors (Xavier Martin [Tilburg U.] and Laura Cardinal [Tulane U.]) This year we paid particular attention to in‐stitutionalizing and refining many of our core processes and activities. Among the highlights for this year is the CSIG junior faculty and paper development workshop at the annual conference, which we are offering for the 3rd time. As in years past, 18 submissions were selected to be discussed in Rome. Many

In This Issue

A Word From the CSIG Chair ································································ 1 Rome CSIG Conference Program·························································· 3 Rome CSIG Sunday Sessions ······························································· 7 Article: Shareholder Value Maximization: Rehabilitating a “Dumb Idea” (Rob Grant)·································· 9 About Rome ························································································· 12 New Books··························································································· 15 Career and Research News································································· 17 Conference Announcements································································ 18 CSIG Business Meeting Announcement ·············································· 19 CSIG Leadership & Colophon······························································ 19


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thanks to two of our Representatives‐at‐Large—Donald E. Hatfield (Virginia Tech) and Christian Stadler (U. of Bath)—for organizing and co‐chairing this valuable initiative. A warm thank you also to our distinguished panelists for sharing their expertise and offering their time! We have also in‐creased the participa‐tion of senior scholars in this year’s confer‐ence, from their ex‐panded role in the re‐view process to their involvement as session Chairs and Facilitators. As Michael Leiblein, the incoming Chair of our IG, describes in the next article, we have also decided to dedicate an expanded por‐tion of our business meeting to a conversation among members regarding future innovations and how our IG leadership can provide better a services for them. We have also tried to articulate the nomination cri‐teria and expectations for the Representative‐at‐Large (RAL) positions. Given the critical services provided by the RALs, we aimed to only nomi‐nate individuals with a legacy of activity within our IG; service to the competitive strategy com‐munity; and, of course, high quality research. This year’s election featured a fantastic pool of candi‐dates: Todd Alessandri (Northeastern U.), Asli Arikan (Georgia State U.), Doug Miller (U. of Illi‐nois), Rob Morgan (Cardiff U.), Hart Posen

(Michigan U.), and Charles Williams (Duke U.). We congratulate Todd, Asli, and Doug who were elected in July as incoming RALs for a two‐year term. While our RALs serve on a voluntary basis, we have begun to formalize expectations regard‐ing the tasks to be performed by these individu‐

als. We expect one will be in charge of the newsletter—a hard act to follow af‐ter the excellent job Tom Moliterno (U. South Carolina) did over the last two years— two will or‐ganize the junior fac‐ulty workshop in a rolling system that en‐sures that experience we cumulated in prior

years’ events will be passed on. All will help fu‐ture Associate Program Chairs in the reviewing and organizing activities related to the conference program. We have also considered the idea that RALs who have provided exemplary service dur‐ing their tenure could run again in the future. In this year’s Associate Program Chair election we had the chance of having two great candi‐dates: Glenn Hoetker (U. of Illinois) and our out‐going RAL Karin Lindquist (U. of Utah). We con‐gratulate Glenn, who will be part of the CSIG leadership for the next three years. On the following pages, Michael Leiblein pre‐sents the core program he organized for our IG, while Govert Vroom describes the details of the

The Coliseum


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CSIG Sunday Program. I remind you that the core theme for the conference this year (“Strategic Management at the Crossroad”) was strictly re‐lated to Competitive Strategy, so I suggest you also take a look to the first two tracks of the pro‐gram related to micro‐ and macro‐foundations of strategy. In this newsletter you can also read about Rome with some suggestions for sightseeing for those of you who will have time to enjoy the Eternal City before or after the conference. The newsletter also includes an insightful article by Rob Grant (Bocconi U.), who shares insightful thoughts about firm goals, and more particularly, share‐holder value.

In short, I think you will find this edition of the newsletter interesting and useful as you prepare for the Rome conference! Enjoy the rest of the summer before we all soon meet in Rome. Arrivederci! Gianmario Verona Bocconi University

Rome CSIG Conference Program Michael Leiblein

CSIG Conference Program Chair The Ohio State University

It is my distinct pleasure to present the Competi‐tive Strategy program for the 2010 Rome confer‐ence. Our 2010 program is comprised of a junior faculty workshop, a series of pre‐conference ple‐nary sessions, six conference common ground ses‐sions and eleven conference paper sessions. On the following pages you will find a table detailing the program, including information on session times, venues, and participants. The CSIG junior faculty workshop is co‐chaired by Don Hatfield & Christian Stadler and involves a number of prominent faculty members includ‐

ing Michael Leiblein, Marvin Lieberman, Will Mitchell, Jackson Nickerson, Christopher Tucci, and Henk Volberda. The common ground ses‐sions will be moderated by scholars such as Lyda Bigelow, Mark Hansen, Ravi Madhavan, Cathy Maritan, Corey Phelps, and Chris Zott. The pa‐per sessions include exciting new work extend‐ing our thinking on dynamic capabilities, innova‐tion, industry evolution, real options logic, in‐vestment timing, and the theory of the firm. Cou‐pled with our outstanding review team, we aimed to create an environment where those who submit and present their work received


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feedback from a group of excellent reviewers and interact in their sessions with a series of out‐standing academicians. One innovation I would like to draw your atten‐tion to is our plan to revise the program chair’s portion of the CSIG business meeting. This year we will use this time for an interactive discussion with attending IG members to obtain feedback on current efforts and design future activities for the CSIG. Please come to the meeting ready to share your ideas regarding how we can help generate excellent research, outstanding teaching, and im‐pactful outreach within our domain. The success of this program would not have been possible without the contributions of a number of CSIG members. In the spring newsletter, I noted my gratitude for all those who submitted propos‐als to our IG and the generosity of our team of 63 experienced and insightful reviewers. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the contributions

of our current team of CSIG officers. I thank Gianmario Verona for sharing his experience and guidance in developing the program, Govert Vroom for helpful feedback in sharpening the final program, and most importantly a number of our representatives for their truly awesome contributions. In particular, I am indebted to Don Hatfield and Christian Stadler for organizing our signature CSIG junior faculty consortium and Don Hatfield, Karin Lindquist, and Christian Stadler for taking on a number of last minute re‐views. I look forward to seeing many of you in Rome. Arrivederci! Michael Leiblein The Ohio State University

Saturday Session (Chair) Participants 13:00 to 18:00 Bramante 7

Competitive Strategy IG Junior Faculty Workshop

D. Hatfield & C. Stadler (co‐chairs) R. Grant, M. Leiblein, M. Lieberman, W. Mitchell, H. Volberda (faculty par‐ticipants)

10:15 to 15:45

Sunday CSIG Sessions (see CSIG Associate Program Chair report, pages 7 & 8)

16:00 to 17:15 Bramante 2

Competitive Strategy IG Business Meeting

G. Verona, M. Leiblein, G. Vroom

Sunday Session (Chair) Participants


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9:45 to 11:00 Bernini 3

Networks & Alliances Common Ground Session (C. Phelps)

Carbonara & Giannoccaro; Della Corte & Sciarelli; Aversa & Abt; Wassmer, Madhok, & Li; Andrevski, Brass, & Ferrier; Bruyaka & Caner


Real Options Paper Session (W. Bogner)

McIntyre & Chintakanana; Lehmberg & White; Song & Bogner; Meyer


Integrating Theories of the Firm Paper Session (L. Qian)

Chu; Rai, Arikan, McNaughton & Wareham; Mahoney & Qian; Khare, Leiblein, & Barney


What Leads to Sustainable Advantage & Profit Persistence Paper Session (C. Armstrong & P. Drnevich)

Becerra & Markarian; Armstrong, Drnevich, & Newbert; Timsit & Castiaux; Liu & Stoelhorst

15:15 to 16:30 Bernini 3

Dynamic Capabilities Common Ground Session (C. Maritan)

Storrud‐Barnes, Reece, & Dobeck; Suarez & Montes; Pregelj, Verreynne, & Hine; Devoldere & Debruyne, Di Stefano, Peteraf, & Verona; Asku & Basu


Signaling, Media, & Learning within and Across Markets Paper Session (M. Kennedy)

Hughes, Tao, & McNamara; Kennedy, Salomon, & Zajac; Nokelainen; Gen & Chuang


Conversations in the Resource Based View Paper Session (S. Rompas)

Lavie & Fiegenbaum; Arikan & Rai; Rajwani & Rompas; Rompas & Scarbrough

16:45 to 18:00 Bernini 3

Foresight, Innovation & Industry Evolution Common Ground Session (L. Bigelow)

Cruickshank, Gannaway, & Madsen; Vecchiato & Roveda; Mezzourh & Cherni; Giachetti & Lanzolla; Bryant; Kim & Kim

Monday Session (Chair) Participants


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Tuesday Session (Chair) Participants

08:00 to 9:15 Bernini 3

Competition & Rivalry Common Ground Session (M. Hansen)

Perry & Hansen; Hinterhuber; Pehrsson; Giachetti & Lampel; Schmidt; Mas‐Ruiz & Ruiz‐Moreno


Timing, Speed & Industry Evolution Paper Session (A. Hawk)

Lee, Kim, & Lim; Hawk, de Almeida, & Yeung; Paladino; Argyres, Bigelow & Nickerson

11:00 to 12:15 Tintoretto 1

Learning, Imitation & Innovation Paper Session (A. Sleptsov)

Hu & Bettis; Cardinal & Sleptsov; Quiroga; Polidoro & Theeke


Strategic Management, Public Organizations, & Policy Paper Session (L. Pierce)

Bonardi; Vanden Bergh, & Holburn; Lima, Meireles & Martinho; Kivleniece & Quelin; Klein, Mahoney, McGahan, & Pitelis

17:00 to 18:15 Bernini 3

Competition & Coopetition Common Ground Session (R. Madhavan)

Aanou & Le Roy; Fernandez; Pindard‐Lejarraga & Gutierrez; Peng, Liu, & Huang; Chappert, Mione & Yami; Galvagno & Garraffo


Organization, Culture, & Performance Paper Session (S. Read)

Pertusa‐Ortega & Molina‐Azorin; Smit, Read, & Davidson; Baldauf & Schweiger; Rost

Wednesday Session (Chair) Participants


Corporate Development Activities & Abnormal Returns Paper Session (A. Arikan)

Arikan; Schmitt & Raisch; Costa, Cabigiosu; Campagnolo, & Furlan; Zanoni

8:00 to 9:15 Bernini 3

Considering Alternative Business Models Common Ground Session (C. Zott)

Carlopio; Poenaru; Couturier, Sola, & Borioli; Chatterjee; Elliot & Williams; Stegmann


Resources & Dynamic Capabilities Joint Paper Session (M. Hansen & G. Soda)

Bryce, Dyer, & Furr; Martin & Cuypers; Furlotti & Soda; Kalasin & Dussauge


Competition, Pricing, and the Pursuit of Advantage Paper Session (M. Becerra)

Becerra, Santalo, & Silva; Hallberg; Ody; Cennamo & Santalo


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The Competitive Strategy Interest Group is orga‐nizing three exciting and interesting sessions on Sunday, September 12, the first day of the Rome conference. These sessions focus on topics that are currently relevant in our daily practice of research and teaching of Competitive Strategy. The first session will analyze the complexities of competition between organizations with com‐pletely different backgrounds: for‐profit and not‐for‐profit. We will debate, among other things, if and how these different kinds of organizations apply different modes of competition. The aim of the second session will be to discuss the potential advantages and drawbacks of the use of formal approaches (such as economic modeling) to ad‐vance management theory. The third session fea‐tures a debate about the value of the concept of business models in competitive strategy research. I encourage all of you to kick off your participa‐tion at the SMS in Rome on Sunday with our Competitive Strategy panel sessions and join the discussions around these fascinating topics! With best regards, Govert Vroom IESE Business School

Rome CSIG Sunday Sessions Govert Vroom

Associate Program Chair IESE Business School

Session 1: 10:15 — 11: 30

Competition Between For‐profit and Not‐for‐profit Organizations

In many industries, such as health care, waste management, and education, for‐profit firms compete head‐to‐head with not‐for‐profit firms. The differences between these types of firms are stark in terms of their ultimate objectives, their access to resources, their corporate culture, and many other dimensions. This begs the question whether traditional competitive strategy mod‐els could and should be applied in this particu‐lar context. In this session, scholars and practi‐tioners are invited to share their own experi‐ence and to engage in a discussion with the au‐dience about the consequences of competition among organizations with heterogeneous objec‐tives. Panelists: Trish Clifford (Columbia U. & Clifford Strategic

Services)

Andrew King (Dartmouth College)

Brandon Lee (London Business School)

John Prescott (U. of Pittsburgh)

Björn Bloching (Roland Berger Consulting)


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Session 2: 12:45 — 14:00

The Use of Formal Approaches to Management Theory

The use of formal methods—mathematical mod‐els, simulation, and formal logic—for the devel‐opment of management theory has been both praised and criticized. In this Competitive Strat‐egy workshop, we will discuss some of the ad‐vantages and disadvantages of the use of formal approaches to management theory. Among the panelists, we have a mixed set of management scholars, some of whom have made use of for‐mal theory, and some of whom have not. Panelists: Rajshree Agarwal (U. of Maryland)

Jackson Nickerson (Washington U.)

Russ Coff (U. of Wisconsin)

Steven Postrel (U. of California, Irvine)

Session 3: 14:30 — 15:45

Business Models

The concept of business models is used fre‐quently by entrepreneurs, top managers, and in classroom settings to describe the competitive strategy a firm has chosen. A definition of busi‐ness models used in the literature is “the logic of the firm, the way it operates, and how it cre‐ates value for its stakeholders.” However, there are still widespread differences in interpreta‐tion and ambiguity in the use of this term. In this panel discussion, we want to address the following questions (among others): How is the concept of business models different from other concepts such as revenue models or generic/competitive strategies? How can competitive strategy researchers incorporate the ideas and findings from research in business models in their own research? We invite all participants—whether they have written on this topic or not—to a lively debate about these questions.

Panelists:

Joan Enric Ricart (IESE Business School)

Jay Barney (The Ohio State U.)

Phil Bromiley (U. of California, Irvine)

David Teece (U. of California, Berkeley)

Chris Zott (IESE Business School).

The Pantheon


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Shareholder Value Maximization: Rehabilitating a “Dumb Idea” Robert Grant

ENI Professor of Strategic Management Bocconi University

When I transitioned from industrial organiza‐tion economics to competitive strategy at the be‐ginning of the 1980s, the strategic field was strongly normative in orientation. The field had been shaped by books such as Ansoff’s Corporate Strategy (1965), Ohmae’s Mind of the Strategist, and Porter’s Competitive Strategy (1980): all were “how to do it” guides aimed at improving firm performance through the concepts and methods of strategic management. During subsequent decades strategic management has developed as a mainly positive science focused on the expla‐nation of what is rather than on what can be im‐proved.

More recently, change is in the air. The “crisis of capitalism” which began with the fall of Enron in 2001 and culminated in the financial crisis of 2008—2009 has reinvigorated academic interest in normative aspects of strategic management including ethics, corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and risk manage‐ment. At the root of most normative aspects of strategic management is the question of firm goals. On this question the main event is the de‐bate between the proponents and opponents of shareholder value maximization (SVM)—with opponents in the ascendant. Several self‐proclaimed exemplars of SVM from WorldCom to Royal Bank of Scotland have imploded, while the doctrine’s high priest has recanted: in March last year Jack Welch declared SVM was a “dumb idea.”

Certainly, the pursuit of SVM has been associ‐ated with serious corporate problems: short‐termism, excessive leverage, and the diversion of profits from shareholders to executives un‐der the cloak of “resolving agency problems.” But with what goal do we replace SVM? To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “SVM may be a bad form of corporate governance, but the oth‐ers are much worse.”

The leading alternative candidate is the stake‐holder model of the firm which views the firm as a coalition of stakeholders (owners, employ‐ees, suppliers, customers, the community, etc.) where management reconciles these different interests. But unless the goals of these different groups and the trade‐offs between them can be specified, the stakeholder model does not pro‐vide clear criteria for allocating resources, monitoring performance, or guiding other man‐agement decisions. The inevitable politicization of decision making is exacerbated by the fact that most of the tools and techniques of modern management are based (either explicitly or im‐plicitly) on the assumption of maximizing prof‐itability.

The stakeholder model also shares a key limi‐tation of the SVM model. Both models view the form as an instrument of external interests. SVM conceives of the firm as the property of its shareholders. The stakeholder model also sees the firm as a vehicle for the interests of its


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First, value creation should be the common cri‐terion for business decisions, and the means by which management keeps score of perform‐ance, but is not a substitute for business pur‐pose. Shareholder value creation is unsuitable as a purpose for the firm: it fails to inspire members of the organization and it fails to offer clear strategic direction. Without a guiding mis‐sion—whether it is “organizing the world’s in‐formation and making it universally accessi‐ble” (Google) or “offering a wide range of well‐designed, functional home furnishing products at affordable prices” (IKEA)—a firm will strug‐gle to achieve the focus or the inspiration neces‐sary to establish competitive advantage.

Second, management must recognize that it cannot create shareholder value—only the stock market can. The task of management is to gen‐erate the economic profits that will be capital‐ized into shareholder value through focusing the firm on exploiting the sources of these prof‐its. Given growing uncertainty as to the precise relationship between a firm’s expected profits and its stock market valuation (as doubt grows over the validity of efficient market theory), the objective function of firms should not be the continuous maximization of stock market value, but should be the a synthetic measure of enterprise value based upon the present value of economic profits (or, equivalently, free cash flows).

Third, even this NPV approach to enterprise value must be extended if it is to be comprehen‐sive estimate of enterprise value. In particular, it should take account of the values of the real

constituents: the difference being that these are viewed broadly rather than limited only to owners.

Contrasting with both approaches is the concept of the firm as an entity with a purpose that is not derived from the interests of its individual members. The notion of the firm as a social and institutional entity with a distinct social and eco‐nomic purpose is found in De Geus’s idea of the “living company” and Charles Handy’s view of the firm as a “purposeful human community.” Interestingly it is a view shared by many entre‐preneurs. David Packard once remarked: “...we inevitably come to the conclusion that, a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so that they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not achieve separately.” The case for the “entity view of the firm” is supported a stream of management research (that began with Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence) showing that firms committed to a clear business pur‐pose—whether it is “to bring automobile owner‐ship to the masses” (Ford); to realize a vision of “one person‐one computer” (Apple); or to be the “best in family entertainment” (Disney)—tend to be outstanding performers in terms of profit‐ability and returns to shareholders in the long term.

If the SVM model is to become a sound basis for strategy formulation and a reliable decision cri‐terion for the firm, it needs to be conceptualized and applied with greater subtlety and sophisti‐cation. I offer four suggestions for its rehabilita‐tion:


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to sustaining prosperity over the long term. The massive reductions in the stock market valua‐tions of most banks during 2008—2009 and BP during 2010 point to the close linkage between legitimacy and stockholder return. For almost all firms, creating value requires customer loy‐alty, employee commitment, and social legiti‐macy. Hence, the “enlightened value maximiza‐tion” advocated by Michael Jensen requires no deviation from the vigorous pursuit of value creation: merely that such value creation be re‐alistic and long term.

I view strategic management more as a techno‐logical rather than a scientific discipline. Its pri‐mary rationale must be its ability to guide the practice of management. Capitalism itself may not be in a state of crisis; however, I do believe that there is a crisis of strategic leadership af‐fecting many of the world’s major corporations and business leaders as they come to terms with tarnished status of once‐cherished busi‐ness concepts (such as SVM) and new pressures for ethical conduct and social and environ‐mental responsibility.

Strategy academics can offer valuable leader‐ship in helping business leaders to navigate these cross‐currents. A useful stating point is to address the confusion of over firm goals.

Rob Grant Bocconi University

options held by the firm. Disregard for the op‐tion values offered by flexibility and innovation have been a key limitation of most applications of SVM. For example, efforts to boost the DCF value of firms by substituting debt for equity have simultaneously destroyed option value.

Fourth, while this synthetic measure of enter‐prise value represents the objective of the firm for performance management purposes, the pri‐mary focus of management must be the drivers of enterprise value. By focusing upon value drivers, stakeholder interests, social responsibil‐ity, and environmental sustainability become in‐tegral components of the overall firm objective. Profitability over the long term requires satisfy‐ing customers, motivating employees, and building supplier relations. It also requires re‐sponding to the needs of society—otherwise a firm will not build the legitimacy that is critical


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The Forum

The 30th Strategic Management Society confer‐ence will be located at the Marriot La Magliana, one of the biggest hotels in Rome’s metropolitan area. The hotel is mid‐way between the Eternal city’s downtown and the Leonardo DaVinci in‐ternational airport at Fiumicino, village on the Tirrenium coast where most of the conference participants will arrive. Rome is Italy’s largest city and its capital since 1870. Today it is the center of Italian politics, hosting the House of Deputies, the House of Senate and the Quirinale, the residence of the President of the Republic. Its central area counts over 2.7 million residents, with a larger metro‐politan area of about 4 million. It was built along seven hills and it is cut by the Tiber river. It is located in the central‐western portion of the Ital‐ian peninsula, within the region of Lazio. Rome was the cradle of modern civilization, with a rich history dating back to 1st century

About Rome

B.C. Along with Florence, Rome was one of the most important centers of the Renaissance. Dur‐ing that period famous artists and architects—among them Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini—gave the city some of the beautiful artwork that now attracts millions of visitors every year. It is extremely hard to describe the impressive number of monuments, churches, and muse‐ums that Rome offers. But here’s a short list of some TO DOs if you have time to sightseeing before or after the Rome Conference. The Roman Forum is part of the city center, around which the ancient Roman civilization developed. The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located in or near the Forum. The kingdom’s earliest shrines and temples were located on the Forum’s west‐ern edge. The Senate House, government of‐fices, Tribunals, religious monuments, memori‐als and statues were all found in this area. Over


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time the Forum would serve as the new city square where the people of Rome could gather for political, judicial and religious rituals. The Forum became the economic hub of the city, as well as the center of the Kingdom, Republic and Empire. It is today one of the most fascinating and beautiful areas of ancient ruins. The Coliseum is a “must see” sight that is also the symbol of this year’s conference. Its construction was started in 72 A.D. in the grounds of Nero’s private Domus Aurea. The massive structure could seat more than 50,000, and he games held at the inauguration of the Coliseum lasted for 100 days and nights, during which some 5,000 animals were slaughtered. With the fall of the Empire, the Coliseum was abandoned. In the Middle Ages the Coliseum became a fortress, occupied by two of the city’s warrior families: the Frangipani and the Annibaldi. Restoration works have periodically been carried out: the latest ended in 2004.

In addition of being the capital of Italy, Rome hosts The Vatican City, which was established as a separate state in 1929. It is distinct from the

Holy See, which is the seat of the Catholic Church and dates back to the early Christian period. Interestingly, official documents of Vatican City are published in Italian, while offi‐cial documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have dis‐tinct passports. Campo dei Fiori is a lively piazza where a flower and vegetable market is held every morn‐ing. Now lined with bars and trattorias, the piazza was once a flowery meadow be‐fore it became a place of execution during the Inqu i s i t i on . Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy in the pi‐azza in 1600 and his statue now stands at its center. Many of the streets near Campo dei Fiori are named af‐ter the artisans who traditionally occupied them, for example Via dei Cappellari (hatters), Via dei Baullari (trunk makers), Via dei Chiavari (key makers), and Via dei Giubbonari (jacket makers). Beautiful Piazza Navona was laid out on the site of a stadium built in 86 A.D., the ruins of which can still be seen at the north end of the piazza. The stadium had seating for around 30,000 spectators. The arena was used for festivals and sporting events until the late 15th century,

The Coliseum

Statue of Giordano Bruno


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when it was paved over and transformed into a market place and public square. It remains an important example of Baroque Roman architec‐ture. It is also a popular gathering place for Ro‐mans and tourists alike.

The Spanish Steps have long provided a gather‐ing place for foreigners. They were built with a legacy gift from a French diplomat in 1725, but named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See (which is still located in the piazza), the steps lead to the beautiful 16th century church, Trinità dei Monti. The church and the surrounding area (including the Villa Medici) are still owned by the French government. The Trevi Fountain is the most famous and spec‐tacular fountain in Rome. The fountain is the terminal point of the Vergine aqueduct built by Agrippa, a general of Augustus, in 19 B.C. to bring the water coming from the Salone springs, 19 km away, to Rome. It was in active use for more than 400 years, until it was destroyed in

the Gothic War. Palazzo Montecitorio is the symbol of the Unifica‐tion of Italy (1861). It is the sight of the Italian House of Deputies and can be visited by the public once a month. The Palace was designed by Bernini for Pope Innocent X who intended it as the residence of the Ludovisi family. The foregoing sites are only few of the hun‐dreds of things that can be done. For instance, one additional thing that you do not want to miss is the visit to the Vittoriano, where the gala dinner of Monday night will take place. Located in downtown Rome, the palace built for king Vittorio Emanuele has a breath‐taking view on its incredible balcony. In short, the Eternal City is waiting for us in mid‐September. The weather in mid‐September should favor sight‐seeing with average tem‐peratures around 21°C (70°F). We hope that you will have the time to enjoy the beauty and history of Rome during your trip!

Piazza Navova


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New Books

Coopetition: Winning Strategies for the 21st Century

This innovative book provides both theoretical insights and empirical evidence on coopetition, which shows great interpretive and normative potential and is likely to be an increasingly im‐portant tool. This book is one of the first key contributions in shaping and systematizing a novel coopetition agenda in the field of strategy.

The book argues that coopeti‐tion is neither an extension of competition theory, nor an ex‐tension of cooperative theory. It is in fact a specific and dis‐tinctive research object, which calls for dedicated theoretical investigation to develop ques‐

tions for theory, method, and practice. This book provides both practitioners and aca‐demic scholars with a milestone that brings to‐gether an active community of researchers ex‐pressly mobilized around the creative in‐depth scrutiny of coopetition. It will greatly appeal to researchers, scholars, and graduate students of management, business strategy competitive dy‐namics, and international business, as well as practitioners such as managers and consultants. S. Yami, S. Castaldo, G. B. Dagnino, & F. Le Roy

(Eds.). 2010, Coopetition: Winning Strategies for the 21st Century. Edward Elgar Publishing.

The Myth of the Ethical Consumer Corporations and policy makers are bombarded with international surveys pur‐porting to show that most consumers want ethical products. Yet when compa‐nies offer such products they are often met with in‐difference and limited up‐take. It seems that survey radicals turn into economic conservatives at the checkout. This book reveals not only why the search for the “ethical consumer” is futile but also why the social aspects of consumption cannot be ignored. Consumers are revealed to be much more deliberative and sophisticated in how they do or do not incorporate social factors into their decision making. Using first‐hand findings and extensive re‐search, The Myth of the Ethical Consumer pro‐vides academics, students, and leaders in corporations and NGOs with an enlightening picture of the interface between social causes and consumption. T. Devinney, P. Auger, G. Eckhardt. 2010. The Myth of the Ethical Consumer. Cambridge Uni‐versity Press.


Fall 2010



Atlas Black: Management Guru?

This graphic novel textbook continues the story of Atlas Black and David Chan as the young entrepreneurs write their business plan, s e cu r e needed funding, and finally open their restaurant. The sequel to Atlas Black: Managing to Succeed, this book illustrates key concepts from strategic management, principles of management, organizational behavior, and entrepreneurship. The book is designed to present rigorous academic ideas in an entertaining format. It can be used as a supplement to traditional textbooks or as a stand‐alone resource. J. Short, T. Bauer, D. J. Ketchen, & L. Simon.

2010. Atlas Black: Management Guru? Flat World Knowledge.

Strategic Management: Value Creation, Sustainability, and Performance

This new textbook combines strong theory with a student‐friendly writing style. Classroom‐tested for years, students who have used mate‐rials in this book comment on how critical strat‐egy ideas are carefully unpacked, and how readable it is. The text integrates content throughout using value chain and resource‐based theory frame‐works. Chapters refer back to previous mate‐rial, allowing instructors to build on important foundations as the course progresses. Ideas of performance are highlighted in an entire chap‐ter that enables students to consider dimen‐sions of performance more carefully in subse‐quent case discussions and projects. The book translates theory to practice by show‐ing how to do an industry analysis, how to do a resource analysis, and how to do a value chain analysis. Students use these ideas immediately. C. E. Bamford & P. West. 2010. Strategic Man‐agement: Value Creation, Sustainability, and Performance. South‐Western Cengage.


Fall 2010



Oxford Handbook of Groups

Business groups—large, diversified, often family‐controlled organizations with pyrami‐dal ownership structure, such as the Japanese zaibatsu, the Korean chaebol and the grupos economicos in Latin America—have played a significant role in national economic growth, especially in emerging economies. Business groups are often criticized as premodern forms of business organization, and occasion‐ally as symptomatic of ‘crony capitalism,’ but many have shown remarkable resilience, ad‐justing to economic and political turbulence, international competition, and technological change.

This book provides a compre‐hensive analysis of business groups around the world and examines their adaptive and competitive capabilities. Six‐teen individual country chap‐ters deal with business groups from Asia to Africa, the Middle

East to Latin America, while overarching chap‐ters consider the historical and theoretical con‐text of business groups. With contributions from leading experts, The Oxford Handbook of Business Groups provides a comprehensive, empirically and theoretically rich guide for scholars and pol‐icy‐makers. A. M. Coplan, T. Hikino, & J. R. Lincoln (eds).

2010. Oxford Handbook of Business Groups. Oxford University Press.

Career and Research News The globADVANTAGE – Center of Research in International Business & Strategy in the Instituto Poltécnico de Leiria (Portugal) was founded in 2007 to promote research, post‐graduate education and advising to firms in the field of interna‐tional business and strategy. The center’s mission is to conduct and lever‐age scientific research, collaborate in provid‐ing superior education, support students and assist businesses and policy makers on is‐sues of importance to international trade, in‐ternational investment, international strat‐egy and global competitiveness. We welcome additional collaborations, both individual and institutional, and invite you to submit your working papers and visit our webpage www.globadvantage.ipleiria.pt. R. Scott Livengood (PhD, U. Maryland) will be joining the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida as an Assistant Pro‐fessor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship.


Fall 2010



Conference Announcement

The 4th Israel Strategy Conference December 27‐29, 2009 Technion—Haifa, Israel

Join us in Haifa, Israel for the 4th Israel Strategy Conference (ISC 2010). Sponsored by the Israel Science Foundation and the Technion, ISC 2010 offers a unique opportunity to explore

emerging issues in strategic management, receive feedback on work‐in‐progress, and network with colleagues. The program features keynote speakers Ranjay Gulati (Harvard), Michael Lubatkin (U. of Connecticut), Brian Silverman (U. of Toronto), and Ed Zajac (Northwestern U.). A panel on innovation will feature Ashish Arora (Duke U.), Miriam Erez (Technion), Gabriel Szulanski (INSEAD), and Manuel Trajtenberg (National Economic Council). The program also includes 30 paper presentations and 24 interactive papers on various topics of interest to strategic manage‐ment scholars. The ISC Best Paper Award carries a $1,000 prize from Rotem Strategy. A doctoral consortium coordinated by Robert Salomon (NYU) and Susan Perkins (Northwestern U.) will be held on December 27th. Faculty facilitators will include Brian Silverman, Corey Phelps, Ed Zajac, Gabriel Szulanski, Michael Lubatkin, Miriam Erez, and Peter Bamberger, among others. The consortium is most valuable to Ph.D. candidates interested in conducting research and teaching in strategy

and related fields. The consortium will address key issues in academic life such as research methods, dissertation topics, etc. The applica‐tion deadline is October 1, 2010. For further information and to apply, visit the doctoral consortium webpage at www.isc.org.il/index.php?rid=consortium. Students attending the doctoral consortium must register to the conference. Student discount rates apply.

The timing between Christmas and New Year, combined with Israel’s warm weather and tourist attractions, is perfect for bringing your family to Israel. The conference will offer a visit to the national science museum and a guided tour of Haifa. Family tours to Akko, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Rosh Hanikra and nearby attractions will also be available. Join us and explore the wonders of The Holy Land! For further information and to register to the conference, visit the ISC website at www.isc.org.il or contact the conference co‐organizers by email at [email protected].

The Technion


Fall 2010



CSIG Business Meeting Please join us for the Competitive Strategy Interest Group Meeting a the SMS Conference. The meeting will be held from 16:00 to 17:15 in Bernini 3 of the Marriot La Magliana. The Business Meeting is one of the best ways to connect with IG members, the Officers, and your Representatives‐at‐ Large. We hope you will plan on attending to learn more about IG projects and initiatives and make your voice heard. We look forward to seeing you there! Gianmario Verona Tom Moliterno CSIG Chair CSIG Secretary

Colophon

The next issue of the Competitive Strategy newsletter will be distributed in April 2011. Please send all your contributions, suggestions, feedback, or comments to Tom Moliterno ([email protected]). The deadline for con‐tributions for the next issue is August 15, 2010. Photos pages 2, 8, & 11—14 courtesy of www. wikipedia.org.

Competitive Strategy Interest Group

Officers & Reps (Until September 2010)

Chair: Gianmario Verona [email protected] Program Chair: Michael Leiblein [email protected] Associate Program Chair: Govert Vroom [email protected] Representatives-at-Large Karin Fladmoe-Linquist 2008-2010 Ravi Madhaven 2008-2010 Christian Stadler 2008-2010 Aya Chacar 2009-2011 Donald Hatfield 2009-2011 Tom Moliterno 2009-2011 Newsletter Editor Tom Moliterno 2009-2011 [email protected]

Documents

A Word From the CSIG Chair - Strategic Management Society · A Word From the CSIG Chair Gianmario Verona Competitive Strategy Interest Group Chair Bocconi University It is a great