Summary articles SSBM
Agarwal, R. and Helfat, C.E. (2009). Strategic renewal of organizations, Organization Science,
20(2): 281-293..................................................................................................................................... 3
Miles, R.E. Snow, C.C., Meyer, A.D., and Coleman, H.J. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure,
and process. Academy of Management Review, 3(3): 546-562. ....................................................... 5
Reeves, M., and Deimler, M. (2011). Adaptability: The new competitive advantage, Havard
Business Review, July-Augustus: 135-141. ....................................................................................... 10
Head, B.W. and Alford, J. (2013). Wicked Problems: Implications for public policy and
management. Administration & Society, XX(X):1-29. ...................................................................... 12
Plantin J.C., Lagoze C., Edwards P.N., and Sandvig C. (2018). Infrastructure studies meet platform
studies in the age of Google and Facebook. New Media Society, 20(1): 293–310. ........................ 15
Van Dijck, J. (2020). Governing digital societies: Private platforms, public values. Computer Law &
Security Review, 36: 1-4.................................................................................................................... 19
Zuboff S. (2015). Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information
civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1) 2005:75-89. ................................................ 21
Ackermann, F., & Eden, C. (2011). Strategic management of stakeholders: theory and practice.
Long range planning, 44(3), 179-196................................................................................................ 24
Constantiou, I.D. and Kallinikos, J. (2014). New Games, new rules: Big data and the changing
context of strategy, Journal of Information Technology, 30 (1). pp. 44-57..................................... 29
Whittington, R., Cailluet, L. and Yakis-Douglas, B. (2011). Opening strategy: Evolution of a
precarious profession. British Journal of Management, 22: 531-544. ............................................ 32
Jacobides, M.G., Cennamo, C. and Gawer, A. (2018). Towards a theory of ecosystems. Strategic
Management Journal, 39: 2255-2276. ............................................................................................. 35
Foss, N., and Saebi, T. (2018). Business models and business model innovation: between wicked
and paradigmatic problems. Long Range Planning, 51(1), 9-21. ..................................................... 38
Zott, C., Amit, R., & Massa, L. (2011). The business model: recent developments and future
research. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1019-1042. .................................................................... 41
Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2010). From strategy to business models and onto tactics.
Long range planning, 43(2), 195-215................................................................................................ 45
Eden, C., & Ackermann, F. (2000). Mapping distinctive competencies: a systemic approach.
Journal of the Operational Research Society, 51(1), 12-20. ............................................................ 50
Cosenz, F. (2017). Supporting start-up business model design through system dynamics
modelling. Management Decision, 55(1), 57-80. ............................................................................. 52
Rouwette, E. A. J. A. & Franco, L. A. (2015). Messy problems: Practical interventions for working
through complexity, uncertainty and conflict (Reader Intervention Methodology, Radboud
University). Available from Brightspace. .......................................................................................... 55
Walker, W.E. (2000). Policy Analysis: A systematic approach to supporting policymaking in the
public sector. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 9: 11-27 ................................................ 56
1
,Marchau V.A.W.J., Walker, W.E., Annema, J.A., and van de Waard, J. (2013). Transport Futures
Research. G.P. van Wee, J.A. Annema and D. Banister (eds.) The Transport System and Transport
Policy, Edward Elger, 305-328. ......................................................................................................... 60
Walker W.E., Marchau, V.A.W.J.& Kwakkel, J.H. (2013). Chapter 9 Uncertainty in the Framework
of Public Policy Analysis. In W.A.H. Thissen & W.E. Walker (Eds.), Public Policy Analysis.
International Series in Operations Research & Management Science 179, Springer, New York,
215-261. ............................................................................................................................................ 67
Wright, G., & Goodwin, P. (2009). Decision making and planning under low levels of predictability:
Enhancing the scenario method. International Journal of Forecasting, 25(4), 813-825................. 76
2
,Agarwal, R. and Helfat, C.E. (2009). Strategic renewal of organizations, Organization Science,
20(2): 281-293.
We define ‘strategic’ as ‘’that which relates to the long-term prospects of the company and has a critical
influence on its success or failure’’.
Strategic renewal has several important characteristics. First, strategic renewal relates to that which has
the potential to substantially affect the long-term prospects of a company. Second, strategic renewal
encompasses the process, content and outcome of renewal. Third, strategic renewal involves the
refreshment or replacement of attributes of an organization. Fourth, such refreshment or replacement
aims to provide a foundation for future growth or development. Based on these characteristics, we
define strategic renewal as follows:
Strategic renewal includes the process, content, and outcome of refreshment or replacement of
attributes of an organization that have the potential to substantially affect its long-term prospects.
We distinguish between two basic types of strategic renewal:
1. Discontinuous strategic transformations: involve replacing important parts of a company and
its strategy, and affect the long-term prospects of the firm.
2. Incremental renewal: may enable firms to cope with changes in the external environment as
they take shape, and thereby reduce the need for a much larger and more difficult
transformation later on.
Conducting renewal activities such as R&D on a regular basis requires underlying processes, rules,
routines, and resources, along with the capabilities to develop and execute such activities, including
dynamic capabilities. Helfat et al. define a dynamic capability as “the capacity of an organization to
purposefully create, extend, or modify its resource base”. Thus, strategic renewal contains a role for
dynamic capabilities through modification of the organization’s resource base.
Given the potential benefits of continual efforts directed at strategic renewal, we might as why we still
see firms attempt major transformations, that is because:
• Some changes in the external environment are difficult to anticipate
• Continual adaptation may be hard for organizations to manage effectively, because this may
conflict with routines that enable companies to perform current tasks well. à One solution to
this tension between routines and change is to institutionalize continuous renewals through
routines, organizational structure and incentives to conduct on-going renewal activities.
Not only discontinuous transformations but also continuous incremental strategic renewal efforts hold
the potential for major strategic change. Strategic renewal applies not only to mature firms, but also to
young firms and it applies to several levels of analysis.
There are two enduring effects that make the incumbent-entrant distinction:
- Entrants that destroy the status quo in an industry are often established firms diversifying from
other industries, rather than the novo entrants. Although startups make up the largest share
of entrants into new markets, it is diversifying entrants that are the most successful in terms of
both survival and performance in new industries. Diversifying entrants benefit directly from
their scale and pre-entry experience and they also play an important role in shaping the
subsequent evolution and growth of new industries through investments they make in
3
, developing the necessary infrastructure and complementary assets and enhancing the
legitimacy of the industry
1. Because strategy and organization studies typically focus on an organization’s own
performance, they may underestimate the associated social and economic welfare
consequences.
Although entrepreneurial ventures add a great deal to the company, we cannot overlook the activities
of established firms, including activities that often are part of strategic renewal, such as innovation,
market entry, and investment.
Case example to illustrate how firms can renew themselves multiple times à case about IBM
Transformations at IBM
- Transformation from an electromechanical accounting equipment company into an electronic
computing company (1940-1993)
- Transformation from a hardware-based computing company with substantial personal
computer business into a business computing services company (recent years)
First, both transitions involved replacement of the company’s main business. These replacements
occurred because either a new technology or a changing competitive landscape threatened to make
IBM’s current business outdated. Second, because the replacements involved the company’s primary
business, by definition they had a critical affect on the long-term prospects of the company. Third, these
transformations involved replacing important attributes of the company’s strategy and organization.
Finally, these changes in company attributes related to the content of strategic renewal, the process of
making and implementing the associated decisions and the outcome.
In addition to undertaking major transformations, IBM has pursued continued renewal over time. In its
incremental strategic renewal activities, IBM demonstrated a clear commitment and communication of
strategic intent by top management, along with processes for both the formulation of strategy and its
implementation.
4