AWARD CRITERIA
The Strategic Management Society first presented this prize in 1998 to honor the best paper presented at the SMS Annual Conference. Nominated authors are invited to submit a full paper version of their submitted proposal for consideration by the selection committee. These papers are reviewed and 10 finalists are named prior to the conference. The committee determines the winner to be announced during the conference. Decisions are based on the following criteria:
- Soundness of the conceptual development
- Originality and new contribution(s)
- Appropriate methodology well applied
- Relevance to management practice
- Effective communication of the central ideas of the work
The Prize for the best conference paper consists of a US $2,000 cash award. Additionally, four other papers receive Honorable Mention prizes consisting of a US $1,000 cash award. All winners are also recognized at the conference during a prize presentation ceremony.
The Co-Directors of the 2026 SMS Annual Conference Best Paper Prize are Helen Hu, University of Melbourne, and Vikas Aggarwal, INSEAD
SMS Annual Conference Best Paper 2026 Prize Recipient:
Reimagining the Firm with AI
Hyunjin Kim, Dahyeon Kim, and Rembrand Koning
Honorable Mentions:
The architecture of faith: How organizations transform distance into devotion over time
Nathan Washburn and Don Lange
Regulatory Reform and Market Evolution in the Spectrum Commons
Haiyang Zhang, Shane Greenstein, Roberto Fontana, and Do Yoon Kim
Digital Monitoring, Managerial Skill and Workers’ Productivity
YUYU Chen, Miguel Espinosa, Jingchen Zhu, and Shuo Liu
Geopolitics and the Decoupling of International Innovation Networks
Luis Ballesteros