PLENARY SESSIONS AT SAN FRANCISCO
Plenary sessions are a highlight of the SMS Annual Conference, bringing together top scholars, industry leaders, and influential voices to explore timely, thought-provoking topics that align with the conference theme. These sessions are designed to inspire, spark cross-sector dialogue, and connect research with real-world strategic impact. Held in a large, main-stage setting with no competing sessions, plenaries offer a shared experience for all attendees and feature keynotes, fireside chats, and panels with leading academics and practitioners.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12
Sunday, October 12 from 1:45 - 3:00 PM
Strategy and entrepreneurship literatures are heavily premised on the idea of bounded rationality in decision making. This is prevalent in the theoretical domain, e.g., TCE, Agency Theory, and Real Options and in heavily applied conceptual ideas of managerial search, exploration-exploitation, myopia, bricolage, among others. The Trillion Dollar world allows us to question whether bounded rationality is still relevant or if strategy and entrepreneurship are increasingly going to be in the world of unbounded rationality. This panel brings together experts in both these fields to discuss and debate ideas.
Speakers:
Shaker Zahra is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Robert E. Buuck Chair and at Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His research studies entrepreneurship and new firm strategy in global technology and science industries, technology strategy by new firms vs. incumbents, role of digital technology, and emergence of new organizational forms in ecosystems. Widely published in leading academic journals, Zahra is among the most highly cited in field management. He is a Fellow in the Academy of Management, Academy of International Business, a Research Fellow in the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, and several other organizations. He received the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division ‘s award in recognition of his “creative and impactful contributions to entrepreneurship research.” His teaching has also received “best teacher of the year” in the MBA and the Mentor Award from the Entrepreneurship Division of Academy of Management for his work with doctoral students. At the University of Minnesota, Professor Zahra served as department chair, academic director of the Holmes Entrepreneurship Center, and co-founding director of the university-wide Center for Integrative Leadership. He served on multiple editorial boards in different capacities. His service and outreach contributions have received several awards. He has held several chaired visiting international positions.
Dr. Sharon Alvarez is an internationally respected scholar, a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, and has been widely recognized for her service and research contributions. Professor Alvarez was the 2023 Academy of Management President. Her groundbreaking research has been published widely across top journals in management and entrepreneurship, earning multiple best paper awards and garnering thousands of citations. Dr. Alvarez’s research in entrepreneurship is widely known for challenging existing paradigms and offering impactful contributions for not just entrepreneurship but for the broader field of management. Her influential (co-authored) paper, Discovery and Creation: Alternative Theories of Entrepreneurial Action won both the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Best Paper Award and the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division Foundational Paper Award. It remains the most cited paper in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. In 2024, she was honored with the Academy of Management Review Best Paper Award for her article Where do Stakeholders Come From?
Rajshree Agarwal is the Rudolph Lamone Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and the Director of the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland. Recognized consistently in the list of top 2% of scholars worldwide, Rajshree researches the evolution of industries, firms and individual careers, as fostered by the twin engines of innovation and enterprise. Her scholarship integrates across disciplinary lenses to shed light on strategic innovation for new venture creation and for firm renewal. Her teaching applies the same principles to discuss how individuals can engage in personal leadership, develop win-win relationships, and create a virtuous spiral between one's aspirations and abilities. Rajshree has received numerous awards for her scholarship and mentorship, including the "University Scholar" Award at the University of Illinois and the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award at University of Maryland.
Saras Sarasvathy is Paul Hammaker Professor at University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business. A leading scholar on the cognitive basis for high-performance entrepreneurship, Sarasvathy serves as advisor to entrepreneurship programs around the world, as well as on boards of companies and accelerators. After founding and running five ventures, Sarasvathy worked with Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon, to discover the effectual elements of entrepreneurial expertise. Her award-winning research explained in Effectuation has engendered new research, education and policy materials from around the world that can be found at www.effectuation.org. Sarasvathy passionately advocates for entrepreneurship as a method, to be taught not only to potential entrepreneurs but to everyone, just as we teach science to everyone, not only to potential scientists. The aim is to create a society capable of effectual action to build enduring and robust socio-economic communities based on a middle class of business – not just startups and unicorns.
Moderator:
Daniella Laureiro-Martínez works at ETH Zurich (CH) where she is the director of the COLAB, a research group that studies the cognitive antecedents of adaptive behavior in environments that change. They rely on theories and findings from neurosciences and psychology, innovation and strategy, to understand decision-making, creative problem solving, and ultimately learning. Her work has been published on journals like the Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Journal of Management Studies, the Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics and in the open-source Nature journals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience and Frontiers in Psychology. She currently serves in the Editorial Review Board of the Strategic Management Journal and Organization Science. In the past she served as Representative-at-large for the Behavioral Strategy Interest Group of SMS, and for the Managerial and Organizational Cognition and the Technology and Innovation Management Divisions of AoM. She holds a PhD in Management (Strategy and Innovation) from Bocconi University. Prior to entering academia, she worked as a researcher and a businesses and government consultant in areas related to small businesses development in Latin America.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13
Monday, October 13 from 9:30 - 10:30 AM
Much of the literature in strategy is based on the implicit idea of limits to growth driven by diseconomies of scale. The emergence of ultra-behemoths appears to challenge this idea, which begs the question of whether there are benefits to scale that might transcend diseconomies.
Join us for a lively debate about whether or not there are limits to firm scale. Jay Barney and Kathy Eisenhardt will be arguing for limits and Alfonso Gambardella and Mary Tripsas will argue for no limits to growth. The debate will be moderated by Vibha Gaba.
Speakers:
Jay B. Barney, Presidential Professor of Strategic Management, holds the Lassonde Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. His research focuses on the relationship between firm resources and capabilities and sustained competitive advantage and entrepreneurship. He has published over 135 articles and nine books and been cited over 200,000 times. In 2010, he won the Academy of Management Scholarly Contributions Award—generally seen as the most prestigious award for research achievement in the field of management.
Kathleen M. Eisenhardt is the S. W. Ascherman M.D. Professor of Strategy and Organization, and Faculty member of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program at Stanford University. She is the coauthor of "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World" and "Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos", which won the George R. Terry Book Award. Kathleen Eisenhardt's research focus is strategy and organization, especially in technology-based companies and high-velocity industries. She is currently studying the scaling and the growth of new firms, non-market strategies, and simple rules and the microfoundations of strategy. Eisenhardt has consulted at senior levels with firms in industries ranging from Internet marketplaces, telecommunications, fintech, software, and biotech to agribusiness, semiconductors, and clean tech. Among her awards are the Dan and Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Prize and the CK Prahalad Award from SMS, and the Scholarly Contribution to Management award from AOM. She is a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society and Academy of Management, and has served as a Fellow of the World Economic Forum (Davos) and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Alfonso Gambardella, PhD Economics, Stanford University, is Professor of Corporate Management in the Department of Management & Technology of Bocconi University, Milan. He has worked on different topics in the economics and management of firm strategies and innovation. He is Department Editor of Business Strategy of Management Science, an Academy of Management Fellow, a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, and a member of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), London. In 2021 he was awarded a European Research Council grant on “A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management,” and is currently co-director of the ION Management Science Lab at SDA Bocconi.
Mary Tripsas is a Full Professor of technology management at the College of Engineering, UC Santa Barbara. Before UCSB, she was on the faculties of the Wharton School, Harvard Business School, and Boston College. She obtained her PhD from the MIT Sloan School, her MBA from the Harvard Business School, and her BS from the University of Illinois, Urbana. She studies how organizations can develop and capture value from new technologies that create or transform industries, with an emphasis on how mental models shape strategic action. Her work has been published in the Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and Research Policy among others. Her research has also won numerous awards, including the Dan and Mary Lou Schendel SMJ best paper prize.
Moderator:
Vibha Gaba is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD and The INSEAD Fellow in Memory of Erin Anderson. She is broadly interested in how organizations learn and how it impacts their ability to innovate and adapt especially in discontinuous environments. Her recent research focuses on the implications of multiple goals and aspirations, organizational structure, and decision-makers’ attributes on adaptive change. Her work has been published in top management journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Annals, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. Currently, she is serving her second term as the Associate Editor of Strategic Management Journal. Vibha's teaching portfolio includes courses in the MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. She is the Academic Program Director for several executive education programs focusing on corporate entrepreneurship, organizational change and leadership. She has received the INSEAD Executive Education Award for Outstanding Teaching multiple times.
Monday, October 13 from 3:00 to 4:00 PM
Join us for a special session honoring Steve Blank, recipient of the Strategy Leadership Impact Award, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the field of strategy, particularly in innovation and entrepreneurship. A pioneering force in Silicon Valley, Steve is a serial entrepreneur, educator, and the visionary behind the Lean Startup Movement. Over the course of his career, he has founded and led multiple startups, documented the entrepreneurial journey in The Startup Owner’s Manual, and reshaped how startups and corporations approach innovation. Now a renowned educator at Stanford University, Steve continues to inspire the next generation of innovators through his teaching and thought leadership.
In this session, Steve will deliver a brief keynote tracing the history of innovation in Silicon Valley—from its early origins to today’s dynamic landscape. He will then engage in a thought-provoking fireside chat with Martin Reeves, exploring the evolving intersections of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Speaker:
Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. He has been described as the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship.
Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement and the curriculums for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and Hacking for Defense and Diplomacy, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate.
Steve is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual which revolutionized how startups were built. His Harvard Business Review cover story redefined how large companies can innovate at speed.
Moderator:
Martin Reeves is a Senior Partner and Managing Director in the San Francisco office of BCG and Chair of the BCG Henderson Institute, BCG’s think tank on business strategy. Martin is currently leading research on imagination and strategy, crisis strategy, resilience, corporate vitality, biological strategy, and business ecosystems. He is also the author of Your Strategy Needs a Strategy (HBR Press), which deals with choosing and executing the right approach in today’s complex and dynamic business environment.
Martin Reeves joined BCG in London in 1989 and later moved to Tokyo, where he led the Japan health care practice for eight years and was responsible for BCG’s business with global clients. He has led numerous strategy and organizational assignments both for individual companies and industry associations. Before joining BCG, he worked for ICI, in Japan and the UK, in marketing and strategic planning. He holds a triple first class MA in natural sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14
Tuesday, October 14 from 9:30 - 10:30 AM
As part of SMS’s ongoing mission to connect theory with real-world practice, this session features a candid fireside conversation with Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, a fintech leader powering more than 8,000 apps and services across 17 countries.
Founded in 2013, Plaid builds the data infrastructure that enables consumers and businesses to seamlessly connect to their financial institutions. From payments and identity verification to credit underwriting and beyond, Plaid plays a central role in today’s digital finance ecosystem.
Plaid’s rise has been anything but linear, marked by bold strategic pivots, deliberate focus amidst rapid opportunity, and key decisions that have shaped its trajectory. In this conversation, Zach will share insights into the company’s origins, the turning points that redefined its path, and how strategic thinking continues to shape Plaid’s evolving business model.
This session offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at startup strategy in practice, ideal for scholars and practitioners alike seeking to understand how innovation, adaptability, and long-term vision come together in a high-growth environment.
Speaker:
Zach Perret is CEO and Co-founder of Plaid, the technology platform powering the future of money. After realizing how difficult it was to build a personal finance application, Zach and his co-founder, William Hockey, started Plaid in 2012 to give developers easy and secure access to a financial data network capable of powering any digital financial service. Today, one in two people with a US bank account has used Plaid to connect to a financial application. Prior to founding Plaid, Zach was a consultant for Bain and graduated with degrees in Physics and Chemistry from Duke University.
Moderator:
Myles Shaver is Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management where he holds the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Corporate Strategy. Myles’ research interests include corporate expansion and corporate headquarters strategies. His research is published in SMJ, GSJ, Management Science, Strategy Science, Organization Science, ASQ, AMR, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, JIBS, IJIO, Strategic Organization, JOM, AMD, and in his book "Headquarters Economy: Managers, Mobility, and Migration." Myles is recipient of the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award for MBA and Executive Teaching and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business Distinguished PhD Alumni Award. A recent study identified Myles as one of the most prolific management scholars in the world and Poets and Quants profiles Myles in their compilation of the “World’s 50 Best Business School Professors.” Myles is the current President of the Strategic Management Society, as well as a Fellow.
Tuesday, October 14 from 1:30 to 2:30 PM
In a world where Big Tech players launch artificial intelligence to shape the future, how can startups, high-growth firms, and other incumbent enterprises keep pace? Join strategy scholar David J. Teece and tech visionary Steve Outtrim for the world premiere of SudoSelf—a revolutionary AI digital twin encapsulating decades of Professor Teece’s transformative insights on dynamic capabilities, innovation economics, and business ecosystems. This isn’t just a presentation; it’s a live, interactive showdown where strategic theory meets cutting-edge technology.
Watch as three distinct voices challenge SudoSelf: a young scholar pushing the frontiers of strategic research, a policy consultant dissecting the antitrust challenges posed by Big Tech, and a management consultant seeking actionable strategies for clients dwarfed by industry titans. Their diverse questions—from academic rigor to regulatory nuance to practical playbooks—will test whether an AI strategist can deliver the high priced thinking once reserved for the wealthy. With spontaneous audience participation adding fuel to the fire, this session explores how SudoSelf could democratize strategic brilliance, empowering firms of all sizes to outmaneuver behemoths in multi-trillion-dollar economies. Don’t miss this glimpse into a future where every organization can unleash its own strategic doppelgänger!
Speaker:
Steve Outtrim is a dot-com pioneer and serial entrepreneur who founded two tech companies that went public and another two sold to private equity. In the 1990's his business Sausage Software published the HotDog Web Editor, once listed by WIRED as the third most downloaded Internet software. Steve also founded facilities management SAAS provider Urbanise.com, powering more than 3000 prestige real estate developments including Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. He is now flourishing in the AI space, using sophisticated phone agents to make tens of thousands of phone calls every day.
Moderator:
David J. Teece is a Professor of the Graduate School at UC Berkeley and Executive Chairman of Berkeley Research Group, a global advisory firm he founded, now with over 1,500 professionals in 40+ offices. He is also a Distinguished Scholar of Strategy and Innovation at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business. An influential scholar-entrepreneur, Teece is known for pioneering the concepts of dynamic capabilities and dynamic competition, which explain how firms adapt, innovate, and create value amid technological and geopolitical uncertainty. He has made major contributions to innovation and competition policy and frequently advises governments and corporations worldwide. Recognized by Clarivate as the #1 management scholar globally and a Clarivate Laureate in economics, he was also named a Distinguished Management Thinker by Thinkers50. Beyond academia, Teece has scaled three startups and remains active in venture capital, bridging theory and practice to drive innovation and growth.
