Funding Opportunities

SRF provides $150,000-200,000 USD annually to scholars in the field of strategic management. Grants are given for a two-year period beginning in January following the application’s acceptance. Funding from SRF programs is meant to complement additional funding sources for the research.

Are you a doctoral student in strategic management?

The Will Mitchell Dissertation Research Grant (WMDRG) program supports doctoral student dissertation research in the field of strategic management with grants of up to $10,000 USD. This grant program is named in honor of Professor Will Mitchell to recognize his contributions to the SMS and the education of doctoral students in strategic management.

The WMDRG funds are intended to supplement other financial resources available to students and to support elements of their research that enhance the quality, expand the scope, augment the research design, or in some other way enrich their dissertation projects.

Giada Di Stefano is the WMDRG Program Director.
John Mawdsley is the WMDRG Associate Program Director.

Are you a faculty member in strategic management?

The Research in Strategic Management (RSM) program supports faculty research on a rotating set of themes central to the field of strategic management with grants of up to $25,000 USD. For 2023 and 2024, the theme is “New Thinking in Corporate Strategy Research.”

RSM Proposals are required to tackle questions and phenomena that inform corporate-level dynamics and provide insights for corporate-level decision making. We encourage theoretical and especially empirical proposals. All submissions are required to articulate how the proposed research contributes to this theme, to strategic management theory, and to relevant managerial practices.

Jackson Nickerson is the RSM Program Director.

Annual Grant Application

Timeline

July – October 1: Applications Collected
December: Decisions Announced
January 1: Grant Period Begins

 

Application Review

All Grant application will be reviewed using the following criteria: 

  • Contribution to strategic management theory:  Are the frameworks employed, the data to be used, and/or the potential results to be obtained likely to make a new and substantial theoretical or empirical contribution to the academic field of strategic management? 
  • Novelty of the research topic/question:  Is this research likely to start or redirect a line of inquiry in the field of strategic management? 
  • Research design and methodological rigor:  Are the data appropriate for the theory being developed or tested? Are the procedures appropriate for the research questions? Is the description of the methods to be used adequate? Is validity properly justified? 
  • Expected impact of the funding: Is SRF funding likely to make a significant difference to the quality, scope, or other characteristics of the project that will enhance its conceptual or empirical contributions to theory and practice? 

Each Program may have additional criteria that is also used to evaluate the application.

 

SMS member meeting in conference hall

About the Strategy Research Foundation

The purpose of the Strategy Research Foundation is to support and advance scholarship in the field of strategic management. The SRF’s core activity is the operation of competitive research grant programs.

SRF operates two competitive grant programs: the Research in Strategic Management Program (RSM) and the Will Mitchell Dissertation Research Grant Program (WMDRG), which is named to honor Professor Will Mitchell in recognition of his contributions to SMS and the education of doctoral students in strategic management.

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