SMJ Special Issues

Special Issues are an important part of the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ). Special Issues primarily examine emerging or important but understudied topics in the field of strategic management, which may involve new or substantial reorientation of theories, research questions, methods, or areas of empirical research.

Interested in submitting a proposal for a Special Issue? Review these Special Issue policies then email the SMS Office at smj@strategicmanagement.net.

All Special Issue manuscripts considered for submission must be sent to SMJ's online submission site. For information as to the form of submission, including style and other submission guidelines, please click here.

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Current Special Issues

Strategies for Orchestrating Innovative Solutions to Grand Challenges

Submission Deadline: July 1, 2024

Research in strategic management has been central to understanding how enterprising individuals and firms design and execute self-sustaining innovative solutions within markets to address socioeconomic needs. Within market-based economies, firms are the traditional engines of innovation, operating within the institutions created and enforced by governments to address socioeconomic needs. Such private-sector innovation has catalyzed notable advances and created positive social benefits in a range of fields including agriculture, education, energy, health, poverty alleviation, and security.
Increased attention to grand challenges has elevated the need to envision and orchestrate innovative solutions and technological adaptations for addressing them. Grand challenges are complex societal problems whose solutions are perceived to be time-urgent, critical, and impactful for addressing unmet needs in society. Today, there are at least three distinct views about the roles and responsibilities of firms, governments, and related stakeholders in orchestrating the efforts toward innovative solutions to grand challenges.

The goal of this special issue is to explore the importance and value of firms and actors operating within markets to tackle grand challenges, with a focus on the strategic orchestration of innovative solutions. We encourage theory-driven or theory-building submissions that provide robust and rigorous empirical evidence about these themes. We welcome deductive, inductive, or abductive studies using quantitative or qualitative data. Purely conceptual and theoretical papers are out of scope of the special issue.

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Strategy and Artificial Intelligence

Submission Deadline: September 30, 2024

Over the last decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in particular Machine Learning (ML) or data-driven AI, has pervaded the functioning of many organizations around the world and affected the strategies they formulate. AI refers to any computer system that perceives its environment (e.g., numerical data, speech, text, and images), learns from past behavior, and takes action to maximize the likelihood of attaining its goals. Applications of these technologies have transformed data-driven decision making by organizations. Recently, generative AI and large-language models have garnered significant attention, challenging executives and boards to align them with their digital strategies. The emergence and application of AI technologies are set to revolutionize firm strategy and competition, sparking discussions across various forums, from board-level meetings to frontline staff exploring AI's potential to enhance customer experiences.

The adoption of AI and its impact on firm strategy, while pervasive, can be viewed through three lenses: how the technology shapes how firms compete (competing with others), strategize (formulating their strategies), and organize (organizing their operations).

We are calling for empirical studies applying quantitative or qualitative methods to examine AI, ML, in strategy, strategic decision-making, or data-driven decision-making. We welcome deductive, inductive, or abductive studies. Studies that are exclusively theoretical / conceptual are outside the scope of the special issue. A study must align with at least one of the three core themes identified above.

Download Call for Papers

Published Past Special Issues

Past Special Issues Awaiting Publication

Resource Allocation and Strategic Management

Resource allocation is a fundamental element of strategic management – whether at the corporate level, business level, or functional level; whether in an established firm or a new firm; whether in the context of a defined competitive environment or an emerging one. Despite its importance, the topic is remarkably understudied. Even when it is examined, resource allocation is often in the background of studies on other strategy topics, or invoked in a general sense, but not the focus of articles. Treating resource allocation as a background feature both underplays its importance and impedes learning about this critical management function. Treating resource allocation in broad terms oversimplifies the specific choices facing managers.

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SMJ Online Journal Access

SMS Journals are published in partnership with Wiley, and articles can be found on the Wiley Online Library. SMS Members receive complimentary access to all SMS Journal articles.

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