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.
Past Special Issues Awaiting Publication
Strategy and Artificial Intelligence
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.
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.
Strategies for Orchestrating Innovative Solutions to Grand Challenges
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. This issue will focus on theory-driven or theory-building research providing robust and rigorous empirical evidence about these themes.
Published Past Special Issues
- New Directions for the Resource-Based View
- Question‐Driven and Phenomenon‐Based Empirical Strategy Research
- Strategies for Platform Ecosystems
- History and Strategy Research Opening Up the Black Box
- Value Creation and Value Appropriation in the Context of Public and Non-Profit Organizations
- The Interplay of Competition and Cooperation
- Strategy Processes and Practices: Dialogues and Intersections
- Reviews of Strategic Management Research
- New Theory in Strategic Management
- Replication in Strategic Management
- Question-Based Innovations in Research Methods
- Strategy and the Design of Organizational Architecture
- The Age of Temporary Advantage?
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.