After much anticipation, the SMS 42nd Annual Conference was held on September 17-21, 2022 in London, and was the first in-person conference held since 2019. The conference had a record 1,286 conference registrants – the highest number of registrations for an in-person annual conference to date. The theme “Innovative Strategies for an Open World,” developed by Program Chairs Jamie Cattell, Anu Wadhwa, and Richard Whittington, received an impressive 1,420 proposal submissions. The conference Competitive Program featured 110 Paper and 17 Panel sessions. Additionally, the Interest Groups and Communities hosted 11 Workshops and 36 topical IG&C Sessions. There were four Plenary Sessions, featuring speakers from academic, business, and consulting backgrounds. The Plenary Sessions included a panel discussion on Strategy in the Age of Technology Disruption with established speakers from IBM, Innovate Finance, University of Warwick, and University of Cambridge, a discussion of Open Strategy by leaders from London Business School, University of Innsbruck, and Boston Consulting Group, a welcome address and distinguished panel on Grand Challenges and Business Strategy with leaders from Shell’s Energy Transition and Sustainability Strategy Division, Club of Rome, United Nations Global Compact, and Imperial College London, as well as a session in which Dame Vivian Hunt shared insights from her life-long career as a strategic counsellor and was joined by a panel of distinguished scholars who further enriched the dialogue with their diverse perspectives and experiences. Click here to learn more about the conference program. The program also included several networking opportunities: several IG&C Socials, Receptions on Saturday and Monday evenings, the Tuesday Night Event at the Natural History Museum, sponosored by Imperial College Business School, the 4th Annual Women’s Networking Social, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Discussion Tables, the PhD Student Circle LIVE, Coffee Breaks, Lunches, and an always open Conference Lounge. In addition to conference sessions, Awards and Honors recipients were announced throughout the duration of the conference. SMS Award and journal prize winners were honored during the Welcome Reception, and the Conference Paper Prizes, including the inaugural Responsible Research Paper Prize, were announced during the first Plenary Session of the conference. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Dame Vivian Hunt, the first female honoree in the award’s history as well as the first honoree named since 2018. Click here for details on all of the 2022 Award Recipients.
