SMS Extension: Strategy & Institutions

SMS EXTENSION: STRATEGY & INSTITUTIONS

FRIDAY OCT 4 & 5, 2012

This year’s conference theme “Strategy in Transition” places institutions central to the theories and practices of strategic management.  The Rotterdam School of Management would like to offer an extension to this theme by focusing on how institutions influence strategy formation and implementation processes in domestic and international contexts.  Regulatory, normative and cognitive institutions may constrain strategic decision-makers because of rationalized myths, isomorphism, and legitimacy or legal demands.  They may also be helpful in facilitating the formation and implementation of certain strategies, improving the functioning of markets, and shaping business practices. Strategies may or may not be aligned with institutions, and this may be strategically savvy, sinful or silly.  With this extension we aim to reflect, debate and learn about how strategies and institutions relate to each other. 

We will have panels and paper presentations to discuss and explore research on the key questions in the area of Strategy & Institutions.  Moreover, we have a methods workshop to help facilitate research in this area.

The extension will be held at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Being near Schiphol airport, a central hub to other destinations including Prague, our school could be a perfect first stop for strategy scholars on their way to Prague by plane or train. 

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

October 4

18:00                Joint Dinner for International Guests

October 5

8:30-9:00         Coffee & Welcome

9:00-9:10         Opening Word – Steef van de Velde (tba)

9:10-9:30         Opening Keynote – Tatiana Kostova

9:30-10:30       Panel I – Institutions and Strategy Formation

                           Chair: Pursey Heugens

                           Keith Brouthers, Igor Filatotchev, Arjen Slangen, Arjen van Witteloostuijn

Over the last decade, the rise of emerging markets, financial and sovereign debt crises, climate change often brought established and changing institutions to the forefront in popular and academic debates.  In this context, it becomes increasingly clear that strategists have to consider how institutions influence the formation of strategies, and how strategies can influence the role of institutions.  In this panel, we focus on how institutions influence strategic choices at various levels of analyses.

10:30-10:45     Coffee Break

10:45-12:00     Paper presentations – Strategy & Institutions

12:00-13:30     Lunch

13:30-14:30     Panel II – Institutions & Strategy Implementation

                           Chair: Tatiana Kostova

                           Andrew Delios, Taco Reus, Kendall Roth, Hans van Oosterhout

MNCs face a widely diverse institutional context in which they have to implement smart strategies.  It becomes very important to understand, describe, and clarify this institutional context, and how this context affects the actions and activities to implement strategies. In this session we reflect on how institutions influence the organization and governance of firms across markets, and how this affects strategy implementation. 

14:30-14:45     Coffee Break

14:45-16:00     Methods Workshop

                          Justin Jansen & René Olie

16:00               Closing & Drinks