Guest Editors' Introduction: The frontiers of strategic management research

摘要

This is an exciting time for scholarly research in the area of strategic management. After decades of lack of self-confidence about its intellectual heritage and influence, the field of strategic management has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two decades to establish itself as a distinct and well-accepted field of scholarly research in the field of management (Hoskisson et al. 1999; Mahoney and McGahan 2007). In light of the current growing pace and breadth in strategic management research, we believe this is an appropriate time to take stock of the considerable volume of research generated in the last two decades, draw some lessons and set an agenda for future research. Towards this end, this special issue brings together a team of leading experts to undertake a comprehensive in-depth review of five active research fronts in strategic management and to provide pointers for future research endeavours. The goal of this editorial paper is not to provide a comprehensive review of research in the area, as several recent papers have summarized current and past trends in strategic management research (Herrmann 2005; Hoskisson et al. 1999; Mahoney and McGahan 2007). The aim of this editorial is threefold: to provide a brief background for the leading debates that dominate the strategic management research agenda; to raise some fundamental questions about the current and future state of strategic management research; and to highlight the key points raised by the five papers published in this special issue.