The Past Speaks

A number of business historians are presenting at the Strategic Management Society conference, which is being held this week in Paris. The presence of a number of business historians at SMS in encouraging to me, as it is a sign that business historians are now increasingly participating in debates in strategy. In a sense, these business historians are building on the success of those business historians who have made inroads into the field of organization studies. Earlier this month, I got to hear Juha-Antti Lamberg and Jari Ojala, both of the University of Jyvaskyla, present an important paper on the relationship between business history and strategy.

Even though my own co-authored paper was not accepted by the SMS organizers, I would like to extend warm congratulations to the business historians mentioned here.

Monsanto’s Black Box: Technology, Strategy, and Resource Ownership and Control

Shane Hamilton, University of York
Beatrice D’Ippolito, University of York
The Resource-Based View (RBV) relies upon an under-theorized conception
of ownership and control of resources. We develop a model for qualitatively
measuring the strategic value of intangible resources that takes into
account the level of formality of ownership and the degree of managerial
control over resources. We apply this model to a case study of technology at
Monsanto, examining how the firm’s ownership and control of technology
provided both a useful and problematic resource in the firm’s strategic
transition from chemical manufacturing to agricultural biotechnology

Navigating De-Globalisation: An Historical Perspective of Firm Responses to Institutional
Restructuring

Kieran Conroy, Queen’s University Belfast
Michael Aldous, Queen’s University Belfast

Incorporating a business history lens, this study provides early stage
insights on how firms respond to conflicting institutional logics during
a protracted period of de-globalisation. Drawing on archival data in the
form of a longitudinal analysis of British firms in India during the 20th
century, we identify three epochs, characterised by dominant institutional
logics that generated a typology of firm responses. Navigating intense
conditions of de-globalisation, British firms developed responses that
varied from reactive adaptation, in the form of managed exit, and
compliance, to proactive strategic agency through negotiation with local
stakeholders. The paper answers calls for greater integration between
international business and business history perspectives in order to
develop a holistic appreciation of how de-globalisation affects the
dynamic interaction between firms and institutional stakeholders.

NEW TRENDS IN STRATEGIZING OF FAMILY
BUSINESSES

Session Chairs
Fabian Bernhard, EDHEC Business School
George Tovstiga, EDHEC Business School
Panelists

David Bork, Family Business Matters
Ludovic Cailluet, EDHEC Business School
Nadine Kammerlander, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management
Helena McDonnell, Cambridge Family Enterprise
Carlo Salvato, Bocconi University
Family businesses are a prevalent form of organization form in most of
the world’s economies and their strategic approaches differ from other
organizations. The aim of this panel session is to identify and reflect on
critical questions regarding latest developments in the field of strategy
pertaining to family businesses – and specifically related to trends
such as digitalization, demographic change, and political tendencies
of protectionism. Questions include: How does strategizing differ in
a family business from a nonfamily business? What are the unique
strategic challenges of family businesses when it comes to dealing with
an increasingly digital world? How do family businesses strategize in the
light of demographic change? Do the latest tendencies of protectionism
(e.g. US administration, Brexit, etc.) play towards or against family
businesses?