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This study reports an examination of the relationships between Porter's (1980) generic strategies, dynamic environments, and performance. In me study, profile deviation is used to test strategy—environment fit. A sample of 173 acute care hospitals was used to test the proposed relationship. Results from the study indicate that adherence to an externally specified ideal strategy profile has a positive effect on firm performance. From a methodological standpoint, results suggest that empirical and theoretical profiles have equal predictive validity, and both have a higher predictive validity, than a random profile. Results also suggest that profiles can not be assumed to be robust to differences in performance measures used.

This paper expands the theory of competitive decision making in declining industries. Kelley and Thibaut's theory of interdependence is used to analyze and explain the use of competitive and cooperative strategies among competitors. The analysis suggests that although the use of competitive strategies is more likely, cooperative strategies should produce higher performance. Several barriers to, and facilitators of, the use of cooperative strategies in declining industries are identified, and their prescriptive implications are discussed.

Two views of organizational change dominate the management literature. The incremental view holds that organizations experience large‐scale strategic changes quite slowly while the revolutionary view proposes that organizations experience long periods of relatively little strategic variation punctuated by short, intense periods of major change. Commonalties among the two change theories provide the basis for a study of 101 businesses over a six year period. The research examines two theoretical implications: change is bimodally and discretely distributed and skewed toward incremental strategic change, and firms undergoing revolutionary strategic change will be more likely to experience simultaneous changes on multiple organizational dimensions than firms undergoing incremental strategic change. Consistent with Proposition 1, it was found that change is skewed toward incremental, but also that change is unimodal and continuously distributed, contrary to Proposition 1. Contrary to Proposition 2, revolutionary change on multiple dimensions was found to be rare.

The performance effects of product‐market and international diversification were examined in a sample of 156 U.S. corporations. Three sets of performance measures were used: (1) profitability, (2) risk‐adjusted returns, and (3) growth. Results suggest independent effects on profitability, and interactive effects on risk‐adjusted returns and growth. Results also clarify seemingly conflicting findings on product‐market and international diversification effects on performance.

This study examines the moderating effect of international involvement on the relationship between two dimensions of managerial tenure and firm performance. Data for 89 Fortune 500 firms of varying levels of international involvement were gathered and analyzed. The results of the empirical examination provided significant support for the moderating effect of internationalization on the relationship between top management team tenure and firm performance. In general, in firms with relatively higher levels of foreign involvement, teams with higher organizational tenure and lower job tenure realized superior performance outcomes.

By bringing together the IB and IE literatures, the purpose of this paper is to examine the internationalization process as an entrepreneurial process related to the development of international opportunities. It explicitly connects different types of knowledge (i.e. market and internationalization), international opportunities and the internationalization process comprising both new foreign market entry and sequential moves that happen after entry.

This is a conceptual paper that reviews the literature on knowledge, opportunities and the internationalization process. Moreover, the paper identifies the current gaps in the literature and builds new theory that sheds light into how these three concepts are related. The paper also presents a model and propositions that should guide future research.

The proposed model shows that market and internationalization knowledge combine to form the international knowledge stockpile of the firm, which moderates the relationship between the development of international opportunities and the internationalization process, comprising not only new foreign market entry but also sequential moves that happen after entry using either mode continuation or modal shift. Moreover, it shows that the development of opportunities only leads to modal shifts after a certain threshold is achieved.

The propositions suggest that market and internationalization knowledge are positively related to international opportunities, which, in turn, are related to foreign market entry and sequential moves using mode continuation. International opportunities, however, are related to modal shifts only beyond a threshold. Moreover, the international knowledge stockpile of the firm moderates the relationship between international opportunities and the internationalization process. Because this is a conceptual paper, the propositions have not been tested and, therefore, lack empirical validation. Nonetheless, the model is a starting point to new research on internationalization distinguishing different types of knowledge as well as different sequential moves.

This study shows that the internationalization process is contingent on the different types of knowledge associated with it. It also introduces the idea of a threshold that shapes the internationalization process. The bulk of the research on internationalization suggests that such a process is gradual and incremental. This study offers a non-linear alternative.

Recent literature in the strategic management field suggests that firms must learn to re‐bundle internal competencies and resources in order to maintain competitive advantages over time. Utilizing the resource‐based view of the firm and dynamic capabilities perspectives, this paper examines the roles that absorptive and transformative capacity play in organizational innovation, with specific emphasis placed on the role and effectiveness of knowledge management systems as a determinant of innovation practices.

This research fills a gap in the literature regarding managerial retention and performance in the context of cross-border acquisitions (CBA). Blending institutional with resource-based theories, this study posits that retaining acquired managers becomes more important in unfamiliar environments where the institutional infrastructure is underdeveloped. Our results support the theory. Contrary to expectations and prior research, however, the results also call into question the long-held belief that managerial retention is generally beneficial to post-acquisition performance. The findings and implications are discussed regarding managerial turnover, CBA, and the institutional environment.

Advisors play a key role in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process, but research to date has rarely focused on how their influence impacts these transactions. The present chapter takes stock of the present literature on M&A advisors from finance, economics, and management in order to integrate the currently diverging research traditions into a coherent framework. The current research has focused on proximal acquisition outcomes, like acquisition premiums or expected performance in the form of cumulative abnormal returns, but there is limited theoretical understanding of the advisors impact on the post-acquisition period. Moreover, while the role of advisor reputation has been highlighted on both the management and finance literatures as an important aspect of the role advisors play in the M&A process, there seems to be much to be addressed. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, the nature of the relationship between the advisor and the acquirer or target presents challenges to researchers where the advisor acts both as a provider of expertise in the M&A process, but may be simply acting on their own best interest. The new framework that the authors present here provides management scholars with a roadmap into a cohesive research agenda that can inform our theoretical understanding of the role of M&A advisors.