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While qualitative work has a long tradition in the strategy field and has recently regained popularity, we have not paused to take stock of how such work offers contributions. We address this oversight with a review of qualitative studies of strategy published in five top-tier journals over an extended period of 15 years (2003–2017). In an attempt to organize the field, we develop an empirically grounded organizing framework. We identify 12 designs that are evident in the literature, or “designs-in-use” as we call them. Acknowledging important similarities and differences between the various approaches to qualitative strategy research (QSR), we group these designs into three “families” based on their philosophical orientation. We use these designs and families to identify trends in QSR. We then engage those trends to orient the future development of qualitative methods in the strategy field.

States that market segmentation is one of the most important concepts in marketing, though little has been published about its application in business practice. Explores the application of segmentation in Belgian apparel retailing. Compares the views and practices emerging from in‐depth interviews with 22 retail practitioners and six industry experts and contrasts them with the normative segmentation model. Concludes that the retail mix evolves through a cyclical process rather than a linear sequence, and that the segmentation model is more a normative than a descriptive model of retailer behaviour. The data suggest that a simple sequence fails to capture the ongoing iterative process by which retailers adjust their market offerings. Finds that the target market emerges from this process of interaction with the marketplace. Marketing academicians are encouraged to root their work in business practice.

This paper describes a comprehensive approach to examine how technological innovation contributes to the renewal of a firm’s competences through its dynamic and reciprocal relationship with R&D and product commercialization. Three theories of technology and innovation (the R&D and technological knowledge concept, product‐process concept, technological interdependence concept) are used to relate technology and innovation to strategic management. Based on these theories, this paper attempts to identify the dynamic relationship between product innovation and process innovation using system dynamics by investigating that aspect of the dynamic changes in the closed feedback circulation structure in which R&D investments drive the accumulation of technological knowledge.