Zhongyuan Sun

Reading lists Stream 17Search all readings

Strategy process, practice and cognition

Strategic decision making, managerial cognition, strategy as practice and rhetoric.

Of its 66 readings, 5 are assigned in two or more sources and listed first, with the number of sources beside each (in bold for the core readings, in 4 or more); the 61 listed in only one source are folded under each heading.

In the theory tree: grows out of 15 Behavioral theory of the firm and organizational learning.

Drawn from: Glaser (Alberta); Yao (HBS); Kogut & Keum (Columbia); Jia (USC); Zuckerman (MIT); Maoret (IESE); Pollock (Tennessee); Lu, Li, Park, Yang & Yan (CityU); Zhou (HKU). Full details of the sources are on the reading lists page.

By decade

Before 1950: 0 readings<19501950s: 0 readings1950s1960s: 1 reading1960s1970s: 2 readings1970s1980s: 5 readings1980s1990s: 12 readings1990s2000s: 16 readings2000s2010s: 25 readings252010s2020s: 5 readings2020s
Most date from the 2010s; half were published in 2008 or later.

Core readings

In 4 or more sources.

  1. Kaplan, S. (2008). Framing Contests: Strategy Making Under Uncertainty. Organization Science, 19(5), 729–752. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1070.03405
  2. Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18(S1), 187–206. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(199707)18:1+<187::aid-smj936>3.3.co;2-b4

Also assigned

In 2 to 3 sources.

  1. Deephouse, D. L. (1999). To be different, or to be the same? It’s a question (and theory) of strategic balance. Strategic Management Journal, 20(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(199902)20:2<147::aid-smj11>3.0.co;2-q3
  2. Powell, T. C., Lovallo, D., & Fox, C. R. (2011). Behavioral strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 32(13), 1369–1386. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.9683
  3. Gavetti, G. (2012). Toward a Behavioral Theory of Strategy. Organization Science, 23(1), 267–285. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.06442

Further readings

61 more, listed in one source
  1. Cyert, R. M., & March, J. G. (1963). A Behavioral Theory of the Firm.
  2. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases: Biases in judgments reveal some heuristics of thinking under uncertainty. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.185.4157.1124
  3. Mintzberg, H. (1978). Patterns in Strategy Formation. Management Science, 24(9), 934–948. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.24.9.934
  4. March, J. G., & Olson, J. P. (1983). Organizing Political Life: What Administrative Reorganization Tells Us about Government. American Political Science Review, 77(2), 281–296. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958916
  5. Mintzberg, H., & McHugh, A. (1985). Strategy Formation in an Adhocracy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 30(2), 160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393104
  6. March, J. G., & Shapira, Z. (1987). Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking. Management Science, 33(11), 1404–1418. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.33.11.1404
  7. Bourgeois, L. J., III, & Eisenhardt, K. M. (1988). Strategic Decision Processes in High Velocity Environments: Four Cases in the Microcomputer Industry. Management Science, 34(7), 816–835. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.34.7.816
  8. Fredrickson, J. W., & Iaquinto, A. L. (1989). Inertia and creeping rationality in strategic decision processes. Academy of Management Journal, 32(3), 516–542. https://doi.org/10.2307/256433
  9. Wooldridge, B., & Floyd, S. W. (1990). The strategy process, middle management involvement, and organizational performance. Strategic Management Journal, 11(3), 231–241. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250110305
  10. Bromiley, P. (1991). Testing a causal model of corporate risk taking and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 34(1), 37–59. https://doi.org/10.2307/256301
  11. Rajagopalan, N., Rasheed, A. M. A., & Datta, D. K. (1993). Strategic Decision Processes: Critical Review and Future Directions. Journal of Management, 19(2), 349–384. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639301900207
  12. Simons, R. (1995). Control in an age of empowerment. Long Range Planning, 28(3), 120. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-6301(95)91624-5
  13. van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining Development and Change in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 510. https://doi.org/10.2307/258786
  14. Greve, H. R. (1995). Jumping Ship: The Diffusion of Strategy Abandonment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 444. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393793
  15. Whittington, R. (1996). Strategy as practice. Long Range Planning, 29(5), 731–735. https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-6301(96)00068-4
  16. Simon, H. A. (1997). Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-making Processes. Free Press.
  17. Rajagopalan, N., & Spreitzer, G. M. (1997). Toward a Theory of Strategic Change: A Multi-lens Perspective and Integrative Framework. Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.2307/259224
  18. Camerer, C., & Lovallo, D. (1999). Overconfidence and Excess Entry: An Experimental Approach. American Economic Review, 89(1), 306–318. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.89.1.306
  19. Greve, H. R., & Taylor, A. (2000). Innovations as Catalysts for Organizational Change: Shifts in Organizational Cognition and Search. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45(1), 54–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666979
  20. Whittington, R. (2000). What Is Strategy and Does It Matter? (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA.
  21. Denrell, J., & March, J. G. (2001). Adaptation as Information Restriction: The Hot Stove Effect. Organization Science, 12(5), 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.12.5.523.10092
  22. Hannan, M. T., Pólos, L., & Carroll, G. R. (2003). The Fog of Change: Opacity and Asperity in Organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(3), 399–432. https://doi.org/10.2307/3556679
  23. Nickerson, J. A., & Silverman, B. S. (2003). Why Firms Want to Organize Efficiently and what Keeps Them from Doing So: Inappropriate Governance, Performance, and Adaptation in a Deregulated Industry. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(3), 433–465. https://doi.org/10.2307/3556680
  24. Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2004). Blue Ocean Strategy. Harvard Business Review.
  25. DellaVigna, S., & Malmendier, U. (2004). Contract Design and Self-Control: Theory and Evidence. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(2), 353–402. https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382111
  26. Wulf, J. (2004). Do CEOs in Mergers Trade Power for Premium? Evidence from "Mergers of Equals". Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 20(1), 60–101. https://doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewh024
  27. Cattani, G. (2005). Preadaptation, Firm Heterogeneity, and Technological Performance: A Study on the Evolution of Fiber Optics, 1970–1995. Organization Science, 16(6), 563–580. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0145
  28. Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the Practice Turn in Strategy Research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613–634. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840606064101
  29. Jarzabkowski, P., Balogun, J., & Seidl, D. (2007). Strategizing: The challenges of a practice perspective. Human Relations, 60(1), 5–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726707075703
  30. Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2007). Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System. Harvard Business Review.
  31. Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., & Lampel, J. B. (2008). Strategy Safari: Complete Guide Through the Wilds of Strategic Management (2nd ed.). Trans-Atlantic Publications.
  32. Jarzabkowski, P., & Seidl, D. (2008). The Role of Meetings in the Social Practice of Strategy. Organization Studies, 29(11), 1391–1426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840608096388
  33. Malmendier, U., & Tate, G. (2008). Who makes acquisitions? CEO overconfidence and the market's reaction☆. Journal of Financial Economics, 89(1), 20–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2007.07.002
  34. Galasso, A., & Simcoe, T. S. (2011). CEO Overconfidence and Innovation. Management Science, 57(8), 1469–1484. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1374
  35. Cabantous, L., & Gond, J.-P. (2011). Rational Decision Making as Performative Praxis: Explaining Rationality's Éternel Retour. Organization Science, 22(3), 573–586. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0534
  36. Bingham, C. B., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (2011). Rational heuristics: the ‘simple rules’ that strategists learn from process experience. Strategic Management Journal, 32(13), 1437–1464. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.965
  37. Kaplan, S. (2011). Research in Cognition and Strategy: Reflections on Two Decades of Progress and a Look to the Future. Journal of Management Studies, 48(3), 665–695. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00983.x
  38. Kaplan, S. (2011). Strategy and PowerPoint: An Inquiry into the Epistemic Culture and Machinery of Strategy Making. Organization Science, 22(2), 320–346. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0531
  39. Brandenburger, A., & Vinokurova, N. (2012). Comment on “Toward a Behavioral Theory of Strategy”. Organization Science, 23(1), 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0699
  40. Winter, S. G. (2012). Purpose and progress in the theory of strategy: comments on Gavetti. Strategic Direction, 28(7). https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2012.05628gaa.007
  41. Zhou, Y. M. (2013). Designing for Complexity: Using Divisions and Hierarchy to Manage Complex Tasks. Organization Science, 24(2), 339–355. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1120.0744
  42. Nicolini, D. (2013). Practice Theory, Work, and Organization: An Introduction. OUP Oxford.
  43. Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2013). Process Studies of Change in Organization and Management: Unveiling Temporality, Activity, and Flow. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.4001
  44. Gehman, J., Treviño, L. K., & Garud, R. (2013). Values Work: A Process Study of the Emergence and Performance of Organizational Values Practices. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 84–112. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0628
  45. Piskorski, M. J. (2014). A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850020
  46. Wang, R. D., & Shaver, J. M. (2014). Competition‐driven repositioning. Strategic Management Journal, 35(11), 1585–1604. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2167
  47. Gavetti, G., & Menon, A. (2016). Evolution Cum Agency: Toward a Model of Strategic Foresight. Strategy Science, 1(3), 207–233. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2016.0018
  48. Glaser, V. L., Fiss, P. C., & Kennedy, M. T. (2016). Making Snowflakes Like Stocks: Stretching, Bending, and Positioning to Make Financial Market Analogies Work in Online Advertising. Organization Science, 27(4), 1029–1048. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2016.1069
  49. Benner, M. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2016). The Song Remains the Same? Technological Change and Positioning in the Recorded Music Industry. Strategy Science, 1(3), 129–147. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2016.0012
  50. Ansari, S., Garud, R., & Kumaraswamy, A. (2016). The disruptor's dilemma: TiVo and the U.S. television ecosystem. Strategic Management Journal, 37(9), 1829–1853. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2442
  51. Anthony, C., Nelson, A. J., & Tripsas, M. (2016). “Who Are You?…I Really Wanna Know”: Product Meaning and Competitive Positioning in the Nascent Synthesizer Industry. Strategy Science, 1(3), 163–183. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2016.0015
  52. Glaser, V. L. (2017). Design Performances: How Organizations Inscribe Artifacts to Change Routines. Academy of Management Journal, 60(6), 2126–2154. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0842
  53. Menon, A. R., & Yao, D. A. (2017). Elevating Repositioning Costs: Strategy Dynamics and Competitive Interactions. Strategic Management Journal, 38(10), 1953–1963. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2635
  54. Chiles, B. (2017). Shrouded Prices and Firm Reputation: Evidence from the U.S. Hotel Industry. R&R at Management Science. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2952950
  55. Zhao, E. Y., Ishihara, M., Jennings, P. D., & Lounsbury, M. (2018). Optimal Distinctiveness in the Console Video Game Industry: An Exemplar-Based Model of Proto-Category Evolution. Organization Science, 29(4), 588–611. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1194
  56. Raffaelli, R., Glynn, M. A., & Tushman, M. (2019). Frame flexibility: The role of cognitive and emotional framing in innovation adoption by incumbent firms. Strategic Management Journal, 40(7), 1013–1039. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3011
  57. Zuzul, T., & Tripsas, M. (2020). Start-up Inertia versus Flexibility: The Role of Founder Identity in a Nascent Industry. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(2), 395–433. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839219843486
  58. Gavetti, G., & Lecuona Torras, J. R. (2021). A Neo-Carnegie Approach to the Agency Question: Bridging the Evolutionary and Cognitive Views of Strategy. Strategy Science, 6(4), 353–359. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2021.0149
  59. Special issue on Culture and its Link to Strategy. (2021). Strategy Science.
  60. Joseph, J., & Sengul, M. (2022). The Foundations and Future of Organization Design Research. Working Paper.
  61. Menon, A., & Yao, D. (2024). Rationalizing Outcomes: Interdependent Learning in Competitive Markets. Strategy Science, 9(2), 97–117. https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2018.0083