Theory and research in strategic management: Swings of a pendulum

The development of the field of strategic management within the last two de cades has been dramatic. While its roots have been in a more applied area, often referred to as business policy, the current field of strategic manage ment is strongly, theory, based with substantial empirical research, and is eclectic in nature. This review of the development of the field and its cu rrent position examines the field's early development and the primary theor etical and methodological bases through its history. Early developments inc lude Chandler's (1962) Strategy and Structure and Ansoff's (1965) Corporate Strategy. These early works rook on a contingency perspective (fit between strategy mid structure) and a resource-based framework emphasizing interna l strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps, one of the more significant contributi ons to the development of strategic management came from industrial organiz ation (IO) economics, specifically the work of Michael Porter. The structur e-conduct-performance framework and the notion of strategic groups, as well as providing a foundation for research on competitive dynamics, are flouri shing currently. The IO paradigm also brought econometric tools to the rese arch on strategic management. Building on the IO economics framework, the o rganizational economics perspective contributed transaction costs economics and agency theory to strategic management. More recent theoretical contrib utions focus on the resource-based view of the firm. While it has its roots in Edith Penrose's work in the late 1950s, the resource-based view was lar gely introduced to the field of strategic management in the 1980s and becam e a dominant framework in the 1990s. Based on the resource-based view or de l eloping concurrently were reseal-ch on strategic leadership, strategic de cision theory (process research) and knowledge-based view of the firm. The research methodologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated and now freq uently combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches and unique and new statistical tools. Finally, this review examines the future directions, both in terms of theory and methodologies, as the study of strategic manag ement evolves. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.