Faculty & Research

Flier, Bert

Personal

Name:
Function:
Office:
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:

Bert Flier
Assistant Professor of Strategic Management

+31 10 408 2005
+31 10 408 9013
bflier@rsm.nl

Research Interest

Organizational change
Strategic renewal
Organizational learning
Institutional theory
Managerial agency

Résumé

Education

1998 - 2003	Ph.D. in Business Administration, Erasmus University Rotterdam 11 December 2003 Thesis titel: “Strategic Renewal of European Financial Established organizations”
1995 - 1998	Erasmus University Rotterdam, Economic Faculty: Japan Sciences
1991 - 1998	Erasmus University Rotterdam, Faculty of "Bedrijfskunde", M.Sc. in Business Administration

Work Experience

2003 -	Assistant professor of Strategy and Business Environment
1998 -	Research Associate, Erasmus University Rotterdam
1995 -	Research Assistant, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Current research

Current research is concerned with investigating strategic renewal in large corporations. The focus of the research is on assessing trajectories of strategic renewal, their contingencies, and performance differentials. The study has a multi-methodological research design, combining document analysis, questionnaire, and case studies.

Publications

International (refereed) journals

Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch and H.W. Volberda (2003), ‘Coevolution in the Strategic Renewal Behaviour of British, Dutch and French Financial Established organizations: Interaction of Environmental Selection, Institutional Effects and Managerial Intentionality, Journal of Management Studies, Special Issue, Vol. 40, No. 8, 2163-2187.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, H.W. Volberda, C.A. Carnevale, N. Tomkin, L. Melin, B.V. Quélin and M.P. Kriger (2001), ‘The Changing Landscape of the European Financial Services Sector’, Long Range Planning, Vol. 34, No. 2, 179-207.
Volberda, H.W., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, B. Flier and E.R. Gedajlovic (2001), ‘Following the Herd or Not? Patterns of Renewal in the Netherlands and the UK’, Long Range Planning, Vol. 34, No. 2, 209-229.

National (refereed) journals

Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2001), ‘Het veranderende landschap in de Europese financiële sector’, Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfskunde (MAB), Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 103-112.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2000), ‘Strategische Vernieuwing in de Top 5 van de Nederlandse Financiële Sector,’ Special Issue Corporate Restructuring, TBA, Tijdschrift voor Bedrijfsadministratie, 104 (1235), pp. 324-333.
Volberda, H.W. en B. Flier (1998), Flexibilisering van Nederlandse ondernemingen, ESB Dossier, 3 december 1998, pp. 19-23.

Books, or contributions to books

Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, H.W. Volberda, and Ch. Baden-Fuller (2005), ‘Strategic Renewal in the Dutch Financial Services Sector: Renewal Trajectories from a Competence-Based Perspective’, in: Sanchez & Heene (eds.), Research in Competence-Based Management, Elsevier, 237-274.

Conference papers

M. Stienstra, B. Flier, F. A. J. Van den Bosch, and H. W. Volberda (2005), ‘How environmental discontinuity impacts the process of strategic renewal and the competitive advantage of large incumbent firms: An empirical investigation into the European financial services sector and the European energy industry’, The Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 14-15 December.
B. Flier, F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2001), ‘Idiosyncratic versus generic patterns of renewal in the European financial services sector: A comparison between the Netherlands and the UK’, Academy of Management, Washington DC, USA, August 3-8.
B. Flier, F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2001), ‘Following the herd or being different? Trajectories of strategic renewal of European financial services firms’, Strategic Management Society Annual International Conference, San Francisco CA, USA, October 21-24.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2000), ‘Strategic Renewal in the Dutch Financial Service Sector: Renewal Trajectories from a Competence-Based Perspective,’ Paper session ‘Competence Perspectives on Corporate Renewal’, Fifth International Conference on Competence-Based Management, Helsinki, Finland, June 10-14.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2000), ‘How do large firms renew over time? Analyzing trajectories of change of large established Dutch financial service firms,’ Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Interactive Paper Session Strategic Change, Learning, and Context, Toronto, August 7-9.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2000), ‘How do large firms renew over time? Trajectories of change of financial service firms in the UK and The Netherlands,’ Strategic Management Society Conference, Track B: Business Strategy and Competitive Rivalry, Vancouver, October 15-18.
Flier, B., Ch. Baden-Fuller, F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (1999), ‘A Management Board Perspective on Strategic Renewal Processes within Large European Financial Services Firms: Evidence from the Netherlands and the U.K.’, 15th Egos Colloquium, University of Warwick, United Kingdom, July 4-6.
Baden-Fuller, Ch., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, B. Flier, E. Gedajlovic, and H.W. Volberda (1999), ‘Co-evolution of the Dutch Financial Services Sector: Describing and Analyzing Trajectories of Strategic Renewal’, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, August 6-11,
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (1999), ‘Describing and analyzing trajectories of strategic renewal within the financial services sector: A new approach’, Strategic Management Society Conference, Berlin, Germany, October 3-6.

Others

Flier, B., Bosch, F.A.J. van den, Volberda, H.W. & Baden-Fuller, C. (2004), Investigating Strategic Renewal of Five Large Dutch Financial Services Firms, ERIM Report Series, ERS-2004-032 STR.
Flier, B., F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (forthcoming), ‘Co-evolution of the Dutch and UK Financial Services Sectors: Describing and Analyzing Trajectories of Strategic Renewal’, in: Lewin & Volberda (eds.), The Co-evolution Advantage: Mobilizing the Self-renewing Organization, Palgrave.
Member, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) (since December 2003)*.

*Based on the string of publications written during his PhD research, Bert Flier was the first to be granted the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) membership as of the date of his Ph.D. defense.

Working Papers

Brief summary of research activities:

Strategic renewal behaviour of large established organizations in deinstitutionalizing industries has been my research focus over the past five years. A number of studies have been conducted in cooperation with professors Henk Volberda and Frans van den Bosch to analyze patterns of strategic renewal of large European established organizations in the financial services sector. This research explored the coevolution of strategic renewal behaviour of established financial firms and new technologies and deregulations. A comparative analysis of technological and regulatory changes in seven European countries and strategic adaptations of thirty European financial established organizations resulted in a string of publications in top journals, (amongst others in the Journal of Management Studies), Dutch journals, chapters in international books, and a series of conference papers. We found indications that different dimensions of strategic renewal behaviour are variously impacted by managers’ intentions, institutional isomorphic forces, and macro-environmental forces. My Ph.D. thesis resulting from this research received the ERIM Dissertation Award in December 2005 and was nominated for the Christiaan Huygens Wetenschapsprijs.

This line of research has been expanded into other deregulating industries. Data has been collected on established organizations in the energy sector and the airline industry (a collaborative effort of partners of the Erasmus Strategic Renewal Center), which has added up to a data base that currently constitutes more than 2,000 strategic actions for 40 firms. In cooperation with Frans van den Bosch, Henk Volberda, and Marten Stienstra, I am investigating the effects of strategic group membership and industry differences on strategic renewal behaviour. We are currently presenting results of this study in international conferences and plan to submit a paper next year to a top journal.

Scholarships and prizes

The Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Flier received the ERIM Award for Best ERIM Dissertation (December 2005).
The Ph.D. thesis was nominated for the Christiaan Huygens Wetenschapsprijs (for more information: click here)
Nomination for the C. Dexter Best International Paper Award at the 2001 Academy of Management Conference: BPS Division, Washington DC, USA: August 3-8
Nominated paper: B. Flier, F.A.J. Van den Bosch, and H.W. Volberda (2001), ‘Idiosyncratic versus generic patterns of renewal in the European financial services sector: A comparison between the Netherlands and the UK’.
Bert Flier has further competed in sports at a professional level. He won the Dutch championships on the triathlon (3.8km swim - 180 km bike – 42,2 km run) in 2001 and 2002. He was listed in the top-100 of most influential Dutch athletes (Mart Smeets, Sportweek no. 3, January 7, 2003, p.41: “Bert Flier (triathlon): hij bewijst: winnen en goed studeren gaan dus wel samen.”

Teaching

Master:

BKM01SM: The Strategy Process 2005
BKMME81: Master Elective Strategic Renewal and Corporate Entrepreneurship 2005

Bachelor

BKBLO-13: Leeronderzoek ‘Can Elephants Dance?’ 2005-2006
RP05-05: Leeronderzoek ‘Can Elephants Dance?’ 2005-2006

Dr. Flier further contributes to IBPF04: International Business Project, and in teaching the ERIM Honours class for the department of Strategy and Business Environment.