Strategy (STR)
In 1960 the Fortune 500 list of biggest companies on average contained 10 new names each year. Now the average is 50 new companies per year. One third of the current 25 biggest companies in the list did not exist 25 years ago. Those that disappeared from the list were acquired, split up, went bankrupt or at least could not keep up with the required pace to turn themselves into leaner, more agile and more profitable companies. During those 25 years the Fortune 500 companies lost a total of 5 million jobs, but their average profits relative to revenues increased with almost 50%. In three decades the world has gone from a not quite golden age of relative stabile conditions and mild competition in regional markets, allowing a strategy of exploitation and managing business as usual, to creating a dynamic global arena, where innovation and change became much more prominent. Clearly, this has not made things more lonely and quiet at the top (or elsewhere). To the contrary, circumstances are currently much more competitive and the ability for sophisticated strategic management and the expertise to address the needs of the firm’s environment more effectively, are more crucial than ever.
The STR research programme focuses on strategic renewal of large, multi-unit firms, i.e. the process of creating new products, services, capabilities and knowledge bases resulting in a change of the strategic direction of the firm and the networks involved. Its research concentrates on changes in the international business environment, the required changes in the organization of the firm and in its relations and collaborative partnerships with others, and the changes in the required capabilities and roles of managers in the firm. As an overall theme STR explores how the results from these three preceding research foci affect the characteristics of a continuous, comprehensive process of renewal and coevolution of the firm, resulting in an emergent organization that is always in transition to accommodate to the changing environment.
STR offers an intellectually stimulating and internationally oriented environment, which produces challenging concepts to describe and predict the behavior of firms in their confrontation with the market circumstances of the 21st century. It is recognized around the world for the academic rigor of its work and contributions to the scientific discourse about strategy formation, but also enjoys excellent connections with corporate executives and (international) policy leaders and economic advisory boards. Many large corporations in the Netherlands and abroad have collaborated with the STR group in joint research towards original results.
You are cordially invited to contact one of the fellows in the STR group to explore job opportunities (as a graduate student or more senior researcher), to discuss possibilities of joint research or the potential for other projects that you are developing.
