The area of Strategy and Management spans a host of very different management‐related phenomena, multiple levels of analysis (from the employee level focus of organizational behaviour over the firm‐level focus of strategic management to the dyadic level of industrial collaboration and even beyond these levels), numerous source disciplines (economics, finance, management science, psychology, sociology, ...), and very different conceptualisations of the organisation and the task of management. However, a unifying feature is a fundamental concern with business firms and their relations to their stakeholders and other players in their relevant environments.
The research frontier that characterises the area relates to the challenges that are faced by firms that have to act and survive in an increasingly globalised world economy characterized by incessant change. This raises challenges related to optimal sourcing and use of knowledge, notably for purposes of innovation; strategic flexibility; the management of the human capital that is becoming increasingly footloose under the impact of competition for talent; the leverage of valuable assets in diversification or foreign direct investment; the increased importance of networks and other modes of organisation that lie in‐between markets and hierarchies – and the need to design internal organisation that fosters entrepreneurial initiative while preserving accountability and effectiveness.