Christos PitelisUniversity of Leeds · Leeds University Business School International Business Department
Christos Pitelis
PhD Economics
About
204
Publications
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Introduction
Head of International Business Department and Professor of International Business and Sustainable Competitiveness, University of Leeds, Life Fellow, Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, and Director of the Cambridge-founded Centre for International Business and Management (CIBAM). I have researched and published in books and in journals such as AMR, Organization Science, JIBS, JWB, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, The Leadership Quarterly, British Journal of Industrial Relations etc.
Additional affiliations
September 2015 - present
Position
- Professor of Strategy and Sustainable Competitiveness, Head of Brunel Business School
September 2013 - August 2015
Position
- Professor of Sustainable Global Business
Description
- September 2013 - present - Director, Centre for International Business and Management (http://www.bath.ac.uk/cibam/)
September 2013 - present
Education
October 1982 - October 1985
October 1981 - October 1982
Publications
Publications (204)
This Special Issue of the Cambridge Journal of Economics (CJE) marks and celebrates forty years since the publication of Keith Cowling’s (1982) seminal Monopoly Capitalism, which synthesised, updated, and extended the earlier work of scholars such as Steindl (1952), Baran and Sweezy (1966), Hymer (1970, 1972) and Kalecki (1971). Since the publicati...
Over the past decade there has been renewed interest in the role of industrial strategy in enhancing innovation, productivity, and competitiveness within and across firms, sectors and regions with an eye to fostering more balanced regional economic growth. This special issue explores how policymakers could adopt place-based industrial policy measur...
Written by an expert team and praised for its refreshing approach, this essential text offers a critical, holistic understanding of strategy theory and practice. The fourth edition has been fully updated to include:
• Coverage of contemporary issues including the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and digitalization
• Topical and engaging case studi...
We discuss conceptual reasons for and propose public investment in regional infrastructure as a hybrid form of a place-based regional industrial policy aiming to foster the regional economic activity of lagging regions. We present and empirically test a baseline model using data for 14 Indian regions/states over a period of 39 years. Our results sh...
I explore the relationship between theory and prediction in political economy and organisational economics, employing the works of Keith Cowling and Stephen Hymer as case examples of prediction-aiding good theory. I develop the insights of the two scholars by leveraging key ideas from classical economics and applying the result to the platform-enab...
We critically assess the state of play with the dynamic capability view (DCV) and explore its nature and scope, its relationship with extant theories, its application and applicability to the theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE), and its relationship with business model innovation (BMI). We claim that the DCV should be considered a meta-the...
We critically assess the comparative efficiency advantages and disadvantages of capitalist and cooperative firms using team production as a frame of reference. We revisit the debate about such (dis)advantages in the context of open team production (OTP), a situation where team members are both internal and external to the firm. In contrast to the c...
We explore how inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) influences migrant remittances in forty-six emerging economies. We develop and test new theory that not only explains the mechanisms underlying the above relationship, but also helps us understand how entrepreneurial migrants and investments made by multinational enterprises serve as foundations...
Providing a fresh perspective on strategy from an organizational perspective through a discursive approach, this third edition features key theoretic tenets and emphasizes the practices of strategy. It encourages the reader to be open to a wider set of ideas, with a little more relevance, and with a cooler attitude towards the affordances of the di...
This study critically revisits extant perspectives and theories on strategic management (SM) and regional industrial strategy (RIS) and considers the scope for cross-fertilization to mutual advantage. Despite an extensive literature on value capture/creation and co-creation strategies in SM, few attempts have explored their relevance to building, a...
1. Introduction
This Special Issue brings together contributions on financialisation and the prospects for a new capitalism. Our aim in putting it together was to stimulate debate on how finance and financial markets and institutions might better serve the real economy and foster economic, social and environmental sustainability.
According to one o...
In assembly of short responses, noted scholars—including former presidents of the Academy of Management (AOM)—share their perspectives on the events related to AOM leadership following EO13769. The pieces are reflections on the micro-level aspects of leadership and the ethical and moral choices therein.
We cross-fertilise scholarship on industrial policy (IP) and renewable energy (RE) innovation, and submit that RE serves as a general purpose technology that contains more specific RE technologies (RETs). We develop five hypotheses and provide econometric evidence for the impact of demand-pull, technology-push and systemic IP instruments on differe...
We propose an orchestration theory of the (new) MNE as an envelope of internalisation theory and its variants. We first critically assess extant varieties of internalisation theory of the MNE. We then discuss their limitations and explain why it is important to move from internalisation to an orchestration theory of the MNE. Orchestration theory, r...
We propose that the purposeful sharing of strategic decisions and the process of making and taking those between the dominant coalition of an organization (Strategic Shared Leadership or SSL thereafter), initiated and supported by a focal strategic leader or small team, engenders Organizational Dynamic Capabilities (ODCs) though the transfer of ind...
This paper critically assesses recent place-based approaches to industrial and regional policy epitomised in the EU’s 2020 ‘smart specialisation’ programme. It suggests that these are a move in the right direction in so far as they acknowledge ‘place’ as a key, constituent part of policymaking. Drawing upon examples from across the world, we emphas...
This article gives an overview of the literature on the issues of capturing 10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_451 from advantage. It discusses the foundational work of 10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_637 and his recognition of the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI). The article then explores the contributions of 10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_293, who cons...
David Teece has made important contributions to strategy, innovation and 10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_138 (IB) and public policy, including reasons for the existence and organization of firms; how appropriability/value capture and transactional issues can influence innovative activity and value creation and the boundaries of the firm; and the role of...
We critically assess, build upon and extend the contribution of Stephen Hymer to the theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE) and 10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_138 (IB) scholarship. We claim that Hymer was able to raise questions of fundamental importance, provide answers and proceed to predictions, mostly of superior insight. We also discuss a num...
This short entry defines the term “cross-border operations” and explores the main theories that try to explicate the choice of different types of cross-border operations (“modalities”), by firms.
The paper explores the respective effects of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and domestic enterprises (DOMEs) on regional productivity in the case of UK regions. The empirical evidence shows that the more intensive in terms of research and development and intangibles, MNEs have a stronger effect on regional productivity than DOMEs. However, when o...
The present review assesses critically Stuart Holland's book Europe in Question. Following a summary of the main ideas and arguments, the review zeroes in a key apparent puzzle-namely why despite the sensibility and feasibility of Holland's analysis and proposals, in the main these have not been taken up as yet by European policy makers. We submit...
We study the impact of the new intellectual property (IP) regime, as shaped by international agreements such as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), on the competitive positions of emerging country firms and advanced country multinational enterprises (AMNEs). Drawing on ideas from the IP, international business, and st...
Governance gives life to an organization by establishing the rules that shape organizational action. Structures of governance rest on stakeholder engagement, particularly on how stakeholders assess the prospects for earning a return by committing their specialized resources to the organization. Once formalized, governance structures and processes c...
1. Introduction
The dominant approach in economics, often referred to as neoclassical economics, gradually acquired its leading status in the years following the publication of Lionel Robbins’s (1932) famous essay on the nature and significance of economic science. In this essay Robbins argued that economics should be about the efficient allocation...
Updated to bring the material in line with the topical and contemporary ideas and debates on or about strategy and catering to students and their diverse learning styles, the second edition is an easy to use tool allowing students to switch from web resources to the print text and back again, opening windows on the world of strategy through cases t...
We draw on the seminal contribution to economics by Luigi Pasinetti, respond to his call to reverse what he saw as the ‘original sin’ of classical economists exacerbated by neoclassical economists, namely the assumption of non-increasing returns to scale, and move towards building a post-classical economics. We outline the contours of a post-classi...
David Teece has made important contributions to strategy, innovation and international business (IB) and public policy, including reasons for the existence and organization of firms; how appropriability/value capture and transactional issues can influence innovative activity and value creation and the boundaries of the firm; and the role of dynamic...
We critically assess, build upon and extend the contribution of Stephen Hymer to the theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE) and international business (IB) scholarship.
We claim that Hymer was able to raise questions of fundamental importance, provide answers and proceed to predictions, mostly of superior insight. We also discuss a number of...
This article gives an overview of the literature on the issues of capturing value from advantage. It discusses the foundational work of Stephen Hymer and his recognition of the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI). The article then explores the contributions of David Teece, who considers the strategy to be adopted by an innovator seeking t...
This entry provides a critical account and proposed forward research agenda of international business (IB), the scholarly business and management subdiscipline that deals with the nature, objectives, functions, strategies, organization, management, performance, interactions and impact of economic actors involved in cross-border operations, notably...
Economics and management literatures fail to properly articulate the interrelationship between enterprise-level appropriability/value capture strategies and the acquisition and sustainability of economy-wide co-created value. We propose a developmental industrial strategy that aims to help capture for the nation state co-created value hence foster...
This short entry defines the term “cross-border operations” and explores the main theories that try to explicate the choice of different types of cross-border operations (“modalities”), by firms.
We draw on the seminal contribution to economics by Luigi Pasinetti. We respond to his clarion call to reverse what he called the “original sin” of classical economists, (the assumption of non-increasing returns to scale) exacerbated later by neo-classical economists and move towards developing a post-classical economics. We outline the contours of...
We explore conditions under which multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNPCs) can profit from their cross-border operations, by learning to collaborate and compete (co-opete) with local companies in emerging economies. The proposed collaboration takes the form of market co-creation and an ‘open-innovation’-type model. This complements more conve...
Drawing on ideas centred on market co-creation and complementary assets, we propose that developing and emerging country (DEC) pharmaceutical firms, which operate in an increasingly challenging environment with the emergence of a stronger intellectual property (IP) regime and competitive pressures from developed countries multinational enterprises...
We investigate the relationship between employees' and managers' training and firm performance using a policy intervention that randomly assigned training support to small- and medium-sized enterprises in the UK accommodation and food service sector. Because the number of firms self-selected into training exceeded available places, training was ran...
We draw on the theory and practice of international competitiveness and developmental industrial policy (DIP), in order to
propose a strategy for reindustrialisation and sustainable European international competitiveness. We suggest that European
policy-makers should take stock of shifts in the global landscape and leverage ideas from business stra...
In this paper, we propose that economic sustainability is seen in terms of (inter-temporal and inter-national) value creation. We claim that value appropriation (or capture), can become a constraint to economic sustainability. We propose that for sustainable value creation to be fostered, corporate governance needs to be aligned to public and supra...
This article explores the scope for cross-fertilization between extant alternative organizational economics perspectives on the private−public nexus. It is suggested that there is substantial scope, which has gone underexplored. The comparative advantages are highlighted, and a synthesis and extension of apparently competing perspectives is provide...
Public organizations are relatively understudied in the strategic entrepreneurship literature. In this article, we submit that public organizations are usefully analyzed as entities that create and capture value in both the private and public sectors and that a capabilities lens sheds important new insights on their behavior. As they try to create...
The link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and competitiveness has been examined mainly at the business level. The purpose of this paper is to improve conceptual understanding and provide empirical evidence on the link between CSR and competitiveness at the national level. We draw on an eclectic-synthetic framework of international econ...
We claim that International Business (IB) scholars have made significant contributions of general interest and applicability to business and strategy scholarship, that could be attributed to their focus on the cross-border operations of firms; that theories and envelopes of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the Multinational Enterprise (MNE), suc...
Debates on "shareholder" and "stakeholder" approaches to corporate governance often get bogged down in competing normative claims about economic rent streams, entitlements of different group members, fairness, and similar distributional issues. These concerns are important, but core economic issues in shareholder-stakeholder debates revolve around...
We discuss structural and institutional underpinnings of the Greek ‘Debt’ Crisis. We suggest that the Greece's de facto catching-up
competitiveness model was misguided, short-term focused, and eventually doomed. Alongside this ‘model’ were behaviours and
attitudes that assisted the realisation of an anticipated collapse. Our assessment also account...
While purposive action is widely viewed as a sine qua non of entrepreneurship, the purpose of such purposive action, is often muted. We submit that exploring the purpose of entrepreneurial behavior, can yield valuable insights into the study of entrepreneurship. We leverage Ronald Coase’s concepts of the ‘nature’ and ‘essence’ of the firm to the lo...
Extant literature on clusters underplays the role of purposive human action, particularly the role of appropriability-informed entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial management, in leveraging strategy to create and co-create organizations, markets and supporting ecosystems. We employ transaction costs, resource-knowledge-capabilities and power-control-b...
The link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and competitiveness has been examined mainly at the business level. The purpose of this paper is to improve theoretical understanding and provide empirical evidence on the link between CSR and competitiveness at the national level. We draw on an eclectic-synthetic framework of international bus...
This paper seeks to confront one of the more elusive characteristics of entrepreneurship, which have hindered its incorporation into the theory of cross-border organisation. It explores how entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial managers imagine or envision future real states of the world, and embark upon a process of creation, co-creation, and developm...
We discuss political economy foundations of industrial policy (IP), with an eye to unearthing its nature, objectives, scope, constraints, limitations and possible new directions. We suggest that extant conceptual economic foundations of IP involve an underconceptualised theory of the state and the public-private nexus. We aim to address this limita...
Edith Penrose's work on the multinational enterprise and the political economy of globalization and development is assessed as it relates to her views on business history. This essay was written on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Penrose's classic 1959 book and her 1960 prize-winning paper on Hercules Powder, which was published in the...
We investigate the relationship between Human Resources (HR) and superior firm performance, as well as the role of business strategy as a key mediating factor of this relationship, for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK Tourism Hospitality and Leisure (THL) sector. Our results suggest that high-performing SMEs in the THL sector are...
The paper assesses the contribution of Edith Penrose to the theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE) and the political economy of globalisation and development as they relate to (her views on) business history, on occasion of the 50th Anniversary of her classic 1959 book and her 1960 prize-winning paper on “Hercules Powder”, published in this R...
The link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and competitive advantage has been examined mainly at the business level. The purpose of this paper is to improve theoretical understanding and provide empirical evidence on the link between CSR and competitiveness at the national level. We explore conceptually whether and how CSR can impact on...
This chapter discusses alternative perspectives on private–public interactions and supply-side competition and industrial
policies in theory and in practice. It also critically assesses recent European policies in this context. It then develops
a new framework that emphasises the sustainability of value creation at the firm, meso and national level...
We critically assess extant theory of the competitive advantage and catching-up of nations. We then propose a novel framework
and explore the role of FDI, clusters and public policy in its context. We suggest that scholarship in international business
and strategy can be usefully leveraged to address these important issues.
We test for the determinants of Multinational Enterprise (MNE) headquarters decisions to augment the innovative capabilities
of the MNE group by granting mandates to their subsidiaries to set-up own R&D labs in UK regions, using a unique primary data
set. Our findings suggest that the best predictor for a subsidiary receiving a mandate, is the stre...
We build on extant theory of the Multinational Enterprise (MNE), MNE subsidiaries and absorptive capacity (AC) to develop
a framework that allows us to explore the role of MNE subsidiaries in the global sourcing of knowledge and MNE performance.
We develop and test hypotheses using primary questionnaire-collected data. Our results support the idea...
We apply insights from Edith Penrose’s work to extant theories of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the multinational enterprise
(MNE) as developed by John Dunning’s Ownership, Location, Internalization (OLI) Paradigm, to propose a novel knowledge-learning-based theory of FDI and the MNE. We suggest that the knowledge/learning-based
approach has...
We critically assess the nature, method and scope of neoclassical economics, and its purported relationship to the famous definition of economics by Lionel Robbins (that economics is the science of human behaviour as a relationship between scarce mans that have alternative uses). We claim that Robbins’ definition was more general than currently all...
We aim to provide firm-level foundations to the issue of macroeconomic value and wealth creation and capture. We propose a framework for value creation by firms and aggregate it to the industry-sector-region, macroeconomic (nation-wide), and supra-national (global) levels. We discuss firm and nation-wide strategies for value capture and analyse the...
We aim to bridge three (plus one) levels of (strategic) management theory of value capture and sustainable value creation; micro (firm), meso (industry, region), macro (national) (and also global). We propose a framework for value creation by firms and explore firm strategies for value capture and their relationship to value creation. We construct...
This paper explores innovation, experimentation, and creativity in the public domain and in the public interest. Researchers in various disciplines have studied public entrepreneur-ship, but there is little work in management and economics on the nature, incentives, constraints, and boundaries of entrepreneurship directed to public ends. We identif...
We investigate the strategies, HR attributes and their synergies that are associated withsuperior performance in service SMEs using data from the UK Tourism Hospitality andLeisure (THL) sector. A major advantage of our analysis is that our sample includesinformation also on very small firms which makes results representative of the industry butalso...
States, state agencies, multilateral agencies, and other non-market actors are relatively under-studied in strategic management and organization science. While important contributions to the study of public actors have been made within the agency-theoretic and transaction-cost traditions, there is little research in political economy that builds on...
This article aims is to provide a short critical account of extant economic theory(ies) of the firm, business (and industry organization), and the state and government. It explores competing perspectives, such as neoclassical economics, transaction costs, the evolutionary perspective, resource, capabilities, and the system-based view as well as Mar...
The predominant focus in research on organizations is on private or public institutions without consistent consideration of their interdependencies. The emphasis in scholarship on private or public interests has strengthened as disciplinary and professional knowledge has deepened: Management scholars, for example, tend to consider the corporation a...
The concepts of asset co-specialization and dynamic capabilities have been
instrumental in furthering the organization and strategy scholarship agenda, but have
so far had limited impact to the theory of the MNE and FDI. In addition, the role of
entrepreneurial management in orchestrating system-wide value creation through
market and eco-system cre...
Despite recent emphasis on intra-organizational issues, scholarship on organizations, management and strategy remains unduly reliant on economic models, such as the industrial organization (IO) market structure-based analysis. The focus of such models is on price-output determination by firms and the economy-wide efficient allocation of scarce reso...
Despite much progress, scholarship on organizations and strategic management remains unduly reliant on economic models such as the industrial organization (IO) market structure-based analysis. The focus of such models is on price-output determination by firms and the economy-wide efficient allocation of scarce resources, under conditions of full kn...
Projects
Projects (2)
Call for Papers: Towards De-Financialisation and the Rise of New Capitalism? (https://academic.oup.com/cje/pages/call_for_papers)
Editors: Giuseppe Fontana, Christos Pitelis, Jochen Runde
The Special Issue invites contributions on the future of financialisation and the potential rise of a new form of post-financialisation capitalism. The aim is to stimulate a debate on how finance and financial markets and institutions can better serve the real economy and foster economic, social and environmental sustainability.