Tomi Laamanen

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• PhD in Strategy, PhD in Finance
• Professor of Strategic Management at University of St. Gallen

Now in its third edition, this Handbook is essential for students and researchers in Strategic Management and Organizational Theory and Behaviour. The Strategy as Practice approach moves away from the disembodied and asocial study of firm assets, technologies and practices, towards the study of strategizing as an activity. Strategy is understood as...

We investigated the role of heuristics in decision making in infrequent and heterogeneous organizational processes. In our multiple‐case study, we tracked individual managers’ knowledge, how managers collectively articulated and codified knowledge, and how they used it in mergers and acquisitions decision‐making. We developed a process model that e...

Managing multinational enterprise subsidiaries is a core facet of international business research. A shifting reality on the ground has triggered concerns around the waning relevance of the subsidiary because the MNE and its structure and processes have become increasingly complex. Consequently, more decentralized, responsive, and fluid organizatio...

Momentum theory suggests that acquisition experience leads to acquisition momentum in the form of a higher likelihood of subsequent acquisitions of the same type. However, this argument has been challenged theoretically and empirically. We reconcile conflicting predictions and findings of prior research and extend momentum theory by incorporating a...

In this Dialog, seven scholars consider the theoretical implications and research opportunities a changing environment presents for the Attention-Based View (ABV). With its roots in the 1950s Carnegie School, ABV is expanding and evolving in ways that accommodate the changes in the corporate context characterized by distributed, porous structures o...

The dynamic equilibrium model of organizing has become an influential theoretical framework in paradox research. The model describes paradox management as tightrope-walking, as actors cope with paradoxical tensions through continuous microshifts. The underlying assumption is that once actors accept the paradox and support opposing poles in a consis...

Strategy process research has yielded a richer understanding of the emergence of strategies from throughout the organization and over extended periods of time; strategy-as-practice research has helped us understand the range of actors involved in strategy and the tools they draw on in their strategy work. The purpose of this chapter is to encourage...

Based on our review of the past 40 years of strategy implementation research, we find that the focus of the research area has moved from the pioneering structural control view to a more adaptive conception of strategy implementation.Whereas early research focused mainly on how to conceptualize strategy implementation plans and how to establish opti...

Although organizational routines have attracted increasing attention in strategy and organization research, they have received surprisingly limited attention in competitive dynamics scholarship. Our essay seeks to advance a routine-based view of interfirm rivalry by bridging the competitive dynamics and routine literatures. We put forward a concept...

We contribute to an improved understanding of investor reactions to acquisition announcements by building on the recent research in cognitive psychology that distinguishes between the following two types of cognitive similarity assessments: taxonomic and thematic similarity. We theorize and find that investor reactions to taxonomic acquisitions, wh...

While the usefulness of the attention-based view in understanding the role of headquarters-subsidiary relationships in multinational companies (MNC) is well established, recent research on corporate headquarters (CHQ) has moved beyond the simplistic conception of CHQ as a unitary entity. In this point of view, I review the development of the attent...

Despite the long-standing research interest in the pre-deal phase of mergers and acquisitions, many important questions remain unanswered. We review and synthesize the extensive but rather fragmented research on this topic area in the fields of management, finance, accounting, and economics. We organize our review according to six themes, i.e., dea...

This paper extends prior research on the performance implications of the fit between a firm's strategic orientation and its pay system design. Whereas prior research has shown that matching the pay system design to the strategic orientation of the firm generally contributes to higher performance, most studies have examined the pay systems of the up...

Research Summary: Building on our review of the strategy process and practice research, we identify three ways to see the relationships between the two research traditions: complementary , critical, and combinatory views. We adopt in this special issue the combinatory view, in which activities and processes are seen as closely intertwined aspects o...

Research Summary : The attention‐based view (ABV) has highlighted the role of organizational attention in strategic decision making and adaptation. The tendency to view communication channels as “pipes and prisms” for information processing has, however, limited its ability to address strategic change. We propose a broader role for communication as...

Research Summary This article contributes to an improved understanding of the effects of subnational regional corruption on the external growth strategies of emerging economy firms. We examine the acquisition activity of firms in their home regions, in other parts of the country, and internationally. We consider four mechanisms through which a corr...

In this paper, we provide an introduction to the Special Issue entitled “Divide and Rule? The Emergence and Implications of Increasingly Disaggregated and Dispersed Headquarters Activities in Contemporary Firms”. The purpose is two-fold. First, we propose a conceptualization of headquarters activities as a dynamic system in which activities can be...

Firms have different ways of addressing issues emerging from outside their regular calendar-driven strategy processes. These practices tend to be unstructured, organization specific, and highly dependent on the characteristics of the strategic issues themselves. Building on three dimensions of cognitive load—intrinsic, germane, and extraneous cogni...

Now in its second edition, this extended and thoroughly updated handbook introduces researchers and students to the growing range of theoretical and methodological perspectives being developed in the vibrant field of strategy as practice. With new authors and additional chapters, it shows how the strategy-as-practice approach in strategic managemen...

As an export-based industry, the survival of Swiss private banking depends on its access to an international client base in relevant markets. Adoption of transnational regulation is especially critical as the foreign onshore business gains importance while the offshore business declines. Transnational regulation should therefore not be seen as an o...

While prior research highlights the importance of codifying alliance experience to achieve alliance success, it is unclear whether codification is equally useful in the different phases of an alliance. Based on a sample of 192 technology firms that report on over 3,400 strategic alliances, we find that in the partner selection and termination phase...

Deloitte and the University of St.Gallen embarked on a joint study to investigate how Swiss serial acquirers organise their acquisition and integration activities, how they address their most pressing challenges and what makes them successful. The study is based on senior management interviews conducted with 25 Swiss serial acquirers. The findings...

We study the changing explanations of success and failure over the course of a firm's history, building on a discursive approach that highlights the role of narrative attributions in making sense of corporate performance. Specifically, we analyze how the Nokia Corporation was framed first as a success and later as a failure and how these dimensions...

While most of the prior work in the Strategy as Practice research has been conceptual or qualitative in nature, there would be major potential in researching strategy practices also quantitatively. There are a number of different benefits that could be gained in comparison to a solely qualitative research orientation. Expanding the use of quantitat...

In this paper we examine how investor relation practices of acquisitive firms evolve as firms gain increasing acquisition experience. While prior research has found that investor relations units of acquiring firms try to proactively manage investor reactions to acquisition announcements, there is no prior research that would have examined whether s...

Both the constraining and enabling forces of attention load interact when decision-makers solve complex problems effectively. Synthesizing strands of educational, cognitive psychology, as well as organization research, we develop a conceptual process framework. It explains the ways in which extrinsic, intrinsic, and germane attention load dynamics...

While prior research has studied the role of pacing in acquisition sequences, there is only limited evidence on the effects of the motives of individual acquisitions on the performance of an acquisition sequence. To contribute to this gap we build on a cognitive perspective and propose three distinct challenges to the limited cognitive capacity of...

While there is an increasing understanding of the challenges that can emerge in integration processes of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, there is a scarcity of research on how the different integrative activities should be temporally sequenced. Based on an in-depth analysis of three acquisitions, we find that structural and cultural integrat...

We provide a comparative analysis of acquirer returns in acquisitions of public firms, private firms, and divested assets. On the basis of a sample of 5,079 acquisitions by U.S. software industry companies during 1988–2008, we find that acquisitions of divested assets outperform acquisitions of privately held firms, which in turn outperform acquisi...

We contribute to an improved understanding of the effects of informal institutions on local firms' acquisition behavior in an emerging economy context. We compare the different regions of the Russian Federation and propose that the continuity and autonomy of the regional leadership and interaction between businesses and local decision-makers throug...

In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in serial acquirers and the performance implications of their different types of acquisition sequences. While prior research has focused mostly on the externally observable structural characteristics of these sequences, we make a finer-grained distinction between explorative and explo...

While there is an extensive body of work on how organizational routines emerge and evolve over time, there is scarcity of research on what happens when routines are disrupted or disbanded through the elimination of key individuals involved in them. This study is first to theorize and empirically examine the relationship between the magnitude of wor...

How do acquisitions of competitors by new entrants or by other existing competitors affect a firm's performance, and how should a firm respond to such competitive actions? Acquisition research argues that because acquisitions cause consolidation, which can lead to collusive synergies, acquisitions by rivals will lead to decreased competitive intens...

Chapter 6 reviews and synthesizes literature on acquisition experience and the emergence of acquisition capabilities. While most prior literature has focused on capabilities to execute individual transactions, this chapter complements this literature with an acquisition program perspective. The chapter suggests that firms that engage in a series of...

This paper analyzes the relocations of both corporate and regional headquarters (HQ) in a multi-country setting. On the basis of a dataset of 52 cross-border HQ relocations in Europe during 1996–2006, we document an increasing trend toward relocation, push and pull factors affecting HQ location choice, and catalyzing factors that affect the relocat...

Privatbanken müssen neben dem Ausbruch der Finanz- und Schuldenkrise auch mit anderen Herausforderungen kämpfen, seien dies der zunehmende internationale Druck auf den Finanzplatz Schweiz, die vielen neuen Regulierungsvorschriften oder die defensive Haltung der Kunden im Anlagebereich. Die gegenwärtige Analyse beschäftigt sich mit der ökonomischen...

Many companies react to competitors’ acquisition sprees refl exively, by launching bids of their own. Smart managers should consider other moves.

This paper contributes to multiple agency theory by examining how the compensation schemes awarded to outside directors and the CEO jointly affect firm-level risk taking. Using data of the S&P 1500 firms from 1997 to 2006, we find support for earlier arguments that providing the CEO, the outside directors, or both with stock options increases risk...

A firm's behavior is constrained by its access to resources owned or controlled by different constituencies in its environment. Mergers and acquisitions are one way to proactively manage these resource dependencies. Research on resource dependence reducing merger and acquisition patterns provides an important cornerstone of resource dependency theo...

Recent research on strategy practices has brought strategy implementation back as one of the main focus areas of strategy research. Based on an extensive survey on the perceptions of strategy execution challenges with 1203 respondents we find that strategists' sensemaking of strategy execution challenges tends to differ systematically according to...

Recent research on strategy practices has brought strategy implementation back into the focus of strategy research. Based on an extensive survey on the perceptions of strategy execution challenges with 1203 respondents we find that strategists' sensemaking of strategy execution challenges differs systematically according to their positions and role...

Recent research on capability dynamics has increasingly turned its attention to the cognitive microfoundations of capability development. On the basis of a longitudinal case study of the evolution of three network security software firms, we find that the effects of managerial cognition can be detected at three distinct levels of capability develop...

In this paper, we investigate whether a firm can enhance the effect of its R&D spending on its current market value and future profitability through technology-oriented M&As. On the basis of an analysis of 1,879 M&As, we find that when a technology firm acquires another technology firm, the magnitude of the stock price response to the R&D spending...

The third wave of state of reward practices study in Finland has been conducted at the Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. The study was funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund. The previous studies were conducted in 2001 and 2004. The third data set was gathered from January to March 2009 via...

Empirical strategy analysis using the data of Strategy Barometer 2009 commissioned by the Finnish Strategic Management Society.

This paper extends the existing research on the interplay of positive and negative feedback dynamics in the competition for business system dominance. By building on an analysis of the digital television launch in the United Kingdom, we find that the expectation of network externalities intensifies competition causing strong negative feedback effec...

Empirical analysis of strategy execution based on the Strategy Barometer 2009 data commissioned by the Finnish Strategic Management Society.

Based on an analysis of the most active acquirers in seven industry sectors in the United States in the 1990s, we find that both a high rate of acquisitions and a high variability of the rate are negatively related to performance. An acquirer's size, the scope of its acquisition program, and acquisition experience moderate the relationship by weake...

Building on the achievements of the previous research on strategic issue management practices, this paper provides a systematization of the main body of strategic issue management research into three main research streams. These include research on individual issue perception, intra-organizational actions in the strategic issue management context,...

Several studies argue that paying high acquisition premia is value destroying for acquirer shareholders. There are studies that have even used the size of premium as a measure of low-quality decision making. This paper departs from the earlier research and shows that acquisition premia may be justified when target firms' resources are difficult for...

This article examines how the compensation paid for outside directors affects firms’ acquisition behavior. Using panel data of Standard & Poor’s 1500 firms between 1996 and 2002, the authors find that stock and stock option pay for outside directors are related in an inverted U-shaped manner to a firm’s acquisition rate and that for stock options,...

Companies extend their boundaries through acquisitions to new industries, product lines, technologies, markets and geographic locations. Diversification research has focused predominantly on boundary extensions across industries. Using data on 167 intra-industry acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals industry between 1991 and 1996, we study boundary e...

This paper examines the effects of supplier dependency and resource depth on the performance of telecommunications suppliers during an industry downturn. It is shown that the R&D carried out independently by a supplier relates positively to the technological depth of the supplier's offering, which is further positively linked to performance. In con...

Using the valuation data of 421 US venture capital transactions and 176 initial public offerings, we test a simple binomial valuation model in modelling the risk-return profiles of venture capital investments. We find that the model is consistent with the previous knowledge on the risk-return profile of venture capital investments. The results also...

Using the valuation data of 421 US venture capital transactions and 176 initial public offerings, we test a simple binomial valuation model in modelling the risk-return profiles of venture capital investments. We find that the model is consistent with the previous knowledge on the risk-return profile of venture capital investments. The results also...

The small business establishment is increasingly regarded as growth option creation. It is generally believed that a country will prosper if a sufficient number of small, technology-based companies are established to provide options for the development of new industries. Despite the general belief, empirical evidence concerning the conception of "s...

Diss. -- Espoo -- Teknillinen korkeakoulu.

The borderlines between a firm and its environment are becoming increasingly blurred. Small firms and large firms can be viewed as constituting innovation networks where dynamic complementarities between small and large firms are exploited. Network structures are different in different industries, markets, and in different technological systems. Th...

The locus of industrial innovation is shifting toward industrial networks, in which parallel development processes in individual interconnected actors frequently dominate. This development presents new challenges for the measurement and evaluation of technology transfer. In this paper, various technology transfer mechanisms and indicators are class...

Managerial belief systems play a central role in organizational adaptation to environmental change. In order to understand, how belief systems change, we carried out two in-depth cognitive mapping studies in an organization that faced turbulence in its business environment. In our first study, we found several episodes that involved the collapse of...

Firms have different ways to deal with issues emerging from outside their regular, calendar-driven strategy processes. These practices of managing strategic issues tend to be non-structured and highly dependent on the different issue characteristics. This paper examines the effects of two central issue characteristics – perceived value at stake and...