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14TH EIASM WORKSHOP ON TOP MANAGEMENT TEAMS AND BUSINESS STRATEGY RESEARCH
THE ROLE OF STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP IN NAVIGATING GRAND CHALLENGES

GRONINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS, MARCH 20-21, 2025
CO-ORGANIZED WITH

CHAIRPERSONS



Dennis Veltrop
University of Groningen

Sarosh Asad
University of Groningen

Sebastian Firk
University of
Groningen

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

 



Ryan Krause
Professor of Strategy
Duncan Faculty Fellow
Management and Leadership Department
Neeley School of Business
Texas Christian University
USA

 

Yan Anthea Zhang
Professor and Fayez Sarofim Vanguard Chair of Strategic Management
Jones Graduate School of Business
Rice University
USA

 

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Tine Buyl - Department of Organization Studies, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Alejandro Escribá - Department of Management, University of Valencia, Spain
Marko Reimer – Institute of Management Accounting and Control, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany 
Dennis Veltrop - Department of Accounting and Auditing, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Sarosh Asad - Department of Strategy and Innovation, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Sebastian Firk - Department of Accounting and Auditing, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

BACKGROUND

Top executives are among the most important decision-makers influencing the strategy and performance of their organizations. The series of EIASM Workshops on Top Management Teams and Business Strategy was initiated as a specialized and focused forum where researchers can engage in constructive discussions about the relationship among Top Management Teams and the ability of firms to respond strategically to the challenges they face, as well as find new opportunities for research collaborations.

Over the years, twelve editions of the EIASM workshop on Top Management Teams and Business Strategy have been successfully organized—eleven regular editions and one ‘special edition.’ These workshops have been hosted in various locations across Europe, including Passau, Germany (June 2024, 2019); Jouy-en-Josas, France (March-April 2022); Geneva, Switzerland (March 2018); Seville, Spain (March 2017); Groningen, the Netherlands (April 2016); Antwerp, Belgium (March 2015); Copenhagen, Denmark (October 2013); Milan, Italy (June 2012); Istanbul, Turkey (March-April 2011); and Valencia, Spain (March 2010). The fifth workshop, a ‘special edition’ focused explicitly on fostering research collaborations, was also held in Valencia, Spain (June 2014).

The workshops have consistently established themselves as a premier platform for strategic leadership research and a vital hub for strengthening international research networks. This year, returning to Groningen, the Netherlands, the workshop will continue the tradition of excellence and offer strategic leadership and governance scholars an engaging venue to advance their research and collaborations.

DEADLINES

Deadline for research proposals: December 2, 2024
Notification: as of December 18, 2024 
Registration of authors: January 30, 2025
Deadline for full paper submission: February 17, 2025

 

CALL FOR PAPERS and SUBMISSION

CALL FOR PAPERS and SUBMISSION

 
Confronted by profound and multifaceted challenges—ranging from climate change, digital transformation, and responsible innovation to political instability and rapid technological advancements, including artificial intelligence—strategic leadership is faced with many Grand Challenges (Voegtlin et al., 2022; Wright & Nyberg, 2017). Such Grand Challenges consist of systemic, large-scale issues that extend beyond traditional business boundaries, carrying far-reaching implications for organizations and society alike (Ferraro et al., 2015; George et al., 2016). Marked by inherent complexity, radical uncertainty, and deep interconnectedness, these challenges place extraordinary demands on top-level actors, including CEOs, top management teams (TMTs), and boards of directors (Busenbark et al., 2016; Hambrick & Mason, 1984; Reimer et al., 2018; Van Doorn et al., 2022). These actors are important drivers of strategic change, shaping organizational responses to evolving external pressures (Zhang & Rajagopalan, 2010). Yet, the central question remains: how can those residing at the upper echelons of organizations best confront and lead in the face of such Grand Challenges?
 
Leaders today make decisions amidst uncertainty in an interconnected world. The role of upper echelon actors thus extends beyond conventional strategic planning towards dealing with challenges that go above the reach of any single organization (Altman et al., 2017; Shylina et al., 2024; Reuter & Floyd, 2024). This arguably requires a paradigm shift in strategic thinking, stressing the need for an evolving nature of strategic leadership (Neely  et al., 2020; Recendes et al., 2024). A shift that prioritizes dealing with complexity and ‘unknown unknowns’; emphasizing collaborative networks, over short term competitive advantage vis-à-vis competitors. TMTs must lead with a grand vision to thrive amid disruption from such Grand Challenges. In view of the crucial role organizations and upper echelon actors play in effectively facing these challenges, the showcased theme of the 14th edition of this EIASM Workshop is “Strategic Leadership in the Face of Grand Challenges”.
 
We welcome submissions of conceptual and empirical papers, including those at various stages of development, that critically engage with this theme. The following questions provide a non-exhaustive list of topics that submissions may address:
 
Strategic Leadership in the face of responsible innovation:
 
  • How do CEOs, TMTs, and boards foster responsible innovation that aligns with both business goals and broader societal and ethical considerations, such as sustainability, social impact, and inclusivity?
  • What role do CEOs, boards, and TMTs play in creating organizational cultures that support responsible innovation while managing risk and uncertainty in rapidly evolving technological landscapes?
  • How do upper echelon actors engage with external stakeholders—such as governments, NGOs, and local communities—to ensure innovation initiatives are aligned with societal values and contribute to the global common good?
Strategic Leadership in the face of artificial Intelligence and digital transformation:
  • How do AI and digital technologies reshape the functioning, structure, and decision-making processes of TMTs and boards?
  • How do CEOs, TMTs, and boards address the ethical, societal, and legal challenges posed by AI and digital transformation?
  • What role do CEO characteristics, TMT structure, and the power dynamics within TMTs and boards play in the adoption and implementation of AI and other digital technologies?
Strategic Leadership in the face of climate change:
  • How do CEO and board characteristics, TMT structure, and internal power dynamics shape corporate strategies for addressing climate change?
  • How do CEOs, boards, and TMTs manage tensions between climate activists and other activist stakeholders, and how do tensions with such stakeholder groups influence internal relationships within TMTs and board-TMT dynamics?
  • How do CEOs, boards, and TMTs respond to new regulatory frameworks and how do these regulations influence their climate change initiatives and attentional focus?
Strategic Leadership in the face of political instability and macroeconomic turmoil:
  • How do CEOs, TMT members, and board members navigate decision-making in politically polarized environments?
  • In what ways do political and macroeconomic disruptions affect the relationships that CEOs, TMTs, and boards build with governments, social movements, suppliers, customers, and other key stakeholders?
  • How do political ideologies, polarization, and crises impact relationships within TMTs and boards, and what are the implications for their effectiveness and decision-making?
Besides theme-oriented papers, as usual, the TMT workshop also invites papers focused on any topic connected to individual top executives and TMTs as a collective. We particularly encourage papers falling into one of the following domains:
 
  • State-of-the-art literature reviews (Kunsich et al., 2023) that encourage debate about, for example, the role and efficacy of corporate leaders; theoretical and empirical challenges for future TMT research.
 
  • Conceptual papers that combine different or novel theoretical perspectives to explain the antecedents, nature, and consequences of TMT composition in different forms of organization.
 
  • Empirical papers focusing on topics such as TMT structure and dynamics, the boundaries of the TMT, interactions, and power relations within TMTs, and/or between the TMT and other influential internal and external actors (ranging from the board of directors and middle managers to other firms, regulators, politicians, and investors), executive succession and turnover, and executive performance and compensation.
REFERENCES
 
Altman, E. J., & Tushman, M. L. (2017). Platforms, open/user innovation, and ecosystems: A strategic leadership perspective. In Entrepreneurship, innovation, and platforms (Vol. 37, pp. 177-207). Emerald Publishing Limited.
 
Busenbark, J. R., Krause, R., Boivie, S., & Graffin, S. D. (2016). Toward a configurational perspective on the CEO: A review and synthesis of the management literature. Journal of Management, 42(1), 234-268.
 
Ferraro, F., Etzion, D., & Gehman, J. (2015). Tackling grand challenges pragmatically: Robust action revisited. Organization Studies, 36(3), 363-390.
 
George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880-1895.
 
Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of management review, 9(2), 193-206.
 
Kunisch, S., zu Knyphausen‐Aufsess, D., Bapuji, H., Aguinis, H., Bansal, T., Tsui, A. S., & Pinto, J. (2023). Using review articles to address societal grand challenges. International Journal of Management Reviews, 25(2), 240-250.
 
Neely Jr, B. H., Lovelace, J. B., Cowen, A. P., & Hiller, N. J. (2020). Metacritiques of upper echelons theory: Verdicts and recommendations for future research. Journal of Management, 46(6), 1029-1062.
Recendes, T., Chandler, J. A., Huang, Z., & Hill, A. D. (2024). Toward a stakeholder view of upper echelons: a framework synthesis review and future research agenda. Journal of Management, 50(6), 2073-2118.
 
Reimer, M., Van Doorn, S., & Heyden, M. L. (2018). Unpacking functional experience complementarities in senior leaders’ influences on CSR strategy: A CEO–Top management team approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 151, 977-995.
 
Reuter, E., & Floyd, S. (2024). Strategic leaders' ecosystem vision formation and digital transformation: A motivated interactional lens. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 18(1), 103-127.
 
Shylina, A., König, A., & Graf-Vlachy, L. (2024). Digital platforms, ecosystems and strategic leadership. In Handbook of Research on Strategic Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (pp. 267-295). Edward Elgar Publishing.
 
Van Doorn, S., Heyden, M. L., Reimer, M., Buyl, T., & Volberda, H. W. (2022). Internal and external interfaces of the executive suite: Advancing research on the porous bounds of strategic leadership. Long Range Planning, 55(3), 102214.
 
Voegtlin, C., Scherer, A. G., Stahl, G. K., & Hawn, O. (2022). Grand societal challenges and responsible innovation. Journal of Management Studies, 59(1), 1-28.
 
Wright, C., & Nyberg, D. (2017). An inconvenient truth: How organizations translate climate change into business as usual. Academy of Management Journal, 60(5), 1633-1661.
 
Zhang, Y., & Rajagopalan, N. (2010). Once an outsider, always an outsider? CEO origin, strategic change, and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 31(3), 334-346.

SUBMIT HERE

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submission of Proposals/Abstracts (until December 2, 2024)
 
The submission should contain a cover page and an abstract/body of the proposal (in one single document).

The cover page must include: The title of the proposal, authors’ names, affiliations, address, telephone and email.

The body of the proposal should contain an abstract of max. 2 pages (cover page and references not included). Proposals must be single-spaced, font size 12. The abstract should clearly highlight the following issues: research gap, theories used, research method, and contribution of the research.
 
 

PROGRAMME

The program will begin on March 20th at around 9 AM and end on March 21st at around 5 PM. A welcome reception will take place on March 19th at 6.30 PM (participation is voluntary; registration is cordially requested).

SPONSORSHIP

We are grateful for the partial and generous funding of this event by the Faculty of Economics and Business Research Institute and the Leadership and Governance Platform of the University of Groningen. 

PRACTICALITIES

VENUE

Van Swinderen Huys
Oude Boteringestraat 19
9712 GC Groningen 
The Netherlands

 

ADMINISTRATION

Ms. Cristina Setyar - EIASM Conference Manager
EIASM - RUE FOSSÉ AUX LOUPS - 38 - BOX 3 - 1000 BRUSSELS - BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 226 66 69 - Fax:
Email: setyar@eiasm.be