Has Strategic Management Research Lost Its Way?

Strategic management research has strayed from its primary focus on efficient and effective management practice. We suggest a refocusing of strategic management research, based on the logic of discovery of real-world phenomena and strategic problems, with the goals of better enabling scholars to refine existing and develop new management theories. We demonstrate that historically, such a pragmatic, engaged, and problem-focused process helped produce many of the seminal works, groundbreaking concepts, and core theories in the strategic management field. We express our concern that many scholars are no longer developing or practicing sufficient skills to generate such impactful research. We propose that re-adopting this logic of discovery within the knowledge production process of engaged scholarship can produce both scientifically rigorous and practically relevant research. Such a research approach both develops new theoretical contributions and bridges the theory-practice gap by addressing real-world problems (and thereby creating economic value). We discuss some of the existing impediments to doing so and suggest changes in incentive systems to reward scholars for producing impactful research that better serves the collective welfare of the school, the field, and society.