Julian Birkinshaw

• Schweitzer, F.; Röth, T.; Birkinshaw, J.; Barczak, G., 2024, "Playing the political game of innovation: An integrative framework and future research directions", Journal of Product Innovation Management, May 41(3): 531 - 547.
  Abstract: Innovation politics impact the development and introduction of innovations, yet knowledge about the influence of specific political behavior or behavioral patterns remains blurred. Based on a literature review and the articles in this Special Issue, we propose a three-part framework that identifies the building blocks of political behavior in innovation: what motivates actors to be political, the different types of political actors, and the effect of various political behaviors on innovation outcomes. Emphasizing the evolving landscape of innovation politics, the framework aims to highlight research gaps and guide future studies toward improving our understanding of the functional and dysfunctional aspects of innovation politics.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12735

• Hamel, G.; Birkinshaw, J., 2023, "Searching for Significance: The Case for Reimagining Management Research", Strategic Management Review, May 4(1): 107 - 126.
  Abstract: In comparison to other applied fields such as medicine or engineering, the impact of management research is disappointing — most of it is neither practical nor profound. And yet the opportunity for doing ground-breaking research that improves the practice of management is huge. In this paper, we discuss the ways that management research might be reimagined so that it achieves the step-change required. We suggest five approaches — aim higher, challenge orthodoxy, invent, experiment and collaborate — and we draw from leading-edge companies and from our own experiences to illustrate the arguments.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/111.00000054

• Birkinshaw, J., 2022, "Move Fast and Break Things: Reassessing IB Research in the Light of the Digital Revolution", Global Strategy Journal, November 12(4): 619 - 631.
  Abstract: Research Summary How has the emergence of born-digital firms such as Facebook and Uber influenced international business (IB) research? In this essay, I outline the distinctive qualities of these firms, in particular their “global by default” mindset, and I discuss how IB research on strategy, organization, and institutional context is evolving to help us understand them better. I argue that some traditional domains of inquiry (e.g., subsidiary role typologies) have become obsolete, while others (e.g., MNC–government relationships) have become more important. There is also scope for developing new theories to explain what we observe, rather than seeking to “shoehorn” new phenomena into our existing schemata. Managerial Summary “Move fast and break things” was the original motto of Facebook (now Meta), and it is emblematic of how many born-digital firms behave. These firms seek to grow quickly, and they have little regard for international borders, often operating in a global-by-default way. They are, in other words, very different to industrial-era firms that plotted their international expansion in a cautious and sequential way. In this essay, I discuss whether our existing IB theories—which were developed during the industrial era—are still fit-for-purpose in an economy increasingly dominated by born-digital firms.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1427

• Birkinshaw, J.; Gudka, M.; Marshall, S., 2022, "Reinventing Leadership Development for a Hybrid World", Harvard Business Review
  Abstract: Traditional leadership development tells us that 70% of learning happens through on-the-job experience, 20% though feedback, and 10% through formal training. Research conducted over the past three years points to an alternative — and, we believe, more effective — framework for the process that emphasizes three actions: sensemaking, or understanding how the business world and the organization works around you; experimenting, or testing ideas; and self-discovery, or figuring out your own identity in the workplace. When implemented at HSBC this framework enhanced participants’ development. The experiment also pointed to new best practices for hybrid leadership development: programs should be iterative and experimental, embedded in day-to-day work, supported by coaching, and span all modes of delivery from all-virtual to fully in person.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://hbr.org/2022/06/what-leadership-development-should-look-like-in-the-hybrid-era

• Birkinshaw, J.; Gudka, M., 2022, "Leadership development through experimentation: a theoretical framework and empirical test", Journal of Management Development, April 41(2): 70 - 93.
  Abstract: Purpose Many theories have been proposed to understand and improve the process of leadership development. One useful way to structure the literature is around three complementary perspectives, briefly summarized as the “knowing, doing and being” dimensions of leadership. While the complementarities between these perspectives have been discussed, the mechanisms by which they are linked are less clear. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of experimentation as one such mechanism. Design/methodology/approach Building on interviews and prior literature, the authors argue that experimentation consists of two processes: task-prototyping focused on the work overseen by the leader and self-prototyping focused on how the leader relates to others. This study proposes a theoretical framework linking experimentation to action-taking (e.g. being entrepreneurial and taking on challenging assignments), which in turn links to leader effectiveness. The authors test the hypotheses on two groups of leaders (481 business school alumni and 310 financial services leaders). Findings The authors find evidence that both forms of experimentation provide significant explanatory power in understanding why some individuals engage in higher levels of action-taking than others. Additionally, their study confirms the central role of action-taking in leadership development. Originality/value Conceptually, this study distinguishes two dimensions of experimentation and their connection to action-taking, knowledge development and identity development. Empirically, the authors show that these two experimentation activities were significant predictors of action-taking, even after controlling for all other factors, and that action-taking (along with self-prototyping) was an important predictor of leader effectiveness. The results offer a practical framework for leadership and development professionals to use in designing and evaluating leadership development activities.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jmd-10-2021-0289

• Visinic, I.; Birkinshaw, J.; Linz, C., 2022, "When gradual change beats radical transformation", MIT Sloan Management Review, March 63(3): 74 - 78.
  Abstract: Transforming the organization to reap the benefits promised by advanced digital technologies is no longer a question of “if” or “when”; it’s a question of “how.” Business leaders are often counseled by expert advisers to set up a dedicated digital unit that “disrupts,” driving change from the top that is executed on a grand scale. That approach isn’t right for all companies, but there’s another way to successfully tackle this major change. Our research into digital transformation in industrial companies shows that the best approach in many cases is not revolutionary but evolutionary. We suggest that, depending on circumstances, that may be the better approach for organizations in other sectors as well.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/when-gradual-change-beats-radical-transformation/

• Birkinshaw, J., 2022, "How Incumbents Survive and Thrive", Harvard Business Review
  Abstract: While many believe that technological disruption has been rampant for decades, the internet has actually caused much less creative destruction than people think. An analysis of the Fortune 500 and the Global 500, in fact, reveals that most sectors have been surprisingly stable over the past 25 years. Very few firms on those lists today were launched after 1995. What else is misunderstood? The best response to disrupters. The default is to fight back with a new digital unit or a transformation. But there are three other viable strategies: doubling down on your existing strengths (as Disney did); retrenching to ensure your survival (as banks are doing); and moving into new opportunities (as Fuji did). Each strategy has benefits and risks, and your circumstances determine which one you should pursue.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://hbr.org/2022/01/how-incumbents-survive-and-thrive

• Menz, M.; Kunisch, S.; Birkinshaw, J.; Collis, D. J.; Foss, N. J.; Hoskisson, R. E.; Prescott, J. E., 2021, "Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age", Journal of Management Studies, November 58(7): 1695 - 1720.
  Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reinvigorate research in the intersection of corporate strategy and the theory of the firm in light of the rapid advancement of digital technologies. Using the theory of the firm as an interpretive lens, we focus our analysis on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design. Recognizing that digitalization exacerbates ambiguity and paradoxes, we sketch foundational strategies for future research. We suggest that there is a need to develop knowledge that accounts for the new realities of the digital age, depending on whether the corporate strategy phenomena under investigation and the theories of the firm used to explain them, are existing or new. The article serves also as introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on the topic.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joms.12760

• Volberda, H. W.; Khanagha, S.; Baden-Fuller, C.; Mihalache, O. R.; Birkinshaw, J., 2021, "Strategizing in a digital world: Overcoming cognitive barriers, reconfiguring routines and introducing new organizational forms", Long Range Planning, October 54(5): 102110 - 102110.
  Abstract: As digital technologies such as cloud and edge computing, machine learning, advanced artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT) unfold, traditional industries such as telecoms, media, entertainment, and financial services are being reconfigured and new sectors are emerging. In this new competitive landscape we observe new organizational forms and new business models, including the emergence of platforms and multi-sided markets. This emergence has required a strategic response from incumbent firms, including both well-established firms and some first-generation digital enterprises. With these advances in digital technology, the very nature of strategy is changing. Fundamentally, the use of digital technologies may provide new opportunities for efficiency gains, customer intimacy, and innovation. However, without the right mindset for change, appropriate digital routines, and structural changes, digital transformation efforts will fail. We therefore present a framework for strategizing in this new digital competitive landscape that underscores the importance of the interplay between (1) the cognitive barriers faced by managers when trying to understand this new digital world and envision new digital business models, (2) a need to reconfigure and extend digital routines, and (3) new organizational forms that are better equipped to creating value and gaining competitive advantage. From this framework of essential pillars, we derive four journeys of digital transformation for companies that were formed in the pre-digital economy. We also describe the management roles required by top, middle, and frontline managers, depending on whether the digital migration is evolutionary or transformative and whether the firm is responding to or attempting to shape the ecosystem. Although digital transformation is technically all about technology, the more important issue is how companies make their way through this strange new digital world in which they find themselves. Ultimately digital transformation is as much about strategizing as it is about technology.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102110

• Zimmermann, A.; Hill, S. A.; Birkinshaw, J.; Jaeckel, M., 2020, "Complements or substitutes? A microfoundations perspective on the interplay between drivers of ambidexterity in SMEs", Long Range Planning, December 53(6): 101927 - 101927.
  Abstract: Research on the microfoundations of ambidexterity has identified a number of drivers that shape the ability of individuals to overcome exploration-exploitation tensions. However, little is known about how these drivers interact and whether they act as complements or substitutes. In a two-stage survey of small and medium-sized enterprises, we find that formal structural drivers and informal contextual drivers of ambidexterity do not demonstrate complementarity, as generally assumed, but rather act at cross-purposes with each other. Furthermore, we find that behaviorally complex executives (those with the ability to think and act ambidextrously) appear to render the effects of the other two drivers relatively unimportant, and are only ever associated with moderate levels of ambidexterity. These findings permit the development of important theoretical insights for ambidexterity research from a microfoundations perspective.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101927

• Prashantham, S.; Birkinshaw, J., 2020, "MNE–SME cooperation: An integrative framework", Journal of International Business Studies, September 51(7): 1161 - 1175.
  Abstract: Although international business scholars have begun to recognize the division of entrepreneurial labor between MNEs and SMEs, there is a fragmented understanding of the different forms MNE–SME cooperation can take. We develop a typology that takes into account not only complementarity of capabilities but also, crucially, the compatibility of intent between MNEs (exploration vs. exploitation) and SMEs (international vs. domestic orientation). The framework offers a novel way to understand the forms and dynamics of MNE–SME cooperation. We also show how it can be applied more broadly, by considering its application to societal challenges, such as achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00214-y

• Birkinshaw, J.; Ke, D.; De Deigo, E., 2019, "The Kind of Creative Thinking That Fueled WeChat’s Success", Harvard Business Review
  Abstract: WeChat, the messaging app, dominates daily life in China. Researchers conducted an in-depth study of the company, through exclusive interviews with 15 executives, including founder Allen Zhang. They argue that WeChat’s success wasn’t achieved through technological superiority, but through the vision – or grand design – of Zhang. They explore how the grand design approach to innovation – where a new product or service emerges fully-formed in the mind’s eye of the innovator before it is developed and commercialized – can be more effective than design thinking under certain circumstances, most notably when a market is in its early formative stage of development.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://hbr.org/2019/10/the-kind-of-creative-thinking-that-fueled-wechats-success

• Birkinshaw, J.; Manktelow, J.; D'Amato, V.; Tosca, E.; Macchi, F., 2019, "Older and Wiser? How Management Style Varies with Age", MIT Sloan Management Review
  Abstract: In recent years, one of the most profound changes in the workplace has been the increase in age diversity. Large organizations have employees from as many as five generations. Low inflation, low interest rates, and low savings rates have resulted in longer working lives, with many people working into their 70s and beyond. Millions of people are also living longer than ever — with growing numbers in developed countries expected to reach their 100th birthday
• Birkinshaw, J., 2018, "How is technological change affecting the nature of the corporation?", Journal of the British Academy, October 6(1): 185 - 214.
  Abstract: This paper examines how the ‘digital revolution’ (enabled by exponential increases in processing power and connectivity) is bringing about fundamental changes to the size and scope of firms, and to how they are organised and managed. The large, vertically integrated firms of the industrial era are being superseded by narrower, more specialised, firms that link buyers and sellers through digital ‘platforms’. The traditional bureaucratic ways of organising that were invented in the industrial era are gradually being replaced with flatter and more fluid ways of organising. The consequences of these changes are discussed, with a particular focus on public policy. Many of the current tensions between governments and big digital firms—for example, in terms of competition policy, intellectual property rules, and labour laws—are the result of a disconnect between regulations developed during the industrial era and the demands of firms operating by digital era norms. The paper identifies opportunities for institutional innovations to resolve these tensions.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.5871/jba/006s1.185

• Birkinshaw, J.; Visnjic, I.; Best, S., 2018, "Responding to a Potentially Disruptive Technology: How Big Pharma Embraced Biotechnology", California Management Review, August 60(4): 74 - 100.
  Abstract: How do incumbent firms respond over time to a potentially disruptive technology? This article documents the strategies of 12 large pharmaceutical firms over 25 years as they addressed the opportunity/threat of biotechnology. All showed awareness of biotechnology’s potential, but their response profiles varied dramatically in terms of timing (early/late) and focus (external/internal). Late movers mostly made large acquisitions to “catch up,” but early movers maintained their lead in terms of biotechnology-based drug sales and profitability, and those with a more “open” response profile performed better. This response involves a three-step process: building awareness (sensing), building capability (responding), and building commitment (scaling).

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008125618778852

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