Technology and Innovation Management TIM

Dear Friends of Strategy Science,

I am pleased to share with you the December 2025 issue of Strategy Science. This  is our largest ever regular issue and reflects the growing volume of high  quality submissions that we are receiving. The issue has many outstanding  papers, which I hope you will take the time to read and digest. Congratulations to all of the authors!  

Using Smartphone Location Data for Strategy Research
by Young Hou, Christopher Poliquin, Mariko Sakakibara, and Marco Testoni

• A new open-access article demystifies smartphone location data for strategy research, detailing their creation, access, business location coverage, and relationship to firm revenue. It outlines methods for matching locations to Compustat, and provides sample codes, an event study example, and new research ideas.

The Strategic Imperative: Do We Need Normative Considerations in Strategic Theories of Stakeholder Engagement?
by Sergio G. Lazzarini

• Should firms engage with stakeholders because they help create value or because it is morally appropriate to do so? This paper tackles this question connecting with the evolving "new stakeholder theory" in strategy.

Rapid Learning and Adaptive Search in Complex Environments: How Underestimating Noise in Performance Feedback Can Leverage and Resolve Errors of Commission

by Daniel Albert

• This paper shows how underestimating noise in performance feedback drives rapid belief updating, causing decision makers in an agent-based model to initially explore aggressively and commit more commission errors. However, these rapid learners quickly self-correct, ultimately outperforming cautious and even Bayesian decision makers in complex environments.

Theorizing as Problem Solving: A Pragmatist Perspective on the Logic of Pursuit

by Akhil Bhardwaj, Anastasia Sergeeva, Joseph Mahoney, and Jackson Nickerson

• This study treats theorizing as a problem-solving activity and offers non-empirical indicators that can inform theorists whether they should pursue a particular problem formulation and line of inquiry or pivot.

Experiments by "Visionaries"

by Joshua S. Gans

• Visionary entrepreneurs face a tough choice: design experiments to learn for themselves or convince skeptical investors? New research reveals resource constraints force entrepreneurs toward "high-bar" experiments to persuade skeptical funders rather than optimal learning strategies.

Energizing Change: How Policies and Experience Drive Research and Development

by Nilanjana Dutt and Colleen Cunningham

• Can policies that push new technology-like renewable electricity rules for U.S. power companies-lead to more R&D? This study finds they can, especially for firms already using renewables, who increase external R&D.

Revisiting Internal Capital Market Efficiency: A Strategic View

by Ghahhar Zavosh, Olivier Bertrand, and Samira Fallah

• By introducing the novel concept of firm-specific industry effects (FSIE), this study challenges the common implicit assumption in internal capital market research that efficient allocations must always favor divisions operating in industries with overall higher investment opportunities.

Where the Cloud Rests: The Economic Geography of Data Centers

by Tommy Pan Fang and Shane Greenstein

• This study examines pre-pandemic entry strategies for data centers in the United States. Third-party firms meet buyer demand for proximity in urban areas, while cloud providers seek lower-cost inputs elsewhere.

Motives, Gender, and Experience: Performance Effects in Crowdsourcing Contests

by Jonas Heite, Karin Hoisl, and Rainer Widmann

• This study examines how motives, gender, and experience moderate the performance revision effect in tournament-based crowdsourcing. Using Topcoder data, we find stronger performance declines among female and experienced participants when facing higher-ability opponents.

Lastly, a reminder that our annual Strategy Science Conference, taking place in Boulder, Colorado, is coming up at the end of May and that submissions are being accepted until February 1, 2026.                                                                                                                                                                                  

Please enjoy these papers and share them with your colleagues.  Also, please connect with us on LinkedIn or follow us on X.

Sincerely,
Todd Zenger
Editor-in-Chief