Abstract: Scholars are advised to become familiar with a journal’s scope of topics and quality standards before submitting a manuscript because learning the standards and adding to streams of research of interest to readers of the journal likely will give the paper a competitive advantage in the publishing process. To provide an objective assessment of the current scope and standards for the Strategic Management Journal, we used the Duriau-Reger-Pfarrer protocol (2007) of content analysis for scholarly research and analyzed all 390 papers published by SMJ from 2009 to 2013. We identified primary topic areas, theories, key words, research design, independent variables, dependent variables, moderating variables, data collection sources, statistical/econometric models, robustness testing, and characteristics of samples. Our findings provide potential authors useful information about the scope and publishing standards of SMJ.

Abstract: During last two decades research on environmental entrepreneurship (EE) has underlined the role of entrepreneurs in the solution of ever-increasing environmental problems. We aim to review the literature on the topic to link and summarize what we know and the main challenges currently hindering the theoretical and empirical development of the field. Our contribution in this study will be threefold: (1) build identity and distinctiveness of the phenomenon through the review of existing conceptualizations; (2) integrate current literature and map the terrain around three mainstream identified conversations: the antecedents, the process and the outcomes of EE; (3) offer discussion of the phenomenon at different levels of analysis. By doing so, we offer a detailed research agenda to advance the understanding of the EE field.

Abstract: Francis Bacon, pioneer of the scientific method, noted in one of his aphorisms that “human understanding is of its own nature prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity in the world than it finds.” In this article, we explore the potential and actual risk of what we term “scientific apophenia” - the assigning of inferential meaning when limited statistical power should prevent such a conclusion or when the data are actually random. Results suggest that scientific apophenia is present in strategic management research. Approximately 40% of hypothesis tests confirmed at the p<0.05 threshold would not, upon replication, be reconfirmed at this significance level.

Abstract: Is growth profitable? A simple, yet intriguing question for scholars and practitioners has so far been answered with differing results. While primarily a linear relation between growth and profitability is assumed, the existence of a non-linear relation might explain such findings. Additionally, a decomposition of growth in different modes of growth – organic and acquisitive growth – is supposed to generate further insights into the linkage of growth and profitability, since both modes differ fundamentally. Contributing to the literature on growth, entrepreneurship, and acquisitions, we find support for a positive but declining relation between growth and profitability. We find this relation mainly driven by acquisitive growth, as organic growth shows a positive linear relation. Furthermore, we find growing exclusively organically superior to combinations of growth modes.