Center for Strategic Management and Globalization (SMG)
Center for Strategic Management and Globalization (SMG)
The Center for Strategic Management and Globalization (SMG) that was established on 1 September 2005 is a merger of the CBS Center for Knowledge Governance and Center for Global Sourcing. The Center reports directly to the Dean, but t is affiliated with the Department of International Economics and Management. Research at the Center focuses on the strategic behaviour of companies in an increasingly globalised world. It is the Center's vision to develop within the next five years into Northern Europe's leading research centre in the important disciplines of modern business economics, strategic management and international business. Driven by the ongoing process of globalisation, these disciplines are converging to an ever increasing degree.
Highlights of 2005
Despite the fact that the Center for Strategic Management and Globalization was not established until 1 September 2005, its staff achieved a very high performance level during the rest of the year. Their activities included the following highlights:
· On 14-15 December, the Center arranged the First Annual Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management 2005 with 80 academic participants and approximately 40 participants from the business community in the business-related session at the conference. The Conference successfully experimented with untraditional learning methods, notably breakout sessions with mixed groups of researchers and business representatives. The Conference sponsors included the American Chamber of Commerce in Denmark and the Oticon Foundation. The Conference will be held again in 2006
· On 7 October, the Center and the Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy jointly organised the mini conference entitled "Searching for Innovation" with the participation of a number of international innovation researchers (including Lori Rosenkopf, Gautam Ahuja, Bruce Tether and Andrea Prencipe)
· On 11 November, the Center organised the mini conference "Knowledge Sharing Within Organizations". This conference was aimed directly at the business community with the participation of DIOS A/S, Chr. Hansen and Danisco, among others
· On 1-2 December, the Center arranged the strictly academic conference "Micro-foundations of Capabilities" with the participation of a large number of prominent international researchers (Anna Grandori, J.C. Spender and Siegwardt Lindenberg)
· The first in a series of planned business seminars was launched on 27 September. Anders Knutsen addressed a large audience on the subject of the Globalization Council's work in a business perspective
- With regard to publication, Torben Pedersen's monograph entitled Managing Global Offshoring Strategies (written with Jacob Pyndt) is worth mentioning. While relevant to business, this contribution is also an example of the Center's core research.
Academic profile
The Center researchers are characterised by a high degree of academic homogeneity. Indeed, the disciplines of business economics comprised by the Center are converging to a high degree and to some extent they overlap. Strategic management and international business are two well-established core areas with much interface and many common aspects. These are disciplines of business economics that are both the result of approximately 40 years of cumulative development. A long range of fundamental questions overlap; for example, much international management literature deals with strategic problems in an international context. Both disciplines make use of organisational economic theory to a high degree, and the research methods are very similar in both areas. The journals are also relatively homogenous and overlap to some extent.
The Center aims to orient its research according to the best international mainstream research within the two disciplines and to be a recognised contributor of this type of research with particular emphasis on quantitative empirical analysis. Nevertheless, the Center also endeavours to establish its research branding by developing its own identity within mainstream research in strategic management and international business. Thus, the Center is distinguished by attaching importance to a micro-approach based on the motivation of individual agents and by analysing the effects of organisational and strategic changes etc. in terms of their impact on the motivation and information of agents. This is characteristic of the Center's research in knowledge management, strategic management and international business.
Research strategy
The Center research strategy is simple, yet ambitious: to develop into Northern Europe's leading research centre in terms of research in strategic management and international business within a five-year period. To this end the Center has translated its research strategy into a number of specific benchmarks concerning publication in journals, workshops/conferences/seminars, establishment of research environments, visiting researchers and external research funding.
One of the benchmarks is to publish minimum 12 articles per year in recognised journals. Publication will be oriented according to the official CBS TOP60 ranking list of journals. Of the 12 articles, at least two will be published in the very best journals on the list. In addition to the above publication targets, targets have been set for the scope of research venues:
- Two annual workshops/mini conferences, i.e. small one-day conferences with an attendance of approximately 40. The Center staff have excellent experience with this format
- The Center will host at least one major conference every year. The Center's "own" conference is the Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management
- The Center will hold at least 12 research seminars per year
- The Center will hold three-four business seminars every year with the participation of the prominent members of its Business Advisory Board.
Research results
During its four-month lifetime the Center has published: five reviewed, English-language articles in journals; three contributions to anthologies; 12 working papers; and a number of contributions for research presentation purposes.
The Center received a number of visiting researchers: assistant professor Ibuki Ishikawa, Ritsumeikan University; assistant professor Rosileia Milagres, Dom Cabral Foundation, Sao Paolo; associate professor Zhu Hai Jiu,Economic School at Zhejiang GongShang University; and assistant professor Sylvia Saes, Department of Business Administration, University of Sao Paolo. The Center also co-sponsored professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, StanfordUniversity, who spent a week at CBS (week 46) and held a seminar under the auspices of SMG.
Research relations in practice
Interaction with the business community has high priority at the Center. During its four months of existence in 2005 this resulted in the following initiatives:
- The Center set up a Business Advisory Board to supplement the Center's Academic Board with a membership of nine business leaders, including Peter Ankerstjerne, Vice President, ISS; Allan Rasmussen, General Manager, Coloplast; Jesper Leth Espensen, Manager, Novozymes; and Ragnar Nordahl, General Manager, Artech TCS
- The Center launched a series of business seminars, i.e. big public meetings with highly profiled business leaders. The first SMG business seminar was held on 27 September with Anders Knutsen as presenter
- The Oticon Foundation and the American Chamber of Commerce sponsored the Copenhagen Conference on Strategic Management 2005, and AmCham co-organised the business part of the conference
- The Center initiated a research partnership with the Confederation of Danish Industries on the management challenges of globalisation, which is funded by the Danish Industrial Mortgage Credit Fund
- At the mini conference "Knowledge Sharing Within Organizations" on 11 November, representatives of the business community were predominant among the invited presenters as well as the audience
- Research cooperation with the Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries on measuring the effect of the investments of Danish enterprises in the developing countries
- Torben Juul Andersen initiated the Strategic Risk Management project sponsored by Aon Insurance, Ernest & Young, TDC, Novozymes and Nordea
- Line Gry Knudsen's PhD project is funded in part by Novozymes, Novo-Nordisk and Velux.
Last updated by Martin Iskou Olsen 27/11/2008
