The search for corporate success

Why are some firms successful – perhaps continually – while others are not? This is the fundamental question in the field of strategic management. In this regard, we argue that more attention needs to be dedicated to the role of organizational design and management processes in an attempt to understand corporate success. In this chapter, we provide an overview of our main arguments and explain a number of the key concepts and ideas used throughout this book.

The search for corporate success serves as the basis for organizational strategy. In the jargon of the strategic management field, the search for success is equivalent to the search for competitive advantage – the potential to earn above-average returns. The key question, then, is the following: What are the sources of those competitive advantages?