bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dead-End Hybridization in Walnut Trees Revealed by Large-Scale Genomic Sequence Data
Authors: Zhang Wei-Ping , Cao Lei , Lin Xin-Rui , Ding Ya-Mei , Liang Yu , Zhang Da-Yong , Pang Er-Li , Renner Susanne S , Bai Wei-Ning
Published: October 2021

Although hybridization plays a large role in speciation, some unknown fraction of hybrid individuals never reproduces, instead remaining as genetic dead-ends. We investigated a morphologically distinct and culturally important Chinese walnut, Juglans hopeiensis, suspected to have arisen from hybridization of Persian walnut (J. regia) with Asian butternuts (J. cathayensis, J. mandshurica, and hybrids between J. cathayensis and J. mandshurica). Based on 151 whole-genome sequences of the relevant taxa, we discovered that all J. hopeiensis individuals are first-generation hybrids, with the time for the onset of gene flow estimated as 370,000 years, implying both strong postzygotic barriers and the presence of J. regia in China by that time. Six inversion regions enriched for genes associated with pollen germination and pollen tube growth may be involved in the postzygotic barriers that prevent sexual reproduction in the hybrids. Despite its long-recurrent origination and distinct traits, J. hopeiensis does not appear on the way to speciation.
Role of dietary patterns and factors in determining the risk of knee osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis
Authors: Xu Chao , Wang Shun , Ti Weiye , Yang Jun , Yasen Yalikun , Memetsidiq Miryaqup , Shi Song-qing
Published: October 2021

Objectives

To evaluates the role of diet in determining knee osteoarthritis risk.

Methods

Literature search was conducted in Ovid, PubMed, Science Direct, and Springer. To estimate knee osteoarthritis risk with high use of vegetarian, prudent, and omnivorous diets, dairy products, vitamin C/E, and carotenoids, the odds ratios (ORs) or relative risks (RRs) reported by included studies were pooled.

Results

Fifteen studies (97,157 individuals) were included. High use of vegetarian diet {OR 0.71 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.45, 0.97]}, prudent diet [OR 0.87 (95% CI: 0.76, 0.98)/RR 0.89 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.97)], and dairy [OR 0.66 (95% CI: –0.08, 1.39)/RR 0.58 (95% CI: 0.41, 0.75)] were associated with lower risk of knee osteoarthritis but risk was relatively higher with high use of omnivorous diet [OR 1.13 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.30)/RR 1.06 (95% CI: 0.84, 1.29) and 1.05 (0.78, 1.33)]. High intake of vitamin C [OR 0.92 (0.29, 1.56)] or E [OR 0.93 (0.64, 1.21)] did not reduce knee osteoarthritis risk, but high use of carotenoids was associated with the lower risk [OR 0.66 (0.37, 0.96)].

Conclusions

Knee osteoarthritis risk is low with high use of vegetarian diet, prudent diet, and dairy, but cannt be reduced by high intakes of vitamin C/E.
Usefulness of the severity classification for predicting drug-free remission in Japanese patients with adult-onset Still’s disease
Authors: Maruyama Akihito , Kokuzawa Ayako , Yamauchi Yusuke , Kirino Yohei , Nagai Hideto , Inoue Yasushi , Ota Toshiyuki , Chifu Yutaka , Inokuchi Satomi , Mitoma Hiroki , Akahoshi Mitsuteru , Sakai Mariko , Ohta Akihide , Iwamoto Masahiro , Tada Yoshifumi
Published: October 2021

Objectives

To investigate the usefulness of severity classification for predicting outcomes in patients with adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD).

Methods

This was a multi-centre retrospective cohort study. AOSD patients were classified into mild, moderate, and severe groups based on severity classification (Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) during the initial treatment, and clinical features were compared among these groups. The primary endpoints were the AOSD-related mortality and drug-free remission rate. For comparison, the same analysis was performed in parallel for patient groups stratified by the modified Pouchot systemic score.

Results

According to severity classification, 49 (35%), 37 (26%), and 56 patients (39%) were classified into mild, moderate, and severe groups, respectively. Patients in the severe group showed higher frequency of severe complications and the use of biological agents. Although AOSD-related survival was not significantly different (p = .0776), four of the five fatal cases were classified into the severe group. The severe group showed a reduced rate of drug-free remission (p = .0125). Patient groups classified by systemic score did not correlate with survival or drug-free remission.

Conclusions

Severity classification is useful for predicting outcomes in patients with AOSD.
A new RNA–DNA interaction required for integration of group II intron retrotransposons into DNA targets
Authors: Monachello Dario , Lauraine Marc , Gillot Sandra , Michel François , Costa Maria
Published: October 2021

Mobile group II introns are site-specific retrotransposable elements abundant in bacterial and organellar genomes. They are composed of a large and highly structured ribozyme and an intron-encoded reverse transcriptase that binds tightly to its intron to yield a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particle. During the first stage of the mobility pathway, the intron RNA catalyses its own insertion directly into the DNA target site. Recognition of the proper target rests primarily on multiple base-pairing interactions between the intron RNA and the target DNA, while the protein makes contacts with only a few target positions by yet-unidentified mechanisms. Using a combination of comparative sequence analyses and in vivo mobility assays we demonstrate the existence of a new base-pairing interaction named EBS2a–IBS2a between the intron RNA and its DNA target site. This pairing adopts a Watson–Crick geometry and is essential for intron mobility, most probably by driving unwinding of the DNA duplex. Importantly, formation of EBS2a–IBS2a also requires the reverse transcriptase enzyme which stabilizes the pairing in a non-sequence-specific manner. In addition to bringing to light a new structural device that allows subgroup IIB1 and IIB2 introns to invade their targets with high efficiency and specificity our work has important implications for the biotechnological applications of group II introns in bacterial gene targeting.
UFold: fast and accurate RNA secondary structure prediction with deep learning
Authors: Fu Laiyi , Cao Yingxin , Wu Jie , Peng Qinke , Nie Qing , Xie Xiaohui
Published: October 2021

For many RNA molecules, the secondary structure is essential for the correct function of the RNA. Predicting RNA secondary structure from nucleotide sequences is a long-standing problem in genomics, but the prediction performance has reached a plateau over time. Traditional RNA secondary structure prediction algorithms are primarily based on thermodynamic models through free energy minimization, which imposes strong prior assumptions and is slow to run. Here, we propose a deep learning-based method, called UFold, for RNA secondary structure prediction, trained directly on annotated data and base-pairing rules. UFold proposes a novel image-like representation of RNA sequences, which can be efficiently processed by Fully Convolutional Networks (FCNs). We benchmark the performance of UFold on both within- and cross-family RNA datasets. It significantly outperforms previous methods on within-family datasets, while achieving a similar performance as the traditional methods when trained and tested on distinct RNA families. UFold is also able to predict pseudoknots accurately. Its prediction is fast with an inference time of about 160 ms per sequence up to 1500 bp in length. An online web server running UFold is available at https://ufold.ics.uci.edu. Code is available at https://github.com/uci-cbcl/UFold.
The role of diffusion tensor imaging metrics in machine learning-based characterisation of paediatric brain tumors and their practicality for multicentre clinical assessment
Authors: Rose Heather , Li Huijun , Bennett Christopher D , Novak Jan , Sun Yu , MacPherson Lesley , Avula Shivaram , Arvanitis Theodoros , Clark Christopher , Bailey Simon , Mitra Dipayan , Auer Dorothee , Grundy Richard , Peet Andrew
Published: October 2021

Aims

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valuable tool for non-invasive diagnosis of paediatric brain tumours. The rarity of the disease dictates multi-centre studies and imaging biomarkers that are robust to protocol variability. We investigated diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI), combined with machine learning, as an aid to diagnosis and evaluated the robustness of the imaging metrics.

Method

A multi-centre cohort of 52 clinical DT-MRI scans (20 medulloblastomas (MB), 21 pilocytic astrocytomas (PA), 11 ependymomas (EP)) were analysed retrospectively. Histograms for regions of solid tumour for fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), pure anisotropic diffusion (q) and pure isotropic diffusion (p) were compared to assess diagnostic capability. Linear discriminate analysis (LDA) was used for classification and validated using leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV).

Results

Histogram medians for FA, MD, q and p were all different between tumor groups (P<.0001, Kruskal Wallis test). Median MD, p and q values were highest in PA, then EP and lowest in MB (P<.0001, Pairwise Wilcox test). FA median was higher for EP than PA (P=.004) with no significant difference between EP and MB (P=.591). ROC analysis showed that median MD, q and p perform best as a diagnostic marker (AUC= 0.92 to 0.99). LOOCV showed an overall accuracy of the LDA classification, ranging between 67% - 87%. FA values were highly dependent on protocol parameters, whereas pure anisotropic diffusion, q, was not.

Conclusion

DT-MRI metrics from multi-centre acquisitions can classify paediatric brain tumours. FA is the least robust metric to protocol variability and q provides the most robust quantification of anisotropic behaviour.
Smoking Status and Factors associated with COVID-19 In-Hospital Mortality among US Veterans
Authors: Razjouyan Javad , Helmer Drew A , Lynch Kristine E , Hanania Nicola A , Klotman Paul E , Sharafkhaneh Amir , Amos Christopher I
Published: October 2021

Introduction

The role of smoking in risk of death among patients with COVID-19 remains unclear. We examined the association between in-hospital mortality from COVID-19 and smoking status and other factors in the United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Methods

This is an observational, retrospective cohort study using the VHA COVID-19 shared data resources for February 1 to September 11, 2020. Veterans admitted to the hospital who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalized by VHA were grouped into Never (as reference, NS), Former (FS), and Current smokers (CS). The main outcome was in-hospital mortality. Control factors were the most important variables (among all available) determined through a cascade of machine learning. We reported adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) from logistic regression models, imputing missing smoking status in our primary analysis.

Results

Out of 8 667 996 VHA enrollees, 505 143 were tested for SARS-CoV-2 (NS = 191 143; FS = 240 336; CS = 117 706; Unknown = 45 533). The aOR of in-hospital mortality was 1.16 (95%CI 1.01, 1.32) for FS vs. NS and 0.97 (95%CI 0.78, 1.22; p > .05) for CS vs. NS with imputed smoking status. Among other factors, famotidine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) use before hospitalization were associated with lower risk while diabetes with complications, kidney disease, obesity, and advanced age were associated with higher risk of in-hospital mortality.

Conclusions

In patients admitted to the hospital with SARS-CoV-2 infection, our data demonstrate that FS are at higher risk of in-hospital mortality than NS. However, this pattern was not seen among CS highlighting the need for more granular analysis with high-quality smoking status data to further clarify our understanding of smoking risk and COVID-19-related mortality. Presence of comorbidities and advanced age were also associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality.

Implications

Veterans who were former smokers were at higher risk of in-hospital mortality compared to never smokers. Current smokers and never smokers were at similar risk of in-hospital mortality. The use of famotidine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) before hospitalization were associated with lower risk while uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, advanced age, kidney disease, and obesity were associated with higher risk of in-hospital mortality.
Robotic Sacroiliac Fixation Technique for Triangular Titanium Implant in Adult Degenerative Scoliosis Surgery: 2-Dimensional Operative Video
Authors: Berlin Connor , Patel Parantap , Lieberman Isador , Shaffrey Mark , Buchholz Avery
Published: October 2021

Corrective surgery remains a definitive treatment for adult spinal deformity, improving pain and disability. With these cases, instrumentation to the pelvis with iliac fixation is recommended. Whether iliac or S2-Alar-Iliac (S2AI) trajectories are used, sacroiliac joint pain and long-term sacroilitis can be common after long-fusion constructs.
1-3
Sacroiliac fusion with triangular titanium implants during fusion can reduce back pain associated with sacroiliac joint degeneration,
3
provides reduction in sacroiliac joint motion and stress when added to S2AI screws, and potentially enhances mechanical stability of fusion constructs.
4

Here, we present a technique for placing triangular titanium sacroiliac implants (iFuse BedrockTM; SI-BONE Inc, Santa Clara, California) alongside S2AI screws using a robotic platform (Mazor X; Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Medtronic Inc, Dublin, Ireland). Navigated robotics allows reduction in human error with implant placement, and potentially decreased operative time/fluoroscopy.
5-7
Key surgical steps include placement of K wires for S2AI and bilateral SI-implants, tapping, replacing SI-implant K wires with guide pins, placing S2AI screws, and finally placing the SI-implant. Final placement is verified with intraoperative fluoroscopy.

The patient described is a 61-yr-old woman with worsening adult degenerative scoliosis, lower back pain, left leg radicular pain, and mild right leg pain who failed conservative treatment. Examination revealed diminished strength in both legs. Imaging was significant for moderate sigmoid scoliosis, discogenic disease, and osteoarthritis at all levels. She consented to undergo corrective surgery. Postoperatively, the patient experienced resolution of her leg weakness and pain. Imaging demonstrated appropriate positioning of hardware. Prospective studies on the efficacy of the SI-implant are underway.
Simultaneous Endoscopic and Microscopic Visualization in Microvascular Decompression for Hemifacial Spasm
Authors: McGahan Ben G , Albonette-Felicio Thiago , Kreatsoulas Daniel C , Magill Stephen T , Hardesty Douglas A , Prevedello Daniel M
Published: October 2021

BACKGROUND

Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is a socially limiting condition leading to decreased quality of life that can be treated with microvascular decompression (MVD). Endoscopy has been described as an adjunct to traditional microscopy for MVD, although the best visualization technique is debated.

OBJECTIVE

To review the current literature on use of endoscopy in MVD for HFS and to describe the simultaneous microscopic and endoscopic visualization technique along with a video illustration.

METHODS

Patients who underwent MVD for HFS were retrospectively reviewed from January 2011 to December 2019. The first set of patients in the series were done using traditional endoscopic assisted visualization, followed by a change in technique in the subsequent patients using the simultaneous endoscopic technique. The surgical technique is described as well as illustrated with a video.

RESULTS

In total, 21 patients underwent 24 MVDs to treat HFS. The simultaneous endoscopic/microscopic technique was used in 48% of cases for visualization. All but one patient had resolution of their symptoms immediately after the procedure. In total, 7 patients had recurrence of HFS, with 4 (17%) resolving spontaneously and 3 (13%) ultimately undergoing redo MVD. Postoperatively 7 patients (29%) had transient complications that all resolved completely. There was no significant difference between the traditional alternating microscopic and endoscopic technique with the simultaneous endoscopic microscopic technique.

CONCLUSION

Endoscopic assistance during MVD for HFS is beneficial and may be streamlined by using the simultaneous microscope and endoscope visualization technique.
Introduction
Authors: Hughes Aaron W. , McCutcheon Russell T.
Published: October 2021

In this introductory chapter, Hughes and McCutcheon set the stage for all of the chapters that follow. They show the history of those who have tried to define religion, arguing that it is one of the central aspects of our field. However, many definitions or religions paradoxically leave the term, “religion” un- or underdefined. Instead, Hughes and McCutcheon argue that the field that studies something called “religion” ought to know what it actually is instead of relying on asset of vague generalizations and fold taxonomies. The chapter ends with all of the author definitions in the volume
Complicating Classification: Cognitive Science Comes to Religion
Authors: Lofton Kathryn
Published: October 2021

In this chapter Kathryn Lofton and Jeppe Sinding Jensen debate the merits of the cognitive science of religion and its role in defining religion. Lofton argues that Jensen’s initial definition is problematic since the study of religion has always been a humanistic and cultural as opposed to a biological and cognitive activity. To this Jensen replies that, while true, the cognitive science of religion adds another dimension with which to understand religion and religious behavior.
Minding Our Manners in a World without the Gods
Authors: Brent Plate S.
Published: October 2021

In this chapter S. Brent Plate and Kathryn Lofton debate the utility of Lofton’s initial definition, which argued that religion was essentially a system of classification. Plate objects that such a definition leaves no room for God, deities, or the sacred. Religion, he argues, should primarily be about studying the sacred and human interaction with it. Taking up the subfield of lived religion, he argues that since people all over the globe think there are deities (and clothe and feed them), who are we to deny them that. Plate thus encourages us to adopt a more theological approach to the study of religion.
Religion Is an Ever-Adapting Ecosystem of Objects
Authors: Taves Ann
Published: October 2021

In this chapter Ann Taves and S. Brent Plate debate the role of cultural objects in the study of religion. In his initial definition, Plate argues that we need to imagine religion as a set of ever-adapting ecosystems of objects, which includes cultural products, the natural world, and human bodies. Taves responds with the claim that we need to ask why this is the case. Why, in other words, do humans construct social or other worlds in light of their needs and values? The solution, both would agree, is in the need to switch our understanding of religion from belief to practices and from minds to bodies.
Scripturalization as Management of Difference
Authors: Wimbush Vincent L.
Published: October 2021

In this chapter Kurtis R. Schaeffer and Vincent L. Wimbush debate the political uses of religion. Schaeffer, in his original definition, defined religion as (1) “a discourse that claims transcendent origins, authority, and impact”; (2) “institutions governed by and governing that discourse”; (3) “communities ruling and resisting those institutions”; and (4) “practices personal and political that bring that rule, that resistance, to life in mundane and epic ways.” Wimbush responds by wanting to introduce aspects such as the personal and the racial into the conversation. Though he agrees with Schaeffer on the importance of understanding the political, he puts a much bigger emphasis on it, especially in light of the rise (and fall) of Donald Trump and the continued legacy of racism in America.
Let’s Talk about Reading
Authors: Kavka Martin
Published: October 2021

In this chapter Martin Kavka takes Ann Taves’s initial definition to task for not wanting to define religion, and then she herself does so by wanting to replace it with the term “worldviews.” Kavka objects that the approach Taves wants to take, which is by and large scientific, means that we no longer study religion but instead study brain scans. If Taves wants to study acts of valuing, or acts of acknowledging something to be special, Kavka argues that her definition leaves out the act of reading, especially as he understands this term to be a form of contestation and disputation. Kavka seems to take exception to the lack of history and historicity that underpins Taves’s definition.
Beyond Peak Oil and Gas
Authors: Gordon Deborah
Published: October 2021

Chapter 1 challenges conventional wisdom that oil and gas were once thought to be running out. But peak oil supply is a myth, and there is a huge trove of hydrocarbons on Earth and even in space and on other planets. This chapter argues that not only are oil and gas resources plentiful but also there are few substitutes available to readily replace them. Moreover, these resources are entrenched in the global economy through well-established consumer bases, infrastructure, financial investments, social contracts, special interests, and regulations. The techniques used to convert hydrocarbons to petroleum products are discussed. Even as clean energy technologies get dramatically better and cheaper, they won’t easily displace oil and gas. The market forces that govern oil and gas are explained, as are the market failures that mean the best barrels are not necessarily prioritized.
The Overlooked Perils of Heterogeneous Oil and Gas
Authors: Gordon Deborah
Published: October 2021

Chapter 2 details the differences and similarities among twenty-first-century petroleum resources and distinguishes conventional from unconventional resources. The chapter argues that, while these definitions are muddled, there is value to understanding and parsing unconventional oil and gas. Numerous different oil and gas resources are then surveyed, including shale gas, ultradeep gas, Arctic gas, tight gas, coalbed methane, biogas, acid gas, geopressurized gas, methane hydrates, condensates, light tight oil, extra-heavy oil, ultradeep oil, Arctic oil, depleted oil, kerogen, biofuels, gas-to-liquids, and coal-to-liquids. Estimates are provided of cumulative industry greenhouse gas emissions for conventional versus unconventional oil and gas resources. The chapter concludes with a discussion of hydrogen—the ultimate unconventional resource—and its production pathways.
Civil Society: Driving Change
Authors: Gordon Deborah
Published: October 2021

Chapter 7 explores the role that civil society actors can play in driving change to reduce oil sector climate impacts. It argues that consumers need to be put under a microscope to examine the wide-held misconception that they are sovereign and can control markets by shifting demand. This chapter refocuses nongovernmental organizations, campaigners, academics, and the public on the supply chain and lays out different approaches they can take, including (1) disseminating information, (2) conducting advocacy, (3) providing accountability, and (4) participating in social movements. Success rests on coordinating civil society so that each actor plays its most important role.
Communication Through Law?
Authors: Stilz Anna
Published: October 2021

This commentary raises four critical questions for Shiffrin’s account of democratic law. First, why does our duty to communicate recognition for others as moral equals ground a special duty to our fellow citizens to cooperate together in a democracy? Second, whose messages exactly does democratic law communicate—is it the messages of individual citizens or the messages of the state as a corporate agent? Third, why does discharging our communicative duties require us to play an equal role in our political system, especially given Shiffrin’s endorsement of the idea that common law counts as a form of democratic co-authorship? And finally, how does the state’s pursuit of discretionary interests, for example in the promotion of a national culture or the preservation of fetal life, help us to send morally valuable messages to one another?
Keep the Conversation Going: Theory and Method in Strategic Management
Authors: Hoskisson Robert E. , Harrison Jeffrey S.
Published: October 2021

As a relatively young discipline, the field of strategic management has not been as stifled as some other fields by what might be called a “normal science straitjacket” of established theories and methods. Instead, interesting conversations have emerged, based on homegrown ideas and drawing from numerous other disciplines. In the first few decades, these conversations shifted like a pendulum from an internal organizational emphasis to a focus on the competitive environment, and back with an emphasis on the resource-based view. This chapter demonstrates how many of the recent interesting findings are based on moving the pendulum toward the center, applying external perspectives to internal questions, and vice versa. The chapter provides examples of this phenomenon for a number of external and internal topics that are important to solving important strategic challenges. It also highlights promising research questions in these areas that have yet to be adequately addressed.
The Organizational View of Strategic Management
Authors: Greve Henrich R.
Published: October 2021

The organizational view of strategic management views strategic decisions as outcomes of organizational goals and environmental influences. Central research streams are institutional theory and network theory on environmental influences, and learning theory and resource dependence theory on organizational interaction with the environment. Currently active research topics are centered on how societal groups influence organizations, intraorganizational individuals and groups pursue their own goals, and organizations pursue their goals by choosing strategic actions that maneuver societal constraints. Research is beginning to crystallize a view of environments and organizational structures interacting closely with strategy, with organizations learning to shape their interorganizational networks and surrounding institutions to their benefit. Comparison of performance and aspiration levels on multiple goals helps organizations time and direct strategic changes. The organizational view is a prominent part of strategic management and has enough unanswered questions to spur significant future research.
Evolution of Qualitative Research Methods in Strategic Management
Authors: Graebner Melissa E.
Published: October 2021

Qualitative research has played an influential role in strategic management since the inception of the field. Qualitative data are open-ended, vivid, rich, and nuanced, fostering a more sophisticated and ecologically valid understanding of organizational strategies and strategy making. Qualitative methodologies are diverse and include multicase theory building; process analysis; strategy-as-practice; narrative, discursive, and rhetorical approaches; and deductive and illustrative case studies. Despite contributing to scholarship on critical topics such as alliances, mergers and acquisitions, responses to technological change, corporate governance, managerial cognition, and strategy in entrepreneurial ventures, qualitative research faces hurdles in the publication process. Nonetheless, qualitative approaches will be essential for the future of strategy scholarship and offer opportunities to better understand the intersection of strategic management and broader societal concerns such as coping with crises and achieving greater equity and inclusion in organizations.
Alliances and Networks
Authors: Lavie Dovev
Published: October 2021

Strategy research underscores the role of alliances and networks in driving cooperation and value creation across firm boundaries. This chapter discusses the relational and structural characteristics of alliance ties, centering on questions related to the formation and performance implications of alliances and networks, including multiparty alliances, alliance portfolios, and ecosystems. The chapter discusses the various theoretical perspectives used in studying the formation and development of alliances, the choice of partners, value creation and capture, the governance of alliances, their portfolio configuration, and network dynamics. Besides discussing the foundations and recent work on alliances and networks, future research directions are identified. Some opportunities include examining the microfoundations of alliance relationships, analyzing the failure of relational mechanisms, disentangling value creation from value capture dynamics, studying cognitive and behavioral antecedents of network evolution, the tradeoff between routinization and flexibility in alliance management, and the unique nature of cooperation in ecosystems versus dyadic alliances.
Emerging Economies: The Impact of Context on Global Strategic Management
Authors: Williamson Peter J. , Santos José F. P.
Published: October 2021

This chapter begins by exploring what defines emerging economies based on how they are different from the viewpoint of strategy making. Then the chapter turns to examine the strategies adopted by leading domestic firms in emerging economies and emerging market multinationals, highlighting their potential for market disruption and the implications for the study and practice of global strategic management. Acknowledging the growing importance of emerging economies in the global economy, the chapter explores the implications of the emerging economies context for the strategies of multinationals from developed economies. The chapter concludes by proposing avenues for future research on how emerging economies impact global strategic management, including the need to recognize that they are complex dynamic systems with rising economic complexity that demand new types of dynamic capabilities and innovative sources of competitive advantage to enable success.
Corporate Governance
Authors: Aguilera Ruth V.
Published: October 2021

Corporate governance entails the design of a bundle of practices and processes to distribute the allocation of decision-making power among the different actors in the firm to promote value creation in the long term. It is at the heart of strategic thinking and implementation, because governance practices are designed to incentivize certain behavioral strategies, such as promoting sustainability, and to monitor that other courses of action are not taken, such as ethical lapses. This chapter first discusses what corporate governance is and why it is important for strategic management. Then the chapter reviews key areas that have received the most attention in the strategy literature, such as shareholder engagement and international corporate governance. The last and largest section of this chapter discusses three emerging corporate governance themes relevant to firm strategy in these changing global, digital, and pandemic times.
Boards of Directors and Strategic Management in Public Firms and New Ventures
Authors: Westphal James D. , Garg Sam
Published: October 2021

This chapter examines contemporary theory and research on boards of directors in strategic management. After briefly reviewing the evolution of research on corporate boards and strategic management, we describe contemporary theoretical perspectives and emerging topics in the literature, and identify a variety of future research opportunities. We then turn to recent research in the rapidly growing literature on venture boards and strategy. Our review of recent work on boards of public companies and new ventures reveals a common emphasis on behavioral processes in the boardroom, in dyadic CEO-board interactions outside the boardroom, and in relations between directors and external constituents. We describe numerous opportunities to extend these complementary literatures by linking behavioral processes in boards to issues of diversity, technology and innovation, culture and institutions, and competitive strategy.
Knowledge and Innovation: From Path Dependency Toward Managerial Agency
Authors: Volberda Henk W. , Schneidmuller Tatjana , Zadeh Taghi
Published: October 2021

In this chapter we argue that in foundational theories of knowledge and innovation, innovation is either path-dependent, and thus incremental and largely passive, or active and radical, with strategists playing a decisive role in shaping innovation outcomes. Moving on from foundational theories of knowledge and innovation, we show in this chapter that the field has diversified into five interrelated clusters: (1) international knowledge transfer, (2) organizational capabilities and learning, (3) networks and ties, (4) regional clusters, and (5) open innovation. While some clusters have shown the importance of managerial agency, the chapter concludes with describing four research avenues considered most important for future-proofing this field of study: (1) diverse audiences, (2) regulation and regulators, (3) misalignment capabilities, and (4) internal agents as active movers of innovation. These research avenues may further contribute toward a managerial agency of innovation view in which managers are regarded as playing an active role as strategists in knowledge development and innovation.
Organizational Learning
Authors: Crossan Mary , Vera Dusya , Pathak Seemantini
Published: October 2021

Strategy scholars and practitioners can tap into the deep reservoir of organizational learning (OL) research to address: how is OL uniquely positioned to contribute to the advancement of strategic management? Elevating OL in strategy research has never been more important, given the grand challenges facing our world, requiring strategy to extend beyond organizations to society. This chapter addresses the underutilization of OL in strategy and offers two important areas to leverage: (1) exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity; and (2) the processes of OL as they relate to strategic renewal and agility, including multilevel theorizing. The chapter also underscores the importance of OL for emerging frontiers at the interface between the human and nonhuman aspects of OL and strategy, including artificial intelligence. The context of strategy has been consistently described as being dynamic, ambiguous, uncertain, and complex, elevating the role of the agent and the quality of judgment and wisdom required within the domain of strategy.
Strategic Decision-Making and Organizational Actors
Authors: Reger Rhonda K. , Pfarrer Michael D.
Published: October 2021

This chapter reviews the broad contours and major contributions of the sociocognitive perspective in strategic management, with a focus on the current state of research and fruitful future research directions. The sociocognitive perspective examines how strategic actors (both internal and external to the organization) perceive, interpret, and react to create an organization’s actions, performance, and other outcomes. Early work in this tradition generally studied the cognitive end of the sociocognitive perspective by focusing on managerial cognition and biases, while recent work also focuses on the social end of the perspective by employing communications and related theories as well as considering a wider range of actors. This chapter recommends three promising directions for future research: (1) communication-based research on organizational actors; (2) alternative rationalities, especially those that focus on imagination, creativity, and vision; and (3) social media and the digital revolution’s effect on the strategic management process.
Strategic Change and Renewal
Authors: Huy Quy N. , Mack Daniel Z.
Published: October 2021

Strategic change and renewal represent central concerns in strategic management. Despite many works on this topic, the body of knowledge remains fragmented. This chapter’s review of the literature suggests that research tends to focus narrowly on particular phases of strategic change, specific change actors in the change process, and specific theoretical lenses. The chapter highlights some important yet underexplored areas for future research. Finally, the chapter argues how a more integrative approach could provide more textured insights and a deeper understanding of strategic change and renewal.
Strategic Human Capital: Fit for the Future
Authors: Coff Russell , Rickley Marketa
Published: October 2021

Human capital—the knowledge, skills, and abilities embedded in employees—represents critical microfoundations for organizational success. This chapter identifies shifting assumptions and recent advances in the field’s understanding of how human capital contributes to competitive advantage. The chapter is organized around two major research streams: human capital specificity and assortative matching between workers and firms. The text briefly outlines the evolution of each stream, articulating key cumulative insights regarding human capital selection, compensation, and mobility, and highlighting areas of consensus and disagreement. The major emphasis is on unresolved issues and future opportunities for strategic human capital research.
Extending the Microfoundations of Capability Development and Utilization: The Role of Agentic Technology and Identity-Based Community
Authors: Sirmon David G.
Published: October 2021

Scholars often simplify the treatment of capability development and utilization by focusing on individual-, process-, or structural-level factors independently. However, by following a microfoundation perspective to the treatment of capabilities this chapter endeavors to consider these levels collectively. In doing so, the chapter connects well-known managerial processes, such as resource orchestration, with novel yet increasing salient factors of agentic technologies (which act as another individual-level factor that constrains, complements, or substitutes for human agency) and identity-based community (which acts as another structural-level factor that conditionally provides the firm resources to promote its ideology-centric utility function). The integration of these three factors within the microfoundation literature promotes the investigation of research questions relevant to contemporary organizations. The chapter contextualizes potential questions in each section, including separate treatments of each factor as well as their collective consideration.
Critical Factors Affecting Strategy in the Future
Authors: Puranam Phanish
Published: October 2021

Several trends at work, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, are likely to shape the agenda of research in strategic management going forward. These include the growing importance of the “four D’s”- deglobalization, digitalization, diversity and durability (sustainability). This chapter overviews the critical issues that are a result of these trends that are likely to play an important role in the future of the field. It also outlines a few research topics that arise from the impact of these trends on the strategic management field, with the proviso that the topics discussed are by no means a complete list.
Sustainability Strategy
Authors: Barnett Michael L. , Henriques Irene , Husted Bryan W.
Published: October 2021

The planet and our society are on unsustainable footing. Many firms do more harm than good in helping to bring about environmental, social, and economic sustainability. This chapter offers guidance on how firms can make the urgently needed strategic shift to sustainability. The chapter begins by defining sustainability strategy and reviewing the literature on this topic. Much of the current literature views sustainability strategy as a plan to sustain and increase firm performance, subject to constraints imposed by the natural environment. However, to help bring about sustainability, firms must treat their environments not as something to be strategically buffered from, but as parts of a vulnerable system that they have an active and critical role in sustaining. We outline four sustainability strategies—calculative, cooperative, concerned, and co-creative—and suggest future research directions to aid firms in shifting from firm-centric solutions toward strategies that sustain the vulnerable social-ecological system.
What Would the Field of Strategic Management Look Like if it Took the Stakeholder Perspective Seriously?
Authors: Barney Jay B. , Mackey Alison
Published: October 2021

This chapter considers how core strategic management theories (resource-based theory, positioning theory and the theory of the firm) could be impacted by incorporating stakeholder considerations. Resource-based theory would need to adopt a model of profit appropriation in which stakeholders in addition to shareholders would have residual claims on a firm’s profits. Positioning theory’s traditional focus on threats would broaden to a focus on stakeholder-generated opportunities for profit generation. And stakeholder logic brings into question the importance of a theory of the firm for strategic management theory. These ideas (and others) are explored in this chapter as well as the implications for strategic management topics such as corporate diversification, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. Last, the chapter briefly considers some broader implications for other fields of scholarship that use and apply strategic management theories to develop applications and explain phenomena of interest in their own respective fields.
Business Model Innovation Strategy
Authors: Amit Raphael , Zott Christoph
Published: October 2021

This chapter develops the concept of business model innovation (BMI) strategy, which refers to the choices made by entrepreneurial leaders of incumbents and start-ups, in for-profit and not-for-profit or hybrid organizations, with respect to (1) the design of a new system of activities; (2) the processes, including their antecedents, by which the new activity system is created and implemented; and (3) the management and ongoing adaptation of the new activity system to ensure coherence (i.e., internal, external, and strategic fit) with the objective of sustaining and improving the focal organization’s competitive advantage. This chapter postulates that a BMI perspective has become a prerequisite for transformative innovation, and that entrepreneurial leaders of all firms need a BMI strategy. We also relate BMI strategy to digital platforms and point out distinct capabilities that managers need to hone in this context. Throughout the chapter, numerous important research opportunities in BMI strategy are articulated.
Strengths-Based Approaches to Conducting Research With Low-Income and Other Marginalized Populations
Authors: Hamby Sherry
Published: October 2021

As researchers, providers, and policymakers strive to make their work more inclusive, it is important to move beyond simply paying more attention to “understudied” groups. Along with calls for more research, there should be equally vigorous calls to move beyond stigmatizing, deficits-based approaches and instead develop respectful, strengths-based lenses. One challenge is the lack of published guidance about how to interact professionally with marginalized populations. Guided by standpoint theory, I share my experiences and recommendations for working with marginalized populations, focusing especially on working with people from low-income and working-class communities. Everyone has a standpoint that is shaped by multiple characteristics, and for many people these will include some privileged and some disadvantaged characteristics. However, even for well-intentioned people, it can be challenging to look beyond one’s socialization and to recognize that personal characteristics, in and of themselves, cannot confer goodness on a person, only privilege. The following recommendations are explored in more detail in the chapter: researchers are encouraged to recognize one’s perspective (reflexivity), avoid setting up studies that inadvertently reflect academic culture, offer incentives that convey respect for people’s time and expertise in their own lives, ensure measures are written in straightforward (not academic) language, include or create measures that explore the strengths of marginalized groups, and disseminate work to communities, not just fellow researchers. Researchers, students, editors, reviewers, and policymakers should be aware of best practices in this area.
“Justice for Native People, Justice for Native Me”
Authors: Fish Jillian , Counts Payton K.
Published: October 2021

Native American and Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of the U.S., including hundreds of tribes with distinct cultures and histories that inform their epistemological (i.e. ways of knowing) and ontological (i.e. ways of being) worldviews. Despite this, Western peoples continue to story the experiences of Native peoples for them, creating master narratives in which Native peoples are relics of the past, and impoverished, uneducated, drunkards in the present. Indeed, this is a longstanding effect of the colonial project that continues to erase the authentic, lived experiences of Native peoples, thus limiting their self-understanding and future possibilities. To counter these enduring colonial narratives, it is critical Native peoples have access to both Native-centered and community-based spaces in which the complexities of Native identities and experiences can be voiced and storied. OrigiNatives sought to provide urban Native peoples in Minnesota a space that privileged their ways of knowing and being through digital storytelling workshops, in which Native peoples (n = 75) from thirty-four different tribal communities created original and authentic stories of their cultures, histories, and lives using digital media technologies. This chapter reviews the process of creating and implementing OrigiNatives through partnerships with Native-serving organizations in Minnesota, highlighting implications that digital storytelling methodologies have for challenging and resisting coloniality by empowering Native peoples to tell our stories, our way.
Networks with Theory
Authors: Fuhse Jan
Published: October 2021

Social networks should be conceptualized as patterns of meaning. These arise over the course of communication and structure it in turn. This builds on (1) the interplay of social networks and meaning as laid out in relational sociology around Harrison White, and (2) Niklas Luhmann’s theory of communication. The combination offers a coherent theory of social networks in strong connection to empirical research on social networks. This contrasts with other approaches in relational sociology like pragmatist approaches and actor–network theory. The resulting theory is considered a “perspective” that allows seeing social structures from a particular angle and that systematizes empirical research as well as informing it.
Networks, Relationships, and Meaning
Authors: Fuhse Jan
Published: October 2021

Social networks are imbued with meaning. They consist of patterns of expectations about the behavior between particular actors. These expectations arise in the process of communication between the actors involved, drawing on social categories and relationship models from the wider cultural context. This reduces the uncertainty inherent in communication. Communication is patterned by opportunity structures (foci-of-activity) like schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces, and effectively guided by these expectations. Communication builds on relationship frames like “love,” “friendship,” and “patronage” to define relationships. These frames entail expectations about the behavior in the tie, about the kinds of actors typically involved in them (by social categories), and about the coupling of ties in network structures: Friendships connect transitively to cliques, patronage links in pyramids, and romantic love remains dyadic and exclusive. Network ties are also coupled through their simultaneous activation in situations with multiple actors, and through the construction of individual identities.