Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases
R. Duane Ireland is Distinguished Professor and the Foreman R. and Ruby S. Bennett Chair in Business at the Mays Business School, Texas A&M; University, where he previously served as head of the management department. He teaches strategic management courses to undergraduate, masters, doctoral, and executive students.  He has more than 175 publications, including more than a dozen books. His research on diversification, corporate entrepreneurship, and strategic entrepreneurship has been published in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Management Studies and others.  He has served on editorial review boards for the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Business Strategy, European Management Journal and others. He is current editor of the Academy of Management Journal. He has completed editorial terms for Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. He has co-edited special issues of Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Business Venturing, and Organizational Research Methods and others. He received awards for the best article published in Academy of Management Executive and Academy of Management Journal.  He is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and 21st Century Entrepreneurship Research Scholar. He served a three-year term as Representative-at-Large for the Academy of Managements Board of Governors. He received the Award for Outstanding Intellectual Contributions to Competitiveness Research from the American Society for Competitiveness and the USASBE Scholar in Corporate Entrepreneurship Award.Robert E. Hoskisson is the George R. Brown Chair of Strategic Management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Irvine. Dr. Hoskisson's research topics focus on corporate governance, acquisitions and divestitures, corporate and international diversification, and cooperative strategy. He teaches courses in corporate and international strategic management, cooperative strategy, and strategy consulting.  Dr. Hoskisson's research has appeared in more than 120 publications, including the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Academy of Management Executive, and others. He has co-authored 26 books, including recent books on business strategic and competitive advantage.  He is currently Associate Editor of the Strategic Management Journal and Consulting Editor for the Journal of International Business Studies. He also serves on the Editorial Review board for the Academy of Management Journal. He has served on editorial boards for Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and others.  He is Special Professor at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Professor at Xi¿an Jiao Tong University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and charter member of the Academy of Management Journal's Hall of Fame. He is also a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society and has received awards from the American Society for Competitiveness and the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University. He completed three years of service as Representative-at-Large for the Board of Governors of the Academy of Management and currently serves on Board of Directors of the Strategic Management Society.Michael A. Hitt is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership at Texas A&M; University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He has more than 260 publications including 26 co-authored or co-edited books. He has been recognized as one of the ten most cited scholars in management over a 25-year period in an article published in the 2008 volume of the Journal of Management.  His books include those focused on down scoping, mergers and acquisitions as well as COMPETING FOR ADVANTAGE, 2nd Edition (South-Western, 2008); and UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS STRATEGY, 2nd Edition (South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009). He is co-editor of numerous management, organization, strategy and development books. He has served on the editorial review boards of multiple journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, and Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences. In addition, he has served as Consulting Editor and Editor of the Academy of Management Journal. He is currently a co-editor of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He is the current past president of the Strategic Management Society and is a past president of the Academy of Management.  He is a Fellow in the Academy of Management and in the Strategic Management Society. He received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and is an Honorary Professor and Honorary Dean at Xi'an Jiao Tong University. He has been acknowledged with several awards for his scholarly research and he received the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the Academy of Management. He has received best paper awards for articles published in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Executive, and Journal of Management.