Strategic inertia: The enduring impact of CEO specialization and strategy on following strategies
Journal of Business ResearchPublished 1 September 1994
Michael C. White, Mark W. Smith, Tim Barnett
Citations12
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score3.50
SNIP3.35
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
This study examined the influence of predecessor CEO specialization and beginning strategy on both predecessor and successor ending strategy in 173 Fortune 1000 firms over a 25-year history. The results revealed a condition of strategic inertia where predecessor CEO specialization and beginning strategy were simultaneously, but independently, significant in predicting not only the ending strategy of the predecessor CEO, but also the ending strategy of the succeeding CEO.
Keywords
Business, Management and Accounting
American Journal of SociologyInstitutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
27,295 Citations1977John W. Meyer, Brian Rowan
Academy of Management ReviewUpper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers
10,275 Citations1984Donald C. Hambrick, Phyllis A. Mason
American Journal of SociologyThe Population Ecology of Organizations
7,405 Citations1977Michael T. Hannan, John H. Freeman
Industrial and Labor Relations ReviewMen and Women of the Corporation.
7,350 Citations1978George Strauss, Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Academy of Management ReviewOrganizational Strategy, Structure, and Process
7,092 Citations1978Raymond E. Miles, Charles C. Snow +2 more
Contemporary Sociology A Journal of ReviewsDiscrete Multivariate Analysis: Theory and Practice.
5,160 Citations1975James R. Beniger, Yvonne Bishop +4 more
SociologyOrganizational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice
4,770 Citations1972John Child
Academy of Management ReviewOrganizational Strategy, Structure, and Process
4,531 Citations1978Raymond E. Miles, Charles C. Snow +2 more
Administration in Social WorkStrategy and Structure:
3,546 Citations1986Lynn Harold Vogel, Irma Patterson
Academy of Management ReviewOrganizations and Environments
2,915 Citations1980James G. Hougland, Jon M. Shepard +1 more
Teaching SociologyComplex Organizations: A Critical Essay
2,198 Citations1990Neil Fligstein, Charles Perrow
Academy of Management JournalTop Management Team Demography and Corporate Strategic Change
2,177 Citations1992Margarethe F. Wiersema, Karen A. Bantel
Administrative Science QuarterlyTop-Management-Team Tenure and Organizational Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Managerial Discretion
2,129 Citations1990Sydney Finkelstein, Donald C. Hambrick
Academy of Management ReviewOrganizations: A Quantum View
1,482 Citations1984Robert J. House, Danny Miller +1 more
Academy of Management ReviewStrategies for Change: Logical Incrementalism
1,472 Citations1982Joseph E. McCann, James Brian Quinn
Administrative Science QuarterlyStrategy, Distinctive Competence, and Organizational Performance
1,362 Citations1980Charles C. Snow, Lawrence G. Hrebiniak
Academy of Management JournalBusiness Unit Strategy, Managerial Characteristics, and Business Unit Effectiveness at Strategy Implementation.
1,348 Citations1984Anil K. Gupta, Vijay Govindarajan
Administrative Science QuarterlyOrganizational Adaptation: Strategic Choice and Environmental Determinism
1,090 Citations1985Lawrence G. Hrebiniak, William F. Joyce
Management ScienceStale in the Saddle: CEO Tenure and the Match Between Organization and Environment
995 Citations1991Danny Miller
Academy of Management ReviewThe Escalation of Commitment to a Failing Course of Action: Toward Theoretical Progress
891 Citations1992Joel Brockner
Academy of Management JournalMomentum and Revolution in Organizational Adaptation.
878 Citations1980Danny Miller, Phoebe Friesen
Academy of Management JournalDIVERSIFICATIONPOSTURE AND TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM CHARACTERISTICS.
856 Citations1992John G. Michel, Donald C. Hambrick
Academy of Management JournalORGANIZATIONAL INERTIA AND MOMENTUM: A DYNAMIC MODEL OF STRATEGIC CHANGE.
854 Citations1991David Kelly, Terry L. Amburgey
Strategic Management JournalPerformance differences in related and unrelated diversified firms
653 Citations1981Richard A. Bettis
Two regression models of performance suggest that research and development expenditures are an important determinant in the performance advantage enjoyed by related diversified firms.
Academy of Management JournalStrategic Change: The Effects Of Founding And History
613 Citations1989Warren Boeker
Administrative Science QuarterlyEnvironment, Strategy, and Power Within Top Management Teams
600 Citations1981Donald C. Hambrick
This study distinguishes two sources of critical contingencies for organizations: environment and strategy and explores how coping with each type of contingency is related to power within top management teams.
Administrative Science QuarterlyOrganizational Change and Organizational Mortality
525 Citations1986Jitendra V. Singh, Robert J. House +1 more
Academy of Management ReviewA Model of CEO Dismissal
468 Citations1988James W. Fredrickson, Donald C. Hambrick +1 more
Strategic Management JournalThe performance impact of strategy ‐ manager coalignment: An empirical examination
456 Citations1991Anisya S. Thomas, Robert J. Litschert +1 more
A theoretical model is developed that explains the impact of the fit between top executive characteristics and strategic orientation on organizational performance and it was found that firms achieving a greater degree of alignment between their strategy and the profiles of top managers, generally realized superior performance outcomes.
Strategic Management JournalCeo selection, succession, compensation and firm performance: A theoretical integration and empirical analysis
438 Citations1990Edward J. Zajac
The results suggest that several CEO issues are significant predictors of variation in firm performance, supporting the paper's arguments for a reinterpretation of the insiderfoutsider CEO distinction.
Academy of Management JournalINERTIA AND CREEPING RATIONALITY IN STRATEGIC DECISION PROCESSES.
406 Citations1989James W. Fredrickson, Anthony L. Iaquinto
Organization ScienceOrganizational Adaptation and Environmental Selection-Interrelated Processes of Change
396 Citations1991Daniel A. Levinthal
Administrative Science QuarterlySuccessor Type and Organizational Change in the Corporate Enterprise
376 Citations1972Donald L. Helmich, Warren B. Brown
Strategic Management JournalThe top management team and corporate performance
368 Citations1988David Norburn, Sue Birley
Results were generally positive: managerial characteristics not only predicted performance variations within industries—the top performers having significantly different managerial profiles than poorly performing companies—but also that the characteristics of managers within high-performing companies were similar across the five industries.
Academy of Management JournalTURBULENCE AT THE TOP: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE CHANGES AND STRATEGIC CHANGE.
357 Citations1991Jerry Goodstein, Warren Boeker
Academy of Management JournalCEO SUCCESSION AND STOCKHOLDER REACTION: THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT AND EVENT CONTENT.
354 Citations1989Stewart D. Friedman, H. SINGH
Academy of Management JournalEffects of Ownership and Performance on Executive Tenure in U.S. Corporations.
352 Citations1980Gerald R. Salancik, Jeremy M. Pfeffer
Strategic Management JournalStrategic orientation and characteristics of upper management
335 Citations1987Rajeswararao Chaganti, Rakesh B. Sambharya
The relationship between the strategic orientation of three tobacco companies, the proportion of executives recruited from outside the company and the proportion from different functional backgrounds in the upper echelon of the companies is the focus of this paper.
Academy of Management JournalORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE AS AN ANTECEDENT OF INSIDE/OUTSIDE CHIEF EXECUTIVE SUCCESSION: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT.
333 Citations1985D. R. Dalton, Idalene F. Kesner
Academy of Management JournalThe Measurement of Firm Diversification: Some New Empirical Evidence.
319 Citations1982Cynthia A. Montgomery
Administrative Science QuarterlyThe Effect of Executive Succession on Stockholder Wealth
279 Citations1985Marc R. Reinganum
American Journal of SociologyCorporate Size, Bureaucratization, and Managerial Succession
212 Citations1961Oscar Grusky
Academy of Management JournalIndustrial Firms' Grand Strategy and Functional Importance: Moderating Effects of Technology and Uncertainty.
208 Citations1982Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland +1 more
Administrative Science QuarterlyThe Development and Institutionalization of Subunit Power in Organizations
188 Citations1989Warren Boeker
Academy of Management ReviewFirm Diversity: Conceptualization and Measurement
187 Citations1982Robert A. Pitts, H. Donald Hopkins
Academy of Management ReviewMatching Managers to Strategies: A Review and Suggested Framework
173 Citations1984Andrew D. Szilagyi, David M. Schweiger
Strategic Management JournalResearch notes and communications management and organizational change: A note on the railroad industry
170 Citations1991Curtis M. Grimm, Ken G. Smith
Hypotheses which relate top-level managers' age, years of company and industry service, and education to strategic change are studied and results generally support hypotheses that younger managers and those with less experience are more likely to alter their strategies with changing environmental conditions.
American Journal of SociologyManagerial Succession in Complex Organizations
152 Citations1962Robert H. Guest
Academy of Management JournalCONVERTING TO FOR-PROFIT STATUS: CORPORATE RESPONSIVENESS TO RADICAL CHANGE.
147 Citations1990Ari Ginsberg, Ann K. Buchholtz
Strategic Management JournalDiversification Strategies and the Experience of Top Executives of Large Firms
141 Citations1982Jae H. Song
Using empirical data spanning the years 1965-1980 for fifty-three major U.S. firms that have diversified and grown, it is shown that the background and prior experience of the incumbent CEO of each firm is significantly associated with the diversification strategy of a firm.
Administrative Science QuarterlyStrategy, CEO Specialization, and Succession
130 Citations1987Mark W. Smith, Michael C. White
Personnel PsychologyDOES CONTEXT AFFECT STAFFING DECISIONS? THE CASE OF GENERAL MANAGERS
104 Citations1991James P. Guthrie, Judy D. Olian
Journal of ManagementKey Executive Succession and Stockholder Wealth: The Influence of Successorys Origin, Position, and Age
102 Citations1990Wallace N. Davidson, Dan L. Worrell +1 more
California Management ReviewThe Ecological Analysis of Business Strategy
78 Citations1984John H. Freeman, Warren Boeker
Academy of Management ReviewExecutive Succession in the Corporate Organization: A Current Integration
71 Citations1977Donald L. Helmich
Journal of ManagementEnvironmental Change and Management Staffing: An Empirical Study
66 Citations1991James P. Guthrie, Curtis M. Grimm +1 more
Journal of Business VenturingTop management teams and corporate success in an emerging industry
62 Citations1986Beverly Virany, Michael L. Tushman
Journal of Management StudiesCEO Experience and Diversification Strategy Fit
36 Citations1989Richard Reed, Margaret Reed
