GSG Seminar with Prof Fabrice Lumineau (University of Hong Kong)

War as a Phenomenon of Inquiry in Management

Abstract

This paper argues for the importance of war as a phenomenon deserving more focused attention in management. We first provide an overview of the literature on war, and identify critical blind spots in management research. We then highlight several reasons why we should consider war an important and relevant phenomenon in management scholarship. It leads us to develop an integrative theoretical framework—structured around three building blocks: (a) the nature of war from an organizational viewpoint, (b) the actors in the war ecosystem, and (c) the war’s contextual factors—laying the foundations of a programmatic theory to analyze war as a specific area of inquiry in management. We next provide directions for management research at the intersection of each of these three building blocks and outline a roadmap to identify pressing questions that management can address. We also explain how wars can be used as a revelatory empirical context in management research. Finally, we highlight empirical challenges and offer specific recommendations to pave the way for future research by management scholars. This paper thus significantly contributes to establishing a forward-looking research agenda that can help scholars problematize key questions in the analysis of war.

About the speaker

Fabrice Lumineau is a Professor in Strategic Management at HKU Business School, The University of Hong Kong.

His research investigates inter-organizational partnerships, the interplay between contract and trust in collaborative strategies, opportunism and ethical issues, and blockchain governance. He has published more than 30 articles in the top management journals, such as Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Research Policy, and Strategic Management Journal.