abstractThis paper consolidates the state of academic research oninnovation. Based on a systematic review of literature published over the past 27 years, we synthesize various research perspectives into a comprehensive multi‐dimensional framework of organizational innovation – linking leadership, innovation as a process, and innovation as an outcome. We also suggest measures of determinants of organizational innovation and present implications for both research and managerial practice.

It has often been proposed, or assumed, that improvisation is a useful metaphor to provide insight into managing and organizing. However, improvisation is more than a metaphor. It is an orientation and a technique to enhance the strategic renewal of an organization. The bridge between theory and practice is made through exercises used to develop the capacity to improvise, borrowed from theatre improvisation. This paper describes a typical improvisation workshop in developing six key areas that link improvisation exercises to the practice of management: interpreting the environment; crafting strategy; cultivating leadership; fostering teamwork; developing individual skills; and assessing organizational culture.

Abstract Research summary In this qualitative study of strategic renewal at a North American news organization we reveal that the treatment of occupational members as resources in strategy literature is necessary, but insufficient. Their activities are critical for organizational survival and competition but also the work needed to maintain their occupational identity. Furthermore, the prevailing research evidence that occupational members impede strategic renewal is incomplete. Our study challenges the narrow view of occupational members as resources that constrain strategic renewal by illustrating how occupational identity “work” is instrumental in facilitating and disrupting strategic renewal. Our findings emphasize the importance of adopting broader definitions of work than the functional definition used in strategic renewal research. We also highlight how the activities of nonmanagerial actors contribute to strategic renewal. Managerial summary During times of change, research highlights how occupational members such as doctors, nurses, engineers, and academics, disrupt and resist change. Our study demonstrates that the same cause of disruption—sustaining their distinctive occupational identity—is critical in facilitating strategic renewal. For managers, we illustrate how and why this occurs and provide practical guidance to leverage this understanding while managing change in occupationally‐dominated organizations.

The resource-based view (RBV) has historically privileged the firm's internal resources and capabilities, often at the exclusion of its institutional context. In this paper, we introduce a culturally informed RBV that explains how cultural elements in the firm's institutional context shape the economic value associated with a firm's strategy. We posit that a firm's institutional context may create or destroy economic value. If the strategy inadvertently becomes associated with a social issue, it poses a risk for the firm. Firms that recognize the dynamic interplay between their resources and their institutional context in the face of social issues can engage in important cultural work, and thereby preserve their strategy's economic value.

Having received the “Decade Award” for the most cited AMR article from the past decade, we reflect on how our framework of organizational learning (OL) has been used in subsequent research and whether a theory of OL has emerged. Our citation review revealed that although some of the subsequent research has added to the original work, the challenge to develop an accepted theory remains unrealized. We offer promising directions for developing a theory of OL.