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The purpose of this paper is to address value and the value‐creation process. It argues that the firm operating in line with investor interests, acts as both a customer and a supplier of value and considers the internal activities that reflect these motivations.

A series of propositions are developed regarding the creation, capture and destruction of value.

It is argued that two types of value‐creating activities can be identified. In addition there are activities directed at the maintenance of the firm, and the maintenance of its capital stock, and there are activities that destroy value. Value capture is determined by bargaining relationships between stakeholders and their representatives. The paper concludes with some comments regarding value appropriation.

The paper addresses the critical issue of “value” in the resource‐based view (RBV) and specifically begins to develop the RBV away from its neo‐classical roots.

Changing an organization requires a good deal of self‐confidence. When strategic change takes place either this confidence derives from the situation confronting the executive, usually some form of crisis, or executives derive confidence from implementing a familiar recipe, drawn from their past experience. Only rarely does the confidence to change the status quo derive from some form of strategic analysis. This article proposes an action‐led approach to strategy. Strategy is not constructed from “analysis”, it emerges from action. It does not presume the existence of a shared vision – this is shaped through action; nor does it falsely separate formulation from implementation – these occur concurrently. Action, in the form of experiments and pilot tests, generates belief in a way ahead that builds from the existing competitive assets of the organisation.

We propose a typology of acquisition value creation logics derived from the dynamic capability literature and explore the organisational capabilities and implementation processes required for the effective delivery of three value creation logics: governance-based, cost-based and knowledge-based. We argue that each value creation logic calls for a specific and distinct set of acquirer capabilities and post-acquisition implementation processes. We put forward a contingency approach, where effective corporate acquirers make a conscious choice as to their predominant value creation logic based on a consideration of their organisational capabilities, which, in turn, defines the characteristics of appropriate target companies and the necessary implementation actions required to realise value post-acquisition. We discuss the implications for both acquiring firm executives and future M&A research.

The paper aims to address the following questions: “How is value created within a firm?” and “Is the distinction between competitive and corporate strategy helpful in considering the processes of value creation?”

The paper distinguishes five value‐creating activities within the firm. Three are involved in the process of current value creation, one is directed at the maintenance of the firm and the other activity is concerned with the creation of future value. These processes of value creation are then explored from the perspective of corporate and business levels of strategy by considering whether these activities can be tightly or loosely coupled.

The paper argues that decisions regarding loosely or tightly coupled value‐creating activities should belong to the realm of corporate strategy and that this “corporatising” choice involves trade‐offs in terms of responsiveness and cost.

The arguments in this paper can be used by managers to help them think through the consequences of any corporate level strategy decisions they may envisage taking.

This paper addresses traditional strategic management questions by building on a range of literatures, and proposes an original and meaningful way of examining the role of corporate and competitive strategy.

Against a backdrop of continued weak economic conditions and with many firms experiencing declining financial performance, this paper presents a synthesis of the business turnaround literature. It aims to identify which turnaround and recovery strategies have been effective historically, based on the evidence provided by previous empirical research.

The authors review literature that includes 22 empirical studies, which investigated business turnarounds in previous recessionary environments. This literature was reviewed in its entirety, rather than as individual contributions, to synthesise the lessons available for businesses operating in today's challenging economic environment.

The literature review revealed convergence in the findings of the prior studies. In total, six effective turnaround strategies were consistently identified and four of these relate to the content of the turnaround, namely: cost efficiencies, asset retrenchment, a focus on the firm's core activities and building for the future and two relate to accompanying change processes required for implementation: reinvigoration of firm leadership and culture change.

The authors highlight areas where knowledge on business turnarounds remains limited and suggest potentially fruitful directions for future research.

The authors discuss the elements involved in each of the six effective turnaround strategies identified. The authors also provide a contemporary example to illustrate the application of these strategies in the current economic environment.

The paper offers practitioners an evidence‐based view on effective business turnaround and recovery strategies, in addition to providing researchers with an accessible review of the existing literature.

Examines the way in which managers perceive the relative importance of the three costs as applied to professional service firms, financial services firms and retail distribution and manufacturing. Managers′ perceptions may be determined by the nature of the business, the operational focus and the opportunities for the control of costs. Examines the existing literature for indications of the importance attached to each of these costs. Concludes that managers have more discretion of the control of operating costs where they represent a high proportion of the three types and where supply and overhead costs form a high proportion of total costs, managers can exercise discretion by challenging existing industry recipes through restructuring their operations.

The paper presents the results of a study based on an extensive number of interviews and focus group discussions conducted with non‐executive directors (NEDs), executive and non‐executive chairmen, chief executive officers (CEOs) and other key line and functional directors within UK corporations. Four critical issues concerning NEDs’ performance are identified, namely the need to be responsive to boardroom dynamics, the need to be multi‐competent in response to the various challenges NEDs face, the need to have the capability to address governance issues which are increasingly identified as predominating boardroom debate and the need to be sensitive to the context within which the company finds itself. Overall, NEDs are considered to provide a valuable contribution to the progress of the enterprise. However, the question that remains unanswered is what motivates NEDs to continue to address such challenges as, in the UK context, NEDs’ rewards are seen to be particularly low.

Describes the experience of 40 strategy workshops conducted with the top teams of a variety of businesses. While the aim of the workshops was to produce high levels of commitment to good quality strategies, in a number of cases the outcomes were disappointing; little strategic change took place. Presents and discusses four outcomes from the workshop process: “impoverished strategy”, “consultants′ strategy”, “blinkered strategy” and “workshop strategy”. Indicates the importance of entering the “zone of uncomfortable debate”, and sets out techniques for exploring the “intuitive core” or shared beliefs and assumptions.