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Previous research has been relatively insensitive to the potential combined effects that the shared industry background and country of origin might play in the development of MNCs. This is although there are various external constituents that pose distinctive demands especially on such groups of MNCs. The 15-year period of internationalization of three major Finnish paper companies examined in this study represents MNC development as a collective endeavor in which individual companies are especially influenced both by each other and by their joint external constituents. These influences materialize in analogous timing and patterns of internationalization across individual companies. In its entirety, the study thus suggests that the development of MNCs which operate in the same line of industry and originate from the same country can be considered an outcome of a mutual process that involves interaction both with each other and their shared external constituents. This also means that MNCs then are not only competitors, but simultaneously also a source of mutual support in their ever-continuing evolution.

There is ample evidence for the claim that solving generic management problems needs accommodation to the specific national and institutional context. For example, forest industry corporations located in various parts of the world differ in relation to how and when their management has reacted to the aging of production facilities and the opportunities for expanding operations. As a rough generalization, whereas the North American forest industry firms have aimed at maximizing return on investment through ‘end‐game’ with the technologically outdated production facilities, the North European firms have preferred to expand the scale of the production units and to compete with the low production costs. However, these kinds of nation‐specific ways of action prove limited especially when the firms transfer their operations over national borders. This is because in those circumstances the ‘home base’ institutional support is missing. As a consequence, when building a greenfield plant in a distant location the management can not take it for granted that the previously successful technological designs and concepts would match the new personnel's cultural traditions.

Although the organizational identity (OI) construct (Albert & Whetten, 1985) is now in its fourth decade, research in the field has been somewhat uneven, particularly with respect to an essentialist view and hypothetico-deductive type of studies. Believing that this stems in large part from insufficient construct clarity (Suddaby, 2010), this theory-development initiative presents an expanded conceptual framework. The authors exploit several key elements of individual identity and make the case for using these as the basis for conceptualizing an organizational-level equivalent. Starting with the premise that an individual’s identity is the product of comparisons, two dimensions are identified: the type of comparison (similarity, difference), referred to as the “identity conundrum,” and the object of comparison (self–other, self–self), referred to as the “identity perspective.” The authors then propose a four-cell distinctive conceptual domain for OI and explore its implications for scholarship.

The literature on the past triggering learning in strategy practice is scant. To fill this gap, this study aims to examine the meaning of the past to learning in strategy practice and expands on the strategy-as-practice (SAP) literature. Understanding the relationship between the past and learning in strategy practice is important because learning is what keeps strategy practice in motion and remains in place, even if organizations and strategy practitioners change.

The authors used a longitudinal case study design combined with historical methods to examine how the past is embedded in present strategy practice. To capture learning in strategy practice over time, the authors applied a four-stage methodology in our analysis of document and interview data.

The authors identified four dimensions of the past embedded in the present strategy practice. These dimensions emerged from the analysis of the interviews and document data. The study’s results showed that the past appears in structures and routines, materiality, positioning and reflecting over repeated rounds of strategic planning. According to the study’s results, reflecting on strategy practice draws on past structures and routines, positioning and materiality. The past facilitates reflecting and reflecting on the past enables learning in strategy practice.

The authors constructed a conceptual model and showed that in strategy practice, reflection triggers learning. The authors contributed to theory development by demonstrating how the past is embedded in present strategy practice and is available for use by strategy practitioners. The authors showed that strategy practice is a continuous learning process.

The purpose of this paper is to review some uncertainties experienced by a group of CEs, and how they are assuaged through their participation in an executive development (ED) programme. These uncertainties relate both to their involvement in the programme as such, particularly during their early days of membership, and to their everyday work experience.

An in‐depth, longitudinal case study of an ED programme undertaken by the authors, using participant observation, semi‐structured interviews and documentary analysis.

Five main CE uncertainties are identified: knowledge, job/career, behavioural, personal, and contextual. The case study section of the paper outlines each of these uncertainties, and illustrates how they are being assuaged through the CE programme.

The usual caveats apply about generalising from a case study. On the other hand, the paper presents a rare detailed “insider” account of and reflection upon chief executives' experience of an ED programme, situating it in the wider contexts of their work and anxieties.

In the light of the uncertainties identified, a number of implications for the design and operation of executive development programmes are outlined and discussed.

New data is presented and analysed, linked to relevant themes in the ED/Leadership Development literatures.