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Volume 25 celebrates the 25th year of publication for the American Journal of Business (AJB). Launched by eight MAC schools of business in March 1986, the Journal has featured more than 700 authors who have contributed more than 330 research articles at the intersection of theory and practice. From accounting to marketing, management to finance, the Journal prominently covers the breadth of the business disciplines as a general business outlet intended for both practitioners and academics. As the Journal reaches out beyond the MAC in sponsorship, authorship, and readership, we assess the Journal’s first quarter century of impact.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development of the model of the strategic entrepreneurial unit (SEU) as an alternative means for large firms to harness the entrepreneurial spirit and creation of intellectual property.

Several competing organizational models are critiqued based on factors that will impact the growth and return performance of the unit. The organizational units examined include corporate intrapreneurship, corporate spinout, corporate venturing, corporate venturing with venture capitalist participation, and the SEU.

Theoretically, by design, the SEU is a superior growth model to incubate newly created intellectual property. The achievement of greater growth and return with the SEU is shown because of equity compensation incentives, facilitator as liaison between the parent and new SEU with no control over harvest timing, lifeline back to parent for employees, intellectual property settlement prior to unit formation, and the financing provided by the internal capital market of the parent.

The general review paper is conceptual in nature and would benefit from empirical evidence research. The case study method is proposed as a means to discern the efficacy of the SEU relative to other organizational forms.

The paper advances a business unit form to foster higher performance from new ideas within the confines of a large corporation.

This conceptual paper aims to offer a theoretical contribution that explicates the “blind spot” cultural diversity and reward diversity team conflict contingencies, and personal audit as a mechanism for managing the consequences.

The paper suggests a framework for analysing and managing diversity (cultural and reward) driven team conflicts. Given the theoretical foundation, personal audit among team members is recommended as a tool for managing the consequences of such conflict factors.

This paper underlines the team building intervention utility for team effectiveness. It reinforces theoretical foundation that highlights conflict as a determinant of team effectiveness, and reviews two diversity dimensions of team conflicts. Finally, it suggests and explains an “active learning” personal audit model for achieving the conceptualised team effectiveness perspective.

The paper highlights critical but usually overlooked team conflict intricacies in football team management. This framework offers practical relevance in enabling understanding of “attitudes and behaviours” of team members and human resource management in football marketing. Managers would benefit from this perspective and improve team effectiveness, performance and organisation's performance.

The paper offers valuable conceptual insight for development, one that serves the interest of management of football clubs and academia.

This paper proposes a framework that describes the boundary spanning supply chain management (SCM) initiatives taken by leading companies. Supported by existing literature and interviews with managers from large companies reflecting a cross section of businesses, the framework suggests four motivating domains or factors that could support SCM initiatives. They are supply chain understanding, design, improvement, and coordination. Based on the sand cone model, the framework also suggests four levels of SCM integration over which these motivating factors are relevant to the firm and/or supply chain. They range from no integration outside the functional silos of a single firm to a fully integrated multi‐tier supply chain. Unlike existing frameworks that are based upon the flow of material and information through the supply chain, our framework is derived by combining the concept of integration with the motivating domains that characterize SCM initiatives. It captures the combined and overlapping impact of supply chain initiatives from a more strategic perspective and is a useful additional resource for practitioners who seek to chart potential improvements to their supply chain from a competitive standpoint.

The past two decades have been characterized as a time of merger mania. Unprecedented numbers of consolidations have occurred. Paradoxically these mergers have typically failed to achieve the targeted results. From a general point of view, the financial track record of recent mergers is, in fact, abysmal. It appears that the proposed efficiencies of scale often do not materialize. Yet, the merger frenzy continues. Globalization is a contributing factor. However, the cultural, political, psychological and geographical hurdles of cross‐cultural integration are enormous. This article explores the challenge of global integration by examining the much‐publicized DaimlerChrysler merger. The authors discuss innovative integration strategies and present a set of quantum skills that can be used to neutralize cross‐cultural barriers, thus enabling global leaders to create high performance organizations.

The Japanese practice of Kanban (Just‐in‐time – JIT), has won a lot of converts in recent times in the US and elsewhere. Literature is rife with success stories, though, mostly from the users′ side. The strategic implications of this emerging management philosophy on the large number of suppliers on whom depends the very survival of hundreds of JIT buyers are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an enabler for their internationalisation process and as a comprehensive view of the specific domains impacted by digital technologies as well as their repercussions on the international outreach.

A systematic review which leverages a descriptive analysis of extant literature and an axial coding technique has been conducted to shed light on the current knowledge and to identify primary research areas and future research lines.

The research indicates that digitalisation impacts the internationalisation of SMEs in three specific domains: (1) internationalisation through the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) technologies and e-commerce platforms; (2) international expansion through the digitalisation of value chain activities and (3) international outreach through knowledge acquisition on digital platforms.

The value of this study is threefold. First, the authors attempt to systematically review the literature on SMEs digitalisation and internationalisation and provide a holistic perspective on the intertwining of these two research streams. Second, the authors propose a novel conceptualisation on the dimensions of SMEs digitalisation as enablers to internationalisation. Third, the authors put forward promising future lines of research.

1. Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

2. Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

3. Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

4. Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

5. SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

The Japanese practice of Kanban (Just‐in‐time — JIT), has won a lot of converts in recent times in the US and elsewhere. Literature is rife with success stories, though mostly from the users' side. The strategic implications of this emerging management philosophy on the large number of suppliers on whom depends the very survival of hundreds of JIT buyers are examined.