Colleagues:
The Fellows were thankfully able to meet in person at the SMS Conference in London in 2022 to enjoy a dinner together and personally welcome newly inducted Fellows. It was a terrific, long-overdue celebration after our forced hiatus.
With this letter, I would like to update you on several of our activities and future plans, and we welcome your engagement.
The Fellows have initiated a new series called Conversations with the SMS Fellows. In well-attended virtual webinars, this series has covered topics such as the interplay between strategy practice and scholarship (featuring BCG partner Martin Reeves and discussants Africa Ariño and Harbir Singh), how and why firms undertake social purpose (featuring Ranjay Gulati and discussant Laurence Capron), and the future of capitalism (featuring Rebecca Henderson and discussant Rajshree Agarwal). These sessions have been engaging on topical issues in the field.
The Conversations with the SMS Fellows series has also expanded to include an in-person panel at the annual SMS conference. At our gathering in London last September, David Teece discussed how the rise of China challenges conceptualization of the fundamental issues in strategy, in particular how thinking on what determines success or failure in international competition needs to evolve. Commentaries on David’s presentation were offered by Jackson Nickerson and Margarethe Wiersema, followed by a lively conversation with a large audience of attendees at this special session.
In the coming year, we plan on continuing the Conversations with the SMS Fellows series and welcome your participation in both the virtual and in-person sessions.
During the past year, we inducted several new Fellows. At a virtual meeting in the early fall, we celebrated the induction of Ron Adner, Mary Benner, Riitta Katila, and Todd Zenger to the SMS Fellows. Congratulations to all four of them on this distinction! We would like to thank the Membership Committee for all of their work evaluating nominations and advancing finalists to the Fellows for voting: Ruth Aguilera, Julian Birkinshaw, Laurence Capron, Sea-Jin Chang, Nicolai Foss (chair), Melissa Graebner, Amy Hillman, James Westphal, and Christoph Zott.
Let us also thank in advance members of our incoming Membership Committee, who will be evaluating candidates during 2023: Mary Benner, Julian Birkinshaw, Sea-Jin Chang, Melissa Graebner, Amy Hillman, Riitta Katila, Jackson Nickerson, Todd Zenger, and Christoph Zott (chair).
I am also pleased to announce that Laurence Capron has been elected by the Fellows to be the new Deputy Dean, and I am very much looking forward to working with her in the next two years. We are in the process of refining our Constitution based on suggestions we have received from members, and we will also be soliciting ideas for new ways for the Fellows to add value to the Society and field.
In closing, I wish you all the best in the New Year. I hope to see many of you at our virtual events and in person at the 43rd SMS Annual Conference in Toronto!
Jeffrey J. Reuer
Dean, SMS Fellows
jeffrey.reuer@colorado.edu
