Reconfiguration: Adding, Redeploying, Recombining, and Divesting Resources and Business Units

Abstract

It is now well established in the Strategy literature that firms grow successfully and survive if they are able to alter their resource base on an ongoing basis (Teece, 2007; Helfat, Finkelstein, Mitchell, Peteraf, Teece and Winter, 2007; Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Capron and Mitchell, 2009; Helfat and Peteraf, 2014). In examining the challenges involved in changing the firm’s resource base, research on reconfiguration refers to the activities in which firms engage when adding, redeploying, recombining, or divesting resources or business units.

This Virtual Special Issue brings together seminal studies published in the Strategic Management Society Journal over the last 35 years which collectively advance our understanding of the reconfiguration phenomenon. While it by no means offers an exhaustive review of this increasingly active stream of research, it highlights a number of key contributions that have shaped our knowledge of reconfiguration. Although the papers here vary in their approach (some are empirical, others develop logical arguments), methods (qualitative vs. quantitative), and level of analysis (individuals, intra-firm units, inter organizational relationships), they have in common a shared understanding of reconfiguration as a crucial process underlying firms’ expansion, contraction and innovation as they seek to improve performance and secure competitive advantage.

Most of the papers included in this issue are frequently cited and have had a major impact on the reconfiguration stream of research, and more generally the field of strategy. Some of the more recent ones are less well cited but have been chosen because we expect them to be influential in the near future. By pulling this work together into a cohesive collection (see Figure 1 for the organizing framework), we hope to expand their influence and to encourage scholars in the field to tackle issues that are crucial for both academics and practitioners.

Keywords: reconfiguration, redeployment, recombination, restructuring, divestiture, acquisition, renewal, dynamic capabilities