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name: smj-topic-selection description: Use when scoping or pressure-testing whether a research question is a genuine strategy question fit for the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ). Decides fit and sharpens the question; it does not build the theory or run analysis.

Topic Selection & Scope Fit (smj-topic-selection)

When to trigger

• You have data or a hunch but are unsure SMJ is the right outlet
• A reviewer or colleague said "this feels like a management paper, not a strategy paper"
• The question is interesting but the dependent construct is not clearly about performance or advantage
• You are choosing between SMJ and an OB/HRM/general-management outlet

The SMJ fit test

SMJ asks fundamentally one family of question: why do firms differ, and why do some sustain superior performance or competitive advantage? This is the journal's stated scope — research whose questions, evidence, and conclusions are relevant to strategic management and engaging to strategy scholars. A fitting paper connects its core construct to that question. Run the four-part test:

1. Strategy DNA. Does the dependent (or focal) construct concern firm performance, competitive advantage, value creation/capture, or a strategic outcome (entry, scope, alliance, M&A, governance, innovation, nonmarket position)? If the DV is purely individual attitudes or generic org behavior, fit is weak.
2. Firm-level (or higher) lens. SMJ's natural unit is the firm, business unit, or the strategic dyad/alliance — even when mechanisms run through managers. Pure micro-OB belongs elsewhere.
3. Theoretical stakes for strategy. Would the answer change how strategy scholars think about resources/capabilities, governance, competitive dynamics, corporate strategy, or strategic leadership?
4. Identifiable empirics. Can the strategic choice and its performance consequence be studied without hopeless endogeneity? (If the choice is obviously co-determined with performance and you have no leverage, reconsider.)

Pick the right SMS journal

The Strategic Management Society sponsors three Wiley journals — route deliberately before defaulting to SMJ:

• SMJ (founded 1980) — broad strategy; competitive advantage and firm performance.
• SEJ (Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, est. 2007) — strategy at the entrepreneurship interface (new venture, opportunity, founder/firm emergence).
• GSJ (Global Strategy Journal, est. 2011) — international/global and cross-border strategy.

If the question's primary engine is founding/entry, SEJ fits; if internationalization/global, GSJ fits; otherwise SMJ. Sending an entrepreneurship- or internationalization-core paper to SMJ is a common, avoidable desk-reject.

Domain map (where SMJ papers live)

Domain	Example focal questions
Resources & capabilities	When do VRIN resources / dynamic capabilities yield rent? (Wernerfelt, 1984, SMJ; Teece, Pisano & Shuen, 1997, SMJ)
Competitive dynamics & strategy formulation	How do firms position, signal, and respond to rivals?
Corporate strategy & scope	Diversification, vertical integration, divestiture, BU portfolios
Alliances & M&A	Partner selection, governance, integration, acquisition returns
Corporate governance	Boards, ownership, incentives as drivers of strategic choice
Innovation & technology strategy	R&D, search, ambidexterity, platform/ecosystem strategy
Nonmarket strategy	Political, regulatory, CSR/ESG strategy and firm advantage
Strategic leadership / TMT	Upper echelons, CEO/TMT, behavioral strategy

Sharpening the question

• State it as: "How / when / why does [strategic choice or condition] affect [performance or advantage outcome] for [unit], and through what mechanism?"
• Name the boundary condition up front — SMJ rewards contingency (when X matters more/less).
• Identify the counterfactual: what would the firm's outcome be absent the choice? This previews the identification problem.

Checklist

• Focal construct connects explicitly to performance / competitive advantage
• Unit of analysis is firm / BU / dyad (or micro-foundations clearly ladder up to it)
• The answer would update strategy theory, not just confirm a known effect
• A plausible identification path exists (the strategic choice is not hopelessly endogenous)
• You can name at least one moderator / boundary condition
• You can name the closest 2–3 published SMJ papers you are extending or challenging

Anti-patterns

• A question that is generic "management" (job satisfaction, generic leadership) with no strategy outcome — SMJ's #1 scope rejection
• "Firm performance" as an afterthought DV bolted onto an OB study
• Atheoretical "X predicts performance" framing with no mechanism or boundary
• A topic so broad ("does strategy matter?") that no clean test exists
• Choosing SMJ for prestige when the natural home is an OB/HRM/general outlet — or an SMS sibling (SEJ for entrepreneurship, GSJ for global strategy)

Output format

【Question】How/when/why [strategic choice] → [performance/advantage] for [unit]
【Strategy fit】Strong / Borderline / Weak — reason
【Domain】resources | competitive dynamics | corporate strategy | alliances/M&A | governance | innovation | nonmarket | strategic leadership
【Boundary condition】...
【Identification risk】selection into the choice / reverse causality / unobserved heterogeneity
【Right SMS journal】SMJ / SEJ / GSJ / (elsewhere: __)
【Closest SMJ anchors】[2–3 papers]
【Next step】smj-theory-development

Templates & resources

• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — SMJ aims & scope, the SMS journal family (SMJ/SEJ/GSJ), and landmark strategy papers