Unique Strategies and Average Treatment Effects

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2025.0341

References

  • Agarwal R, Bacco F, Camuffo A, Coali A, Gambardella A, Msangi H, Sonka ST, Temu A, Waized B, Wormald A (2025) Does a theory-of-value add value? Evidence from a randomized control trial with Tanzanian entrepreneurs. Organ. Sci. 36(2):601–625.Google Scholar
  • Alcácer J, Chung W, Hawk A, Pacheco-de-Almeida G (2018) Applying random coefficient models to strategy research: Identifying and exploring firm heterogeneous effects. Strategy Sci. 3(3):533–553.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Amit R, Zott C (2001) Value creation in e-business. Strategic Management J. 22(6–7):493–520.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Angrist JD, Pischke J-S (2010) The credibility revolution in empirical economics: How better research design is taking the con out of econometrics. J. Econom. Perspect. 24(2):3–30.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • APA: Bezos JP (2016) 2015 letter to shareholders. Amazon.com, Inc. https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126/files/doc_financials/annual/2015-Letter-to-Shareholders.PDF.Google Scholar
  • Argyres NS, Zenger TR (2012) Capabilities, transaction costs, and firm boundaries. Organ. Sci. 23(6):1643–1657.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Athey S, Stern S (1998) An Empirical Framework for Testing Theories about Complimentarity in Organizational Design (National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Athey S, Tibshirani J, Wager S (2016) Solving heterogeneous estimating equations with gradient forests. Preprint, submitted October 5, https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.01271.Google Scholar
  • Baer M, Dirks KT, Nickerson JA (2013) Microfoundations of strategic problem formulation. Strategic Management J. 34(2):197–214.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bandiera O, Guiso L, Prat A, Sadun R (2011) What do CEOs do? Preprint, submitted February 9, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1758445.Google Scholar
  • Barney J (1986) Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck, and business strategy. Management Sci. 32(10):1231–1241.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Barney J (1991) Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. J. Management 17(1):99–120.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Belenzon S, Chatterji AK, Daley B (2017) Eponymous entrepreneurs. Amer. Econom. Rev. 107(6):1638–1655.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bennett V (2024) How far can we push toward causal identification in a field focused on novelty, uniqueness, and complementarity? Accessed August 12, 2026, https://tinyurl.com/vbennett2024.Google Scholar
  • Blader S, Gartenberg C, Prat A (2020) The contingent effect of management practices. Rev. Econom. Stud. 87(2):721–749.Google Scholar
  • Blake T, Nosko C, Tadelis S (2015) Consumer heterogeneity and paid search effectiveness: A large-scale field experiment. Econometrica 83(1):155–174.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bloom N, Sadun R, Van Reenen J (2010) Recent advances in the empirics of organizational economics. Annu. Rev. Econom. 2(1):105–137.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bloom N, Genakos C, Sadun R, Van Reenen J (2012) Management practices across firms and countries. Acad. Management Perspect. 26(1):12–33.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bloom N, Lemos R, Sadun R, Scur D, Van Reenen J (2014) JEEA-FBBVA Lecture 2013: The new empirical economics of management. J. Eur. Econom. Assoc. 12(4):835–876.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Brandenburger AM, Stuart HW (1996) Value-based business strategy. J. Econom. Management Strategy 5(1):5–24.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Camuffo A, Gambardella A, Pignataro A (2024a) Theory-driven strategic management decisions. Strategy Sci. 9(4):382–396.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Camuffo A, Cordova A, Gambardella A, Spina C (2020) A scientific approach to entrepreneurial decision making: Evidence from a randomized control trial. Management Sci. 66(2):564–586.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Camuffo A, Gambardella A, Messinese D, Novelli E, Paolucci E, Spina C (2024b) A scientific approach to entrepreneurial decision-making: Large-scale replication and extension. Strategic Management J. 45(6):1209–1237.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Card D, Krueger AB (1995) Time-series minimum-wage studies: A meta-analysis. Amer. Econom. Rev. 85(2):238–243.Google Scholar
  • Christensen CM (1997) The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Harvard Business Review Press, Boston).Google Scholar
  • Christensen CM, Bower JL (1996) Customer power, strategic investment, and the failure of leading firms. Strategic Management J. 17(3):197–218.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Christensen CM, Hall T, Dillon K, Duncan DS (2016) Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice (HarperCollins, New York).Google Scholar
  • Coali A, Gambardella A, Novelli E (2024) Scientific decision-making, project selection and longer-term outcomes. Res. Policy 53(6):105022.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Conti A, Santaló J (2023) The hidden costs of fairness in platform markets: The dynamics of lowering developer royalty rates. Preprint, submitted April 12, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4403845.Google Scholar
  • Cummings T, Nickerson J (2024) A protocol mechanism for solving the “right” strategic problem. Strategic Management Rev. 5(3):273–312.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • David RJ, Han S-K (2004) A systematic assessment of the empirical support for transaction cost economics. Strategic Management J. 25(1):39–58.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Denrell J, Fang C, Winter SG (2003) The economics of strategic opportunity. Strategic Management J. 24(10):977–990.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Drnevich PL, Mahoney JT, Schendel D (2020) Has strategic management research lost its way? Strategic Management Rev. 1(1):35–73.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Dupas P (2014) Short-run subsidies and long-run adoption of new health products: Evidence from a field experiment. Econometrica 82(1):197–228.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Dyer JH (1997) Effective interim collaboration: How firms minimize transaction costs and maximise transaction value. Strategic Management J. 18(7):535–556.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ehrig T, Zenger T (2024) Competing with theories: Using awareness and confidence to secure resources and rents. Strategy Sci. 9(4):416–432.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Evans GW, Honkapohja S (2005) An interview with Thomas J. Sargent. Macroeconom. Dynamics 9(4):561–583.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Fan Y, Litov L, Yang M-J, Zenger T (2026) The technological uniqueness paradox. Strategic Management J. 47(5):1211–1243.Google Scholar
  • Felin T, Zenger TR (2016) Strategy, problems, and a theory for the firm. Organ. Sci. 27(1):222–231.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Felin T, Zenger TR (2017) The theory-based view: Economic actors as theorists. Strategy Sci. 2(4):258–271.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Felin T, Gambardella A, Zenger T (2021) Value lab: A tool for entrepreneurial strategy. Management Bus. Rev. 1(2):68–77.Google Scholar
  • Felin T, Gambardella A, Novelli E, Zenger T (2024) A scientific method for startups. J. Management 50(8):3080–3104.Google Scholar
  • Findley MG, Kikuta K, Denly M (2021) External validity. Ann. Rev. Political Sci. 24(1):365–393.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Finkelstein A, Hendren N (2020) Welfare analysis meets causal inference. J. Econom. Perspect. 34(4):146–167.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gavetti G (2012) Toward a behavioral theory of strategy. Organ. Sci. 23(1):267–285.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Gavetti G, Levinthal D (2000) Looking forward and looking backward: Cognitive and experiential search. Admin. Sci. Quart. 45(1):113–137.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gavetti G, Menon A (2016) Evolution cum agency: Toward a model of strategic foresight. Strategy Sci. 1(3):207–233.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Gavetti G, Levinthal DA, Rivkin JW (2005) Strategy making in novel and complex worlds: The power of analogy. Strategic Management J. 26(8):691–712.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gelman A, Hullman J, Kennedy L (2024) Causal quartets: Different ways to attain the same average treatment effect. Amer. Statist. 78(3):267–272.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Glied S (2021) Price transparency—Promise and peril. JAMA 325(15):1496–1497.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Guzman J (2021) Treatment effects in managerial strategies. Preprint, submitted October 4, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3915606.Google Scholar
  • Guzman J, Stern S (2020) The state of American entrepreneurship: New estimates of the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship for 32 US States, 1988–2014. Amer. Econom. J. Econom. Policy 12(4):212–243.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hammonds KH (2001) Michael Porter’s big ideas. https://www.fastcompany.com/42485/michael-porters-big-ideas/.Google Scholar
  • Heckman JJ (2000) Causal parameters and policy analysis in economics: A twentieth century retrospective. Quart. J. Econom. 115(1):45–97.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Heckman J, Pinto R (2024) Econometric causality: The central role of thought experiments. J. Econom. 243(1–2):105719.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Heiman B, Nickerson J, Zenger T (2009) Governing knowledge creation: A problem-finding and problem-solving perspective. Foss NJ, Michailova S, eds. Knowledge Governance: Processes and Perspectives (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK), 25–46.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Helmer H (2016) 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy (Deep Strategy LLC, Menlo Park, CA).Google Scholar
  • Hong B, Kueng L, Yang M-J (2019) Complementarity of performance pay and task allocation. Management Sci. 65(11):5152–5170.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Hoopes D, Madsen TL, Teece D (2022) Introduction to the special issue honoring Richard Rumelt: The foundations for understanding fundamental issues in strategy. Strategic Management Rev. 3(2):187–199.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ichinowski C, Shaw K, Prennushi G (1997) The effects of human resource management practices on productivity: A study of steel finishing lines. Amer. Econom. Rev. 87(3):291–313.Google Scholar
  • Jackson CK, Mackevicius CL (2024) What impacts can we expect from school spending policy? Evidence from evaluations in the United States. Amer. Econom. J. Appl. Econom. 16(1):412–446.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Leamer E, Leonard H (1983) Reporting the fragility of regression estimates. Rev. Econom. Statist. 65(2):306–317.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lee G, Ryall M (2024) Duty to elaborate one’s causal theory: Toward a new norm for empirical reporting in strategy. Working paper, University of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
  • Leiblein MJ, Macher JT (2009) The problem solving perspective: A strategic approach to understanding environment and organization. Nickerson JA, Silverman BS, eds. Economic Institutions of Strategy, Advances in Strategic Management, vol. 26 (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, UK), 97–120.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Leiblein MJ, Reuer JJ, Zenger T (2018) What makes a decision strategic? Strategy Sci. 3(4):558–573.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Litov LP, Zenger TR (2011) Do investors value uniqueness in corporate strategy? Evidence from mergers and acquisitions. Preprint, submitted March 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1787795.Google Scholar
  • Lovallo D, Clarke C, Camerer C (2012) Robust analogizing and the outside view: Two empirical tests of case-based decision making. Strategic Management J. 33(5):496–512.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Milgrom P, Roberts J (1990) Rationalizability, learning, and equilibrium in games with strategic complementarities. Econometrica 58(6):1255–1277.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Milgrom P, Roberts J (1995) Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing. J. Accounting Econom. 19(2–3):179–208.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Montgomery CA, Wernerfelt B (1988) Diversification, Ricardian rents, and Tobin’s q. RAND J. Econom. 19(4):623–632.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Nickerson JA, Silverman BS (2003) Why aren’t all truck drivers owner-operators? Asset ownership and the employment relation in interstate for-hire trucking. J. Econom. Management Strategy 12(1):91–118.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Nickerson J, Zenger T (2004) A knowledge-based theory of governance choice—A problem-solving approach. Organ. Sci. 15(6):617–632.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Nickerson JA, Wuebker R, Zenger T (2017) Problems, theories, and governing the crowd. Strategic Organ. 15(2):275–288.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Nickerson J, Yen CJ, Mahoney JT (2012) Exploring the problem-finding and problem-solving approach for designing organizations. Acad. Management Perspect. 26(1):52–72.Google Scholar
  • Notturno M (2012) Karl Popper’s introduction to scientific method, as constructed by Mark A. Notturno. Unpublished manuscript, December, http://www.the-rathouse.com/Intro-Philos-Sci/Introduction.html.Google Scholar
  • Novelli E, Spina C (2024a) How do entrepreneurs benefit from acting like scientists in business model development? Strategic commitments, uncertainty and economic performance. Strategic. Management J.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Novelli E, Spina C (2024b) Making business model decisions like scientists: Strategic commitment, uncertainty, and economic performance. Strategic Management J. 45(13):2642–2695.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pillai SD, Goldfarb B, Kirsch D (2024) Lovely and likely: Using historical methods to improve inference to the best explanation in strategy. Strategic Management J. 45(8):1539–1566.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pillai SD, Goldfarb B, Kirsch DA (2020) The origins of firm strategy: Learning by economic experimentation and strategic pivots in the early automobile industry. Strategic Management J. 41(3):369–399.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Porter ME (1981) The contributions of industrial organization to strategic management. Acad. Management Rev. 6(4):609–620.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Porter ME (1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance (Free Press, New York). Google Scholar
  • Porter ME (1996) What is strategy? Harvard Bus. Rev. 74(6):61–78.Google Scholar
  • Porter ME (2008) On Competition, updated and expanded ed. (Harvard Business Press, Boston).Google Scholar
  • Prahalad CK, Hamel G (1990) The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Bus. Rev. 68(3):79–91.Google Scholar
  • Raisch S, Birkinshaw J, Probst G, Tushman ML (2009) Organizational ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organ. Sci. 20(4):685–695.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Rajan RG (2012) Presidential address: The corporation in finance. J. Finance 67(4):1173–1217.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Rivkin JW (2000) Imitation of complex strategies. Management Sci. 46(6):824–844.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Rivkin JW, Siggelkow N (2007) Patterned interactions in complex systems: Implications for exploration. Management Sci. 53(7):1068–1085.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Roberts J, Milgrom P (1992) Economics, Organization and Management (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).Google Scholar
  • Rumelt RP (1984) Towards a strategic theory of the firm. Competitive Strategic Management 26(3):556–570.Google Scholar
  • Rumelt R (2011) Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters (Crown Publishing Group, New York).Google Scholar
  • Rumelt R (2022) The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists (Profile Books, London).Google Scholar
  • Rumelt RP, Schendel D, Teece DJ (1991) Strategic management and economics. Strategic Management J. 12(S2):5–29.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ryall MD, Sorenson O (2025) The causal inference problem: When can managers use data to inform decisions and how can organization design help them? Acad. Management Rev.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sandvik JJ, Saouma RE, Seegert NT, Stanton CT (2020) Workplace knowledge flows. Quart. J. Econom. 135(3):1635–1680.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Schilling MA (2018) The cognitive foundations of visionary strategy. Strategy Sci. 3(1):335–342.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Siggelkow N (2002) Evolution toward fit. Admin. Sci. Quart. 47(1):125–159.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Siggelkow N (2017) Change in the presence of fit: The rise, the fall, and the renaissance of Liz Claiborne. Chakravarthy B, Mueller-Stewens G, Lorange P, Lechner C, eds. Strategy Process: Shaping the Contours of the Field (Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK), 45–73.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Simcoe T (2024) How far can we push toward causal identification in a field focused on novelty, uniqueness, and complementarity? https://tinyurl.com/simcoe2024.Google Scholar
  • Sorenson O (2024) Theory, search, and learning. Strategy Sci. 9(4):372–381.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Stenholm P, Acs ZJ, Wuebker R (2013) Exploring country-level institutional arrangements on the rate and type of entrepreneurial activity. J. Bus. Ventures 28(1):176–193.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tripsas M, Gavetti G (2000) Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: Evidence from digital imaging. Strategic Management J. 21(10–11):1147–1161.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Van den Steen E (2017) A formal theory of strategy. Management Sci. 63(8):2616–2636.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Wager S, Athey S (2018) Estimation and inference of heterogeneous treatment effects using random forests. J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 113(523):1228–1242.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Williamson OE (1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications (Free Press, New York).Google Scholar
  • Williamson OE (1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting (Free Press, New York).Google Scholar
  • Wuebker R, Zenger T, Felin T (2023) The theory-based view: Entrepreneurial microfoundations, resources, and choices. Strategic Management J. 44(12):2922–2949.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Yang M-J, Christensen M, Bloom N, Sadun R, Rivkin J (2024) How Do CEOs Make Strategy? (National Bureau of Economic Research).Google Scholar
  • Zenger T (2013) What is the theory of your firm. Harvard Bus. Rev. 91(6):72–78.Google Scholar
  • Zhang H, Barney JB (2026) Invisible firms, competitive neglect, and sustained profit generation. Working paper, Harvard Business School, Boston.Google Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.