Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship
Examining how organizations compete and grow
Faculty and Ph.D. students in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship explore how organizations grow, compete and contribute to society. Our research brings together strategic management and entrepreneurship to better understand how firms can build sustainable advantages while creating new opportunities in dynamic environments.
Our research spans two interconnected areas:
- Strategic Management: Examining corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, with particular attention to how governance mechanisms shape organizational behavior and how firms balance economic performance with social and environmental impact.
- Entrepreneurship: Investigating the processes of funding and growing new ventures, the integration of entrepreneurial opportunity-seeking with strategic resource management and the methodological rigor needed to strengthen entrepreneurship as a field.
Together, these research streams highlight how leaders, managers and entrepreneurs navigate complexity, secure resources, innovate responsibly and build organizations that endure.
Strategic Management: Corporate governance
Corporate governance concerns the study of structures, processes, policies and principles that direct and control companies, ensuring accountability and fairness to stakeholders such as shareholders, directors and managers. It explores how different governance mechanisms influence a company's operations, strategic decisions, risk management and the equitable distribution of value. Our research is concerned with corporate governance in general but is particularly focused on the unintended consequences of some corporate governance mechanisms.
- Coombs, J. E., Gilley, K. M., O’Connor, J. P., Thorley, T. E., & Wesley, C. L. (2018). Religiosity and corporate illegal activity. Journal of Business Strategies, 35: 22-47.
- O’Connor, J. P., Priem, R.L., Coombs, J. E. & Gilley, K. M. (2006). Do CEO stock options prevent or promote fraudulent financial reporting? Academy of Management Journal, 49: 483-500.
- Miao, C., Coombs, J. E., Qian, S., & Oh, I-S. (2025). CEO overconfidence and firm performance: A meta-analytic review and future research agenda. Journal of Management & Organization, 31: 1814-1836. doi:10.1017/jmo.2023.58.
Strategic Management: Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility research examines how organizations integrate social and environmental concerns into their business models to achieve societal goals, balancing economic performance with social and environmental impacts.
- Coombs, L. E., & Gilley, K. M. (2005). Stakeholder management as a predictor of CEO compensation: Main effects and interactions with financial performance. Strategic Management Journal, 26: 827-840.
- Harrison, J.S., & Coombs, J.E. (2012). The moderating effects from corporate governance characteristics on the relationship between available slack and community-based firm performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 107: 409-422.
- Skandera, D. J., McKenny, A. F., & Combs, J. G. (2023). The influence of task environmental uncertainty on the balance between normative and strategic corporate social responsibility. Journal of Management, 49: 1037-1069.
Entrepreneurship: Funding new ventures
New venture funding is a critical aspect of venture success. Ventures have a number of alternatives to fund their ventures from friends and family, to angel investors and venture capitalists, to public markets, to more recently crowdfunding campaigns. Our research seeks to understand founder and venture characteristics that attract investments from particular sources.
- Allison, T. H., Warnick, B. J., Davis, B. C., & Cardon, M. S. (2022). Can you hear me now? Engendering passion and preparedness perceptions with vocal expressions in crowdfunding pitches. Journal of Business Venturing, 37: 106193.
- Coombs, J. E., Mudambi, R., & Deeds, D. L. (2006). An examination of the investments in U.S. biotechnology firms by foreign and domestic corporate partners. Journal of Business Venturing, 21: 405-428.
- Scheaf, D. J., Davis, B. C., Webb, J. W., Coombs, J. E, Borns, J., & Holloway, G. (2018). Signals' flexibility and interaction with visual cues: Insights from crowdfunding. Journal of Business Venturing, 33: 720-741.
- Davis, B. C., Webb, J. W., Hmielesky, K. M., & Coombs, J .E. (2017). Funders’ positive affective responses to entrepreneurs’ crowdfunding pitches: The influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion. Journal of Business Venturing, 32: 90-106.
Entrepreneurship: Strategic entrepreneurship
Strategic entrepreneurship research integrates strategic management and entrepreneurship to focus on how organizations can create value and achieve sustainable competitive advantages by simultaneously pursuing new opportunities and leveraging existing resources. In this research stream we examine ventures’ ability to be both entrepreneurial (identifying new opportunities) and strategic (building sustainable advantages) in a coordinated way, leading to superior firm performance, wealth creation, and innovation.
- Coombs, J. E., Deeds, D. L., & Ireland, R. D. (2009). Placing the choice between exploration and exploitation in context: A study of geography and new product development. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 3: 261-279.
- Deeds, D.L., DeCarolis, D. & Coombs, J.E. (2000). Dynamic capabilities and new product development in high technology ventures: An empirical analysis of new biotechnology firms. Journal of Business Venturing, 15: 211-229.
- Miao, C., Coombs, J.E., Qian, S., & Sirmon, D.G. (2017). The mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation: A meta-analysis of resource orchestration and cultural contingencies. Journal of Business Research, 77: 68-80.
Entrepreneurship: Research methods
To obtain more accurate and robust results, the use of sound scientific processes and rigorous statistical techniques is paramount. This is especially important for newer fields such as entrepreneurship to develop legitimacy as a unique field of study. In this research stream, we examine commonly made mistakes and provide solutions in an effort to ensure that published results are accurate and robust, a requirement for a cumulative knowledge base that is trustworthy.
- Connelly, B., Ireland, R. D., Reutzel, C., & Coombs, J. E. (2010). The power and effects of entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34: 131-149.
- Cortina, J.M., Köhler, T., Sheng, Z., Keeler, K. R., Nielsen, B.B., Coombs, J.E., & Ketchen, D.J. (2023). Restricted variance interactions in entrepreneurship research: A unique basis for context-as-moderator hypotheses. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47: 1995-2016.
- Rutherford, M.W., O’Boyle, E. H., Jr., Miao, C., Goering, D., & Coombs, J.E. (2017). Do response rates matter in entrepreneurship research? Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 8: 93-98.