A thriving stream of research in strategic management has examined how institutional voids, a term coined by Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu in an article in 1997, helps understand the fundamentals of emerging markets. The voids refer to the absence of specialized intermediation that compromises the coming together of would-be buyers and would-be sellers, thus making markets 'emerging' rather than 'emerged.' The voids are a double-edged sword, both forcing managers and entrepreneurs to adapt their business model, but also themselves the target of opportunities for entrepreneurs, policymakers and investors. This plenary keynote will discuss the state-of-the-art of theory and of practice, with a particular focus on addressing the especially insidious institutional voids that prevent four of the world's seven billion currently disenfranchised people from engaging with the economic mainstream.

As developing economies in Latin America opened up to the global economy in recent years, a number of local firms not only survived battles for dominance and defense of their local markets. But many of them also expanded abroad, not merely through exports but importantly through foreign direct investments and partnerships, to become fully fledged multinational enterprises in their own right, and turned into formidable companies. Companies such as LAN, Arcor, Gerdau, and Bimbo, among many, have become formidable “challengers” in the global arena. Why have these firms gone global so aggressively? What competitive advantages do they enjoy? What are the origins of these sources of advantage (e.g., market-based, resource-based, institutional-based)? Professors Margaret Peteraf and Margarethe Wiersema will each expose their views on the matter, and take questions from the audience.

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm is one of the most widely accepted theories of strategic management. Its academic roots are often pointed to be at the seminal work by Edith Penrose (1959) who proposed a theory of the growth of the firm, by which organizations would expand from excess of idle resources. Yet, it wasn’t until the 1980s (e.g., Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1986; Dierickx and Cool, 1989) and early 1990s (e.g., Barney, 1991; Peteraf, 1993) that more established academic language and theoretical precepts began to be offered. In this panel, two of the main proponents of these theoretical principles, Profs. Jay Barney and Margaret Peteraf join efforts to each expose their views on what the resource-based view is, how it has evolved, and what future lies to its influence in the field of strategic management. They will also be open to take questions directly from the audience.

The editors will each exposed their views on what makes for a great scholarly contribution, and delineate the main qualities of papers that get accepted in their journals. They will also take questions directly from the audience.

With established markets becoming saturated, multinational corporations (MNCs) have turned increasingly to emerging markets (EMS) in the developing world. Yet, firms that simply entered these markets repeating successful formulas developed in their home countries have quickly found proven recipes to not work well. Emerging markets are characterized not only by institutional voids, but also more periodic macroeconomic volatility, distinct cultural and organizational challenges, and other market-based difficulties that call for collective strategies. In this panel, professors Jay Anand, Gerry McDermott, Francisco Polidoro, and Roberto Vassolo will offer their views on the craft of strategy for these challenging environments, and take questions from the audience.

Although many emerging market contexts present an environment of high transaction costs, poor infrastructure, excessive regulation, and macroeconomic volatility, in many countries and regions firms, associations, and governmental enterprises have collectively managed to overcome local voids and promote the local accumulation of public goods. Private entrepreneurs have developed projects with high social impact; local associations have worked hand in hand with governments and firms to foster innovative clusters; and development institutions have provided credit to new projects that would otherwise go unfunded. The objective of this semi-plenary is to discuss how private and state actors can devise collective strategies to promote projects that not only spur industrial development but also generate positive social impact to local regions and populations.

The field of Corporate Strategy is continuously evolving and has come to offer key insights to executives lead diversified organizations. When dealing with cross market competition, globalization, deregulation, technological change, and the emergence of new markets, business leaders must constantly re-assess the synergies across multiple business units. A major objective of this semi-plenary session is to discuss the main issues that impact a firm's choice of corporate strategy, including an analysis of its horizontal, vertical and geographical boundaries. Professors Felipe Monteiro, Carmen Weigelt, Stephen Tallman, and Robert Hoskisson will each expose theirs views on the matter, and take questions from the audience.