Currently, I undertake research and teach in Strategic Management at Nijmegen School of Management, Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Previously, I was based at VU Amsterdam and UNSW-Sydney Business School, Australia. I completed my M.Sc. degrees at Karlstad University (CTF) and Erasmus University (RSM) and received my PhD from UNSW-Sydney. I draw on diverse business experience – including large corporates and entrepreneurial start-ups in international settings – with a focus on developing strategy, innovating, and managing major projects.
Research
I am curious about organizations and people across the performance spectrum in their field and across different contexts. Yet, why do some companies and people perform better than others? In my research, I look at this question from the perspective that companies are increasingly confronted with radical, unpredictable change and uncertainty in their competitive environments. Drivers include increased global competition, technology developments, unsettled regulations, government instability, and rapid change due to the omnipresence of information and (big) data. These are significant global issues for firms.
An important challenge is to effectively make strategic choices in today’s challenging conditions. The future is, for example, more difficult to predict and what worked in the past may not work as before in the future. These issues complicate future positioning and planning, but also knowledge creation and utilization and innovation. Yet, strategy choices have significant impact on company performance and survival, as well as on society and the planet. My research therefore investigates the strategy choices that companies make and how different turbulent conditions might influence the effect of these choices on performance. With this research, I hope to inspire and benefit worldwide business and, ultimately, future prosperity of society at large.
Research interests & teaching
- Business strategy, strategic responses, and business models
- Environmental turbulence and dynamism
- (Superior) performance and strategic performance intentions (organizational goals)
- Innovation and (corporate) entrepreneurship
- Knowledge management, creation, and utilization
- Organizational sustainability and responsibility
- AI and machine learning
- International, digital/new (social) media, sports, transport (such as autonomous vehicles and maritime shipping), and service contexts
Context
Back in the Netherlands, yet not so long ago, I often navigated the streets of Sydney with my Brompton folding bike or running and hiking from the beach to the (Blue) mountains. My travels take me to great places and people when negotiating the planet for exploration and discovery; such as at international and regional conferences from the Academy of Management and Strategic Management Society, amongst others.
Mirjam Goudsmit 