BAM Strategy SIG Committee Elections

Institution: Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK)

Position: Professor of Strategy

I am a Professor of Strategy at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) and serve as Associate Editor for esteemed journals, including the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, and the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. I am also a long-standing member of the British Academy of Management (BAM), serving on its Peer Review College and contributing as Co-Track Chair of the Strategy Track since 2021.

Over the years, I have built a strong and diverse research portfolio with publications in leading international journals such as R&D Management, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Research, Long Range Planning, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Australian Journal of Management, International Studies of Management & Organization, and Management Decision. My work spans strategy and entrepreneurship, reflecting a sustained commitment to rigorous and relevant scholarship.

Beyond research, I have delivered executive development programmes to thousands of managers and leaders across industries, secured prestigious research grants, and successfully supervised several PhD scholars to completion. I also serve as an empanelled assessor for AMBA, contributing to the global accreditation and quality assurance of management education.

My engagement with BAM has been longstanding and deeply rewarding. Since 2006, I have regularly presented my work at annual conferences, supported the Strategy and Entrepreneurship communities, coordinated review processes as Co-Track Chair, and delivered talks during coffee mornings organised by the Strategy SIG. These experiences have given me a profound understanding of the SIG’s strengths, opportunities, and developmental needs.

If elected as Co-Chair of the Strategy SIG, I aim to build on this foundation and drive meaningful, member-centric initiatives. Specifically, I will:

• Strengthen and streamline SIG operations to enhance responsiveness, transparency, and member engagement.
• Expand SIG membership by reaching out to scholars globally and increasing visibility across BAM networks.
• Substantially increase high-quality submissions to the Strategy and Strategy-as-Practice tracks by fostering a supportive scholarly community.
• Organise high-impact paper development workshops led by distinguished academics to support PhD students and early-career researchers.
• Offer research seminars, talks, and developmental interventions tailored to the evolving interests of SIG members.
• Broaden BAM’s international footprint by actively mobilising scholars and doctoral students from India, China, and African countries, enabling regional events and strengthening global academic engagement.

I am deeply committed to fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and intellectually enriching Strategy SIG. With your support, I aim to contribute to expanding the SIG’s reach, enhancing its scholarly reputation, and fostering the next generation of strategic management scholars.

Thank you for considering my nomination. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the BAM community in this role.

Institution: Aston University

Position: Professor of Strategy and Organization

David Sarpong is Professor of Strategy and Organization at Aston Business School. His research interest lies in the broad areas of strategic management and organization. His current research concerns second-order innovation and technology management, strategic foresight, process theory and relationalism.

 I Joined the BAM Strategy SiG as a doctoral student in 2007 and has since been an active and engaged member of the community. I am committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, with emphasis on  widening access and participation in SiGs at the academy.

In seeking election to the role of Chair of the BAM Strategy SiG, I hope to contribute my time, knowledge, and experience in making the SiG the one stop shop for  strategy research, teaching, and knowledge exchange. Working together with the SiG  team I aim to do this by:

1. taking the lead in organising the much-needed strategy focused capacity building workshops and, career development events focussing on early career researchers and our doctoral students
2. promoting the Strategy SiG and by extension, the academy’s values of academic excellence, community, integrity, inclusiveness, and professionalism 
3. emphasising and promoting ‘scholarship that matters’ at the Strategy SiGs events, and symposiums.
4. exploring and exploiting  opportunities, potentialities and,possibilities to improving the Strategy SiG membership offerings and recruitment. 

I hope you will support my candidacy to serve you as Chair of the BAM Strategy SiG.

Institution: University of Portsmouth

Position: Senior Lecturer in Strategy

I am writing to express my strong interest in contributing to the Strategy SIG in the position of co-chair. With research interests in strategizing under conditions of uncertainty and interests in strategy education, I feel I can make a significant contribution to the further development of the SIG. 

I have been a long-standing BAM member and have contributed significantly to the achievement of BAM’s strategic priorities. This includes contributing to the capacity building activities of BAM by being the co-chair of the 29th BAM Conference in Portsmouth. In addition, during my time on BAM Council, I helped developed the Management Knowledge and Education community. I also acted as a conference track co-chair for the Knowledge and Learning SIG.

I have also contributed to the activities of the Strategy SIG. He has co-organised Strategy SIG events involving some of the leading scholars in the strategy field. In addition, in 2024, I was invited to speak at a joint event of the Strategy SIG, Consultancy Network and the Centre for Management Consultancy Excellence (CMCE) on the work that strategists engage in to address uncertainty when strategizing.
If elected I would like to focus on the following three priorities: 

1. to increase the membership of the SIG through a combination of vigorously promoting the strategy and strategy-as-practice tracks at the BAM conference and organising two events per year covering contemporary debates and current developments relating to impact, AI, EDIR, sustainability, and strategy education.
2. to increase the visibility of the Strategy SIG by engaging the BAM Fellows in SIG events, by personally being visible as a representative of the SIG at BAM meetings, and by promoting SIG activities on social media.
3. to develop and strengthen partnerships with other SIGs, BAM Networks, and external bodies through the organisation of joint events and the development of joint initiatives

Thank you very much for considering my nomination. I am excited to develop the Strategy SIG into the future.

Institution: University of Cambridge

Position: Doctoral Researcher

I am writing to express my interest in serving as Doctoral Student Representative for the BAM Strategy Special Interest Group. My doctoral research on strategic competition through financial and infrastructural instruments, combined with my two decades professional background in international corporate finance and infrastructure investment, positions me to contribute substantively to the SIG's intellectual life while effectively representing our diverse doctoral community.

My doctoral project examines how British firms and imperial authorities used financial instruments, institutional coordination, and infrastructural investment to exercise strategic influence internationally. This work engages directly with the Strategy field's longstanding concern with how organisations develop and deploy capabilities, how they interact with institutional environments, and how strategic action unfolds over long temporal horizons. Recent contributions in management scholarship have emphasised the value of historical analysis in understanding strategic evolution. My project builds on this growing movement by examining how firms, financial actors, and state institutions co-produced strategic outcomes across imperial and global contexts.

The Strategy field's interest in path dependence, capability formation, non-market strategy, and institutional strategy resonates directly with my research questions. By analysing how financial and infrastructural tools enabled British firms and the state to construct durable strategic advantages, I aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of how organisational capabilities are shaped by geopolitical, regulatory, and economic structures. I hope to bring this historically informed perspective into future SIG discussions and doctoral events, thereby enriching the Strategy community's methodological and theoretical diversity.

I believe the SIG has a crucial role in fostering methodologically diverse scholarship while providing developmental support for early-career researchers across theoretical traditions. These observations have convinced me of the vital importance of strong doctoral representation within the SIG's governance and programming.

My professional background in corporate finance and infrastructure investment further complements the SIG's interests. Before beginning my PhD, I worked in senior financial leadership roles, focusing on cross-border investment, infrastructure project structuring, and long-run value creation. This experience has informed my academic work by sharpening my understanding of strategic decision-making under conditions of uncertainty, regulatory complexity, and institutional constraint—core concerns within the Strategy field.

If elected, I would prioritise three objectives. First, I would systematically gather feedback from doctoral members on their developmental needs through structured surveys and informal consultations. Second, I would liaise with the SIG Executive Committee to ensure that this feedback informs the design of doctoral workshops, networking events, and conference activities. Third, I would work to strengthen the integration of interdisciplinary doctoral researchers within the Strategy community, building on recent scholarly calls to broaden methodological inclusivity within the field. 

I believe the Strategy SIG will benefit from a doctoral representative who can bridge management scholarship, historical research, and practitioner-informed understanding of strategic action. I would be honoured to serve the doctoral community in this capacity, contributing to the SIG's ongoing efforts to foster rigorous, inclusive, and intellectually dynamic scholarship that speaks to contemporary strategic challenges.

Institution: Lancaster University

Position: Second-year PhD student in Strategy

I would be delighted to serve as Doctoral Student Representative on the BAM Strategy SIG Executive Committee from January 2026. I am a fully funded PhD researcher in Strategy and an active BAM member. I currently serve as a PhD Student Representative on my school’s postgraduate research (PGR) student–staff committee, where I gather doctoral feedback, communicate it constructively to academic and professional staff, and share outcomes back with the doctoral community.

My involvement with BAM includes contributing through service (including reviewing for the British Academy of Management Annual Conference) and regular engagement with Strategy SIG activities, including workshops, webinars and Doctoral Fridays. I also bring first-hand experience of the doctoral “publication-to-conference” pathway: I have published five journal articles (including three ABS 3), presented work at AOM and AIB, and participated in paper development and professional development workshops, including the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal PDW and the Academy of Management Journal PDW. Having attended Strategy SIG sessions, I would like to widen access to these benefits for doctoral members.

If elected, I will focus on three priorities:

1. Create a reliable, two-way feedback loop. I will run brief, low-burden “pulse checks” during the year via BAM/Strategy SIG channels, complemented by informal online listening sessions. For each Executive Committee meeting, I will provide a concise themes-based briefing of doctoral priorities, and I will report back on actions taken and progress made.
2. Strengthen doctoral development. Working with the SIG team, I will support sessions on (a) publishing and positioning strategy papers, (b) methods clinics across quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and (c) the UK/European job market and wider career pathways. I particularly want to support international doctoral members navigating UK/European academic norms, conferences, and the job market. I will also help build structured networking formats—first-timers meet-ups, peer “writing buddy” connections, and light-touch mentor matching—at the BAM annual conference and other Strategy SIG events.
3. Champion inclusivity, accessibility, and participation. I will advocate for clear pre-event guidance, supportive facilitation, and hybrid access where feasible, and I will ensure doctoral members across topics and methodological traditions feel the SIG is a genuine home for their work. I also maintain an active LinkedIn network (6,000+ connections) and will work with the SIG Communications Officer, within BAM’s communications guidelines, to amplify Strategy SIG events and opportunities.

I am organised, proactive, and experienced in representative roles. I would be honoured to represent doctoral members, support their development, and help the Strategy SIG deliver tangible value throughout the year, aligned with BAM’s values of equality, diversity, inclusivity, and respect.