“Big Questions” or “Big Methods”: What Should Guide Research in Strategy and Entrepreneurship?

The trend to apply modern econometric models to larger databases is taking hold in both strategy and entrepreneurship. Though very helpful in addressing some of the known limitations of prior research, much of the work appears to center on re-examining well-established findings to determine their continued relevance and robustness. This is a worthwhile cause and this kind of research needs to be done in order to improve the quality of our scholarship and ensure accumulation of valid findings that can inform policy, practice and scholarship. Good methods are surely good science. Yet, the near obsessive focus on methods can undermine the growth of the field and the development of creative ideas that undergird future empirical work. This symposium brings together panelists known for their creative ‘big’ ideas that have revolutionized thinking in strategic management and entrepreneurship and those that championed ‘big’ methods to ensure that our research is methodologically rigorous to be credible.