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I need scholarly articles of the Industrial organization model of above-average returns

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Answered By: Linda Kern
Last Updated: Sep 02, 2020     Views: 230

Your request for help was forwarded to me. This is a really tough topic and simple answers elude us, so I will share my research strategy with you.

There is a research truism: theory is found in books; articles deal with application of theory. To find in-depth information on the theory, go to the Business LibGuide at http://libguides.brenau.edu/business . Click on the gold Business - Books tab. In the center column, click on eBooks on EBSCOHOST. You will have to use your Brenau username and password to get in. Search using industrial organization model. There are two results; the second, Global Business Alliances : Theory and Practice, seems to be more relevant. Just below the book information and eBook full text, click the tiny + sign next to Table of Contents. Click the + beside Global Business Alliances to reveal more of the table of contents. Once more, click the + beside 2 Theoretical Foundations. Now click on The Industrial Organization Model. The full text will open. This is a scholarly treatment by a Penn State professor, with end notes following each chapter.

Finding articles on a theory is much more difficult. Based on my research, the vast majority of articles don't refer to the "Industrial Organization Model of Above-Average Returns". When I can't find what I want in the library databases, and I need to get a feel for the literature on a topic that is new to me, I go to Google Scholar to see how much is out there and who is publishing. (The problem with Google Scholar is actually getting to the full text. That's when I turn to the library databases.) Even a database as vast as Google Scholar returns 0 results. Broadening the search simply brings irrelevant results, for the most part. Combining Industrial Organization and Above-Average Returns doesn't work either. This doesn't bode well for searching other databases.
 
My strategy is to search the open web for references to scholarly articles that I can follow. I pasted the citations into Google Scholar beginning with M. A. HITT, L. TIHANYI, T. MILLER, B. CONNELLY, 2006. A PDF of what I believe to be the correct article (International diversification: Antecedents, outcomes, and moderators) is the first hit. As you can see, the article is about international diversification, not the model. This is common in articles, which are highly specific. They will often talk about aspects of a theory without discussing the theory as a whole. You have to piece together articles on each aspect to begin to look at the whole. You may need to search using terms such as economies of scale, barriers to entry, diversification, or product differentiation, and apply what you find to the theory.

I also searched another citation from the blog, E. H. BROWMAN & C. E. HELFAT, 2001, which I found out was actually E. H. BOWMAN & C. E. HELFAT, 2001. The relevant article is Does corporate strategy matter?. This is also available in full text. It does not mention the theory per se, but it does seem to discuss aspects of the theory. It is also full of references that can be chased.
 
I changed up my search terms in Google Scholar looking for something more effective. I tried "Industrial Organization Model" AND "strategic management" , limiting my search to the last 5 years, This led to Meta-SWOT: introducing a new strategic planning tool. This article talks about the industrial organization model in the lit review, citing Day and Moorman, 2010. The reference list reveals the full citation: Day, G.S. and Moorman, C. (2010), Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value, New York, McGraw-Hill.
 
I went to our catalog at https://brenau.on.worldcat.org/discovery and pasted in the title, Strategy from the Outside In. The first hit is the eBook. Click on View Now, then View eBook to link to the full text. You will have to use your Brenau username and password to get in. You will notice that this is a scholarly treatment by university professors with end notes at the back of the book citing the sources.
 
Your best approach is to read books on the theory (I can get you more if you need them, but it will take time) and then search the library databases listed on the Business - Articles tab of the LibGuide (http://libguides.brenau.edu/business) for specific aspects of the theory, such as economies of scale, barriers to entry, etc.
 
Email me back if these ideas don't pan out and we will work on it some more.

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