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Understanding the interplay of artificial intelligence and strategic management: four decades of research in review

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Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling the automation of many facets of management and is increasingly used in a wide range of strategic tasks, it is necessary to better understand its relevance for strategic management. However, research on the interplay of AI and strategic management is unbalanced and lacks a coherent structure due to its multidisciplinarity. This article contributes to the emerging academic discussion by systematically reviewing and categorizing the substantial amount of research that has been conducted since the first article in the field was published in 1979. Furthermore, it introduces a comprehensive framework that integrates and synthesizes existing concepts. The framework displays the structure of the research field by classifying 58 relevant articles into two research scopes: condition-oriented research, which explores antecedents for leveraging the use of AI in strategic management, and outcome-oriented research, which studies the consequences of AI in strategic management at both the individual and the organizational level. Given the exponential potential of AI to reshape the field in its current form and the need for a realistic assessment of its impact, this review proposes promising research avenues for studying the quantifiable effects of the interplay of AI and strategic management based on the developed framework.

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Notes

  1. The Jourqual 3 is a magazine ranking on the basis of the judgments of VHB members. It is published by the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) and can be accessed online at http://www.vhbonline.org (retrieved on November 15th, 2018).

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Acknowledgements

I am particularly thankful to the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which were very helpful for the revision of the manuscript. I would also like to thank Philip Meissner (ESCP Business School) for his valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper.

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Keding, C. Understanding the interplay of artificial intelligence and strategic management: four decades of research in review. Manag Rev Q 71, 91–134 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020-00181-x

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