P14 SIG Strategizing and Entrepreneurship for the Common Good

Panel Chairs

Corresponding and Review-group chair:

• Bert George, City University of Hong Kong. brgeorge@cityu.edu.hk

Co-Chairs:

• John Bryson, University of Minnesota. 
• Barbara Crosby, University of Minnesota. 
• Jesper Rosenberg Hansen, Aarhus University. 
• Alessandro Sancino, University of Milan. 
• Laure Vandersmissen, City University of Hong Kong. 
• Richard Walker, Lingnan University. 

Panel Topic Description

Scholarship on strategy, strategizing, strategic planning, and strategic management continues to gain momentum in the public management community. Researchers from the broader field of strategic management—as well as leadership, public policy, and entrepreneurship—are increasingly exploring how strategizing can serve the common good. In parallel, strategy concepts are increasingly informing policy making and public governance frameworks, suggesting a timely convergence between academic disciplines and professional practice.

Our panel aims to attract contributions on strategizing—broadly understood as all activities underlying the doing of strategy to create public value in a specific context—and to explore its intersections with entrepreneurship, particularly in the context of value creation across sectors and scales.

In alignment with the IRSPM 2027 theme, "Polycrisis, Wicked Problems and Grand Challenges: Public Administrations in Search of Safety and Security," this panel invites research that examines how strategy and entrepreneurship enable public organizations to create public value while confronting overlapping crises, deep uncertainty, and escalating demands for safety and security. We welcome work that repositions strategic management and entrepreneurial action as capabilities for tackling wicked problems and grand challenges—from crisis preparedness and risk governance to societal resilience—and that critically examines the vulnerabilities and opportunities introduced by artificial intelligence.

Abstracts

We welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions based on a range of methodologies. The panel is also open to submissions from practitioners and policy actors who reflect on the practical implications of strategizing and entrepreneurship. We also encourage participation from scholars and practitioners from diverse institutional and geographical contexts. Moreover, research proposals and related output could also be presented at the panel where relevant.

Relevant topics include (but are not limited to):

• Strategic planning and management in public and nonprofit organizations, partnerships, and multilevel governance systems
• Multi-organizational strategizing to address grand challenges
• Open strategy: how and why strategy processes are broadened to include diverse stakeholders
• Behavioral public strategy: the role of individuals, teams, and tools in shaping strategy practices
• Strategic arrangements between public institutions and social, civic, or community entrepreneurship
• Strategizing and entrepreneurship within collaborative governance regimes
• The role of leadership in strategy formulation and implementation
• Open social innovation and co-creation as strategy practices in pursuit of the common good

Format of Panel

The panel will include traditional paper presentation sessions plus one session about publishing and disseminating research on strategizing and entrepreneurship from a public management perspective. Indeed, panel presentations over the past two years have been published in major journals, and we seek to draw on these experience as well as editorial members in our team to provide advice on publishing strategizing and entrepreneurship work in public management.

Relevance to Public Management Scholarship and/or Conference Theme

The panel is proposed by the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Strategizing & Entrepreneurship for the Common Good, established in 2024, which brought together a high number of presentations and attendance both at IRSPM 2025 & 2026 —demonstrating the strong momentum and relevance of this scholarly community. The co-chairs of this SIG have consistently convened panels on strategic public management at IRSPM for more than a decade, contributing to the development of a vibrant conversation on how strategy practices and entrepreneurial initiatives shape public value creation across contexts.

This panel is highly relevant to public management as it explores the evolving role of strategy in a world marked by increasing complexity, uncertainty, and demands for strategic governance of societal challenges. The panel also supports IRSPM 2027’s emphasis on strengthening the capacity of public administrations to ensure safety, security, and societal resilience, while preserving democratic accountability, inclusion, and the openness of public debates.