What Strategic Management Society does

The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit scholarly organization founded in 1983 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to advancing the field of strategic management through research dissemination, networking, and grant funding. SMS serves approximately 3,000 members across 70+ countries, spanning academic scholars and researchers, PhD students, business practitioners, and strategy consultants. Its core offerings are three field-leading peer-reviewed academic journals — the Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal — published in partnership with Wiley and submitted through ScholarOne.

SMS's product portfolio is centered on scholarly events and content: an annual conference (the 46th edition scheduled for Berlin in October 2026), special conferences (Hong Kong in June 2026), a Virtual Workshop Conference, pre-conference extension workshops, webinars, Interest Groups & Communities, the SMS Member Circle online community, a Job Board, the Strategic Management Explorer content platform, and the Strategic Insights content hub covering six thematic areas. The Strategy Research Foundation (SRF), an embedded entity, funds competitive research grants including the Will D. Mitchell Dissertation Research Grant. SMS has very small staff (1-10 employees) and distributes services through its website, the SMS Membership Portal, Wiley Online Library, and social channels.

Revenue is generated through four streams: recurring membership dues from ~3,000 individual members, one-time conference registration fees, journal/publication access fees and royalties, and tax-deductible donations to support SRF grants and operations. The organization is governance-driven, with control resting with a Board of Directors and membership, and has no parent company or external equity backing. Pricing for membership tiers and conference registration is not publicly disclosed; donation presets are visible at $100-$1,000.

Name

Strategic Management Society

Legal name

Strategic Management Society

Website

https://strategicmanagement.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Strategic Management Society is a 501(c)(3) scholarly society founded in 1983 that serves ~3,000 members across 70+ countries, publishing three field-leading strategic management journals, hosting annual and special conferences, and funding research grants through the Strategy Research Foundation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association / Scholarly Society Services

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Management Research Institutes & Doctoral (PhD/DBA) Programs (EDAHAHAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)

Keywords

• Professional society
• Academic publishing
• Strategic management
• Scholarly conferences
• Research grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: SMS generates revenue through membership fees from its approximately 3,000 members spanning 70+ countries, including academics, practitioners, and consultants.
2. Conference Registrations: Revenue from annual conferences (e.g., 46th Annual Conference in Berlin October 2026) and special conferences (e.g., Hong Kong June 2026) including registration fees.
3. Publications: Access and purchase of publications and research resources, including three SMS Journals published through partnership with Wiley.
4. Donations and Grants: SMS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization receiving tax-deductible donations to support the Strategy Research Foundation grant funding programs and general society operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Strategic Management Society is a nonprofit scholarly organization that advances the field of strategic management through membership services, three peer-reviewed academic journals, annual and special conferences, research grants, and an online community for academics, practitioners, and consultants. SMS operates the Strategy Research Foundation, which provides competitive grant funding to scholars, and the SMS Member Circle, an online community for member networking and collaboration.

Product overview

The Strategic Management Society offers a platform of interconnected membership services and scholarly resources. The core portfolio includes three leading academic journals (Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal) that serve as the primary dissemination channels for research. SMS Members receive access to the SMS Member Circle community platform for networking and collaboration, the SMS Explorer content platform for practitioner and academic insights, and the Job Board for career opportunities. SMS organizes conferences including the Annual Conference, Special Conference in Hong Kong, and Virtual Workshop Conference, along with pre-conference extension workshops. The Strategy Research Foundation provides competitive research grants to scholars. Additional offerings include webinars, Interest Groups & Communities, Strategic Insights content hub covering topics like technology and sustainability, and the SMS Resource Center. Members access all these services through the SMS Membership Portal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SMS Journals: SMS publishes three leading academic journals: Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal.
• Strategy Research Foundation (SRF)
• SMS Member Circle
• Strategic Insights

Products and services

• SMS Membership Annual membership subscription granting academics, practitioners, consultants, and PhD students access to SMS journals, conferences, the SMS Member Circle community, webinars, the Job Board, and research funding eligibility. SMS has approximately 3,000 members from 70+ countries.
• Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) SMS's flagship peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research on strategic management topics, distributed through Wiley Online Library with member access included in SMS membership.
• Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (SEJ) Peer-reviewed academic journal focused on strategic management and entrepreneurship research, distributed through Wiley Online Library and accessible to SMS members.
• Global Strategy Journal (GSJ) Peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research on global strategy and international business, distributed through Wiley Online Library and accessible to SMS members.
• SMS Annual Conference SMS's flagship annual conference bringing together strategic management scholars and business leaders for research presentation, networking, and plenary sessions; the 46th Annual Conference is scheduled for October 2026 in Berlin, Germany.
• SMS Special Conference Hong Kong 2026 SMS special conference scheduled for June 28-30, 2026 in Hong Kong, bringing together the strategic management community for focused programming.
• SMS Virtual Workshop Conference Virtual workshop conference scheduled for 2026, providing online programming for the strategic management community beyond the in-person annual and special conferences.
• SMS Explorer Online content platform offering business practitioners, consultants, and academics the latest insights and takeaways in strategic management, entrepreneurship, and global business drawn from the three SMS Journals.
• SMS Member Circle Member-exclusive online community for peer-to-peer networking, discussion, and collaboration among SMS's 3,000+ members from 70+ countries.
• SMS Job Board Online platform for posting and applying to jobs and professional opportunities in strategic management and related fields.
• Strategy Research Foundation (SRF) Grants Dedicated funding mechanism within SMS that provides competitive research grants to student and faculty scholars advancing strategic management scholarship, including grant programs such as the Will D. Mitchell Dissertation Research Grant.
• SMS Membership Portal Online portal at portal.strategicmanagement.net where SMS members access benefits, manage accounts, register for events, and access journals (SMS Membership Portal launched Fall 2023).
• Strategic Insights Curated content hub covering six thematic areas in strategic management: Sustainability, Technology, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Deglobalization, Innovation, and Leadership.
• Strategic Human Capital Junior Mentoring Program Mentoring program supporting junior scholars pursuing strategic human capital research, pairing emerging researchers with senior mentors in the field.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• WileycoreTechnology or IntegrationWiley is the publishing partner for SMS Journals including Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Global Strategy Journal. Wiley provides the online platform (Wiley Online Library) for journal content delivery and publication services.
• ScholarOnecoreTechnology or IntegrationScholarOne provides manuscript submission and peer review platform services used for journal article submissions to SMS publications.
• Strategy Research Foundation (SRF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSRF is the dedicated funding mechanism within SMS that provides competitive research grants to student and faculty scholars. Embedded within the Society's structure and mission to nurture research across career stages and thematic areas in strategic management.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Academy of Management (AOM): The Academy of Management is the largest scholarly society for management researchers and the closest direct peer to SMS: it publishes multiple top-tier journals (AMJ, AMR, AME, AMD, AMP, AOP), hosts an Annual Meeting attracting ~10,000 scholars, and operates a member-driven, nonprofit model centered on dissemination of management scholarship.
• Academy of International Business (AIB): AIB is a scholarly society of international business and global strategy researchers, publishes the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) and AIB Insights, and holds an Annual Meeting with similar membership/journal/conference structure as SMS, with significant topical overlap on global strategy.
• American Marketing Association (AMA): AMA operates the same nonprofit scholarly-society playbook as SMS: publishes flagship marketing journals (JM, JMR, JIM), runs academic and practitioner conferences, offers professional certifications, and maintains a global membership of marketing academics and practitioners.
• INFORMS: INFORMS is the leading scholarly society for operations research and management science, publishes multiple journals (Management Science, Operations Research, etc.), hosts large annual conferences, and supports research through INFORMS sections and awards — directly parallel to SMS's journals/conferences/awards model.
• Production and Operations Management Society (POMS): POMS is a scholarly society publishing Production and Operations Management journal and hosting an annual conference, with an academic-membership model that closely mirrors SMS's operating playbook in an adjacent management subfield.
• American Accounting Association (AAA): AAA is a nonprofit scholarly society for accounting researchers that publishes multiple journals (The Accounting Review, JAE, etc.), runs an Annual Meeting, and uses the same member-driven academic society structure, serving as a discipline-peer for benchmarking SMS's operating model.
• Financial Management Association (FMA): FMA is a scholarly society for finance researchers that publishes Financial Management and the Review of Corporate Finance Studies, hosts an Annual Meeting, and supports doctoral students via a dedicated doctoral student consortium — closely parallel to SMS's strategy-research and researcher-development mandate.
• Decision Sciences Institute (DSI): DSI is a scholarly society for decision sciences, publishes Decision Sciences Journal, hosts an Annual Conference, and runs a member-driven model similar to SMS, with substantial overlap in management/strategy research audiences.

Regional players

• British Academy of Management (BAM): BAM is the UK's principal learned society for management scholars, with a similar membership/journal/conference model but a primarily UK/European footprint. Comparable operating model and audience make it a strong regional mirror to SMS for benchmarking.
• European Academy of Management (EURAM): EURAM is a European scholarly society in management with an Annual Conference, journals, and membership structure parallel to SMS, focused on European scholars but open internationally — a directly analogous organization serving a different geographic anchor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/strategic_mgmt
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/StrategicMgmtSociety
• Facebookfacebook.com/groups/Strategic.Management.Society
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/groups/1669257

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Strategic Management Society