1. The Power of Richness: The Why, When, Where and How of Qualitative Research Academy of Management 2005 – PDW Theory Building and Theory Verification Through Single Case Study Research ROBERT A. BURGELMAN Stanford Graduate School of Business

2.  Site selection  Discovering the “phenomenon”  Comparative analysis  Saturation  From substantive to formal theorizing  Relating to received knowledge from the “inside out” I. SINGLE CASE STUDY RESEARCH: INTEL C ORPORATION Robert A. Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business

3. Figure 1: An Evolutionary Framework of the Strategy-Making Process in Established Firms e emerging environments Autonomous Strategic Action Strategic Context E the existing environment Concept of Corporate Strategy Induced Strategic Action Structural Context VariationSelectionRetention

4. Figure 2: Intel’s Evolution from Memory Company to Microcomputer Company. Memory Company Microprocessor company Reorientation Time Percentage of Intel’s Revenues Intel: The LSI memory supplier Intel: The microprocessor company Memories Logic 19721973197419751976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619871988 0 20 40 60 80 100 Source: Burgelman, R.A., Strategy is Destiny: How Strategy-Making Shapes a Company’s Future, Free Press, 2002 Robert A. Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business

5. Official Corporate Strategy Induced & Autonomous Strategic Action E, e = External Selection Environment  Basis of Competitive Advantage Distinctive Competence of the Firm Structural & Strategic Contexts = Internal Selection Environment Figure 3: Dynamic Forces in Firm Evolution

6. II. THEORY VERIFICATION THROUGH SINGLE CASE STUDY RESEARCH A.Campbell’s view: “In a case study done by an alert social scientist who has thorough local acquaintance, the theory he uses to explain the focal difference also generates predictions or expectations on dozens of other aspects of the culture, and he does not retain the theory unless most of these are also confirmed. In some sense, he has tested the theory with degrees of freedom coming from the multiple implications of any one theory.” Example: The punctuated equilibrium and the internal ecology models of strategy making - Intel’s strategic transformation Robert A. Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business Source: Donald T. Campbell, “Degrees of Freedom and the Case Study,” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2, July 1975, pp. 181-182.

7. New Proposition: The population of firms with successful strategic reorientations will contain a significantly higher proportion of firms whose strategic reorientations were preceded by internal experimentation and selection processes than the population of firms with failing strategic reorientations. Source: R.A. Burgelman, "Intraorganizational Ecology of Strategy Making and Organizational Adaptation: Theory and Field Research," Organization Science, Vol. 2, No. 3, August 1991, p. 256. Robert A. Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business

8.  When to hold and when to fold  Turning “luck” into strategy  The "creative leap" goes beyond "methodology" III. SOME CONCLUDING PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS Robert A. Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business