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Competitive Memory: Bringing the Strategic Past into the Present

Cognition and Strategy

ISBN: 978-1-78441-946-2, eISBN: 978-1-78441-945-5

Publication date: 19 August 2015

Abstract

Although two decades have passed since the publication of Walsh and Ungson’s (1991) seminal article on organizational memory, there has been only limited theoretical elaboration and application of this critical aspect of cognition in the strategic management literature. We remedy this gap by advancing the construct of competitive memory, which we define as a firm’s dynamic capability consisting of stored information from its past competitive interaction with a given rival that can be brought to bear on present or future competitive actions. We theorize that competitive memory is composed of both procedural and declarative elements and can be accessed automatically and deliberatively. Additionally, we suggest that competitive memory is relational: As rivals within a competitive set interact in the market, competitive memory drives not only their strategic actions, but also their expectations about their competitors. Last, competitive memory is also dynamic, which can be constructed and reconstructed over time by an organization’s enactment of its internal and external environments and by purposive memory trials with its competitive set.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the ideas generated in insightful discussions with Albert Cannella, Javier Gimeno, Vivian Guo, and Metin Sengul and the very constructive comments of the volume editors, Willie Ocasio and Giovanni Gaveti, as well as the anonymous reviewers.

Citation

Yu, T. and Glynn, M.A. (2015), "Competitive Memory: Bringing the Strategic Past into the Present", Cognition and Strategy (Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 32), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 299-326. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-332220150000032010

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited