Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
Harry Sminia is professor of strategic management.
Before joining Strathclyde in 2013, Harry held positions at the University of Groningen, the Vrije Universteit, Amsterdam and the University of Sheffield.
His research interests are in the area of processes of strategy formation, strategic change, and competitive positioning. He is eclectic in his theoretical tastes, as long as it helps to elucidate ‘how’ questions. Management reality is processual. It is not about the state of things and providing explanations why these are correlated with each other. It is about how things come into being, change or continue to be, and sometimes disappear again. It is about understanding how things happen and can be made to happen.
Harry has done research on how a top management team activity actually affects the strategic direction of a firm, how organizations change, how industries develop, but also how crucial things that take place within an industry remain unaltered over a period of time despite a strong impetus for change. He currently focuses on high value manufacturing. This is a particularly interesting problem area, not only because of its prominence in Scotland’s and the UK’s economic and innovation policy, but also because it is at the crossroads of strategy, innovation, and operations. He is also interested in process research methods and methodology. Hence his involvement in a website about process research methods.
To do and to teach strategy, Harry believes there is nothing so practical as a good theory (to paraphrase Kurt Lewin). Furthermore, he beliefs that learning is the most effective if you have to do what you are being taught. For those reasons he always tries to involve students in activities in which they have to use strategy theories to experience their practicality.
Harry is happy to supervise PhD students who – like him – are interested in finding out about 'how' questions in the broad area of strategic management. Yet he is particularly interested in projects that are at the crossroads of strategy, innovation, and manufacturing.
Expertise & Capabilities
- Strategy process
- Realising strategy
- Strategic management capability
- High value manufacturing
- Process research
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Business Administration, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Award Date: 17 Nov 1994
Master of Social Science, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden
Award Date: 15 Aug 1988
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Network
-
KTP - Leonardo
Paton, S., Ates, A. & Sminia, H.
Leonardo UK Ltd, KTP Govt (Momenta)
4/11/19 → 3/11/21
Project: Research
-
Bridging differing perspectives on ecosystems research to understand co-opetition
Ates, A., Paton, S., Sminia, H. & Smith, M., 2 Sep 2022. 1 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Firm strategy and the continuity and change in ecosystems
Sminia, H., Ates, A., Paton, S. & Smith, M., 13 Jul 2022. 2 p.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract › peer-review
Open AccessFile
-
Digital Strategy for Textiles
Abigail Hird (Organiser), Harry Sminia (Organiser), Robert van der Meer (Organiser), Jorn Mehnen (Organiser), Dominic Finn (Participant) & Robert Whitfield (Participant)
31 Jan 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
-
External Examiner Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow
Harry Sminia (External Examiner)
2016 → …Activity: Examination types › Examination