Redefining Phenomenon-Based Research in Strategic Management as Discovery-Oriented Multi-Disciplinary Inquiry

Using the experience and results of our eight-year-long study of the strategic actions of Russian manufacturing subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs), we argue that the existing definitions of phenomenon-based research (PBR), offered by Von Krogh et al. (2012, 278), Doh (2015, 609), and Schwarz and Stensaker (2016, 245), are incomplete as such definitions omit the key aim of “capturing, documenting, and conceptualizing an observed phenomenon of interest in order to facilitate knowledge creation and advancement” — the discovery of missing or omitted element(s)/properties of real-word phenomena in the existing studies. These elements or properties may not always be important, however, in some cases, their discovery may lead to theory advancement by incorporating the missing elements into existing theories and models