BRINGING INSTITUTIONS INTO STRATEGY TEACHING

New institutionalism as a research area is thriving in the strategic management literature. The importance of institutional realities and transitions is also evident around the world. Yet, institutions are not explicitly and widely taught in strategy courses. We suggest that it is time to bring institutions into strategy teaching. Specifically, how can strategy teaching be enriched with enhanced institutional flavors? What topics can particularly benefit from bringing more institutional flavors into teaching? We argue that injecting more institutional flavors will make strategy teaching-and ultimately learning-more insightful, realistic, and balanced. To substantiate our case, we leverage progress in four areas of new institutionalism research to shed light on a series of topics widely taught in strategy courses: (1) market entry, (2) strategic alliances, (3) mergers and acquisitions (M&As), (4) corporate governance, and (5) corporate social responsibility (CSR). Overall, we suggest that bringing institutions into teaching will enhance both the rigor and relevance of strategy courses.