Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critique the existing decision-making models of organizational theory and the ability of strategic managers to address unconventional problems using these models. Strategic management models presume reasonable stability in the task environment and the organizational design features. However, complex problems, or wicked problems, are prolific in a global world. They change profoundly the nature of strategic management, where management faces a deep paradox – an environment of unprecedented interdependence, yet unpredictable forces of chaos and volatility, a landscape of wicked problems. In this paper, the authors address wicked problems within the context of strategic management. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review and critique the organizational theory literature, namely, microeconomics, bounded rationality, organizational failure and the theory of creative destruction within the context of wicked problems. Findings – The authors find that the contemporary models of strategic management are incapable of assisting managers in addressing the reality of wicked problems. They argue that organizational pathologies rest in executive action: pursuit of goals and objectives with a false sense of causation, feedback filters that exaggerate good news and restrict bad news and actions that give only token measures to correct faulty design decisions and faulty decision processes, including more emphasis on vertical channels than horizontal task interdependencies. Originality/value – The authors conclude that wicked problem-solving is by temperament and time horizon, a multilayered, multitasked, organizational challenge, and requires fundamentally different mindsets for design and performance systems for senior executives. The study of wicked problems requires a new corporate mindset, new collaborative models to address them and new corporate processes and executive training tools who increasingly have to address them. This research is a first step toward extending our understanding of how to address the world of wicked problems.

In the egoism philosophical framework, it is contended that when organizations focus on their long‐term interests, they, without knowing it, advance the interests of society as a whole, which is perceived as ethical. In this research, this premise is challenged using data collected from the social media outlets of 29 randomly selected companies from the 2013 Fortune 500 list. Through qualitative comparative analysis, the exact opposite was found. In fact, the organizations that focused on striving for their long‐term success are perceived as unethical. It was also found that socially responsible organizations are perceived as ethical whereas those that misrepresent their positions and attempt to influence the decisions of others are perceived as unethical. Implications for managers are discussed, and future directions are suggested.

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The purpose of this research is to understand: (1) the main themes that appear to contribute to entrepreneurial success, (2) the various combinations of antecedents that can lead to entrepreneurial success, and; (3) the role that travel plays in entrepreneurial success. We first use a qualitative methodology to assess the themes that emerge in our conversations with 14 highly-successful Canadian entrepreneurs. The main categories that emerged from our interviews that contribute to entrepreneurial success involve: learning, travel, adversity quotient, and mentorship. From these results, we conduct a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and find that the input variables that were most important to entrepreneurial success were: learning, experiencing failure, learning from mentors, and adversity quotient. The contributions to knowledge of this research are twofold. First, we show that travel is an important construct to entrepreneurial success, which is significant as travel has largely been omitted from the entrepreneurship literature. Second, we show that entrepreneurial success is dependent on a complex combination of variables of varying levels of importance.

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