Kelley professor named 1st female SMS president

Kelley School of Business professor Marjorie Lyles has been elected as the first female president of the Strategic Management Society.

The SMS is an organization with the goal of connecting business people of all different backgrounds from all across the world, according to their website. 

The members elected Lyles, who has been a professor at IU in Kelley for more than 20 years, earlier this month. 

“I’ve been active in SMS for about 20 years,” Lyles said.  “I’m very active in helping to change internal governance.”

SMS has four conferences a year, giving professors a chance to present research and give each other advice on how to improve their work.

“The goal of the conferences is to help researchers find people who are working on the same things,” Lyles said. 

The SMS also publishes three major journals a year — the Strategic Management Journal, the Global Strategy Journal and the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.
The Strategic Management Journal has won awards in business reporting.

“They’re important outlets for professors to publish research,” Lyles said.

The SMS also has established grants through the Strategic Research Foundation, which gives grants to researchers based on their work. 

Lyles will take control at a time when the organization is working to expand into a broader governance structure, reaching outside the country.

Lyles was elected for the position mostly because of her interest in globalization.  

“My research is international,” she said. “The membership was interested in electing me because I’m committed to including other regions of the world into the SMS community.”

Lyles has been recognized for her work in foreign countries, including China, according to a press release.

She became involved in a variety of projects beginning in 1986, when she consulted for the United States Department of Commerce in Dalian, China. 

Lyles currently teaches at Kelley and has the title of OneAmerica Chaired Professor of Business Administration.

She also teaches classes about international strategic management and has written more than 100 articles and chapters regarding her work. 

Sun Yat-sen University in China recently nominated Lyles for the Chang Jiang Scholar Award, the Chinese government’s highest award to scholars. 

Lyles said she is looking forward to the leadership position for such an important organization with global outreach.

“SMS is one of the most prestigious, important organizations around the world,” Lyles said. “And only one third of members are from the U.S.”