October 5, 2023

Causation, counterfactuals, and competitive advantage

Authors: Rodolphe Durand and Eero Vaara (2009)

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Presenters: Catharina Cuijpers, Diana Kushnir , Stijn Klarenbeek,

Sophie Klein, Kirsten Raunwerda, Claire Schulze Schleithoff
 Rodolphe Durand

• Professor Strategy and Business Policy

• The holder of the Joly Family Purposeful Leadership Chair and the
Founder and Academic Director of the Society and Organizations
Institute
• Research interests - the normative and cognitive dimensions of
firms`` performance, the consequences for firms of identifying and
coping with the current major environmental and social challenges
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 Eero Vaara

• Professor in Organizations and Impact (University of Oxford)

• A world-leading expert in discursive and narrative perspectives
• Research interests –the process and practice of strategy development,
radical change such as mergers and acquisitions, works on
institutional change and legitimization, multinational corporations,
nationalism and globalization
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 Causation is…
causation operates under the causation should not be
principle that events have reduced to correlation, but
causes and consequences should be analyzed at the level
(De Rond and Thietart, 2007; of structures and processes
Powell et al., 2006) (Godfrey and Hill, 1995; Tsang,
2006;Tsang and Kwan, 1999)

causation involves empirical

inquiry that verifies or falsifies
law-like relationships between
key variables(Camerer, 1985;
Montgomery, Wernerfelt, and
Balakrishnan, 1989)
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causation as beliefs that have

instrumental value above
causal relationships are more
anything else (Mahoney,
the discourse of researchers and
1993;Powell, 2003; Powell et
do not necessarily correspond to
al., 2006)
anything concrete or lasting in
the post-modern world
(Løwendahl and Revang, 1998)
Perspectives on causation in strategy research

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4 conditions constitute a common ground on which to develop our understanding of causation
in strategy research

1) Causation must be distinguished from mere constant conjunction or statistical association

2) Causation results from a complex activation of mechanisms and countervailing forces
3) The standard transcendental view of realism must be expanded to acknowledge the importance of
the interventions and constructions of social actors
4) Causal explanations have instrumental value, which depends on their explanatory power, e.g.
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whether these interpretations lead to increasingly better understanding of the phenomena in

question
 A counterfactual approach to causation

1) David Lewis's counterfactual theory of causation (involves the concept of "possible

worlds”)
2) Important and relevant work on the statistical implications of counterfactual reasoning
has in turn focused on causal modeling (Morgan and Winship, 2007; Pearl, 2000).

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 Counterfactual reasoning

1) It does not confound statistical association with causation

2) Stresses degrees in causal relationships ranging from what is
observable (the lowest degree) to immutable mechanisms of
event sequencing (the highest degree)
3) Acknowledges human intervention in activating/deactivating
causal paths 8

4) Is eventually amenable to the interpretations of actors.

Black Page 00 Table of Contents Page 00 2023

Table Of
Contents
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Introduction 01

About Us 02

Our Projects 03

Research 04
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Topic 1
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Topic 2
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Gallery
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Black Page 10 About Us Page 10 2023

Timeline
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want to discuss. want to discuss.

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Black Page 11 About Us Page 11 2023

Meet the Team

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Jane Doe Jane Doe John Doe John Doe

Director Sales Finance Marketing
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A picture is worth a thousand

words

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Black Page 13 Our Projects Page 13 2023

OUR PROJECTS
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16 Showcasing Type and Space
Black Page 14 Our Projects Page 14 2023

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Project No
1 17

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Project No
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Project No
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GALLERY
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Black Page 18 Research Page 18 2023

RESEARCH
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Market Research

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8,000,000
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Market
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Research
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Write an original statement or

inspiring quote
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— Include a credit, citation, or supporting message

Discussion
THANK YOU!
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