Research

Professor Lawton’s research is situated at the intersection of strategy, innovation and internationalization. He has a strong interest in business model innovation, where he has been working for more than a decade on both growth and turnaround strategies. He leads international research projects on new organizational forms and processes for engaging political and social actors and arenas. The research extends the dynamic resource-based view of the firm beyond market settings and into the non-market contexts of corporate political activity (CPA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He is also interested in how firms manage and mitigate political risk when entering and embedding in foreign markets.

Thomas Lawton is Associate Editor of Long Range Planning and he has published more than 50 book chapters, case studies and papers in journals including Academy of Management Perspectives, International Business Review, Long Range Planning and Strategic Organization. He is the author or editor of 8 books, including Strange Power (2000) and Strategic Management in Aviation (2008). His best known, Breakout Strategy: meeting the challenge of double-digit growth, published by McGraw-Hill, New York in 2007, was translated into Japanese by Nikkei Publishing and widely commended for its global focus and relevance to practicing managers and aspiring leaders. His latest books are Aligning for Advantage: competitive strategies for the political and social arenas (Oxford University Press, 2014) and The Routledge Companion to Non-Market Strategy (Routledge, 2015). He is the Strategy Matters book Series Editor for Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).

Sample Publications

Breakout Strategy: meeting the challenge of double-digit growth, is published by McGraw-Hill Professional, New York and has been widely commended for its international focus and relevance to practicing managers and aspiring leaders.
Breakout Strategy (PDF)

For further details or to purchase a copy, please go to the websites of Amazon or McGraw-Hill Professional.

A taster of the breakout strategy approach can be found in Taking by Storm, published in the Journal of Business Strategy.
Taking By Storm (PDF)

Thomas is also a well known author in the field of airline management. His latest contribution is a definitive collection of essays on strategic management for aviation, published globally by Ashgate Publishing.
Aviation Management (PDF)

For further details or to purchase a copy, please go to the websites of Amazon or Ashgate.

Four main strategic responses to the recent global recession were obvious across the world of business. Which response did your company adopt?
Don't turn a crisis into a panic (PDF)

In recent research Thomas Lawton identified six steps to successful airline turnaround strategy. These are discussed in this article, published in Management Focus, the in-house publication of Cranfield University School of Management
Flying through the storm (PDF)