California Management Review

California Management Review
Title	California Management Review
Discipline	Management, Business
Abbreviation	CMR
Publisher	University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business
Country	United States
Frequency	Quarterly
History	1958–present
Issn	0008-1256

California Management Review

California Management Review is a quarterly scholarly journal published by the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. It publishes peer-reviewed research, practitioner-oriented analyses, and interdisciplinary work that connects University of California, Berkeley scholars with leaders at IBM, Apple Inc., Google LLC, Microsoft, and other major organizations. The journal positions itself at the intersection of academic scholarship and managerial practice, engaging readers from Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton School, and global institutions.

History

Founded in 1958 at the University of California, Berkeley, the journal emerged during a period of expansion in postwar American business scholarship alongside publications such as Harvard Business Review and Administrative Science Quarterly. Early issues reflected managerial debates influenced by figures associated with General Electric transformation and research circulated among faculty at Columbia Business School and University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Through the 1970s and 1980s the journal published work responding to developments at Intel Corporation, the Toyota Motor Corporation production system, and shifts traced in studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology scholars. Editorial stewardship has alternated among faculty with backgrounds linked to McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, and Boston Consulting Group, which influenced the balance of theory and practice. Major editorial transitions coincided with institutional initiatives such as the founding of the Haas School of Business’s research centers and collaborations with the National Science Foundation and corporate partners.

Scope and Editorial Approach

The journal’s scope spans strategy, organization, innovation, technology management, leadership, and corporate responsibility, engaging authors affiliated with London Business School, INSEAD, Kellogg School of Management, and regional hubs like Tsinghua University and National University of Singapore. Editorial policy emphasizes rigorous empirical methods—drawing on datasets used by researchers at Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Pennsylvania—while encouraging translational pieces for executives at Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc.), Amazon (company), and multinational firms such as Siemens AG. The peer review process is double-blind and managed by editors with backgrounds linked to grants from agencies like the National Institutes of Health and foundations such as the Ford Foundation. The journal regularly solicits interdisciplinary submissions that cite work from centers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and collaborations with scholars at Columbia University. It also commissions practitioner commentaries with contributors drawn from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and nonprofit organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation.

Publication and Access

Published quarterly, the journal produces themed issues and standalone articles, distributing content through institutional subscriptions at libraries including Library of Congress collections and repositories at the Baker Library and Berkeley Library. Access options include subscription, individual membership via alumni networks at University of California, and campus site licensing used by consortia such as the Academic Library Consortium. The journal offers digital editions compatible with platforms used by ProQuest, EBSCO Information Services, and university digital portals run by JSTOR indexing projects. Authors are subject to a copyright agreement administered by the university publisher; some articles are made available as open access in partnership with initiatives like those at Creative Commons and through grant-funded mandates from agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Impact and Reception

CMR’s influence is evident in citations across policy reports from organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and white papers produced by World Economic Forum task forces. Academics at Yale School of Management, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, and University of Michigan Ross School of Business reference the journal in courses on strategy and innovation. Business leaders cite CMR pieces in board briefings at General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and technology briefings at Cisco Systems. The journal has been noted in media coverage by outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times, and its special issues have influenced policy dialogues at venues such as Davos and seminars hosted by the Brookings Institution. Citation metrics place several issues among the most-read items in management literature repositories used by faculty at Princeton University and research centers at University of California, Los Angeles.

Notable Articles and Special Issues

Over the decades the journal published influential pieces on strategic renewal referencing case work involving Kodak, Intel, and IBM, empirical studies on organizational change tied to research on General Motors and Toyota Motor Corporation, and analyses of digital transformation drawing on cases from Microsoft, Amazon (company), and Netflix. Special issues have centered on themes such as corporate social responsibility with contributors from World Bank projects, innovation ecosystems featuring work by scholars at MIT Media Lab, and governance crises examined alongside materials from Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. Landmark articles have been cited alongside classics from Peter Drucker-inspired scholarship and comparative studies paralleling research published in journals like Management Science and Strategic Management Journal.

Editorial Board and Governance

The editorial board comprises academic editors and practitioner editors drawn from institutions including Haas School of Business, Harvard Business School, London Business School, and senior executives from firms such as McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, and Accenture. Governance follows university oversight mechanisms at University of California with advisory input from industrial partners and an editorial advisory council that has included alumni affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway and philanthropic representatives from the Gates Foundation. Editorial appointments and policies are subject to university academic senate guidelines and conflict-of-interest disclosures that align with standards used at peer journals connected to American Economic Association and professional associations such as the Academy of Management.

Category:Academic journals