This study examines the tension between learning and appropriability in the experimentation process of early-stage ventures. I build a stylized model to argue that, when formal intellectual property is weak, the learning benefit of experimentation may be offset by its imitation risk. …Read More
Wharton doctoral candidate Alejandro Lopez-Lira used machine learning to analyze companies’ annual reports and assess the top four systematic risks that affect most firms. …Read More
The extent to which local incentive policies (such as subsidies and tax credits) are effective at spurring new centers of innovation, and whether these incentives induce overall productivity growth or just a shift of production from one region to another, is the subject of this proposal.…Read More
Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial firms are often the drivers of innovation, and success for entrepreneurial firms often means development and introduction of innovative products and services. This project examines the role that having a partner plays in early-stage entrepreneurial firm performance.…Read More
This proposal explores how the new generation of information technologies (IT) including AI, automation and data analytics, affect how firms innovate. In particular, we focus on the effect of innovation after a firm went through an IPO. …Read More
In 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown recognized several of the state’s existing firm incentive policies aimed at catalyzing innovative activity in the state, to be ineffectual, citing poor incentive design.…Read More
We examine the effects of workplace-home distance on worker productivity. We construct a novel panel of U.S. inventors with precisely measured workplace-home distances and a direct measure of productivity via patents. …Read More
The project aims to explore the extent to which blockchain technology can be ported to alleviate information asymmetry issues in the context of supply chain financing. In particular, firms seeking the capital needed to efficiently run their operations are often impeded by severe information asymmetry issues. …Read More
This study considers the nascent period of industry change when the prevalent business model is being threatened by a new model, but there is significant uncertainty with respect to whether and when the new model will dominate. …Read More
The use of employee perks is becoming increasingly important to organizational competitiveness. Consequently, innovating along the human resource dimension has become a strategy imperative for many firms. Typically, firms introduce perks that are complementary to work. However, another set of perks that makes it easier for people to leave the workplace has gain more popularity over time. …Read More
The development and adoption of new innovative technologies confront firms into making decisions in highly uncertain environment. Past experience and the available public information are seldom sufficient to support firms in their decision process; firms ability to experiment and produce new information is then paramount. …Read More
Most digital communication platforms store content and allow users to see it multiple times. Despite the benefits that recording content holds for both users and companies, many applications delete it after it was seen by the receiver (i.e., ephemeral communication channels). …Read More
Startups are increasingly turning to the incumbent firms in their industries for venture capital. However, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of how these relationships influence the way they innovate. …Read More
The ability to predict consumer preferences for new fashions by clothing manufacturer executives seems rather low. This is confirmed by secondary data on inventory markdowns and our pilot interviews with major manufacturers. …Read More
Using unsupervised machine learning, I introduce interpretable and economically relevant risk factors that characterize the cross-section of returns better than the leading factor models, furthermore, I do not use any information from the past returns to select the risk factors. …Read More
Organizational sponsors foster young entrepreneurial firms by providing resources to increase survival rates. Sponsorship can be financial as with tax incentive structures, public and private grant programs, or early stage private investment. …Read More
Lean startup principles have fueled a revolution in business and entrepreneurship, but there is a downside to early market testing, according to new Wharton research.…Read More
Market thickness is a key parameter that can make or break a platform’s business model. Thicker markets can offer more opportunities for participants to meet and higher chances that a potential match would exist. …Read More
When firms span related product categories, spillovers across categories become central to firm strategy and industrial policy, due to their potential to foreclose competition and affect innovation incentives. …Read More
This study investigates incumbent responses to a main rival’s exit. We argue that long‐time rivals have developed an equilibrium by offering a mix of overlapping and unique products and by choosing geographic proximity to each other. A rival’s exit, however, disrupts this equilibrium and motivates surviving firms to expand in both product and geographic spaces to seek a new equilibrium. …Read More
