No skills, no cooperation. That is the core finding of this book, which seeks to explain international inter-agency cooperation in the protection of the environment and the development of nuclear technology across the Global South.…Read More
The disruptive impacts of technological innovation on established industrial structures has been one of the distinguishing features of modern capitalism. In this book, four leading figures in the field of Schumpeterian and evolutionary economic theory draw on decades of research to offer a new, ‘history-friendly’ perspective on the process of creative destruction.…Read More
This article examines the importance of plasticity and diversity in organizational adaptation and with respect to dynamic capabilities. It begins by conceptualizing what elements comprise a dynamic capability within an evolving organization using the contrast between templates (genotypes) and realized practices (phenotypes).…Read More
It is a familiar observation that entrepreneurship is not easily accommodated within the framework of neoclassical economic theory. Drawing inspiration from an ancient critique of neoclassicism by Veblen (Q J Econ 12(4):373–397, 1898), this paper attributes the difficulty to the tension between normative accounts of decision making (as in mainstream theory) and ideas of causation that are standard in the sciences.…Read More
Venture capitalists often choose to form syndicates (groups of VCs) which jointly invest in projects instead of one VC funding the project individually. What are the determinants of who chooses to syndicate with whom?…Read More
We study the processes through which multinational corporations (MNCs) identify and make use of external sources of knowledge. Based on a seven year longitudinal study of one MNC’s overseas scouting unit, we show how a simple one-directional “channelling” process gradually gave way to three higher value-added processes, labelled “translating”, “matchmaking” and “transforming.”…Read More
We study the impact of changes in the position of competing listings in organic search results on the performance of sponsored search advertisements. Using data for several keywords from an online retailer’s ad campaign, we measure the impact of organic competition on both click-through rate and conversion rate of sponsored search ads for these keywords.…Read More
In recent years, online retailers (also called e-tailers) have started allowing manufacturers direct access to their customers while charging a fee for providing this access, a format commonly referred to as agency selling. In this paper, we use a stylized theoretical model to answer a key question that e-tailers are facing: When should they use an agency selling format instead of using the more conventional reselling format?…Read More
Mack Institute senior fellow Charlotte Ren researches how a firm’s past experience can impact their present performance. In her article “Does Experience Imply Learning?” with Louis Mulotte and Jaideep Anand, Ren emphasizes that activities which led to previous success, while tempting for firms to repeat, may actually prove detrimental. This so-called “competency trap” distracts firms from exploring new opportunities.…Read More
Wendy Ham’s research asks whether there’s a better way to make predictions. By examining event characteristics and forecasting methods, she argues that it’s possible to create a cheat sheet that tells us which forecasting approach is the best for a given problem.…Read More
If you’ve ever thought that the quest for more clicks is affecting the sorts of articles that get published in the media, Wharton marketing professor Pinar Yildirim wants you to know that you’re right. But it’s not quite the overarching impact that you might expect. …Read More
One of the important consequences of recent technological advances has been that firms and customers are in much closer contact with each other. Using the web and mobile technologies, customers have the ability to send more frequently and more accurately their needs to firms. In this project, we use a simulation approach to understand some of the consequences of these developments.…Read More
This research project examines how organizations can develop innovative solutions to large-scale socio-economic problems in emerging markets through multi-stakeholder partnerships. The objective is to determine how these partnerships are built, what the optimal configuration of partners is, and how the partnerships should be coordinated.…Read More
Research traditionally uses experiential learning arguments to explain the existence of a positive relationship between repetition of an activity and performance. We propose an additional interpretation of this relationship in the context of discrete corporate development activities.…Read More
Crowdfunding has exploded in popularity since 2009, and its pace shows no signs of slowing. Funded researcher Ethan Mollick argues that this trend poses important implications for established firms as well as entrepreneurs.…Read More
Entrepreneurial ventures are a key source of innovation. Nowadays, ventures are backed by a wide array of investors whose complementary asset profiles differ significantly. We therefore assert that entrepreneurial ventures can no longer be studied as a homogeneous group.…Read More
We assemble a panel data set of firms in the U.S. defense industry between 1996 and 2006 to examine the drivers of heterogeneous incumbent firm adaptation following the industry-wide demand shock of September 11, 2001.…Read More
This study develops and tests a set of novel theoretical predictions about the conditions under which category spanning is rewarded by external audiences. To do this, we revisit the assumption that comprehensible organizational identities are associated with individual categories.…Read More
The issue of the failure of incumbent firms in the face of radical technical change has been a central question in the technology strategy domain for some time. We add to prior contributions by highlighting the role a firm’s existing set of complementary assets have in influencing its investment in alternative technological trajectories.…Read More
According to George Day, top businesses have a lot in common with top athletes. His research examines the qualities that separate “growth leaders” from “growth laggards” — in other words, the qualities that separate average or failing companies from those that achieve Olympic-level success.…Read More
