Strategies for Innovating Archives

Consumer Behavior and Cryptocurrency Confidence

In our endeavor to grasp the driving forces behind cryptocurrency prices, we have developed the Consumer Cryptocurrency Confidence Index (c3i), derived from a set of questions asked monthly to consumers across the United States. Our analysis has uncovered several initial results and pointed to an extensive, exciting research program on consumer behavior that shapes the cryptocurrency markets. Firstly, we are rigorously validating to what extent the c3i can accurately predict changes in cryptocurrency prices as a leading indicator by exploring whether this relationship is merely correlation or potentially causal. Furthermore, we are investigating if consumer characteristics such as age, gender, and political leanings can enhance the accuracy of our index in predicting cryptocurrency prices. We are also examining if the relationship observed between c3i and cryptocurrency prices extends to broader stock market indices like the S&P…Read More

E-Governance and Digital Infrastructure in India

Philip Nichols, Legal Studies & Business Ethics, The Wharton School Abstract: An in depth, qualitative and descriptive examination of India’s digital infrastructure and the e-governance functions it enables. The research should produce (1) a descriptive white paper, with an intended audience of (a) policymakers in other emerging economies, (b) scholars…Read More

Can Artificial Intelligence Mitigate Inventor Productivity Decline after Co-Inventor Premature Death?

Although it is well documented that disruptive events, such as an inventor’s premature death, cause a large and persistent decline in their co-inventor’s innovation performance, strategies to mitigate these negative effects remain unexplored. This project aims to understand how an inventor’s skill and proficiency in artificial intelligence (AI) could counteract the productivity decline resulting from a co-inventor’s demise. We intend to first identify the specific challenges facing inventors in staying innovative after the unexpected death of their close collaborators. Furthermore…Read More

Strategic bootstrapping and startup experimentation

New ventures are grappling with the rising costs of capital (both debt and equity). As a result, investors of high-growth, technology-based startups are shifting focus to companies that can generate immediate cash. That is, investors are prioritizing cash flow positivity over growth. A recent report has documented that high-growth, technology-driven startups that are bootstrapped outperformed those that are VC-backed on both profitability and growth. Yet, the reason for this performance differential is poorly understood given that bootstrapping is an underexplored phenomenon due to the unavailability of large datasets to answer important questions. Through this study, we first seek to build a large, novel dataset that can facilitate research on bootstrapping. In addition, we immediately respond to two important questions pertaining to why bootstrapped startups may be better able to manage the balance between cash flow positivity and growth…Read More

How vs. How and Why Nudges: When Stating Your Case Isn’t as Effective

Marketers and policymakers often use nudges to help consumers make welfare-increasing decisions, such as encouraging physically and mentally healthy choices. This research explores when one nudge is more effective than another. More specifically, it demonstrates nudges focusing on telling consumers how to do something are more effective than nudges telling consumers how and why to do something. This is because listing the reasons why a consumer should do something creates the potential for a mismatch between the listed reasons and a consumer’s personal reasons for considering engaging in a behavior. This mismatch, in turn, leads consumers to believe said behavior will benefit their quality of life less than they might have believed otherwise. These findings…Read More

Hiring Dilemmas: Assembling Human Capital in High-Growth Startups

How do high-growth, knowledge-based startups acquire human capital against the backdrop of the challenges and dilemmas that come with rapid organizational expansion? Human capital is a critical resource for these startups, allowing for increased production, knowledge, and resources. However, the dynamic nature of high-growth periods also poses significant challenges. Against the backdrop of a growing firm’s temporal change, these firms face dilemmas in who and when to hire. In my dissertation, am interested in understanding how growing startups attract, motivate, and retain human capital.…Read More

Enabling Personalized Learning in Large Language Models via Reinforcement Learning

This project combines GPT-4 and reinforcement learning to develop a personalized learning platform for an introductory Python programming class. In collaboration with the National Taiwan University, this project will deploy and conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) to understand how to effectively use generative AI to improve student’s learning outcomes and skill development…Read More

Vertical Integration in the Video Streaming Market

Vertical integration in the video streaming market has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. Notable examples include Amazon’s merger with MGM, Walt Disney’s acquisition of Hulu, and the launch of streaming platforms by various studios such as Paramount and NBCUniversal. Many studios now license most of their shows to their vertically integrated streaming platforms, which has led to consumer complaints about the need for multiple subscriptions to access content that they…Read More

Artificial Intelligence, innovation, and product market dynamics

This research project aims to investigate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) investments by non-tech firms (AI-adopters) on product market competition, innovation, and industry dynamics. By leveraging novel datasets, including firm-level AI-workers, product-level pricing and quantities, and textual information from company filings, this study seeks to provide new insights into how AI adoption…Read More

Commercialization and Scaling Strategies of Deeptech Ventures

This study explores the commercialization and growth strategies of deeptech startups. Deeptech or Hardtech start-ups are a unique set of ventures whose offerings are grounded in breakthrough science and/or engineering innovation (MIT report, 2023). They typically span sectors such as the life sciences, clean technology, advanced materials, robotics, chemicals and quantum computing.…Read More

Private Equity, Corporate Acquirers, & Product Innovation: An Investigation of Corporate Science Acquisitions 1990-2022

Private equity has become an increasingly active player in technology acquisitions in recent years, yet most strategy scholarship has focused on the effects of corporate acquirer ownership on innovation outcomes, providing little guidance to managers on how to choose between the two M&A options. To remedy this gap, I examine how private equity and corporate acquirers differentially affect product innovation at acquired targets using hand-collected new product introduction announcements.…Read More

Exploring the Dynamics of Hashtag Use and Comment Toxicity on Social Media

The advent of social media has revolutionized how information is disseminated and discussed globally. This project explores the role of informational cues, such as hashtags used by content creators, in fostering safe online communities, with a particular focus on comment toxicity in social media discussions.…Read More

Examining Effects of Company Pages on Job Ad Effectiveness

In this study, we aim to quantify the impact of information provision on jobseeker attention and applications. We explore how firms may improve job ad effectiveness through obtaining and maintaining a “company page” on an online job search platform. We study the implications of these firm actions on job ad performance and for jobseekers’ search. We also explore if information provision yields heterogeneous effects across firms of different sizes.…Read More

Back to the familiar? How attention and rare experiences overcome local search in external technology sourcing.

In this paper, we develop and test a theoretical framework that considers how established firms forming partnerships with startups may be subject to spatial and temporal myopia and how these tendencies are moderated by the established firms’ histories of experiencing essential failures and successes in solving R&D problems. …Read More

Leveraging Analytics to Maximize Innovation

Academics and practitioners will log onto an intuitive user interface and type in features of their own company (e.g., its size and industry). They will immediately be greeted with an “instant meta-analysis” that summarizes decades of academic findings related to the most important predictors of creativity and innovation in organizations.…Read More

Decision-Aware Learning for Global Health Supply Chains

Tsai-Hsuan (Angel) Chung, Phd Candidate at the Wharton School; Osbert Bastani, Penn School of Engineering; Francis Smart, PhD Candidate at the University of Montana; Jatu Abdulai*; Patrick Bayoh*; Musa Komeh*; Vahid Rostami* Abstract: This proposal aims to develop and deploy novel methods that integrate machine learning and optimization to improve…Read More

Artificial Intelligence, CEO Turnover, and Directional Change in Firm Innovation

In this project, we aim to investigate the extent to which acquiring AI capabilities can ease firms’ transition of innovation directions in uncertain times of leadership change. To achieve this goal, we plan to identify the challenges that firms face when they attempt to pivot the innovation direction during CEO turnover. Furthermore, we plan to examine how AI can help mitigate these challenges and provide new opportunities for certain types of innovation development. Our study will provide a roadmap for firms to make optimal decisions when allocating AI resources for strategic changes in innovation.…Read More

Exclusivity in the Video Streaming Market

The main goal of this project is to enhance our understanding of the role that exclusive contracts play in shaping market structure, consumer demand, and innovation. The effect of exclusivity on consumer welfare is ambiguous.…Read More

Strategies For Creating Value in Base of the Pyramid Markets: Evidence From a Field Experiment in India

In contexts with high poverty, impact-driven for-profit firms often take market-based approaches to drive inclusive growth while being financially sustainable. Even with the alignment between “doing well” and “doing good” that these firms supposedly seek to achieve, successful business strategies in these contexts have been associated with breadth of reach (reaching maximum number of beneficiaries) with little or no attention to depth of reach (repeated engagement with each beneficiary). However a focus on breadth alone may lead to tunnel vision when it comes to social impact. This paper draws the distinction between the two approaches and examines their implications for the outcomes for the different actors involved in BoP markets– the organization, its agents and the end beneficiaries. …Read More

Algorithmic Pricing and Transparency in the Gig Economy

Algorithms control pricing and match customers and workers in the gig economy. However, algorithms face several critiques: they lack transparency, can be biased, and can be inefficient. We empirically analyze these issues and show that algorithms lose efficiency from two sources: competition between platforms and misaligned worker incentives. We model workers’ strategic responses to variation in pricing and estimate counterfactuals on the effects of minimum wage and transparent pricing policies.…Read More