The Entrepreneurship Cross-Enterprise Leadership Centre (ECELC) hosts a series of research seminars with Entrepreneurship faculty from institutions across North America. For more information on visit schedules and paper sessions, contact the centre at iveyentre@ivey.ca
- November 2, 2015
Sharon Matusik | University of Colorado - Boulder
Social Cues and Firm Specific Information: Competing Influences on U.S. VC Internationalization DecisionsSharon Matusik & Siddharth Vedula
Over the past two decades U.S. venture capital firms (VCs) have increasingly invested in foreign markets, and many countries have relied on these investments to develop their entrepreneurial ecosystems. We currently know relatively little about factors that drive such investment decisions, especially in the case of the highly uncertain initial internationalization events of these firms. In this study we find that social cues (imitating peer firms in local markets) are a primary driver of these decisions, but prior analogous experiences (in the form of domestic non-local investments) can attenuate social pressure effects. We discuss implications for theory, practice, and policy.
- November 23, 2015
Shon Hiatt | University of Southern California
From farms to fuel tanks: Differential effects of collective action on firm entry in the emergent U.S. biodiesel sectorShon Hiatt (University of Southern California) & Chad Carlos (Brigham Young University)
Scholars have argued that entrants into markets promoted by collective activists will be homogenous, sharing similar identity attributes and features. Yet, a review of empirical studies shows diverse firms do in fact enter these markets in great numbers. We seek to resolve the inconsistency between prior theory and findings by outlining conditions that influence market entry of category-conforming (focused) and category-spanning (hybrid) firms. Using in-depth qualitative and quantitative data on all ventures that enter the U.S. biodiesel market from 1990 to 2008, we develop and test theory to explain how market proponents’ evolving influence and rising opposition activism affect entrepreneurs’ market perceptions and entry. The findings contribute to research on social movements, entrepreneurship and market categories. - December 14, 2015
Alejandro Amezcua | Syracuse University
Location, competition, and organizational sponsorshipAlejandro Amezcua (Syracuse University), Tiago Ratinho (University of Baltimore) & Parvathi Jayamohan (Syracuse University)
The literature on economic agglomeration uniformly shows that economic growth is positively related to the concentration of people and firms. As urban areas grow in size, their economic productivity increases. At the industrial level of analysis, the literature strongly shows that as clusters of firms grow that economies also grow. However, one thing that is not clear in these related research streams is whether growth benefits most from increased industrial specialization or diversification. For entrepreneurs, this is an important matter because location choices may permanently imprint their development based on level of industrial specialization of their residence. Speculating on this matter, McCann and Folta (2011) suggest that young firms may benefit most from locating in clustered economies and that incubators may serve their tenants best by attracting firms that can benefit from clusters. This paper answers the fundamental question: how does location and competition affect the effectiveness of organizational sponsorship (i.e. incubation)? We test our hypotheses in a comprehensive database that includes over 42,000 firms in the period of 1998-2007. Our results reveals that as agglomeration increases, incubated firms cease operations much sooner. This is also true as industrial clusters grow. Noteworthy is the finding that as both agglomeration and industrial clusters increase, incubation prolongs the operations of incubated firms.
- February 8, 2016
Jeff McMullen | Indiana University
Should We Require Every New Venture to Be a Hybrid Organization?
Jeffery S. McMullen & Benjamin J. Warnick (Indiana University)
Critics of entrepreneurial capitalism have argued that entrepreneurship creates dysfunction in individuals, families, communities, and society because entrepreneurs neglect social and environmental dimensions of value in favour of financial value creation. By way of contrast, hybrid organizations, such as Benefit Corporations, are created explicitly to address social and environmental objectives in addition to their financial objective. Therefore, in this paper we explore the consequences of a world of blended value in which every new venture is required to be a hybrid organization. In doing so, we reveal the boundary conditions of current social criticism levied against entrepreneurship and suggest that blended value may best be relegated to the role of ideal or guideline as opposed to normative or legal obligation. - February 22, 2016
Dane Blevins | Binghamton University
The signalling role of a CEO’s degree: How does education influence a foreign IPO’s value?
Dane P. Blevins (Binghamton University) & Eric W. K. Tsang (University of Texas at Dallas)
This paper investigates how the background of a chief executive officer (CEO) influences the firm’s value in an initial public offering (IPO). Specifically, we argue that the educational background of the CEO may help when entering a foreign capital market, and in turn, may positively influence the IPO’s valuation. Forming arguments tied to the knowledge and social capital gained from education, we hypothesize that there are advantages associated with where CEOs earned their degrees. We test our hypotheses by examining all of the foreign IPOs debuting on U.S. stock exchanges from 2003 to 2013. Our findings reveal that only prestigious degrees, whether in the United States or in the home country of the IPO firm, positively affect the valuation of the IPO. - March 21, 2016
Erin Powell | Clemson University
In the beginning: Identities and organizing in multi-founder nascent ventures
E. Erin Powell, Clemson University & Ted Baker, Rutgers Business School
We conducted a longitudinal field study of nine nascent ventures – all attempting to revitalize local communities – in order to understand how and why identity processes shape organizing in multi-founder nascent ventures. Our primary discovery was that as multiple founders moved toward a working consensus, the interplay of their identities shaped both the structuring of the nascent ventures and also whether or not founders remained engaged in their joint organizing efforts. We develop grounded theory and a process model that moves founder identity theory beyond its prior focus on individuals’ social and role identities and towards the co-construction of collective identities. This paper contributes toward our understanding of the structuring of nascent ventures, the development of in-group consensus and the continuation or discontinuation of organizing efforts. The processes we describe provide a platform for research exploring a wide variety of contingencies that shape how multiple founders attempt to move from “who I want to be” to “who we are.” - September 12, 2016
Robert Garrett Jr. | University of Louisville
The Interdependence of Planning and Learning Among Internal Corporate Ventures
The novelty of new business domains demands that internal corporate ventures (ICVs) exhibit an ability to learn over the course of the venture’s development. Nonetheless, ICV learning proficiency may be differentially related to venture performance as a function how various aspects of business planning for the venture are initially approached and evolve. Results from the current research indicate that ICV learning proficiency is more positively related to venture performance when the ICVs’ initial value propositions are unclear and when the ICVs’ goals do not extensively evolve over the course of the ventures’ development. - October 3, 2016
David B. Audretsch | Indiana University – Bloomington
Entrepreneurship and the Strategic Management of Place: Does Culture Make a Difference?
A recent literature has emerged proposing and identifying strategies for generating and sustaining a strong and sustainable economic performance for cities, regions and states. Entrepreneurship has emerged as a key element in shaping the economic performance of places, which has given rise to a plethora of policies encouraging entrepreneurship. This research examines whether the cultural context of a particular place influences the efficacy of those policies in particular, and the strategic management of place more broadly. The empirical evidence suggests that, based on a data set measuring entrepreneurship culture at the local level, the efficacy of place-based policies to generate entrepreneurial activity may be more nuanced and idiosyncratic to the cultural context of the specific place and ultimately frustrate policies implementing prescribed policy algorithms to enhance entrepreneurial activity as well as economic performance.
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November 7, 2016
Research in imprinting examines the long-lasting impact of a firm’s history to both individual and organizational outcomes, yet little work has explored how the three elements of imprinting (sensitive periods, stamping, and persistence) occur in family firms even though these firms are the dominant form of business organization worldwide. Our research addresses three questions: (a) What are the sensitive periods in family firms wherein imprinting occurs? (b) What is imprinted in the family firm? and (c) How persistent is imprinting in the family firm? Drawing upon four in-depth Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) cases comprising semi-structured interviews with family members and non-family executives/board members, participant observation, follow-up interviews, and several thousand pages of historical data (e.g., newspaper articles, annual reports, government reports, and third-party interviews), we find—contrary to most of the literature, which assumes that imprinting occurs primarily at the founding period—that there are other sensitive periods throughout the life of the family firm. That is, there are periods when the firm is more susceptible to external influences. We find evidence of how decisions made during the sensitive period imprint the firm with certain values that persist over generations. This imprinting can lead to both positive and negative outcomes in the family firm.
Dawn deTienne | Colorado State University
History Matters: Imprinting Effects of Entrepreneurs in Family Owned Firms