Harnessing and renewing cultural heritage: How historical Native American* heritages influence modern-day venturing
Community elements, including cultural heritage and traditions, shape actors’ access to resources and their ability to recognize and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Similarly, entrepreneurial action plays a role in the production of culture. Yet, the dynamics between diverse cultural elements and practices in communities and entrepreneurial action remain underexplored. In particular, research has overlooked how underrepresented communities’ cultural heritages influence their perceptions and pursuit of modern entrepreneurial opportunities. This study seeks to address this gap by examining how historical differences in community practices of Native American tribes produced diverse modern cultural contexts for entrepreneurship. Specifically, we explore how different tribal heritages of collective resistance to European colonizers—as measured by battles with colonists—imprinted cultural norms that influence modern members’ perceptions of entrepreneurial possibilities and resources. Further, we identify three community-level preservation factors—boundary, cultural, and governance—that allowed communities to maintain and mobilize historical resistance heritages for entrepreneurial action across generations. Our study contributes to research on culture and entrepreneurship by examining how a marginalized people’s culture is produced through collective practices, affecting how modern-day community members mobilize, express, and reinforce historical cultural elements through entrepreneurial action.
*We use this title based on the self-description of those in our sample as “Native American Tribes.” We also acknowledge that there are different terms (e.g., First Nations, etc.) used in different contexts for communities and cultures from North, Central, and South America that predated European Colonization.
Trent Williams
Trent Williams is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining BYU, he held similar positions at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. He obtained a BA in English and Philosophy from BYU, MS in OBHR / Strategic management from the Krannert School of Management (Purdue University), and an MS in Business and PhD in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Kelley School of Business (Indiana University). Prior to his career in academia, Trent worked with two startup firms before a career in management consulting with Deloitte Consulting and then PwC Advisory. His consulting work focused on facilitating corporate strategy processes and solutions, launching products / services as part of a corporate differentiation strategy (i.e., corporate entrepreneurship), and strategy implementation. These experiences shaped his interest in the tensions organizations (new and old) face in maximizing value from existing successes while simultaneously seeking to renew and improve organizations into the future.
Trent's academic career has focused predominantly on new venture emergence and creation processes, innovation, and social-psychological factors influencing entrepreneurial decision making. His research resides at the intersection of entrepreneurship and organization theories and focuses on community-organization emergence, value (social, environmental, and economic) from venturing, decision-making, venture growth / survival tradeoffs, resourcefulness, and resilience. His work as appeared in a variety of management and entrepreneurship journals (e.g., Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing, Organization Science, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Management, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Academy of Management Annals, etc.) and books (MIT Press; CambridgeUniversity Press).
Trent has taught MBA, Executive MBA, and Undergraduate business classes and has also done consulting in helping organizations plan for and deliver rapid innovation processes through design sprints. He has taught courses and run workshops on the following topics: Design sprints for rapid innovation development, entrepreneurship, new venture strategies (launch, professionalize, pivot, grow, exit, etc.), business and corporate strategy, decision making under uncertainty, and strategies for organizational innovation and renewal.