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Full-Text Articles in Business

Amphibious Entrepreneurs And The Origins Of Invention, Kurt Sandholtz, Walter W. Powell Aug 2019

Amphibious Entrepreneurs And The Origins Of Invention, Kurt Sandholtz, Walter W. Powell

Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we examine entrepreneurs who carry ideas, technologies, values, and assumptions between previously unrelated spheres of economic or cultural activity, and in the process, change the existing order of things. We label such individuals amphibious entrepreneurs and explore their characteristics via four case studies. Their stories suggest a distinct species within the genus of entrepreneur: more pragmatic than heroic, and as likely to invent by not knowing any better as by calculative creation. We discuss their role in creating interstitial spaces, contrast them to other boundary-spanning actors, and identify directions for future research at the intersection of social …


Manu Militari: The Institutional Contingencies Of Stakeholder Relationships On Entrepreneurial Performance, Shon R. Hiatt, W. Chad Carlos, Wesley D. Sine Sep 2017

Manu Militari: The Institutional Contingencies Of Stakeholder Relationships On Entrepreneurial Performance, Shon R. Hiatt, W. Chad Carlos, Wesley D. Sine

Faculty Publications

This study examines how ventures can leverage relationships with heterogeneous government stakeholders to enhance survival in different institutional environments. We consider how the distinct resources provided from venture ties to military and political actors represent complementary strategic assets that differentially influence performance in varying political and economic environments as well as under conditions of violence and political conflict. Empirically, we examine the effect of these respective stakeholder relationships on new venture survival across 10 countries over a 65-year period. By distinguishing between the resources obtained through relationships with different types of government stakeholders and showing how the value of these …


Amphibious Entrepreneurs And The Emergence Of Organizational Forms, Walter W. Powell, Kurt Sandholtz Jun 2012

Amphibious Entrepreneurs And The Emergence Of Organizational Forms, Walter W. Powell, Kurt Sandholtz

Faculty Publications

We study the emergence of organizational forms, focusing on two mechanisms—reconfiguration and transposition—that distinguish the founding models of the first 26 biotechnology companies, all created in the industry's first decade, from 1972 to 1981. We analyze rich archival data using hierarchical cluster analysis, revealing four organizational variants of the dedicated biotech firm (DBF). Three were products of reconfiguration, as executives from Big Pharma used past practices to incorporate new science. One DBF variant resulted from 'amphibious' scientists who imported organizing ideas from the academy into their VC-funded start-ups. We argue that such transpositions are fragile, yet charged with generative possibilities. …