Business Commons^™

Uber, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Bryant Holden, Kelli Mckenna, Scott Mcquiddy, Alex Wiles

Robins Case Network

Uber focuses primarily on the ride-hailing industry, which puts the company in direct competition with regular taxis. The company is like a lot of tech-driven, fast growing entrepreneurial firms in that it still struggles for profitability. Also, the popularity of this new form of transportation has put the company and its close competitors, such as Lyft, in the spotlight of government lawmakers and regulators. If they classify Uber drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, it could dramatically alter the Uber business model. This case is written in the aftermath of the ouster of one of the company’s co-founders as …

Summary -- Entrepreneurial Uncertainty: What Do Stakeholders Look For?, Douglas A. Bosse, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

This paper proposes that in the early stages of a venture entrepreneurs can reduce uncertainty for stakeholders -- and raise the probability of attracting desirable stakeholders -- by exhibiting behaviors associated with fairness and justice. Actors base their reciprocal behaviors -- both positive and negative -- on their subjective perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Thus, entrepreneurs can influence perceptions of fairness in early interactions with stakeholders. This paper extends the logic of reciprocity and fairness to the setting in which entrepreneurial firms are seeking to attract desirable stakeholders in order to commercialize innovations.

Perspectives: Entrepreneurship Training Can Empower Students Being Left Behind, Porcher L. Taylor Iii, Catherine S. Fisher, Michael J. Caslin

School of Professional and Continuing Studies Faculty Publications

Entrepreneurial self-employment, however, would hold great promise for business-minded students, if they learn entrepreneurship in high school and can test out their innovative business plans on consumers in their own neighborhoods and beyond — especially Internet start-up ideas. The social and community networking success of MySpace opens a wide door for anyone to market a new idea or product to a myriad of potential customers instantly.

Summary -- Reducing Market And Appropriation Uncertainty: The Twin Organizational Tasks Of Entrepreneurship, Douglas A. Bosse, Sharon A. Alvarez

Management Faculty Publications

One of the reasons entrepreneurs are motivated to action is their assessment of the potential profit associated with a particular opportunity to recombine resources from the factor market into a product (or service) that will be demanded in the product market. Entrepreneurial firm survival often depends on the creation and appropriation of this profit. However, this profit is uncertain ex ante as it depends on the ex post difference between the costs that must be paid for the factors of production and the prices that will be realized for the finished product. This paper explores the relationship between uncertainty and …

The World War Ii Experience And The Leadership Of Entrepreneurship And Venture Investing Around Stanford University, Martha L. Reiner

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Dr. Frederick Terman has been widely recognized as the "godfather of Silicon Valley" (Lowood, 1982). Terman, a Stanford University electrical engineering professor, managed Harvard University's Radio Research Laboratory during World War II and returned as Stanford's dean of engineering. His commitment to seeing California companies in science-based industries seize postwar opportunities to push ahead of their Eastern counterparts influenced the venture investing as well as the entrepreneurship that built a thriving high-technology industrial community around Stanford University. Terman's wartime experience shaped his postwar role as a leader of high-technology entrepreneurship. Wartime experiences similarly influenced individuals who invested in California ventures …

The Hidden Challenges Of Retail Expansion, Larry N. Bitner, Judith D. Powell

Robins School of Business White Paper Series, 1980-2022

Successful small retailers invariably are tempted to test the adage "more is better." While the expansion allure is more than many can resist, it must be tempered by the realization that many hidden challenges await the unsuspecting entrepreneur.

Success of the new organization will required not only ore but a different kind of effort than used in managing the single store. First, successful operation will now depend on delegating operating decision to professional managers. The autonomy given these managers in a complex decision and may be placed anywhere within a three dimensional continuum depending on the desired image, supervision, and …