Knowledge that Transforms

I an C . M ac M illan, originally from A frica, is a seminal figure in forging the contours of the present‐day field of entrepreneurship. He was the first to empirically explore topics such as venture capital decision making; entrepreneurial networks; cultural influences on entrepreneurial behavior; and many issues in corporate venturing. Through the creation of vibrant, global, scholarly networks, the founding of the Journal of Business Venturing, his dedication to training and mentoring the next generation of scholars, and establishing the first large‐scale systematic global data collection in the field, M ac has made an irreplaceable contribution to the well‐established field that entrepreneurship has become. He and his students have been acknowledged as having made significant breakthroughs in our understanding of entrepreneurial phenomena, recognized by a burgeoning number of awards and testaments to scholarly recognition. He argues that the challenge for future researchers will be to tackle big, messy problems that do not lend themselves to the popular methodologies employed by academia today. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

This paper discusses the scholarly work of A rnold C . C ooper. He was an influential pioneer in the study of entrepreneurship, strategic management, and technology management, and his work provided an important foundation for subsequent development in those fields. Many of his contributions are a result of methodological approaches to gathering data, enabling him to draw insights from systematic empiricism of phenomena. Many of his most influential works are discussed and linked to subsequent work, including work emanating from this journal. Future research opportunities tied to his work are also elaborated. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

M ark C asson's T he E ntrepreneur: A n E conomic T heory (1982) has become one of the most influential books in the field of entrepreneurship. For the first time, this article outlines its origins and summarizes its main themes. The article goes on to show how C asson's subsequent research has closely followed the research agenda he set for himself in The Entrepreneur and illustrates the continuing challenge his work presents to entrepreneurship scholars. The article is based on an interview the authors conducted with M ark C asson on the thirtieth anniversary of the book's publication. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

In this review of S teven K lepper's contributions in industry evolution, employee entrepreneurship, and geographical clusters, we trace the evolution of his scholarly career. Combining insights from an in‐depth interview, our own experiences with him, and our retrospective review, we also note some salient characteristics of the process that K lepper employed while undertaking his research projects, an approach we believe was integral to the fundamental insights evidenced in the content of his scholarly work. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

This article studies entrepreneurs' forecast errors around market entry. Using data on nascent entrepreneurs in the U.S. and start‐ups in F inland, we find that besides being overoptimistic on average in both countries, entrepreneurs' survival expectations can barely distinguish survival from exits. Moreover, about one fourth of the entrepreneurs do not provide an estimate for the survival of a typical venture. However, among those that do provide it, the estimates are less overoptimistic. We also compare the forecast accuracy of entrepreneurs to those of macroeconomic forecasters. Our findings provide guidance for the development of positive theories of entrepreneurial belief formation and overoptimism. Copyright © 2014 S trategic M anagement S ociety.

Using institutional theory and a business model perspective, we develop a framework and use content analysis of company Web sites to examine differences in customer value propositions among a sample of high‐growth firms paired with two comparison samples of industry representative firms in 18 declining industries in the U nited S tates. Our results indicate that high‐growth firms develop value propositions that differ substantially from industry representative firms. In addition, high‐growth firms communicate their value propositions more clearly and aggressively than do industry representative firms. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

While templates may facilitate knowledge sharing within the base‐of‐the‐pyramid, it is often necessary for entrepreneurs to adapt the template for reasons of resource scarcity. We explore the role of social interaction in determining whether these adaptations are beneficial or detrimental. Our results suggest that interactions between the entrepreneur and technical experts who understand the ‘why’ behind each practice can result in improved performance while interactions with entrepreneurial peers can produce more varied results. Thus, the type of knowledge generated through social interaction plays a significant role in the degree to which adaptations to templates are principled versus presumptive in nature. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

Drawing from social network theory, scholars have identified two ways in which social ties influence venture capital investment decisions: directly through personal ties and indirectly through status hierarchies. Previous research has examined these effects independently. Our study is the first to perform a joint examination of the role of social ties and status hierarchies in venture capital decision making. We examine the relative importance of these two mechanisms through an adaptive choice‐based conjoint experiment comprising of 3,132 investment decisions made by 86 venture capitalists from the U nited S tates and E urope. Our experimental context allows us to explore whether, under high levels of market uncertainty, strong personal ties exert more influence over investment decisions than the presence of a high‐status investor in the deal. We also explore the moderating effects that market structure and experience play in shaping these decision processes. Our findings reveal that personal ties are more important in venture capital decision making when compared to the relative status of other venture capital firms participating in the investment syndicate. Building on our main findings, we show that the influence of personal ties is less pronounced in the E uropean investment community, as compared to more densely networked U . S . investors. We also find a U ‐shaped relationship between venture capitalist experience and the influence of personal networks on investment decisions. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.

Focusing on a period of institutional friction when institutions are in transition, this study examines the dueling institutional logics that simultaneously operated as business groups were implemented to foster strategic entrepreneurship activities in C hina. Our findings from 1,095 C hinese business group‐affiliated firms show that the original institutional logic of state control and ownership remains a potent factor, while the new institutional logic in support of strategic entrepreneurship takes place through business groups' informal and formal organization controls. Further, the state logic causes rigidity and inflexibility for firms to react to the new institutional demands, thus weakening the positive effects of business group formal and informal controls on strategic entrepreneurship. This study contributes to the institution‐based view by highlighting that dueling logics coexist in business groups and investigating how they can be sources of variation in advancing strategic entrepreneurship during periods of institutional friction. Copyright © 2014 Strategic Management Society.