Inside or Outside: The Social Mechanisms of Entrepreneurship Choices. Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry.

Actors often leave in pursuit of new ventures, even though entrepreneurial opportunities may exist inside the firm. While a bulk of work has focused on understanding the determinants of entrepreneurial transition (e.g., Aldrich and Ruef, 2006; Dobrev and Barnett, 2005; Robinson and Sexton, 1994; Sørensen, 2007a; 2007b), whether nascent entrepreneurs leave to form new ventures or stay put inside the organization remains less clear. Addressing this research lacuna, I examine the conflicting choices faced by nascent entrepreneurs and their consequences for established organizations. Drawing on the rich sociological tradition of embedding an individual’s decision making in the social context (e.g., Granovetter, 1985), I uncover the social determinants of entrepreneurial choices and their consequences for existing organizations. In the first two studies, I offer a socio-structural perspective on the choices pursued by nascent entrepreneurs: I develop a theoretical framework that relates these choices to an actor’s formative experiences (first study), and his or her position in the informal network (second study). Findings show that nascent entrepreneurs transition to external more than to internal ventures when, early in the career they gain exposure to risk and/or are socialized with coworkers who founded external ventures. The imprinting effect is partially mitigated by adaptive learning: negative feedback that individuals receive when performing their actions decreases the influence of imprinting on entrepreneurship choices. Moreover, I find that nascent entrepreneurs are more likely to found external(internal) ventures if their school network members created external (internal) ventures in the past. The effect of school networks is amplified with geographic proximity and gender homophily. Finally, I find that established organizations adapt to entrepreneurship choices: organizations provide greater compensation and discretion to employees at higher risk of entrepreneurial departures. Organizational adaptation to the threat of entrepreneurial departures decreases with organizational performance and scope. Together, my dissertation has important theoretical implications: it enhances the understanding of an individual’s role in redrawing organizational boundaries. I test my hypotheses using longitudinal data on the development of new funds in the mutual fund industry between 1979 and 2006.Ph.D.Business AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64708/1/kacpercz_1.pd

Experience and Entrepreneurship

We document in two very different datasets an inverted U-shaped relationship between work experience and entrepreneurship among movers. The first dataset consists of 1,248, U.S. lawyers who were forced to seek alternative employment after the sudden dissolutions of their employers. The second consists of over 7.5 million observations on Swedish workers, where job separation is predominantly unrelated to job destruction. Our empirical results are consistent with a model of stochastic accumulation of employer-specific and transferable skills, where the mix between the two is not fully observable to outside parties

Disentangling Risk and Change: Internal and External Social Comparison in the Mutual Fund Industry

Using data on 3,225 actively managed U.S. mutual funds from 1980 to 2006, we test hypotheses designed to disentangle risk and change as outcomes of behavioral performance feedback routines. We theorize that managers make decisions involving risk and decisions involving change under different conditions and motivated by different concerns. Our results show internal social comparison across units within a firm will motivate risk, whereas external social comparison across firms will motivate change. When a fund experiences a performance shortfall relative to internal social comparison, the manager is likely to make decisions that involve risk because the social and spatial proximity of internal comparisons trigger individual concern and fear of negative individual consequences, such as job loss. In contrast, when a fund experiences a performance shortfall in comparison with external benchmarks, the manager is more likely to consider the shortfall an organizational concern and make changes that do not necessarily involve risk. Although we might assume that negative performance in comparison with both internal and external benchmarks would spur risky change, our results indicate that risky change occurs most often when a decision maker receives unfavorable internal social performance feedback and favorable external social performance feedback. By questioning assumptions about why and when organizational change involves risk, this study begins to separate change and risk outcomes of the decision-making process

Możliwości rozwoju zawodowego w ramach Europejskiej Sieci Młodych Ginekologów Onkologów (ENYGO)

Artykuł omawia proces szkolenia w ginekologii onkologicznej oraz przybliża możliwości rozwoju zawodowego w ramach Europejskiej Sieci Młodych Ginekologów Onkologów (ENYGO)

Palliative treatment of intestinal obstruction in patients with gynecologic malignancies — single center experience

Objectives: One of the common symptoms in patients with advanced gynecologic tumors is intestinal obstruction. Palliative management may include pharmacological treatment, stenting as well as surgical removal of obstruction cause. Selection of appropriate treatment should be based on careful and individual assessment of advantages, disadvantages and possible complications. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of non-invasive treatment in patients with gynecologic malignancies suffering from intestinal obstruction.  Material and methods: It was a retrospective analysis of factors associated with primary non-invasive intestinal obstruction treatment effectiveness. Data were collected from medical records of 17 patients managed and followed-up in a single gynecologic oncology center due to endometrial cancer, fallopian tube cancer, uterine leiomyosarcoma, and ovarian cancer admitted to the ward because of symptomatic intestinal obstruction. Mean observation time lasted 40.6 months. Non-invasive treatment included fluid therapy, dexamethasone, buscolysin, mebeverine, ranitidine, simethicone, omeprazole, magnesium sulphate, semi-liquid diet, and parenteral nutrition. Characteristics including age, BMI, comorbidities, oncological treatment, histology type, stage, grade, presence of ascites, location of primary tumor and metastases were analyzed.  Results: The number of obstruction episodes varied from 1 to 5. Mean time between multiple episodes lasted 3.2 months. 5 patients required surgical treatment. For the rest of the patients primary non-invasive treatment was sufficient.  Conclusions: Most cases of bowel obstruction in patients with advanced gynecologic malignancies can be successfully managed without invasive treatment. Moreover, non-invasive obstruction management can be applied multiple times in case of recurrence

Pregnant surgeon — assessment of potential harm to the woman and her unborn child

Although most countries developed regulations concerning pregnant women at work, they are not strictly adjusted for every profession. In the European countries directives prevent pregnant women from working during night shifts, but apart from a vague paragraph about avoiding hazardous agents, there are no guidelines specific for pregnant surgeons. The aim of the study was to analyse the risks and consequences of working in the operating theatre during pregnancy. An in-depth analysis of available literature, laws and regulations concerning health and safety of pregnant surgeons was performed. Not only they are surgeons exposed to radiation and infectious agents like any other physicians, but they also face the risk of strenuous physical activity affecting their pregnancy. The unpredictability of this occupation, prolonged hours and stress associated with work can all affect the future mother and her child. The available research on potential risks for pregnant women performing surgical activities named such consequences as premature birth, miscarriage, foetal growth retardation, hypertensive disorders and infertility. There are no unanimous guidelines for pregnant surgeons on how long and to which extent they should work. The key is to maintain a balance between limiting the likelihood of pregnancy complications and respecting women’s voluntary wish to continue professional development