The Competitive Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Market Entry

Research on general market entry usually focuses on large enterprises, often, however, small entrants can alter the competitive dynamic of an industry. This volume brings together the most prominent thought leaders and the best research on the asymmetric entrant-incumbent dynamics. This ideas presented offer a more nuanced perpective on how, when, where and with whar consequence small, single-product firms enter market that are dominated by large, multiproduct and multimarket incumbents. Sholars and student in entrepreneurship, strategy, international business and related fields will find this excellent collection of key published and original material illuminating

What you don't see can hurt you : awareness cues to profile indirect competitors

The awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework instructs firms to be aware of rivals, yet it offers limited guidance on how to profile those who are not yet rivals but stand to become so. Because rivals are embedded in dyads, triads, tetrads, etc., amultilevel view can unearth awareness cues that specify a hostility profile and make the awareness construct prescient. Studying thousands of competitive encounters over 10 years, we show that, at the firm and dyad levels, diversification and asymmetric pressure (differential exposure to competitive pressure) are reliable cues predicting competitive encounters. At the network level, convergence drives triadic encounters (competition with a rival's rival), and the degree of separation among indirect competitors defines the outer bounds of the hostility profile. Specifically, direct rivals and second- and third-degree indirect competitors merit awareness-more distal players do not. Together, the awareness cues and hostility profile delineate the conceptual bound within which awareness is prescient and beyond which it is misplaced. Challenging several assumptions, our study shows that an arena view assists in predicting cross-industry competition; applying firm, dyad, and network levels of analysis is advisable to better foresee competition; and indirect competitors are "profilable," allowing us to "see" rivals even before they strike

E pluribus unum : impact entrepreneurship as a solution to grand challenges

Insufficiency of research and theory on the relationship between entrepreneurship and grand challenges means that we know little about who engages and what repertoires of actions they take to tackle socioenvironmental challenges that transcend firms, markets, and nations, and what sorts of solutions they create. Drawing on the five articles featured in this symposium-and focusing especially on their protagonists or actors, the actions these actors take, and their achievements-we begin to conceptualize an impact entrepreneurship perspective. Following the tenet of e pluribus unum ("out of many, one") and adhering to the doctrine that diverse, decentralized human effort can improve the world, our impact entrepreneurship perspective refers to the development of solutions to grand challenges, in a financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable fashion. All in all, then, this symposium provides a starting point to discuss, conceptualize, study, interpret, and enrich our understanding of impact entrepreneurship and collective action to address grand challenges

Sacralization and the Intergenerational Transmission of Values in Cadbury

How do family values endure decades after an enterprise is no longer a family business? Addressing this question has been a challenge in social theory, and it is an issue of particular concern for family businesses where firm and family values are often indistinguishable. We analyze the transmission of family, organizational, and religious values across generations in Cadbury, a multinational confectionary company founded in England in 1824. We identify sacralization as a central process that explains Cadbury’s success in transferring values across time and different organizational structures. We describe how sacralization is driven by moralization, communion, and syncretism. </jats:p

Linking Merger and Acquisition Strategies to Postmerger Integration: A Configurational Perspective of Human Resource Management

The extant literature tends to frame mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and postmerger integration (PMI) as strategies and outcomes, but this framing often leaves their underlying processes underexplored. We address this gap by redirecting attention to the view that M&As are largely embedded in social and human practices. Our conceptual study identifies three generic M&A strategies—annex & assimilate, harvest & protect, and link & promote—and matches them with three well-known PMI outcomes (i.e., absorption, preservation, and symbiosis, respectively). Using a configurational perspective and drawing upon the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) model, we develop a conceptual framework that reveals why and how AMO-enhancing human resource management (HRM) practices can link M&A strategies and PMI outcomes. Finally, we elaborate on the theoretical and practical contributions and chart a course for future inquiry and research applications for the M&A-HRM-PMI triad and its processes