Matthew R. Marvel and Scott Droege
This paper aims to explore differences in tacit knowledge at opportunity recognition reported by founders of new technology ventures. The paper seeks to shed light on the types of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore differences in tacit knowledge at opportunity recognition reported by founders of new technology ventures. The paper seeks to shed light on the types of tacit knowledge related to achieving sales within the first year of new technology ventures.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 145 technology venture founders during structured interviews across 13 university‐affiliated technology incubators. To investigate tacit knowledge a framework was used comprised of ways to serve markets, customer problems, markets, and technology. The results were analyzed using t‐tests and logistic regression while controlling for founder's years of work experience. A configuration analysis is presented revealing the patterns of knowledge related to sales in the first year of new ventures.
Findings
The study provides an understanding of how types of tacit knowledge relate to early sales outcomes in the high technology context. Prior hands‐on experiences with development of products or services as well as prior experiences within markets were found vital to achieving first‐year sales for newly created innovations. On the other hand, tacit knowledge of customer problems and technology is, surprisingly, of less importance.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide insights as to the particular hands on experiences important in achieving desirable venture outcomes. By identifying and developing tacit knowledge in particular areas (prior hands‐on development experience and prior experience within markets) future entrepreneurs may develop an early sales advantage. The results demonstrate how configurations of tacit knowledge link to desired outcomes while highlighting the importance of certain knowledge at the opportunity recognition stage of new product development.
Practical implications
Generation of early sales for new technology ventures is a momentous concern for enterprise development. The ability to identify specific types of knowledge that link to initial sales enables educators and entrepreneurs alike.
Originality/value
The paper develops further a theoretical conceptualization of types of knowledge related to recognizing opportunities. The study contributes to the literature by assessing how patterns of tacit knowledge at opportunity recognition relate to achieving early sales in the context of technology entrepreneurship.
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OUR new volume opens in a grave moment in national history and it remains almost a marvel that libraries are Still not only able to persist, but even to expand their book‐work. Is…
Abstract
OUR new volume opens in a grave moment in national history and it remains almost a marvel that libraries are Still not only able to persist, but even to expand their book‐work. Is it because of the truth in some admirable words of Charles Rupert Sanderson, in the Toronto Public Libraries Annual Report for 1941: “Whoever believes in democracy must believe in public libraries”? He goes on to say: “Unless any formal education period is to amount to little more than writing on the sand, it must be continued by a lifelong use of books—engendered in childhood, fostered in youth, and built into an adult habit.” Amongst the young people the need for books was never greater, and the difficulty of getting new books for them was never more marked. It is a time when older books should come into their own again. Another feature has been the desire for small collections of “lending books” in munition works, training centres, canteens, clubs and the innumerable other meeting places of men and women. The problem of the day is “time and again time.” There is none of it for travelling, even to libraries, although in the said centres men and women have often to Stand by for hours when they could, and would, read. Librarians have used the opportunity and may be called upon for more of these “dispersal” activities. Otherwise, with all our problems, of which as the writer on Letters on Our Affairs suggests, the greatest is books, although the staff problem is acute, our work flourishes so far as book‐use is concerned. Librarians have faith that a culture so based on books will outlast present cataclysms. People who can read can endure and people who endure can fight, both directly and indirectly, and keep on doing it.
Venture capital is a critical source of funding and development of new ventures. The investment decision of venture capitalists (VCs) is a multi-stage assessment process where the…
Abstract
Venture capital is a critical source of funding and development of new ventures. The investment decision of venture capitalists (VCs) is a multi-stage assessment process where the entrepreneurs’ characteristics are the most important criteria to determine the decision to accept or to reject the proposal at the screening stage. At this stage, the decision-making of VCs is influenced by their subjective characteristics and their interactions with the entrepreneurs who share the same characteristics as theirs. How do the entrepreneurial experiences of both VCs and entrepreneurs interact and bias the evaluation? Several studies have tried to provide an answer to this still pending question. Research concurs in that entrepreneurial experience drives primarily the screening decisions of VCs. Yet, if many studies have shown that VCs are prone to cognitive biases in their evaluations, research focusing on the relationship between of those biases and entrepreneurial experience in the context of investment decision is scarce. VCs’ cognitive biases have been linked to the subjective characteristics of VCs. Most precisely, many studies have shown that a common bias among investors is the similarity-attraction bias such that VCs’ evaluations improve when VCs and entrepreneurs share the same characteristics. As a result, it is likely that entrepreneurial experience plays a significant role in explaining biases in investment decisions. Overall, research points out the importance of entrepreneurial experience of both VCs and entrepreneurs, their interactions and the cognitive biases shaped by their respective experiences in explaining the investment decisions of VCs at the screening stage.
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Wei Shi and Matthew Weber
Entrepreneurs approach the startup process with a stock of experience and a unique range of accumulated skills and abilities. Their prior experience shapes an “information funnel”…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurs approach the startup process with a stock of experience and a unique range of accumulated skills and abilities. Their prior experience shapes an “information funnel” through which the entrepreneurs’ attention is filtered. This study aims to investigate the impact of the relatedness of prior knowledge and knowledge acquisition activities on entrepreneurs’ perceived knowledge access.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 100 early-stage entrepreneurs in the New York City metropolitan area to empirically test the proposed relationships with the method of conditional process modeling.
Findings
Findings from this study demonstrate a negative relationship between entrepreneurs’ prior experience and their perceived ability to access knowledge. However, this negative relationship can be mitigated by seeking tacit knowledge through informal channels. In addition, the relatedness of prior experience plays a positive role in influencing media use and knowledge network engagement. While media use is a positive predictor of perceived knowledge access, engagement within knowledge networks shows no direct influence on perceived knowledge access.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the dimensions of entrepreneurial knowledge and recognizes perceived knowledge access as an important concept in forming an entrepreneurial intention and adds to the current dialogue on the interpretation of entrepreneurs’ prior experience. For practitioners, this study offers insights into the formation of founding teams and the approaches to obtaining valuable information.
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CHAUCER HOUSE was opened with due ceremony on May 25th. But not by Mr. Stanley Baldwin; the decision of the Prime Minister the day before that he liked Lossiemouth more than…
Abstract
CHAUCER HOUSE was opened with due ceremony on May 25th. But not by Mr. Stanley Baldwin; the decision of the Prime Minister the day before that he liked Lossiemouth more than London made Mr. Baldwin's presence at the House of Commons essential. He attended the luncheon at University College, where, we are told, he smoked his famous pipe and made a brief and delightful speech to a company limited to the officers, council and some distinguished guests, including Mrs. Carnegie herself, representatives of the Carnegie United Trust in Lord Elgin, Miss Haldane and Sir Donald MacAlister, as well as Lord Balniel (who, however, is an officer, being Chairman of the Council) and our fine old friend Lawrence Inkster; but lack of space confined the lunch and Mr. Baldwin to that distinguished but very small assembly.
Women’s representation is widely debated within the comic book cannon. Many comic and cultural scholars argue that women characters are overly sexualized, objectified, or excluded…
Abstract
Women’s representation is widely debated within the comic book cannon. Many comic and cultural scholars argue that women characters are overly sexualized, objectified, or excluded from this literary genre (Child, 2013; Danziger-Russell, 2012; Fesak, 2014; Lepore, 2014; Simone, 1999). However, few scholars have adequately addressed how comic book readers make sense of women’s representation within graphic storytelling. The author’s research addresses the issue of women’s representation in comics with special attention to how audiences interpret these supposed images of women’s empowerment. Capitalizing from the author’s time spent working at a local comic book store and a series of 20 in-depth interviews that the author conducted with comic book readers, the author draws from a series of personal field notes, participant observation, and transcribed interviews to understand how gendered relationships in comic books manifest in real-life experiences. Ultimately, the author argues that static comic book stereotypes about hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity shape consumers’ gendered realities. More specifically, this study demonstrates how popular character archetypes like the love interest, the nag, and the slut are redefining readers’ relationship to women both within and outside of comic book culture. By examining this culture, and its audience at large, this research advances a more nuanced understanding of how graphic narratives contribute to gender difference and violence against women, thereby situating women’s empowerment within popular culture.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.