CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
INSEAD-OMT-ASQ Conference
Organization Theory and New Venture Creation
Singapore, Jan 5-6 (Sat-Sun) 2013
Organizers: Henrich R. Greve and Philip Anderson
New venture creation has become a very active research topic, spurred by interest in the birth of new industries, the role of new ventures in rejuvenating existing industries through new technologies or markets, and the dynamics of entry in existing industries that are not going through periods of qualitative change. Much research on the topic of new venture creation goes under the rubric of entrepreneurship; traditionally with a focus on entrepreneurs and the opportunity discovery process, but more recently with a broader theoretical agenda. Organization theory has already generated many insights into the venture creation process, including research on new organizational populations examined by organizational ecology; change and differentiation in organizational populations illuminated by institutional theory; and the reorganization of industries through increased specialization as identified by network theorists. However, there seems to be many more opportunities for organizational theorists to contribute to this area of research while addressing the methodological challenges that often arise when gathering and analyzing data about new ventures. This is why members of the Organization and Management Theory (OMT) division have shown increased interest in new venture creation, as well as authors submitting to Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ).
Intra-organizational theory contains ideas on the assembly of existing inventions and ideas for commercialization to generate internal ventures or spin-offs, and these can be developed further. Organizations differ in how they organize for new business development from their own knowledge stock, and in how much they rely on and encourage networks of new firms to provide parts of the value chain or supply complementary products. More work on such organizational effects would be valuable. Understanding how entrepreneurs form and develop an identity for their evolving ventures and how ventures come to structure the niches they occupy is also fertile territory for theoretical and empirical advances. Finally, organization theory has a rich set of ideas on institutional and economic environments that has not been fully exploited for its potential in predicting new venture development.
The purpose of the conference is to bring together scholars interested in making new contributions on these topics for a conference with two elements. One is a paper development workshop that includes small-group mentoring and discussion, poster sessions to promote free discussion among the attendees, and a session on advice for authors by editors of ASQ. The second is a traditional mini-conference with selected paper presentations by scholars who are active in this area of research. The conference will take place from Saturday morning through Sunday mid-day. ASQ and OMT will provide reviewers of abstract submissions in order to help the organizers choose papers. A full paper should be ready when the abstract is submitted. OMT will provide airfare stipends for a limited number of doctoral students whose papers are accepted for the conference. As the host institution, INSEAD provides two nights of residential costs for participants and the conference meals.
Submission information:
Deadline: August 1
Abstract length: 5 pages + references
Submit to: Olivia Choo; olivia.choo@insead.edu
Please direct questions about the conference to Henrich Greve henrich.greve@insead.edu or Phil Anderson philip.anderson@insead.edu.