Dear Fellow Organization Theorists:
I'm trying to develop a project, and I wonder if you might be able to lend a hand by offering some specific examples of competence-destroying shocks that have hit various industries, leading to the death, crippling, or at least massive transformation of the industry. I have some ideas about variables that might affect firm survivability in the face of such shocks, and I want to test the ideas across a broad swath of industries.
A few caveats on what is workable: 1) The shock ideally would be fairly sudden, not one that was years in the making perhaps due to gradual technological change or changing consumer tastes. However, I might be able to account for the timing in the model, so this is not a deal breaker. 2) The industry would hopefully be one that has a fair number of public companies (else, the ever-troublesome problem of no access to data). 3) For similar reasons, the shock would be in recent history (as in, since Compustat). 4) The shock should be something that cuts to the core of the industry (however defined), rather than one that applies heterogeneously to firms across the industry (granted, I can narrow the industry definition, so long as it applies to a broad swath of firms).
Any help much appreciated!
Best,
Mike
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Michael L. Barnett
Professor of Strategy, Said Business School, U. of Oxford
Research Director, Oxford U. Centre for Corporate Reputation
Fellow, St. Anne's College, University of Oxford
http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/research/people/Pages/MikeBarnett.aspx
View my research on my SSRN Author page:
http://ssrn.com/author=414796