Weathering the Storm: An Examination of New Entrants, Market Intermediaries, and Social Entrepreneurial Intent

Douglas R. Miller

This dissertation investigates firm innovation, the practices utilized to protect innovation, and individual social entrepreneurial intent. The first essay examines the impact that new entrants have on incumbent firms in an industry. Using creative destruction and the resource based view I suggest that the introduction of radical technology will have detrimental effect on incumbent firms. I examine how incumbent flexibility, innovative practices, and technological importance buffer against the selection pressures faced when new firms enter the market. I find that outside technologies do indeed exacerbate the impact that new entrants have on incumbent firms, but that incumbents which consistently innovate and create high value technology are buffered against these negative pressures. The second essay seeks to address the potentially adverse impact that the repeat interaction of underwriters and venture capitalists may have on new firms going through the initial public offering. Using an agency perspective, I describe quid pro quo relationships between repeat players in the IPO market and suggest that when underwriters and VCs have partnered in the past they will be more likely to engage in quid pro quo behavior. I find that the repeated exchanges between UWs and VCs does in fact create quid pro quo relationships which lead to greater under pricing of the IPO and a shorter lockup period for VCs. These outcomes are beneficial to the UW and VC, but lead to money left on the table and future instability for the IPO firm. While the first two essays focus on firm innovation and influential intermediaries, the third essay examines social entrepreneurship and presents a construct for measuring an individual's social entrepreneur intent. Using this a positive definition of social entrepreneurship, I describe the construct development process and offer evidence to suggest that such a definition and construct are necessary for advancing our understanding of social entrepreneurship. Using interviews and surveys, I develop items and test the validity and reliability of those items through a series of five studies. The validated construct is presented for use in future research examining the role that social entrepreneurial intent plays in organizational decision making.

Weathering the Storm: An Examination of New Entrants, Market Intermediaries, and Social Entrepreneurial Intent

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