Sean Wise

Value co‐creation through collective intelligence in the public sector: A review of US and European initiatives

Purpose – On the basis of the Collective Intelligence Genome framework, which was developed to describe private, for profit ventures, this study aims to review the recent public sector initiatives launched by the American federal government and the European Union. The studys goal is to examine if, and how, the Genome construct would apply to not for profit.Design/methodology/approach – This paper builds on an existing classification methodology for collective intelligence initiatives and extends it to pubic sector initiatives.Findings – The findings suggest that, although the framework offers a generally good fit, it does not fully address all the factors at play and the paper proposes expanding the gene pool. In addition, it confirms that Collective Intelligence initiatives do indeed co‐create value and conform to the emerging services dominant logic concept.Originality/value – With the growing success of profit motivated internet‐based collaborative ventures, including Innocentive, VenCorps, Threadless...

Prior Relationships and M&A Exit Valuations: A Set-Theoretic Approach

An empirical investigation was conducted into the effects that prior relationships between buyer and target firm have on the purchase price paid. Forty acquisitions of Canadian and US high-technology firms are examined using a set-theoretic approach (Ragin [2000]) to determine the effects of industry and inter-firm alliances on the price-to-book ratio. We find that specific combinations of prior relationship type are positively associated with higher prices. These results suggest that relationships at different levels of analysis can act to mitigate information asymmetries in a value-creating manner and may provide practitioner guidance on strategies to increase value in M&A exits.

The Impact on Management Experience on the Performance of Start-Ups within Accelerators

We investigate the effects that the experience level of accelerator management teams has on the performance of the accelerators they manage. In particular, we examine how the collective business experience of the accelerator managers influences the survival and growth of tenant firms within the accelerator. The experience of accelerator managers is assessed from two perspectives: their own direct knowledge from operating entrepreneurial startups, and their ability to access the knowledge of others from their professional networks. The survival and growth of tenant firms is assessed as the hazard rates for successful exits (acquisitions) and unsuccessful exits (firm failures). We find evidence to suggest that increased knowledge of accelerator managers reduces the risk of firm failures and that this reduction can be attributed more to differences in the amount of direct experience the accelerator management team has as founders in startups, than to differences in connectedness to the ecosystem.

An S-Curve Model of the Start-Up Life Cycle Through the Lens of Customer Development

Using the S-curve model of entrepreneurship, start-up funding, and customer development as a theoretical foundation, researchers can go in several directions. First, they can take a case study approach by investigating young start-ups and, using their financial statements, plotting performance longitudinally. Next, qualitative assessments can be done to understand potential risks that occur at each phase. Third, researchers can develop a greater understanding of the antecedents of early problems and what corrective actions can be implemented to curb the onset of trouble. Finally, large-scale quantitative assessments can be conducted to understand whether certain control variables, such as industry, culture, level of industrial development of the country, and experience of the entrepreneurs, can influence the stages in the S-curve model of entrepreneurship, start-up funding, and customer development.

The Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Success: A Mixed Methods Approach

The purpose of this research is to understand: (1) the main themes that appear to contribute to entrepreneurial success, (2) the various combinations of antecedents that can lead to entrepreneurial success, and; (3) the role that travel plays in entrepreneurial success. We first use a qualitative methodology to assess the themes that emerge in our conversations with 14 highly-successful Canadian entrepreneurs. The main categories that emerged from our interviews that contribute to entrepreneurial success involve: learning, travel, adversity quotient, and mentorship. From these results, we conduct a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and find that the input variables that were most important to entrepreneurial success were: learning, experiencing failure, learning from mentors, and adversity quotient. The contributions to knowledge of this research are twofold. First, we show that travel is an important construct to entrepreneurial success, which is significant as travel has largely been omitted from the entrepreneurship literature. Second, we show that entrepreneurial success is dependent on a complex combination of variables of varying levels of importance.