Vangelis Souitaris | City, University of London (original) (raw)

Papers by Vangelis Souitaris

Journal of Management, 2021

Creating new ventures is one of the most central topics to entrepreneurship and is a critical ste... more Creating new ventures is one of the most central topics to entrepreneurship and is a critical step from which many theories of management, organizational behavior, and strategic management build. Therefore, this review and proposed research agenda are relevant to not only entrepre-neurship scholars but also other management scholars who wish to challenge some of the implicit assumptions of their current streams of research and extend the boundaries of their current theories to earlier in the organization's life. Given that the last systematic review of the topic was published 16 years ago, and that the topic has evolved rapidly over this time, an overview and research outlook are long overdue. From our review, we inductively generated 10 subtopics: (a) lead founder, (b) founding team, (c) social relationships, (d) cognitions, (e) emergent organizing, (f) new-venture strategy, (g) organizational emergence, (h) new-venture legitimacy , (i) founder exit, and (j) entrepreneurial environment. These subtopics are then organized into three major stages of the entrepreneurial process: co-creating, organizing, and performing. Together, the framework provides a cohesive story of the past and a road map for future research on creating new ventures, focusing on the links connecting these subtopics.

strategic management journal, 2019

Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-... more Research Summary: We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions-group fear and group hope-in entrepreneurial team decision-making. We are interested in which emotion will be more strongly related to whether entrepreneurial teams escalate their commitment to a currently failing venture versus terminating that venture. Using a longitudinal start-up simulation and based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that group "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating that venture. We predict and find that team engagement mediates these relationships. We find partial support for a predicted moderation effect of group friendship strength. Theoretical implications are discussed. Managerial Summary: Emotions are a critical but often unacknowledged part of entrepreneurial decision-making. We tested whether group fear or group hope will most strongly influence teams' decisions to escalate their commitment , versus terminating a currently failing venture. Using a longitudinal entrepreneurial simulation, based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that "hope trumps fear." That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating

Venture capital (VC) syndicates involve repeated transactions among partners and therefore posses... more Venture capital (VC) syndicates involve repeated transactions among partners and therefore possess network-like characteristics. Although networks provide access to important externalities, extant literature has not studied the effects of the focal firm's resource needs on performance benefits arising from different network structures. We investigate the impact of two proxies for firm-level resources, namely maturity and status, on the relationship between network cohesion and VC performance. We find that mature and high status VCs benefit less from network cohesion. We also show that maturity and status simultaneously determine the performance effects of network cohesion.

Despite the recent increase in academic entrepreneurship research, we still know relatively littl... more Despite the recent increase in academic entrepreneurship research, we still know relatively little about the degree of
involvement of academic inventors in university spinouts. In this study, we distinguish between academic inventors who
leave the university after the creation of a spinout (academic exodus) and those who maintain their university affiliation
(academic stasis). Drawing from the literature on innovation-supportive climates and from organizational support
theory, we argue that perceptions of institutional support and departmental norms regarding entrepreneurship are
associated with the exodus versus stasis decision. We find that inventors who have higher perceptions of institutional
support for entrepreneurship are less likely to leave. This relationship is enhanced by perceptions of favorable
departmental norms toward entrepreneurship. We discuss the implications of our work for the literature on academic
entrepreneurship, innovation-supportive climates, and perceived organizational support. Our study has clear policy
implications for universities, policymakers, and funders who aim to stimulate academic entrepreneurship, but are
concerned about losing entrepreneurial faculty. Specifically, we advise universities and policymakers to actively
support academic inventors wishing to spin out and to monitor this support in a customer-friendly manner, in order to
ensure that the inventors’ perceptions of support are favorable. It is also important for universities to look out for
inconsistencies between a supportive environment for entrepreneurship at the institutional level and unfavorable norms
toward entrepreneurship at the departmental level; such inconsistencies can lead good faculty members out of
academia. More broadly, universities can pursue an aggregation strategy that aims to retain both a research and
commercialization identity while building strong links between them.

Extant literature has drawn attention to the ‘halo effect’ of the good reputation of a core organ... more Extant literature has drawn attention to the ‘halo effect’ of the good reputation of a core organizational activity on the outcome of a peripheral activity. We contribute to the literature on organizational reputation by illustrating a halo effect in the opposite direction – from the periphery to the core. We show that developing a reputation for a peripheral activity (in our context, universities’ social impact via spinoffs) may have positive spillovers for core organizational activities (in our context, university research), a phenomenon we term the ‘peripheral halo effect’. We also show that this effect is more prominent for high-status than for low-status organizations. Our research also contributes to the academic-entrepreneurship literature by revealing that spinoff portfolios can generate income for universities not only directly via equity positions but also indirectly via reputational benefits.

How do corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) do deals? Conversations with CVCs suggest that the pu... more How do corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) do deals? Conversations with CVCs suggest that the putative view of venture capital investing is incomplete. We draw on 13 cases of CVC programs to document eight 'corporate investment practices' that are unique to CVCs. These practices reflect pressure on the CVC units for strategic fit and engagement with the corporation and also an opportunity to utilize parental resources. We then show that CVCs vary their emphasis on corporate investment practices, diverging into two distinct investment logics, 'integrated'versus 'arm's-length.'Focus of isomorphism on internal versus external stakeholders explains the emergence of the two logics.

Through an inductive study of six corporate venture capital programs, we unravel how new organiza... more Through an inductive study of six corporate venture capital programs, we unravel how new organizational units resolve competing forces from two different institutional environments. The data suggest that the organizational structure of units that enter a new environment depends on whether they "focus their isomorphism" internally toward the parent ("endoisomorphism") or externally toward the industry ("exoisomorphism"). The focus of isomorphism depends on whom the units seek legitimacy with and on the professionalization of their top management teams. We discuss implications of the findings for institutional theory, corporate venture capital, and corporate venturing more generally.

This study explores the effect of institutional origin ('nurture') and economic context ('nature'... more This study explores the effect of institutional origin ('nurture') and economic context ('nature') on the financial resource endowment and subsequent early employment growth of researchbased spin-offs (RBSOs). The nurture dimensions capture the relationship between the parent research institution and the RBSO during the start-up phase: the type of incubation model, the formal vs informal transfer of technology and the extent of inventors' involvement with the firm. The nature dimensions include the technology domain in which the RBSO operates and the complexity of the sales process. Using a unique dataset of RBSOs in Flanders (N = 85, representing 75% of the population), our analysis shows that the financial resource endowment, is predicted by both institutional origin (nurture) dimensions and economic context ones (nature). Initial capital in turn, is a key driver of subsequent employment growth of RBSOs.

This study focuses on polychronicity as a cultural dimension of top management teams (TMTs). TMT ... more This study focuses on polychronicity as a cultural dimension of top management teams (TMTs). TMT polychronicity is the extent to which team members mutually prefer and tend to engage in multiple tasks simultaneously or intermittently instead of one at a time and believe that this is the best way of doing things. We explore the impact of TMT polychronicity on strategic decision speed and comprehensiveness and, subsequently, its effect on new venture financial performance. Contrary to popular time-management principles advocating task prioritization and focused sequential execution, we found that TMT polychronicity has a positive effect on firm performance in the context of dynamic unanalyzable environments. This effect is partially mediated by strategic decision speed and comprehensiveness. Our study contributes to research on strategic leadership by focusing on a novel value-based characteristic of the TMT (polychronicity) and by untangling the decision-making processes that relate TMT characteristics and firm performance. It also contributes to the attention-based view of the firm by positioning polychronicity as a new type of attention structure.

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the phenomenon of spinouts from academic... more This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the phenomenon of spinouts from academic institutions. We systematically identified spinout papers in key management journals, categorised the literature and critically synthesised the findings. We present the findings of each literature stream in turn and also identify inconsistencies and directions for further research. We conclude that while the early literature has been mainly atheoretical and focused on describing the phenomenon, a core group of recent studies were theory-driven.

This paper examines whether inter-organizational factors influence German biotech firms' propensi... more This paper examines whether inter-organizational factors influence German biotech firms' propensity to internationalize by forming international research alliances. Inter-organizational factors include dimensions of a firm's embeddedness within its local cluster and within its national research network. We test two sets of hypotheses (local and national network-drivers) on a longitudinal event history dataset of the complete German biotech population for the years 1995-2004. Findings show that location in a local cluster already dense with international linkages, the building of research alliances with local research institutes as well as national partners and central position in the national research network increase the probability of forming international research alliances.

Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social ... more Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social network ties as opposed to market methods in early venture finance, but it has largely understated the potential limitations and costs of doing so. Specifically, very sparse research has examined the factors that influence entrepreneurs' choice between using networks versus market methods. In this study, we propose a contingent model of network utilization when approaching initial investors, based on the dimensions of human capital of the entrepreneurs. We test this model with primary field survey data from 226 new high-tech ventures in Singapore and Beijing. The results show that high occupational status and relevant industrial work experience are positively associated with the entrepreneurs' propensity to utilize existing networks by enhancing the resourcefulness of their network ties (social capital); however, such influences are alleviated by entrepreneurs' marketing or managerial experience, which increases the entrepreneurs' ability to interact with strangers (an aspect of social competence).

Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, this study tests the effect of entrepreneurship progr... more Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, this study tests the effect of entrepreneurship programmes on the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of science and engineering students. This is necessary in order to confirm (or disconfirm) conventional wisdom that entrepreneurship education increases the intention to start a business. The results show that the programmes raise some attitudes and the overall entrepreneurial intention and that inspiration (a construct with an emotional element) is the programmes' most influential benefit. The findings contribute to the theories of planned behaviour and education and have wider implications for a theory of entrepreneurial emotions and also for the practice of teaching entrepreneurship.

This paper examines how online retailers can combine their strategies on differentiation and mark... more This paper examines how online retailers can combine their strategies on differentiation and market scope (segmentation) to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Drawing on a sample of UK grocery e-buyers, the authors classified e-shoppers as either goal-oriented or experiential, and empirically assessed the impact of a number of possible differentiation strategies on the satisfaction and loyalty of each shopper segment. The results show that differentiation based on customisation, product assortment and website design are more effective when directed at the experiential shopper. On the other hand, differentiation based on customer care, convenience and value for money are more successful when focused on the goal-oriented shopper. The authors also found that satisfaction is more likely to generate loyalty for the goal-oriented segment rather than for the experiential shopper.

This paper reports the results of an empirical study on how the German federation and Länder inte... more This paper reports the results of an empirical study on how the German federation and Länder interact in the field of innovation policy and whether this interaction counts as co-ordination. For there to be genuine co-ordination, there must be evidence of fitting together as part of a coherent framework and some commonality of objectives. The fieldwork sought to identify the areas of interaction which were seen by respondents as part of a co-ordination process. Three broad areas of interaction were accordingly positioned in a spectrum of declining formality: innovation infrastructure, promotional programmes and individual projects. An important finding, which emerged from the fieldwork in Germany was that a combination of factors is shifting the balance of emphasis and activity from the formal and binding to the informal and voluntary end of this spectrum. The factors cited most frequently by the interviewees were a reduction in federal expenditure, an increasing use of competitions and some broader constitutional developments. But is this interaction really co-ordination? The authors put the case for taking a broad view of what counts as co-ordination and conclude that there is genuine co-ordination up to a certain point (the federal system places limits on how far that process can go). A subsidiary conclusion coming from the empirical study and which may surprise many non-Germans, is that German officials are familiar and comfortable with the areas of untidiness which result.

This chapter is a review of several methodologies, which have been used to identify the distincti... more This chapter is a review of several methodologies, which have been used to identify the distinctive characteristics of innovative firms (determinants of technological innovation). Some of the problems affecting this research field are the diverse nature and non-standardised definition and measurement of innovation itself, non-standardised measurements of the determinants, interrelated variables, different characteristics of firms targeted and finally different economic regions where the surveys take place. The chapter presents a portfolio model, which synthesises previous research results and may be used for country or industry specific studies.

Pavitt [Research Policy 13 (1984) 343] identified different patterns of technological change (tec... more Pavitt [Research Policy 13 (1984) 343] identified different patterns of technological change (technological trajectories) in four sectoral classes of industrial firms. This paper tests the applicability of Pavitt's taxonomy (which derived from an economic perspective) to moderate the inconsistent results of the management literature on the determinants of technological innovation.

This paper analyses the 'importance' and 'awareness' of a set of established 'external communicat... more This paper analyses the 'importance' and 'awareness' of a set of established 'external communication' determinants of technological innovation in the context of a newly industrialised country. The researcher interviewed 105 Greek manufacturing companies, measuring their innovation rate as well as 23 potential 'external communication' determinants. Using correlation and regression analyses, the initial group of 23 factors was reduced to a subset of 10 'major importance' determinants of innovation. The results supported two hypotheses related with newly industrialised countries, namely: 1. searching for product-specific information is more important for innovation than scanning more general market and technological information; and 2. the co-operation with partnering organisations is more important for innovation than the co-operation with assisting organisations.

This paper investigates the`importance' and`awareness' of firm-specific competencies as determina... more This paper investigates the`importance' and`awareness' of firm-specific competencies as determinants of technological innovation in the context of a European newly industrialised country. A literature-based portfolio model was developed including 17 established innovation-determining factors, related to the firm's technical, market, human resource and organisational competencies. The`importance' of those factors as determinants of innovation in the Greek industry was tested with a survey of 105 manufacturing firms. Using correlation and regression analyses the author classified the competencies into`major importance',`moderate importance' and`unimportant' ones.`Major importance' determinants of innovation included the intensity of R&D, strength in marketing, proportion of university graduates and engineers in the staff, proportion of staff with managerial responsibility, proportion of professional staff with previous experience in another company and incentives offered to the employees to contribute to innovation.

Journal of Management, 2021

strategic management journal, 2019

"Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social... more "Most of the entrepreneurship literature has addressed the benefits and necessity of using social network ties as opposed to market methods in early venture finance, but it has largely understated the potential limitations and costs of doing so. Specifically, very sparse research has examined the factors that influence entrepreneurs’ choice between using networks versus market methods. In this study, we propose a contingent model of network utilization when approaching initial investors, based on the dimensions of human capital of the entrepreneurs. We test this model with primary field survey data from 226 new high-tech ventures in Singapore and Beijing. The results show that high occupational status and relevant industrial work experience are positively associated with the entrepreneurs’ propensity to utilize existing networks by enhancing the resourcefulness of their network ties (social capital); however, such influences are alleviated by entrepreneurs’ marketing or
managerial experience, which increases the entrepreneurs’ ability to interact with strangers (an aspect of social competence)."