Considering that the last decade has witnessed a dramatic rise in the level of venture financing provided to technology-oriented start-ups in the United States, it is important to investigate the economic drivers of the commercialization path of these firms. A simple theoretical model is...

Entrepreneurs must choose between alternative strategies for bringing their idea to market. They face uncertainty regarding both the quality of their idea as well as the efficacy of each strategy. While entrepreneurs can reduce this uncertainty by conducting tests, any single test conflates the...

The appropriability of innovation depends not only on the instruments available to an innovator to protect private returns, but how those instruments interact with each other as part of the firm's entrepreneurial strategy. We consider the interplay between two appropriability mechanisms...

This paper develops an integrated framework linking the nature of the entrepreneurial choice process to the foundations of entrepreneurial strategy. Because entrepreneurs face many alternatives that cannot be pursued at once, entrepreneurs must adopt (implicitly or explicitly) a process for...

This paper provides a theoretical investigation of the tension over knowledge disclosure between firms and their scientific employees. While empirical research suggests that scientists exhibit a "taste for science," such open disclosures can limit a firm's competitive advantage or ability to...

This paper considers the role of Rosenbergian uncertainty (i.e., economic uncertainties that arise after successful invention) in shaping appropriability for start-up innovators. Rather than assuming that the appropriability regime surrounding an innovation is exogenous, we focus on the...

This paper considers the role of Rosenbergian uncertainty (i.e., economic uncertainties that arise after successful invention) in shaping appropriability for start-up innovators. Rather than assuming that the appropriability regime surrounding an innovation is exogenous, we focus on the...

This paper is motivated by the substantial differences in start-up commercialization strategies observed across different high-technology sectors. Specifically, we evaluate the conditions under which start-up innovators earn their returns on innovation through product market competition with...