Lean startup and the idea of a business model have become popular in the context of startup experimentation, innovation and strategy. In this paper we discuss and critique the assumptions behind lean startup, specifically how the approach conceives of hypothesis development and startup...

Seeing — perception and vision — is implicitly the fundamental building block of the literature on rationality and cognition. Herbert Simon and Daniel Kahneman's arguments against the omniscience of economic agents — and the concept of bounded rationality — depend critically on a...

More than sixty-five years ago Friedrich Hayek parenthetically remarked that while "man has learned to use [the market]...he is still very far from having learned to make the best use of it" (1945: 528). The ensuing years have seen significant innovation in the structure and use of markets,...

We discuss the behaviorist and empiricist foundations of the organizational routines and capabilities literature, specifically the extant emphasis placed on experience, repetition and observation as the key inputs and mechanisms of behavior, learning and change in organizations. Based on this...

In this paper we develop the outlines of a theory for the firm, in response to von Hippel and von Krogh’s (2015, henceforth Hippel-Krogh) critique of the problem solving perspective as a theory of value creation. Hippel-Krogh argue that (a) problems and solutions cannot always be separated as...

Micro-foundations have become an important emerging theme in strategic management. This paper addresses micro-foundations in two related ways. First, we argue that the kind of macro (or "collectivist") explanation that is utilized in the capabilities view in strategic management - which implies...

Making links between micro and macro levels has been problematic in the social sciences, and the literature in strategic management and organization theory is no exception. The purpose of this chapter is to raise theoretical issues in developing micro-foundations for strategic management and...

Existing research on ecosystems is overly descriptive and structural. While description and structure are important, in this essay we argue for a microanalytic and firm-specific approach to ecosystems. We focus on the “hypothesis-led” firm—the role that a firm-specific hypothesis plays in...

Scholars have recently highlighted the promise of open innovation. In this paper we treat open innovation — in it’s different forms and manifestations — as well as internal or closed innovation, as unique governance forms with different benefits and costs. We discuss how each...