In this paper we outline an increasingly predominant, “communal,” perspective of the emerging knowledge economy and explore its emphasis on various nonmarket mechanisms of production. Although the communal perspective suggests organizational forms, governance mechanisms, and knowledge...

This paper outlines the theory-based view of strategy and markets. We argue that novel or “great” strategies come from theories. Entrepreneurs and managers originate theories and hypotheses about which activities they should engage in, which assets they might buy, and how they will create...

Strategy advice has taken a rather negative tone of late. Consultants and scholars alike seem obsessed with eradicating bias and error in human judgment and decision-making. A virtual cottage industry has emerged to advise how to accomplish this, often pushing managers to replace flawed human...

When should an entrepreneur employ a market to help discover and exploit opportunities, and when should the entrepreneur create a firm to do so? If a firm is created, how should it be organized? In this paper we argue that opportunities equate to valuable problem-solution pairings, and that...

Empirical studies commonly confirm that small firms enjoy efficiency advantages in generating innovation. However, the origin of this advantage remains poorly understood. This study explores the hypothesis that small firms enjoy advantages over large firms in crafting effective,...

Despite recognition of the benefits of relational governance in inter-organizational exchanges, factors that may erode its value have received little examination. We extend the literature by asking whether self-interested opportunities and long-standing ties erode the positive association...

In this edition of the organizational zoo series, we take a closer look at an interesting organization design case-GitHub, a software company from California. Similar to Valve, the subject of the previous article in the series (Puranam and Håkonsson, J Organ Design 4: 2-4, 2015) GitHub is used...

"Every company needs a unique and insightful corporate theory to sustain value-creating growth. Such a theory, if done right, should help guide decisions about what assets and activities to pursue, what investments to make, and what strategies to adopt. It's not easy, though, because the process...