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This paper’s argument is that founding team composition—in particular, members’ prior company affiliations—shapes new firm behaviors. Firms with founding teams whose members have worked at the same company engage in exploitation because they have shared understandings and can act quickly. Conversely, founding teams whose members have worked at many different companies have unique ideas and contacts that encourage exploration. In addition, firms whose founding teams have both common and diverse prior company affiliations have advantages that allow them to grow. The results suggest team composition is an important antecedent of exploitative and explorative behavior and firm ambidexterity. The terms “exploration ” and “exploitation ” have been used broadly to capture a wide array of firm actions and behaviors. The concepts are central to studies of adaptation, organizational learning, and

In 1993 Couger et al. stated in an MIS Quarterly article on creativity in information systems (IS) organizations that the topic of creativity is under-researched in the IS discipline. Is the subject of creativity—despite its undisputable importance for individuals, organizations, and societies—still a neglected area in IS research? In what contexts, with what methods, and with what results have IS researchers studied the phenomenon of creativity? And what creativity-related themes warrant further investigation? In this article we analyze, based on six analytical dimensions, IS studies on creativity published in the eight top-ranked IS journals as recommended by the Association for Information Systems. The analysis provides a detailed picture of how the concept of creativity has been treated in our discipline‘s arguably most influential publication outlets. It becomes apparent that IS researchers have been

How do entrepreneurs obtain the creative ideas they need to develop innovative new products? We interviewed 32 technology entrepreneurs to generate a grounded theory as to how technology entrepreneurs use social behaviors, techniques, and cognitive processes to generate, validate, and refine ideas for new products, processes, or services. The results reveal a complex, cyclical, and recursive multilevel social process emphasizing active and social experimentation. Greatest ideational productivity occurs when “trusted partners” exchange and refine ideas through a form of shared cognition. The findings will be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in entrepreneurship, social creativity, and management team dynamics.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have revolutionized the way companies are using information technology in their businesses. ERP was created in an effort to streamline business processes and has proven to be successful in many operations. Unfortunately, not all ERP implementations have met expectations. One way that businesses may be able to increase success rates is to embrace creativity and innovation in their ERP implementations. For businesses to do this, they must first understand how creativity originates and how that creativity can be integrated into business solutions. This article presents a case study that examines the ERP implementation at a public university and analyzes the applicability of the Innovation Strategy Model on public sector organizations. 1.

Although white collar work is of vast importance to the economy, the Operations Management (OM) literature has focused largely on traditional blue collar work. In an effort to stimulate more OM research into the design, control and management of white collar work systems, this paper provides a systematic review of disparate streams of research relevant to understanding white collar work from an operations perspective. Our review classifies research according to its relevance to white collar work at individual, team and organizational levels. By examining the literature in the context of this framework, we identify gaps in our understanding of white collar work which suggest promising research directions.

papers published so far. The aim of the Series is to bring together research in progress from across the School for publication to a wider audience and to facilitate discussion. Papers are reviewed by senior faculty before acceptance into the Series. The agreement of the authors should be sought before referring to its contents in other publications. This paper is available electronically on the School of Management website:

A field study of 179 employees in an investment technology firm explores the relationship between identity comprehension and individual work outcomes. Identity comprehension is defined as the degree to which the relative importance of one’s identities is recognized by important others. Results show that individuals with higher levels of identity comprehension in work teams are likely to have higher levels of creativity and satisfaction and lower levels of absenteeism.

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