With the growth of digital platforms, understanding the role of property rights on those platforms has become increasingly important. Digital piracy, the unauthorized copying and distribution of digital products, is therefore an important strategic issue, both because of lost revenues and because it is thought to decrease innovation. Yet, while the latter effect is often argued, empirical evidence is limited. We study whether piracy affects innovation and whether it leads firms to shift to different types of innovations. By studying a large piracy event in a mobile app marketplace, we find that piracy leads to a decrease in the release of incremental innovations, such as bug fixes, but does not decrease more substantial revisions. Additionally, it is associated with subsequent new product development.
Managerial Abstract：
For many platform companies, a critical issue is understanding how piracy and imitation should be regulated, motivated in part by a common narrative that piracy will eliminate innovation on these platforms. The present article suggests that these effects are slightly more nuanced. We find that piracy does lead to a decline in incremental innovations, such as bug fixes or appearance tweaks, but no discernible decline in more major innovations, such as feature updates or entirely new versions. This implies that piracy can shape the type of innovation, potentially leading to products that are less polished and refined but not affecting the overall level of innovation.
参考文献：Miric, L. and Jeppesen, B. 2020. Does piracy lead to product abandonment or stimulate new product development?: Evidence from mobile platform‐based developer firms. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2155-2184.
We extend social comparison theory and research in top management teams by showing that negative social comparisons in TMTs have implications for subsequent employment decisions after executive turnover. In a sample of 1,001 executive employment moves to new TMTs, our results show that executives with lower relative pay in the firms they exit join firms that improve their social comparison situation within the new TMT when compared to their previous experience—while not necessarily providing larger improvements in pay. These findings complement social comparison views on executive turnover by showing that executives' new employment decisions are guided by the correction of negative social comparisons in their new firms.
Managerial summary：
We show that executives who experience negative social comparisons in pay in a TMT because of their lower relative rank in its pay structure select new employment in firms with more narrow pay differences within their TMT. In addition, we show that such executives improve their relative pay in comparison to others in the TMT in their new TMTs without necessarily experiencing abnormal improvements in pay. These findings show that social comparisons in pay between TMT members may not only drive executive turnover, as previously shown in the literature, but also directs executive decisions about new TMT engagements. Together, our findings imply that social comparisons are an important factor in executive employment decisions.
参考文献：Aime, F. et al. 2020. Looking for respect? How prior TMT social comparisons affect executives' new TMT engagements. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2185-2199.
Although prior research highlights the organizational and cognitive challenges associated with achieving organizational ambidexterity, there has been comparatively less empirical attention focused on the cognitive characteristics that may differentiate top managers of firms that achieve ambidexterity. We build on emerging research and identify cognitive flexibility as a cognitive characteristic with particular relevance to the challenges associated with ambidexterity and suggest that it works through chief executive officers (CEOs)' information search activities. We find that cognitively flexible CEOs are more likely to engage in effortful and persistent information search and rely to a greater extent on outside sources of information. In turn, effortful and persistent information search activities are associated with higher levels of organizational ambidexterity. Our study pushes forward the research agenda on cognitive micro‐foundations of firm capabilities.
Managerial summary：
Ambidextrous organizations, or organizations that have the capability to pursue both incremental and discontinuous innovation, enjoy more sustainable competitive advantages. However, the achievement of organizational ambidexterity poses unique demands for top managers, including cognitive challenges. To help managers better understand these challenges, this study focuses attention on the role of the CEO in the achievement of organizational ambidexterity, and on CEO cognitive flexibility as a potential influencing factor. Our results suggest that CEO cognitive flexibility may influence organizational ambidexterity indirectly through its effect on CEO information search activities, in particular where and how intensely CEOs search for information. Our study reinforces the importance of human factors in the executive office for the development of firm dynamic capabilities, and the implementation of an innovation‐based strategy.
参考文献：Kiss, A. N. 2020. CEO cognitive flexibility, information search, and organizational ambidexterity. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2200-2233.
Building on the search‐based view of innovation, we develop a framework regarding how Google guides innovative search behavior. We exploit an exogenous shock, China's unexpected blockade of Google in 2014, and adopt a difference‐in‐differences approach with a matched sample of patents from China and nearby regions to test our predictions. Our analyses show that the blockade negatively affected inventors in China to search distantly in technological and cognitive spaces compared to those in the control group who were presumably unaffected by the event. The impact was less severe for inventors with larger collaboration networks but became more pronounced in technological fields proximate to science. Our findings contribute to innovative search literature and highlight the theoretical and practical importance of Internet technologies in developing valuable inventions.
Managerial summary：
Inventors nowadays depend heavily on Internet search to access information and knowledge. They therefore become vulnerable to barriers imposed on their online search. In this study, we find that China's unexpected blockade of Google and its affiliated services altered the searching behavior of inventors in China such that they became less able to seek distant knowledge. This impact was further contingent on the availability of offline knowledge channels and the reliance of each technological field on science. We also find that the economic value of their inventions decreased due to the blockade. Our findings reveal a neglected but consequential aspect of Internet censorship beyond the commonly found media effect and offer important implications to practitioners and policymakers.
参考文献：Zheng, Y. F. and Wang, Q. Y. 2020. Shadow of the great firewall: The impact of Google blockade on innovation in China. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2234-2260.
We seek to diffuse a graphical tool—binned scatterplots—which we argue can dramatically improve the quality and speed of research in strategic management. In contrast to the current practice of showing plots of predicted values, binned scatterplots graph the nonparametric relationship between two variables, either unconditionally or conditional on a set of controls, for multiple subgroups. This allows researchers to quickly detect the shape of that relationship, examine outliers, and assess which part of the support may be driving a relationship. We propose that the adoption of binned scatterplots will lead to the identification of new and interesting phenomena, raise the credibility of empirical research, and help create richer theories.
Managerial Summary：
Regression analysis often assumes linear or quadratic relationship forms between two variables. We seek to diffuse a graphical tool—binned scatterplots—that allow the researcher and reader to evaluate whether such assumptions are maintained throughout the data. For example, binned scatterplots may clarify that a regression relationship is nonlinear, or driven by an exceptional firm or a small set of firms. We propose that using binned scatterplots will improve the transparency and quality of empirical work, as well as aid in the development of new phenomena and enhance theory development.
参考文献：Starr, E. and Goldfarb, B. 2020. Binned scatterplots: A simple tool to make research easier and better. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2261-2274.
Strategy formation is central to why some firms seize novel opportunities while others fail. We explore a core dilemma of strategy formation in entrepreneurial settings—whether to learn a novel strategy one domain at a time (modular) versus assemble a complex strategy of coherent activities across all domains at once (integrative). By studying six ventures, we develop a theoretical framework for how entrepreneurs effectively form novel, complex strategy: Decision weaving. They (a) employ sequential focus (not parallel), (b) pause at plateaus (not optima), and (c) deploy stepping stones (not leaps) in background domains. These behaviors enable both fast, effective learning and evolving yet holistic understanding of an emerging strategy. Overall, we contribute to the microfoundations of strategy by proposing a cognitively sophisticated, yet realistic strategist.
Managerial Summary：
Strategy formation is central to why firms seize novel opportunities while others fail. By comparing three venture‐pairs, we develop a fresh framework for strategy formation in nascent markets where strategy is both novel and complex: Decision weaving. Effective strategists: (a) use sequential focus (not parallel) to learn about successive focal strategic domains, (b) pause at learning plateaus to consolidate that knowledge about a focal domain, and (c) use stepping stones to make progress in background domains without losing focus. These behaviors enable both fast, effective learning, and evolving yet holistic understanding of an emerging strategy. More importantly, these behaviors set the stage for rapid and profitable scaling (i.e., growth).
参考文献：Ott, T. E. and Eisenhardt, K. M. 2020. Decision weaving: Forming novel, complex strategy in entrepreneurial settings. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12), 2275-2314.
