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Constructing Markets and Shaping Boundaries: Entrepreneurial Power in Nascent Fields

Award Winning
Journal Article
This paper examines how entrepreneurs shape organizational boundaries and construct markets. Specifically, the authors conduct an inductive study of five ventures in their first five years. The resulting theoretical framework explains how successful entrepreneurs attempt to dominate nascent markets by co-constructing their organizational boundaries and market using three processes – claiming (identity-based), demarcating (alliance-focused) and controlling (acquisition-driven). The authors propose a holistic and longitudinal view of organizational boundaries, offer new insights into institutional entrepreneurship and resource dependence theories, and indicate the “soft-power” strategy by which successful entrepreneurs compete in highly ambiguous markets. The most important contribution is reinvigorating the study of inter-organizational power.
Faculty

Visiting Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at INSEAD