We build theory on the process of collective identity resurrection through a qualitative study investigating how community members reenergized a valued community identity following years of decline. Our findings suggest a recursive model of identity resurrection, in which community leaders marshal tangible resources such as money and human talent to orchestrate experiences and community members authenticate the experiences by judging them resonant with memories and existing identity symbols. This model draws attention to the role of experience and emotion in identity processes, extending theory that has tended to focus narrowly on cognitive aspects of collective identity. We discuss implications for processes of identity reproduction and resurrection in organizational settings, and for interdependencies between community and organizational identities.When I got back, Apple had forgotten who we were. Remember that "Think Different" ad campaign we ran (featuring great innovators like Einstein, Gandhi). . . . It was certainly for customers, but it was even more for Apple. That ad was to remind us of who our heroes are and who we are. Companies sometimes do forget. Fortunately we woke up. -Steve Jobs, on returning as Apple's CEO after more than a decade's absence (Jobs, 2004)
Our knowledge-based society is pressing universities to transform from monastic scholarly enclaves into producers of new technologies and incubators of start-up firms. However, converting scientists' curiosity-driven discoveries into commercially viable innovations has proven so difficult that observers liken the journey to crossing a 'Valley of Death'. We conceptualise the challenges of commercialising university inventions in terms of three gaps: the technology discovery gap, the commercialisation gap, and the venture launch gap. We chronicle the inception and evolution of a technology commercialisation programme at the University of Oregon, relating how the university confronted and dealt with the three gaps, and describing the intra-organisational partnerships developed to address them. We find that negotiating the gaps requires assimilation of a technology commercialisation mission into the traditional academic missions of education and scientific discovery. To do this, universities must confront fundamental contradictions between learning, discovery, and commercialisation.
Current constructivist theorizing relies heavily on causal logics and, therefore, posits that entrepreneurs either pursue or abandon perceived opportunities shortly after their inception. However, findings from effectuation research illuminate less-direct processes involved in the establishment of entrepreneurial ventures. We describe how effectual and causal logics might be integrated by proposing a supplemented model of entrepreneurial opportunity production that features an alternative effectual pathway. In describing this model, we develop six propositions to explain the unique pattern of cognitions and behaviors found among entrepreneurs employing effectual logics. Our propositions suggest that these entrepreneurs are unlikely to rely on peer feedback to determine the viability of early stage opportunities. Instead, they delay the objectification and evaluation of opportunities because they recognize that predictions made in uncertain environments are unlikely to be correct. The employment of these alternate logics results in different pathways to commercialization and different consequences associated with failures.
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