Leading-edge research on entrepreneurial policy, business strategy and innovation in technology-driven markets.
Research Themes
- globalization and entrepreneurship in emerging economies
- partner relationships and network formation
- firm strategy and competition
Research Focus
Entrepreneurial Policy and Innovation
Core Questions:- How do government incentives and regulations impact scientific research, innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurial activity?
- How do social norms, surrounding institutions and supports — from academic institutions to social movements and capital structures — affect the development of new technology ventures?
Faculty






Doctoral Program
STVP – the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center’s research specialties are:
Entrepreneurial Policy- Focus on the role of public policy in shaping the rate, nature and success of entrepreneurial activities as well as the formation of new ventures
- Focus on innovation, competition and collaboration in the context of both established firms and new ventures
PhD Students
Wajeeha Ahmad

Parisa Assar

Christopher Flowers

Khonika Gope

Zahra Hejrati

Carrington Motley

Philipp Reineke

Yulia Venichenko

PhD Alumni
Our PhD graduates become leading academics and hold positions at Carnegie Mellon, Harvard University, INSEAD, Northwestern University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and many more.
Daniel Armanios (2015)
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
Dissertation: What is the Role of the State in Entrepreneurship and Venture Performance?
Jiang Bian (2021)
Assistant Professor in Management and Strategy, The University of Hong Kong
Dissertation: Collaborative Innovation: The Antecedents, Consequences, and Valuation of Technological Resource Contributions
Christopher B. Bingham (2005)
Area Chair of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Phillip Hettleman Distinguished Scholar, University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill
Dissertation: Learning from Heterogeneous Experience: The internationalization of entrepreneurial firms
Robert Bremner (2020)
Corporate Strategy, Electronic Arts
Dissertation: User Community Innovation: Implications for Firm Strategy, Organizing and Performance
Shona Brown (1995)
Member of Corporate Boards; Former Google Senior VP
Dissertation: A Multiple Horizon Strategy for Managing Time in High Technology Environments: The Case of Multiple Product Development Projects
Eric Chen (2007)
Vice President of Program & Portfolio Management, Cognoa
Dissertation: Strategy as Competitive Moves: Extending Competitive Dynamics Research to New Markets and New Moves
Emily Cox Pahnke (2010)
Associate Professor of Management, University of Washington
Dissertation: The Impact of Funding Sources on Innovation in New Firms
Jason Davis (2007)
Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise, INSEAD
Dissertation: Collaborative Innovation, Organizational Symbiosis, and the Embeddedness of Strategy
Fabrizio Ferraro (2003)
Professor, IESE
Dissertation: Leveraging Social Networks: Early Stage Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley
Robert Eberhart (2013)
Associate Director, Research on Entrepreneurship and Society, Stanford University
Dissertation: Institutional Change and Entrepreneurship
Nathan Furr (2009)
Associate Professor of Strategy, INSEAD
Dissertation: Cognitive Flexibility: The Adaptive Reality of Concrete Organization Change
Charles Galunic (1994)
Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Aviva Chair in Leadership, INSEAD
Dissertation: The Evolution of Intracorporate Domains: divisional charter losses in high-technology multidivisional corporations
Sam Garg (2011)
Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Dissertation: Decoding the CEO-Board Relationship: Strategic Decision Making and Monitoring in Entrepreneurial Firms
Elizabeth Gerber (2008)
Associate Professor, Segal Design Institute Northwestern
Dissertation: Devotion to an Innovation Process: The Case Study in Human Centered Design
Stine Grodal (2007)
Associate Professor, Boston University
Dissertation: The Emergence of a New Organizational Field — Labels, Meaning and Emotion in Nanotechnology
Melissa Graebner (2001)
Professor, University of Illinois
Dissertation: Decision-Making, Negotiation and Integration Issues in Acquisitions of High-Tech Start-ups
Benjamin Hallen (2007)
Associate Professor, University of Washington
Dissertation: The Origin of the Network Positions of New Organizations — How Entrepreneurs Raise Funds
Douglas Hannah (2015)
Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin
Dissertation: Firm Strategy in Nascent Ecosystems
Andy Hargadon (1998)
Professor & Founding Director of Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of California — Davis
Dissertation: The Theory and Practice of Knowledge Brokering: case studies of continuous innovation
Ahmed Heikal (1992)
Chairman & Founder, Qalaa Holdings
Dissertation: The Evolution of Joint Development Alliances
Quintus Jett (1999)
Adjunct Professor, Rutgers University
Dissertation: Linkages Between Competitive Product Moves and Organizational Capabilities in Rapidly-Changing Environments
Wesley Koo (2018)
Assistant Professor, Department of Strategy, INSEAD
Dissertation: Online Sellers’ Offline Environments — Implications for Platform Strategy
Michael Leatherbee (2015)
Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, School of Engineering
Dissertation: Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Individual, Team and Organizational Capabilities
Jian Bai “Jamber” Li (2016)
Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore
Dissertation: Entrepreneurship and Family Businesses in an Emerging Economy
Jeff Martin (2002)
Associate Professor, University of Alabama
Dissertation: Where are All the Synergies?: The Co-evolution of Cross-business Synergies in the New Economy
Rory McDonald (2011)
Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
Dissertation: Competition and Strategic Interaction in New Markets
Mark Mortensen (2003)
Associate Professor and Area Chair of Organizational Behavior, INSEAD
Dissertation: Antecedents of Boundary Disagreement in Distributed and Collocated Teams
Ralph Maurer (2008)
Head of School, Oxbridge Academy
Dissertation: Tweaking the Iconic: The Management of Continuity-Constrained Resources
Andrew Nelson (2007, post-doc 2008)
Associate Professor and Randall C. Pape Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of Oregon
Dissertation: Institutional Convergence and the Diffusion of University — Versus Firm-Origin Technologies
Gerardo Okhuysen (1997)
Professor and Associate Dean, University of California — Irvine
Dissertation: Creating Opportunities for Change: how formal problem solving interventions work
Siobhan O’Mahony (2002)
Feld Family Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Boston University
Dissertation: The Co-evolution of the Open Source Community and Emerging Business Models
Timothy Ott (2017)
Assistant Professor, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dissertation: From opportunity to strategy: How executives create a system of interdependent strategic decisions
Pinar Ozcan (2005)
Professor, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Oxford University
Dissertation: Start-ups in nascent markets: Building a strong alliance portfolio from a low-power position
Henning Piezunka (2014)
Assistant Professor, INSEAD
Dissertation: Competing in Intermediated Markets
Jason Rathje (2019)
Partner, AF Ventures, AFWERX
Dissertation: Essays on Public Funding for Private Innovation
Reuven Regev (1990)
Founder & Chairman, Scanmarker
Dissertation: Global Versus Locally Focused Activities in Organizations
Zachariah Rodgers (2017)
Senior Associate, McKinsey & Company
Dissertation: The overriding power of ought nots: Evidence from microfinance for why some types of hybrid organizations fail to achieve comprehensive performance
Keith Rollag (2000)
Dean of F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, Babson College
Dissertation: Newcomers, Oldtimers, and Relative Tenure: Organizational Assimilation as an Outcome of Social Comparison
Jeff Rosenberger (2004)
Chief Operating Officer, Guideline Technologies
Dissertation: Nascent technology ventures and corporate venture funding
Filipe M. Santos (2003)
Dean, Professor, and Chair of Social Entrepreneurship, Universidade Católica, Lisbon
Dissertation: The Management of Organizational Boundaries in High-Tech Industries
Victor Seidel (2005)
Associate Professor, Babson College
Dissertation: Managing novel product concepts: A process theory
Sruthi Thatchenkery (2016)
Assistant Professor, University College London
Dissertation: Rivalry and Innovation
Ron Tidhar (2020)
Data Scientist, Instagram
Dissertation: Developing High-Performing Business Models
Eric Volmar (2021)
Chief of Research & Analytics at AFWERX, U.S. Air Force
Dissertation: When New Markets and Powerful Institutions Collide: How Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs Form Strategy, Organize, and Compete
Tyler Whittle (2021)
Senior Associate @ Floodgate
Dissertation: Entrepreneurial Finance: From Accelerators to IPOs
Willow Wu (2021)
Assistant Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dissertation: Entrepreneurial Strategies in Institutional Changes: Tackling the Conflicts Between New and Old Rules
Featured Publications
Who takes you to the dance? How partners' institutional logics influence innovation in young firms
Administrative Science Quarterly
AbstractSocial influence in career choice: Evidence from a randomized field experiment on entrepreneurial mentorship
AbstractSeeing What Others Miss: A Competition Network Lens on Product Innovation
Organization Science, 32(5): 1346-1370
Abstract