Research

Leading-edge research on entrepreneurial policy, business strategy and innovation in technology-driven markets.

STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, advances ground-breaking research on technology entrepreneurship and innovation. STVP’s leading-edge scholarly research creates a deep understanding of start-up performance and growth, technology innovation, and entrepreneurial policy. Our rigorous approach provides accessible insights that entrepreneurs apply in practice, while also improving the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurship. Research from STVP explores how complex interactions between new technologies, firm strategies, and policy interventions impact economic development and the growth of technology ventures.

Research Themes

The research of STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, faculty, students and alumni helps deepen our understanding of entrepreneurial policy, business strategy and innovation in technology-driven markets. Our work combines theoretical ideas with field-based studies on the real-world challenges and opportunities presented to technology firms in various global contexts with distinct social norms and policy interventions. Our insights are strengthened both by the multi-disciplinary expertise in Stanford’s School of Engineering and our proximity to Silicon Valley. STVP projects examine a range of topics, such as:
  • globalization and entrepreneurship in emerging economies
  • partner relationships and network formation
  • firm strategy and competition
STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, research relies on a variety of methods, including large-scale statistical analysis, laboratory experiments, simulation and qualitative research, such as interviews. Our research focuses on a variety of technologies with particular emphasis on digital communication, medical devices, clean-tech and robotics.
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?
Learn More About STVP’s Research:

Faculty

Alicia Sheares

Assistant Professor, MS&E (joining Fall, 2023)

Bio
Photo of Alicia Sheares, Assistant Professor, MS&E

Riitta Katila

Professor, MS&E and Faculty Director, STVP

Bio
picture of Riitta Katila

Chuck Eesley

Associate Professor, MS&E and Associate Faculty Director, STVP

Bio
Headshot of Chuck Eesley

Kathleen Eisenhardt

Professor, MS&E and Faculty Director Emeritus, STVP

Bio
Kathleen Eisenhardt

Robert Sutton

Professor, MS&E

Bio

Tom Byers

Professor, MS&E and Faculty Director, STVP

Bio
Tom Byers

Doctoral Program

STVP – the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center’s doctoral program prepares students to become leading academic experts on technology entrepreneurship, both in terms of policy (comparative contexts and external interventions) and practice (innovation and business strategy). Our doctoral students produce research and sharpen both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies with the mentorship of leading-edge faculty.
Apply to study with STVP and earn your doctoral degree with MS&E. Learn More
Applications must be submitted via STVP’s home department, Management Science & Engineering (MS&E) and by selecting one of STVP’s research specialties as an academic interest.  

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
Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Focus on innovation, competition and collaboration in the context of both established firms and new ventures
The faculty welcomes applications from students with social science or technical degrees — the blending of engineering and social science is the department’s trademark. Our doctoral students combine studies in engineering, economics, management, sociology, and psychology to gain a unique and balanced perspective. Our students not only take courses in MS&E, but also have access to Stanford’s entire policy and organizational studies communities, which provide internationally renowned thought leadership. STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, doctoral students typically complete degree requirements in four to five years. Students complete both a written comprehensive exam and a second-year paper, displaying both a literature review covering the first two years of coursework, and some original analysis in organizational studies. Most program graduates pursue academic careers at leading business and engineering schools, or explore career opportunities in industry.
To learn more about the program, visit: Application Submission MS&E Ph.D. Course and Degree Requirements Financial Aid MS&E Ph.D. Research Specializations

PhD Students

Wajeeha Ahmad

Wajeeha Ahmad

Parisa Assar

Parisa Assar

Christopher Flowers

Khonika Gope

Khonika Gope

Zahra Hejrati

Seyedeh Zahra Hejrati

Carrington Motley

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

Postdoctoral Scholars

Akira Egawa

Bio

Fanny Li

Postdoctoral Scholar, MS&E

Bio
Fanny LI

Anna Lukkarinen

Bio

Research Events

West Coast Research Symposium on Technology Entrepreneurship

The West Coast Research Symposium on Technology Entrepreneurship (WCRS) provides an intellectually stimulating experience and a community focused on cutting-edge research mapping the theoretical domain of technology entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy. WCRS is co-sponsored by STVP, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (University of Washington), the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (University of Oregon), the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (USC), the Don Beall Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (UC Irvine), and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
STVP Stanford Management Science and Engineering