The following publications from Marriott School faculty and associates of the Center for Entrepreneurship are listed here for those interested in a more academic approach to entrepreneurship:

• Felin, Teppo "Entrepreneurs as Theorists: On the Origins of Entrepreneurial Beliefs and Novel Strategies (with Todd Zenger)," Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal 2009    


• Woodworth, Warner ""Comparing Apples and Oranges: Different Microfinance Strategies in Kenya"," Conference paper published by the Academy of Business Disciplines Volume Proceedings, Issue Winter 2008, Pages 13, ABD, Conference in Fort Myers, Florida, November, 2008    

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  Based on Marriott School and Kennedy Center research support summer 2007, this paper delineates similarities and differences among microfinance NGOs that provide economic development services to poor families within Kenya. Their models of business, change strategies, tools and programs are highlighted, and the paper concludes with an assessment of their impacts.



• Crawford, Robert "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents and the Competitive Contracting Process," Economics of Modern Business Enterprise, a three volume collection. Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd.,, Cheltanham, Glos., U.K, Martin Ricketts, Professor of Economic Organisation and Dean of the School of Humanities, July, 2008    

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  The nature of specialized assets determines their placement in the organizational governance structure because of their susceptibility to rent appropriation in the competitive contracting process.



• Woodworth, Warner "Several titles in different sections of the book," Social Entrepreneurship Teaching Resources Handbook University Network for Social Entrepreneurship, Washington, DC, March, 2008    

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  I wrote about BYU-Marriott School programs in several sections of the handbook so as to feature our social entrepreneurship efforts such as the Center for Economic Self-Reliance, annual conferences, field studies, social venture competition, courses, etc. to raise BYU's profile and build worldwide interest in our research, & so forth.



• Furr, Nathan "What Makes a Process a Capability? Heuristics, Strategy and Effective Capture of Opportunities," Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 27-47, January, 2008    

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  While organizational processes, such as internationalization, acquisition, alliance, are a fundamental concept within many literatures and central to firm capabilities controversy exists regarding how they become high performing. One view emphasizes the role of experience while a second view emphasizes cognition and, in particular, the role of articulated heuristics. Using qualitative and quantitative field data on the internationalization process of entrepreneurial firms from three culturally distinct regions (Finland, U.S., Singapore), we juxtapose these two competing theoretical views to better gain insight into organizational processes and capabilities. The core contribution of our paper is insight into the structure of firm capabilities. Results show that experience per se is insufficient for creating high performing organizational processes. Rather, individuals must actively translate that experience into shared heuristics in order to develop a high performing process and hence a firm capability. At a broader level, we contribute to strategy by empirically validating the strategic logic of opportunity, a logic that is particularly relevant in dynamic and growth oriented markets. We also contribute to entrepreneurship by adding to the opportunity discovery vs. opportunity creation debate, and by shedding light on the relationship between structure and performance in new ventures. Overall, we contribute to the emerging but growing body of research emphasizing a more cognitive view of firms.



• Brau, James "Do Secondary Shares in the IPO Process have a Negative Effect on Aftermarket Performance?," Journal of Banking and Finance Volume 31, Issue 9, Pages 2612-2631, Elsevier, September, 2007    

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  We revisit and extend the topic of secondary share sales and revisions in IPOs. First we test to determine if secondary share sales constitute a negative signal that is captured in aftermarket performance. We find secondary share sales in general are not correlated with poorer initial or long-run performance, but selling by officers and directors is associated with poorer long-run returns. Second, we examine if secondary share revisions (1) reflect selling shareholders attempts to conceal private information or (2) are contingent upon whether a firm can reach its goal of raising sufficient capital. We find empirical support for a capital goal, but not for concealment.



• Brau, James "An Empirical Analysis of the Financial Impact of Supply Chain Management on Small Firms," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Ventures Volume 12, Issue 1, January, 2007    

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  In this article we test the value proposition hypothesis of supply chain management (SCM) by examining survey results of 570 US managers. First, we find that large firms use SCM initiatives significantly more than small firms. Second, in univariate and multivariate tests, we find that SCM leads to significant improvements in asset utilization, revenue generation, and competitive performance, regardless of firm size. These two major findings suggest that managers at small firms that are not actively engaged in SCM should reevaluate their opportunity to capture the competitive benefits of SCM that many large firms currently enjoy.



• DeRosia, Eric "The Stonewall Metaphor: Making an Impact with Transformative Consumer Research," Advances in Consumer Research Volume 34, Association for Consumer Research, Duluth, MN, Gavan J. Fitzsimons and Vicki G. Morwitz, 2007    

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  This research employs an extended historical metaphor comparing informational asymmetries and competitive advantage in the US Civil War with current informational asymmetries in knowledge of consumer theory between well-trained managers and less-educated entrepreneurs in the US and emerging economies. Four research questions are addressed: What types of information facilitate and inhibit competitive advantage? How does information asymmetry change over time in a competitive context? What factors facilitate and inhibit the translation of information asymmetry into competitive advantage? Lastly, what are the implications of the metaphor for transformative consumer research? The findings suggest that the modal activity of consumer behavior researchers (i.e., teaching at university) contributes to the informational disadvantage of less-educated entrepreneurs. Compensatory actions are suggested.



• Dyer, W. "Examining the "Family Effect" on Firm Performance," Family Business Review Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages 253-273, December, 2006    


• Woodworth, Warner "The Value of Networks in Enterprise Development: Case Studies in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 345-356, Whitman School of Management, University of Syracuse, Syracuse, New York, December, 2006    

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  This series of on-site research projects from Bulgaria and the Philippines analyses how Eastern Europe began to develop civil society after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, as well as how Filipinos started to rebuild their economy following the fall of the Marcos dictatorship and the rise of "People Power"--using grassroots mechanisms for economic reconstruction (pp. 345-356).



• Dyer, W. "Family Firms and Social Performance: Preliminary Evidence from the S & P 500," Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Volume 30, Issue 6, Pages 785-802, Blackwell, November, 2006    


• Woodworth, Warner "Challenges Facing Impoverished Families When Disaster Strikes: Opportunities for Microfinance," Review of Business Research Volume VI, Issue 5, Pages 29-33, October, 2006    

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  This research assesses the multiple challenges facing Third World families when various crises occur. It highlights the challenges of doing economic development through black market or underground methodologies, with an emphasis on microcredit. Suggestions are made for how MFIs can best support their clients when faced with enormous challenges.



• Hatch, Nile "Network-Specific Capabilities, Network Barriers to Knowledge Transfers, and Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal Volume 27, Issue 8, Pages 701-719, John Wiley, August, 2006    

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  This study examines the role of network knowledge resources in influencing firm performance. More specifically: Can a firm that uses the identical supplier network as competitors and purchases similar inputs from the same plants achieve a competitive advantage through that network? In a sample of U.S. automotive suppliers selling to both Toyota and U.S. automakers, we found that greater knowledge sharing on the part of Toyota resulted in a faster rate of learning within the suppliers manufacturing operations devoted to Toyota. Indeed, from 1990-1996 suppliers reduced defects by 50 percent for Toyota versus only 26 percent for their largest U.S. customer. The quality differences were found to persist within suppliers because the inter-organizational routines and policies at GM, Ford, and Chrysler acted as barriers to knowledge transfers within suppliers plants. These findings empirically demonstrate that network resources have a significant influence on firm performance. We also show that some firm resources and capabilities are relation-specific and are not easily transferable (re-deployable) to other buyers or networks. This result implies that a firm may be on its production possibility frontier for each customer but the productivity frontier will be different for each customer due to constraints associated with the customers network.



• Fawcett, Stanley "Evidence From CFOs Pertaining to the IPO process: Practice, Theory, and Managerial Implications," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance Volume Vol. 18, Issue No. 3, July, 2006    


• Crawford, Robert "Ethics in Entrepreneurship," Yale Economic Review Issue Summer 2006, Pages 21-26, Yale University, New Haven, June, 2006    

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  Everything old was once new, and every innovation requires an entrepreneur, willing and able to meet an unserviced tier of consumer demand. Raising questions about the very relation between the self and others, the endeavors of today's entrepreneurs remain central to economic activity, and perhaps even moral obligation.



• Woodworth, Warner "Alleviating Poverty Through Microfinance: Village Banking Outcomes," The Social Science Journal Volume 43, Issue 3, Pages 471-477, Elsevier, New York, May, 2006    

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  This study reports on our field research in the early 2000s in Central America to develop and test survey instruments for data collection on the impacts of microloans on poor families. We describe the growing village bank movement in which NGOs channel microcredit through native NGOs, report our research findings, interpret conclusions, and suggest future studies on poverty alleviation (pp. 471-477).



• Crawford, Robert "The Ethics of Productivity in the Information Economy," The European Journal of Management and Public Policy Volume Volume 4, Issue No. 1 (2005), Pages 75-86, European Center fo Peace and Development, April, 2006    

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  As the consummate economic problem, change affects everyonepositively or negativelythrough altering asset values created by capitalizing the resultant future. Change via productive innovation results in intra- and inter-societal wealth transfers that create winners and losers. The ethical concern is that winners are privileged and losers discounted. Positively, productivity meets the material needs of others. Hence being a non-productive member of society is immoral. Negatively, imposing losses on others is also immoral. Innovators, as potential winners, privilege productivity; potential losers seek its prevention. Recognising that the problem is privileging the status-quo as an outcome rather than as a process provides an escape from the dilemma that innovation should be prevented because it imposes losses on others. A process that permits alternatives reduces the likelihood that an inferior service or product can be successfully introduced. Thereby, the ethical event of competitive productive alternatives actively call into question any spontaneously offered inferiority. Competitive innovation that reduces ones welfare by improving others welfare is an unavoidable systemic risk. Result protection attempts to prevent the consequent losses of innovation by privileging a few, in ways not available to all. Result protection tends to lead to economic stagnation that con only be overcome through process protecting policies.



• Brau, James "Initial Public Offerings: CFO Perceptions," Financial Review Volume 41, Issue 4, Pages 483-511, January, 2006    

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  We examine four issues pertaining to IPOs using a survey of 438 CFOs. First, why do firms go public? Second, is CFO sentiment stationary in bear and bull markets? Third, what concerns CFOs about going public? Fourth, do CFO perceptions correlate with returns? Results support funding for growth and liquidity as the primary considerations for IPOs. CFO sentiment is generally stationary in pre- and post-bubble years. Managers are concerned with the direct costs of going public, such as underwriting fees, as well as indirect costs. We find a negative relation between a focus on immediate growth and long-term abnormal returns.



• Brau, James "Evidence from What CFOs Think About the IPO Process: Practice, Theory, and Managerial Implications," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance Volume 18, Issue 3, Pages 68-78, Morgan Stanley, New York, 2006    

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  Going public through an initial public offering (IPO) is the goal of many privately held companies. But, the IPO process is relatively expensive and often frustrating. Because getting it wrong can be costly, managers should be well informed about the IPO process. To provide valuable insight into the IPO process, we asked CFOs to share their perceptions and experience regarding critical dimensions in evaluating and undertaking an IPO. We find that CFOs are generally cognizant of the issues and pitfalls surrounding IPOs. We also find that CFO perceptions diverge from traditional academic theory in several ways. For example, the theoretical IPO motivation of minimizing the cost of capital received little support. Likewise, there were specific details that CFOs were not familiar with. For instance, IPO market conditions have a strong influence on both timing and valuation, yet most CFOs consider only overall market or industry-wide conditions. This reality may lead them to ignore valuable information that could result in a more successful offering. We find CFOs are informed on the level of underpricing to expect and most feel underpricing is compensation for initial investor risk. Finally, CFOs report that the primary reason for staying private is to maintain decision-making control.



• Brau, James "Initial Public Offerings: An Analysis of Theory and Practice," Journal of Finance Volume 61, Issue February, Pages 399-436, 2006    

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  We survey 336 CFOs to compare practice to theory in the areas of IPO motivation, timing, underwriter selection, underpricing, signaling, and the decision to remain private. We find the primary motivation for going public is for acquisition purposes. CFOs base IPO timing on overall market conditions, are well-informed regarding expected underpricing, and feel underpricing compensates investors for taking risk. The most important positive signal is past historical earnings, followed by underwriter certification. CFOs have divergent opinions about the IPO process depending on firm-specific characteristics. Finally, we find the main reason for remaining private is to preserve decision-making control and ownership.



• Woodworth, Warner "Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty," October, 2005    

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  This is a one hour documentary on how microlending NGOs help alleviate family poverty. It was shown at the United Nations during 2005, The International Year of Microcredit, KBYU, KUED, and on PBS nationally over a three month period. My co-author, Todd Manwaring, and I also wrote all the material on two websites, those of BYU and PBS.



• McQueen, Grant "Lockups Revisited," Journal of Financial and Quantative Analysis Volume 40, Issue 3, Pages 519-530, September, 2005    

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  Lockups are agreements by insiders of stock-issuing firms to abstain from selling shares for a specified period of time after the issue. Brav and Gompers (2003) suggests that lockups are a bonding solution to a moral hazard problem and not a signaling solution to an adverse selection problem. We challenge this conclusion theoretically and empirically. In our model, insiders of good firms signal by putting and keeping (locking up) their money where their mouths are. Our model yields two comparative statics: lockups should be shorter when a firm is 1) more transparent and/or 2) more risky. Using a sample of 4,013 initial public offerings and 3,279 seasoned equity offerings between 1988 and 1999, we find empirical support for our theoretical predictions.



• Brau, James "Amazon Rainforest Properties Ltda: Monte Carlo Analysis in an International Capital Budgeting Decision," Journal of Financial Education Volume 31, Issue Winter, Pages 107-117, 2005    

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  Jonathan Galvant is the President of Amazon Rainforest Properties. The company owns over one million acres of rainforest land in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. Jonathan is considering an environmentally friendly logging operation in an effort to employ local workers and prevent as much slash-and-burn farming as possible. He has obtained data on the costs and revenues of the proposed project and now needs to determine if the logging operation can meet its philanthropic potential while at the same time paying for itself.



• Brau, James "Lockups Revisited," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 2005    

  View Abstract

  Lockups are agreements by insiders of stock-issuing firms to abstain from selling shares for a specified period of time after the issue. Brav and Gompers (2003) suggests that lockups are a bonding solution to a moral hazard problem and not a signaling solution to an adverse selection problem. We challenge this conclusion theoretically and empirically. In our model, insiders of good firms signal by putting and keeping (locking up) their money where their mouths are. Our model yields two comparative statics: lockups should be shorter when a firm is 1) more transparent and/or 2) more risky. Using a sample of 4,013 initial public offerings and 3,279 seasoned equity offerings between 1988 and 1999, we find empirical support for our theoretical predictions.



• Woodworth, Warner "Warrior Economics: Financing the Poorest of the Native American Poor," Native American Policy Volume XV, Issue 2, Pages 46-59, October, 2004    

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  This paper assesses the emergence of microenterprise formation and implementation on North American tribal reservations, emphasizing the Lakota Sioux system.



• Brau, James "Do Venture Capitalists Add Value to Small Manufacturing Firms? An Empirical Analysis of Venture and Non-Venture Capital Backed Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Small Business Management Volume 42, Issue 1, Pages 77-91, 2004    

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  We examine a set of small, venture capital (VC) backed manufacturing firms and compare it to a control sample of non-VC backed manufacturing firms going public between 1990 and 1996. We use the degree of underpricing, three-year sales growth, three-year cumulative stock return, and three-year survivability as measures of success. First, we test if the presence of VC backing results in significant differences in success between the two samples. Next, we test if certain VC and deal characteristics are discriminators within the VC backed sample of firms. Despite previous literature, which argues for either inferior or superior VC post-IPO performance, our tests indicate no significant differences between VC and non-VC backed firms. Additionally, we find that VC and deal characteristics are not discriminating factors within the VC sample.



• Dean, Douglas "Consulting at the Laser ISP (LISP) Company: Using Excel? Metrics Capabilities to Solve Semi-structured Management Problems," Journal of Information Systems Education Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 353-358, October, 2003    

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  Introductory Information System (IS) courses commonly focus too heavily on teaching application features, as opposed to teaching unstructured problem-solving skills. In response to this pedagogical gap, professors at Brigham Young University have developed integrated cases that improve the instruction for their introductory IS course. In this paper, we overview a case that provides a realistic and compelling problem-solving experience for teaching Microsoft Excel? measurement capabilities. This case describes the customer service issues and installation problems faced by an Internet service provider, along with pertinent cost and service data. The case requires the student to play the role of a management consultant who is asked to make business recommendations using Excel?. To effectively work with this case, students need exposure to Excel? lookups, date/time capabilities, and countif / sumif functions, as well as other basic Excel? features. To help the instructor implement this case, we have provided teaching notes that overview the history of the case, teaching suggestions, and a highly detailed grading and discussion template.



• Dyer, W. "The Family: The Missing Variable in Organzational Research," Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Volume 27, Issue 4, Pages 401-416, June, 2003    


• Brau, James "Concealing and Confounding Adverse Signals: Insider Wealth-Maximizing Behavior in the IPO Process," Journal of Financial Economics Volume 67, Issue 1, Pages 149-172, 2003    

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  We study a known negative signal, the sale of insider shares in an IPO and find that insiders adopt two concealment strategies consistent with wealth-maximizing behavior. First, insiders underreport the number of personally owned shares in the prominent original prospectus and use an obscure amendment to communicate the true higher level of shares to be offered. Second, when insiders increase shares in a later amendment, they tend to either increase secondary shares disproportional to primary share increases, or to reduce primary shares to wholly or partly conceal the increase in secondary shares offered. Insiders confound the negative secondary share signal by simultaneously sending a positive lockup signal.



• Price, William "Retailing as a Career: A Comparative Study of Marketers," Journal of Retailing Volume 78, Issue Spring 2002, Pages 71-76, April, 2002    

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  This note reports how positions in retailing--particularly store-based positions--compare with other marketing-related positions. While much of the past literature concerning work experiences in retail settings is primarily perceptual and anectdotal, the results of this nationwide study are based on an examination of actual workplace experiences in marketing-related positions. The finds suggest that workplace experiences in corporate retailing are positive and equivalent to other marketing-related careers. However, workplace experiences in retail store management are less satisfying. The retail store managers studies were paid less, experienced less variety and autonomy on the job, felt less satisfied and committed to their work, and had greater turnover intentions compared to the other marketing managers studied. Managerial implications and recommendations are presented.