The House of Innovation and the Center for Data Analytics at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) currently invites applications for tenure track positions, on the Assistant Professor level.

An important process that occurs at the nexus of entrepreneurship and family is the creation of new opportunities for one’s self and one’s kin. But this is not an easy task. There are many challenges that come with facing this unfamiliar and uncharted territory. For this reason, it makes sense that the journey be narrated in the form of metaphors embedded in family discourse. Yet, little is known about how these narratives are constructed or used.

When organizations grow too fast, they expose themselves to several risks. In the past, research has shown that people who try to move forward without careful evaluation is often associated with unethical decision-making, while taking time to evaluate consequences is associated with ethical decisions. Does this same rule apply also to organizations?

A few days ago we introduced Mattias Nordqvist, House of Innovation’s latest addition! His research focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation and ownership/governance in different types of family firms. Today, he takes us deeper in the interesting world of family-owned businesses. What are their most common traits and challenges? What happens when new generations engage in start-ups? What does it take for a family business to be successful? Mattias answers these questions and more. Keep reading!

House of Innovation is proud to present its latest PhD graduate: Maria Booth. She had her thesis defense last week, and we took the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her time at SSE, her research and her plans the future. Congratulations, Maria!

Alliances are at the core of firms’ innovation strategies. They allow firms to strengthen their innovation activities by providing access to technological knowledge developed by other firms. For this reason, alliances are particularly common in high-tech industries where the market position of firms is very dependent on their ability to introduce new and improved products and services. Often, however, alliances fail to meet expectations and do not lead to valuable outputs. It is therefore important to understand what distinguishes successful from less successful alliances.

Digitalization is changing many service industries. Nowhere is this more apparent than in standard business-to-consumer services. But also, business-to-business services are also being increasingly blended with digital technologies. Little is known about how this latter type of service is being changed by the onset of robots and artificial intelligence.

Exploratory research goes beyond testing existing ideas to illuminate phenomena without regard to offering a specific reason for doing so. For this reason, exploratory research is vital to entrepreneurship research where new phenomenon such as crowdfunding, social ventures, and digital business models emerge that scholars may lack existing tools to explain. Well-done exploratory research offers a great opportunity to make useful contributions to entrepreneurship scholarship.

In recent years, scholars have become increasingly interested in understanding the challenges and opportunities of building entrepreneurial family businesses from different perspectives. Most researchers in this area tend to draw on insights from the management and economics disciplines for theoretical and methodological guidance. However, other subjects, like psychology, family sciences, and history, have also been emphasized – and now even the humanities.

Mattias Nordqvist joined SSE’s House of Innovation in January 2020 as a professor of Business Administration with a focus on entrepreneurship. We have asked him some questions to get to know him better!