I am primarily interested in studying the antecedents of entrepreneurial performance in contexts with fundamental uncertainties, such as the early stages of an industry or economies undergoing major transitions, and the consequences of entrepreneurial strategies for industry agglomeration. The contexts that my papers engage with include the early American automobile industry (1895-1918), Maoist China (1964-1978), the Italian fashion industry (1945-1980), the U.S. medical devices industry (1990-2015), and the Finnish pulp and paper industry (1934-1975). To study such contexts, I engage in abduction (inference to the best explanation) using historical methods, combining traditional frequentist statistics and qualitative historical analysis of historical records. In my second stream of research, using concepts from the Philosophy of Science, I explore how scholars can improve the nature of research claims made in Management. My research contributes to the theories of industry evolution, agglomeration, and research methods.
