Trial lecture
- Monday 10 October 2022, 11:15, in Kristen Nygaards sal (5370), Ole-Johan Dahls hus
- Title: "New business venturing challenges, different patterns for growth"
Main research findings
New venture firms are stimulants of economic growth. Just as established firms, new firms are also governed, but the dynamics here is different. Most of what we know about governance today stems from research on larger firms, which is different from the governance of smaller firms. Alas, much of what we know about their governance, and configurations, remain elusive and fragmented.
For new firms where organic growth is vital, this thesis finds that a dual board leadership structure - the situation where CEO and board chair is the same person - bodes well for their performance at very early stage, when the board is small, but not when the board is larger.
For startups with accelerated inorganic growth, I found that a separate board leadership structure is better than a dual board leadership structure. Increasing the number of board members with pluralistic board ties increased the probability of these firms being acquired. Similar findings were found for new firms acquiring other new firms.
For startups seeking hybrid growth, and thus entered alliances with established firms, I found that the well-aligned resource complementary between them is not sufficient to achieve a successful alliance, they need to overcome various other obstacles.
Adjudication committee:
Professor Magnus Klofsten, Division of Project, Innovations and Entrepreneurship, Linköping University, Sweden
Professor Siri Terjesen, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, USA
Professor Elin Kubberød, Department of Informatics,University of Oslo, Norway
Supervisors
- Professor Truls Erikson, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
- Professor Steffen Korsgaard, Department of Entrepreneurship and Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark
Chair of defence
Professor Ole Hanseth, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
Contact information to Department: Pernille Adine Nordby