Business and Management INK

Entrepreneurial Evolution and the Magazine Industry

July 4, 2014 833
new-magazines-1110330-m

Happy 4th of July! To celebrate this relaxing, barbeque and family-fun filled holiday, we’re happy to provide you with a unique look into the history of the American magazine. In their article from Administrative Science Quarterly entitled “How Entrepreneurship Evolves: The Founders of New Magazines in America, 1741-1860,” authors Heather A. Haveman, Jacob Habinek and Leo A. Goodman explore this business to find out if new entrepreneurs find it harder to compete with existing industry insiders or if a well-established market gives new endeavors a leg up.

The abstract:

ASQ_v59n2_Jun2014_cover.indd

We craft a historically sensitive model of entrepreneurship linking individual actors to the evolving social structures they must navigate to acquire resources and launch new ventures. Theories of entrepreneurship and industry evolution suggest two opposing hypotheses: as an industry develops, launching a new venture may become more difficult for all but industry insiders and the socially prominent because of competition from large incumbents, or it may become easier for all people because the legitimacy accorded to the industry simplifies the entrepreneurial task. To test these two conflicting claims, we study the American magazine industry from 1741 to 1860. We find that magazine publishing was originally restricted to publishing-industry insiders, professionals, and the highly educated, but most later founders came from outside publishing and more were of middling stature. Gains by entrepreneurs from the social periphery, however, were uneven: most were doctors and clergy without college degrees in small urban areas; magazines founded by industry insiders remained predominant in the industry centers. Our analysis demonstrates the importance of grounding studies of entrepreneurship in historical context. It also shows that entrepreneurship scholars must attend to temporal shifts within the focal industry and in society at large.

Click here to read “How Entrepreneurship Evolves: The Founders of New Magazines in America, 1741-1860” from Administrative Science Quarterly. Make sure to sign up for e-alerts and get notified on research like this from Administrative Science Quarterly!

Business and Management INK puts the spotlight on research published in our more than 100 management and business journals. We feature an inside view of the research that’s being published in top-tier SAGE journals by the authors themselves.

View all posts by Business & Management INK

Related Articles

We Disagree to Agree: A Call to Apply Agreement Metrics More Extensively for Advancing Management Theory
Business and Management INK
July 25, 2024

We Disagree to Agree: A Call to Apply Agreement Metrics More Extensively for Advancing Management Theory

Read Now
Rethinking Approaches to Management Research During Times Marked by Rare, Yet Increasingly Impactful Events
Business and Management INK
July 23, 2024

Rethinking Approaches to Management Research During Times Marked by Rare, Yet Increasingly Impactful Events

Read Now
Funny or Functional: Customer Engagement in Hedonic vs. Utilitarian Services
Business and Management INK
July 22, 2024

Funny or Functional: Customer Engagement in Hedonic vs. Utilitarian Services

Read Now
‘Push, Pull, Dance’: Public Health Procurement – Saving Lives and Preventing Harm
Business and Management INK
July 18, 2024

‘Push, Pull, Dance’: Public Health Procurement – Saving Lives and Preventing Harm

Read Now
Leading Boards in Chaos and Uncertainty? Have an Enlightened Approach

Leading Boards in Chaos and Uncertainty? Have an Enlightened Approach

This article addresses the pivotal question of what sets well-governed companies apart from those jeopardizing stakeholders’ wealth and well-being, and argues that the key to sustainability and effective governance lies in the presence of an enlightened chair.

Read Now
Studying Leadership Coaching in the Workplace

Studying Leadership Coaching in the Workplace

Tatiana Bachkirova and Peter Jackson reflect on coaching and other factors that led to the publishing of their research article, “What do leaders really want to learn in a workplace? A study of the shifting agendas of leadership coaching,”

Read Now
The Case of Leftist Governments in Chile and Uruguay

The Case of Leftist Governments in Chile and Uruguay

In this article, Juan Bogliaccini and Aldo Madariaga explore leftist governments in peripheral economics — the topic of their recently published article, […]

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Erik Conover

Very insight interesting topic. Thanks for posting.

Erik
http://erikconover.com