Industry Emergence between Technology and Zeitgeist

This chapter examines the dynamics of industry emergence using the case of the blockchain and crypto (BC) industry. The BC industry is a rapidly developing field that has—in less than a decade—transformed from initially being a volunteer project of a small group of cypherpunks to a global industry with a plethora of actors involving vivid entrepreneurial and corporate activity. Importantly, the review of the extant literature and evidence reveals that ideological driving forces, which have been neglected in prior industry emergence research, constitute a major catalyst of this rapid industry development. In this vein, the chapter shows that the ideological notion of ‘decentralization’ has strongly contributed to the BC industry’s rapid growth by matching the zeitgeist in times of financial crises with increasing centralization by large digital platforms.

State, institutional entrepreneurship and the creation of the biopharmaceutical industry in a developing country

Purpose This study aims to explore the emergence and development of new industries, especially in the context of developing countries, by considering industry emergence and development as a large-scale institutional change or transition. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an inductive case study research on the emergence of the biopharmaceutical industry in a developing country. The data on the emergence and development of Iran’s biopharmaceutical industry during 1990 and 2018 were collected through semi-structured interviews, participation in meetings, visits to companies and analysis of archival texts. The data analysis was an inductive and iterative process. Findings In the emergence and development of the biopharmaceutical industry, there have been a few key agents, institutional entrepreneurs (IEs), in both the state and private sectors, who played main roles. Moreover, the most important type of knowledge which has been crucial for the decision-making of IEs has been informal, tacit and institutional knowledge. Furthermore, the authors identified a mechanism, inter-institutional circulation, as being most effective in the transfer of institutional knowledge among IEs. Originality/value The originality of this study is applying insights from institutional entrepreneurship and knowledge management literature to the extant literature on industry emergence and development.

Understanding industry emergence through entrepreneurship from a social movement perspective

Industry emergence is a complex phenomenon. The entrepreneurship literature has been characterized by individualistic explanations (‘hero’ entrepreneurs), complemented by institutional approaches. Sociology studies can offer alternative explanations for industry emergence. We draw from the concepts of Social Movements to frame the process of industry emergence in its initial phase. We synthesize the theoretical research on social movements, entrepreneurship, and industry emergence in an effort to develop a conceptual framework to improve our understanding of the pre-emergence of an industry. Our main contribution lies in understanding entrepreneurship, and thus industry emergence, as a community process in which multiple actors eventually result in a reduced number of early start-ups, which gives rise to a new industry. In addition, we propose that the type of movement will lead to different enablers and barriers to industry emergence.

From invention to industry from a social movement perspective: the emergence of the 3D printing industry

In the entrepreneurship literature, the phenomenon of industry emergence has been largely investigated from an institutional perspective. Appropriate institutions would allow then a group of individual entrepreneurs (“the heroes”) to create an industry through innovative ventures. New ventures create new industries and firm entry, survival, and exit drive industry evolution. Our research, however, explores what creates the favorable set of circumstances for new ventures to emerge and focuses on the pre-emergence phase and we propose that the patterns of emergence resemble those of social movements. Through an actor perspective, this research highlights the existence of diverse actors, not necessarily entrepreneurs, who are necessary to trigger a collective action during the pre-emergence phase of industries. This research is also distinct from entrepreneurial ecosystems as its development already requires some successful entrepreneurial action. The 3D printing industry was chosen as a single longitudinal case study, where the actors are the embedded units of analysis. The findings of the study lead to the identification of three aggregate dimensions—“Social Movement Composition,” Temporal Engagement,” and “Coalitions Development”—that were prevalent during the pre-emergence phase of the 3D printing industry. Our propositions emphasize the importance of large collective action and the role of multiple actors in order to create the conditions for, first, firm emergence and, the second, to the process of industry emergence.

Building Industries by Building Knowledge: Uncertainty Reduction over Industry Milestones

Scholars have long been interested in new industry emergence, highlighting that it could often be impeded by uncertainty across four dimensions: technology, demand, ecosystem, and institutions. Building on the insight that uncertainty stems from partial knowledge, we develop a conceptual framework that utilizes a temporal and a process perspective for knowledge generation and aggregation. Industry emergence through key milestones—commercialization, firm takeoff, and sales takeoff—is made possible by knowledge-generation processes by diverse actors within and across uncertainty dimensions, and knowledge-aggregation processes with appending, selecting, and collective mechanisms at play. Our conceptual framework integrates across disciplinary perspectives to shed light on both the development of an industry poised for future growth, and the bottlenecks that may delay or even impede industries from emergence.

From Invention to Industry from a social movement perspective: The emergence of the 3D Printing Industry

In the entrepreneurship literature, the phenomenon of industry emergence has been largely investigated from an institutional perspective. Appropriate institutions would allow then a group of individual entrepreneurs (‘the heroes’) to create an industry through innovative ventures. New ventures create new industries and firm entry, survival and exit drive industry evolution. Our research, however, explores what creates the favorable set of circumstances for new ventures to emerge and focuses on the pre-emergence phase and we propose that the patterns of emergence resemble those of social movements. Through an actor perspective, this research highlights the existence of diverse actors, not necessarily entrepreneurs, who are necessary to trigger a collective action during the pre-emergence phase of industries. This research is also distinct from entrepreneurial ecosystems as its development already requires some successful entrepreneurial action. The 3D Printing industry was chosen as a single longitudinal case study, where the actors are the embedded units of analysis. The findings of the study lead to the identification of three aggregate dimensions; “Social Movement Composition”, Temporal Engagement” and “Coalitions Development”, that were prevalent during the pre-emergence phase of the 3D printing industry. Our propositions emphasize the importance of large collective action and the role of multiple actors in order to create the conditions for, first, firm emergence and the second, to the process of industry emergence.

From Invention to Industry from a social movement perspective: The emergence of the 3D Printing Industry

In the entrepreneurship literature, the phenomenon of industry emergence has been largely investigated from an institutional perspective. Appropriate institutions would allow then a group of individual entrepreneurs (‘the heroes’) to create an industry through innovative ventures. New ventures create new industries and firm entry, survival and exit drive industry evolution. Our research, however, explores what creates the favorable set of circumstances for new ventures to emerge and focuses on the pre-emergence phase and we propose that the patterns of emergence resemble those of social movements. Through an actor perspective, this research highlights the existence of diverse actors, not necessarily entrepreneurs, who are necessary to trigger a collective action during the pre-emergence phase of industries. This research is also distinct from entrepreneurial ecosystems as its development already requires some successful entrepreneurial action. The 3D Printing industry was chosen as a single longitudinal case study, where the actors are the embedded units of analysis. The findings of the study lead to the identification of three aggregate dimensions; “Social Movement Composition”, Temporal Engagement” and “Coalitions Development”, that were prevalent during the pre-emergence phase of the 3D printing industry. Our propositions emphasize the importance of large collective action and the role of multiple actors in order to create the conditions for, first, firm emergence and the second, to the process of industry emergence.