RESEARCH AREAS

ENTREPRENEURIAL/INNOVATION STRATEGY:

SELECTED WORKS IN PROGRESS:

Born global or via strategy? What the expansion of digital product startups reveals (with Nataliya Wright)

The advent of digital technology has significantly lowered the barriers for reaching global audiences. This effect is especially pronounced for digital startups, where products are readily accessible and operable with a mere click. This raises questions about whether digital startups are inherently global or if they actively decide to pursue internationalization early in their lifecycle. If it's the latter, do they adopt an experimental approach? Our findings, based on a mixed-method research design, indicate that digital startups deliberately choose to internationalize as part of their growth strategies. Analysis of language installations on their websites demonstrates that they typically adopt an experimental approach to internationalization, lasting approximately four years after inception, focusing on in-depth learning. These insights highlight the criticality of a global strategy in the digital domain and the significance of experimental methods in how startups approach internationalization.

Internationalization and Startup Performance: Global Evidence from Startup's Digital Technologies  (with Nataliya Wright)

Innovation Configurations and Firm Performance: An fsQCA approach (with Vikash Sinha and Simon Okwir)

Presented at: Strategy Science 2023; AOM Annual Meeting 2022 & prior version in 2021 (Online), SMS Annual Meeting 2021 (Online); SMS 2021 PDW; DRUID Conference 2021 (CBS)

FINANCING & STRATEGY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION:

SELECTED WORKS IN PROGRESS:

Digital Entrepreneurial Strategy on Crowdfunding Platforms (with Johannes Loh)


PUBLICATIONS:

von Nitzsch Bird Saiedi SEJ 2024 - The strategic role of owners in firm growth Contextualizing ownership competence in Private Firms.pdf

The Strategic Role of Owners in Firm Growth: Contextualizing Ownership Competence in Private Firms (Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal) with Jannis Nitzsch (TUM) and Miriam Bird (TUM)

Abstract: We integrate the emerging literature on the strategic role of firm owners in firms’ value creation with Penrosean growth theory to investigate how and under what conditions two experience-based competences among owners—matching competence and governance competence—influence firm growth. Employing a longitudinal sample of 2,509 owner-managed German firms, we find a positive relationship between owners’ experience-based competences and firm growth. Further, we find that in family firms, the positive relationship between owners’ experience-based governance competence and firm growth is weaker and that both experience-based competences matter more in younger firms compared to older firms. Our findings make important contributions to research on strategic ownership and Penrosean growth theory.

FINANCING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION:

SELECTED WORK IN PROGRESS

Are Constraints the Mother of Innovation? Innovation Effects of the Global Financial Crisis (solo-authored)


Abstract: I investigate effects of funding rejections on firm investments, innovation activity and performance, through matching successful and observably-similar unsuccessful capital-seeking SMEs. This approach to disentangling supply-side from demand-side forces by exploiting realized application outcomes is novel and robust to substitution between sources of capital. I find evidence of firms’ tangible and intangible investments being hampered due to inability to access capital in the crisis. Patenting firms decrease intangible investments after the crisis, and financial constraints reduce firm intangibility. Surprisingly, the quality of patenting increased for financially constrained firms after the crisis. The mechanism seems to be that financially constrained firms revisit and exploit in-house R&D better in the face of systemic crises and perceptions of financial, organizational, and human capital constraints. Reduced investment plans following rejection are a primary channel through which firm performance is lowered, and the effects are amplified for innovative firms. Results imply that while the financial crisis harmed investments, it spurred affected firms to harness intangible resources better.
Presented at: AOM 2023; Harvard 2022; SMS 2022 (London); Druid 2022 (CBS); SSE 2021; AOM Annual Meeting 2020 (Online); KTH

PUBLICATIONS:

Saiedi et al. - 2020 Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.pdf

with Ali Mohammadi (CBS), Anders Broström (KTH) and Kourosh Shafi (CalState)

Abstract: What has boosted crowdfunding’s growth? In the case of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, we highlight the role of consumers’ distrust in banks. We offer evidence that distrust in banks likely triggers individuals to supply funding toward crowdfunding and away from bank deposits. We highlight that a distrust mindset promotes questioning default choices and considering alternatives, and fosters comparisons focusing on dissimilarities. Our findings suggest US states whose residents express greater distrust in banks are more likely to fund P2P loans and, conditional on funding, lend higher amounts. This relationship is more pronounced when funding small loans or borrowers with less banking access.

Saiedi et al. (2020) - Forthcoming at Small Business Economics.pdf
with Anders Broström (KTH) and Felipe Ruiz Lopez (MIT Sloan/UPM)
Abstract: A vast digital ecosystem of entrepreneurship and exchange has sprung up with Bitcoin’s digital infrastructure at its core. We explore the worldwide spread of infrastructure necessary to maintain and grow Bitcoin as a system (Bitcoin nodes) and infrastructure enabling the use of bitcoins for everyday economic transactions (Bitcoin merchants). Specifically, we investigate the role of legal, criminal, financial, and social determinants of the adoption of Bitcoin infrastructure. We offer some support for the view that the adoption of cryptocurrency infrastructure is driven by perceived failings of traditional financial systems, in that the spread of Bitcoin infrastructure is associated with low trust in banks and the financial system among inhabitants of a region, and with the occurrence of country-level inflation crises. On the other hand, our findings also suggest that active support for Bitcoin is higher in locations with well-developed banking services. Finally, we find support for the view that bitcoin adoption is also partly driven by cryptocurrencies’ usefulness in engaging in illicit trade.