The downside of legitimacy building for a new firm in a nascent industry
By: Tiona Zuzul, Amy C. Edmondson
Contributors: Edmondson, Amy C.; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 11-099; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 11-099
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Boston]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 44
Work titles: Ambiguity squared
Description: This paper explores how entrepreneurs' efforts to legitimate a firm and a nascent industry affect the internal development of the firm. Through a three-year case study of a firm in the nascent smart cities industry, we uncover unexpected effects of leaders' legitimation efforts. Leaders engaged in a set of legitimation activities aimed at helping external stakeholders understand and appreciate the firm and its industry. These activities had three unintended cognitive consequences for firm employees -- constrained attention, overconfidence, and identity commitments -- that affected the firm's ability to learn: attend to, reflect on, and dynamically respond to information and changes in its environment. Our longitudinal research reveals a downside of legitimacy-building and highlights unique challenges of competing in a nascent industry.
Notes: "March 2011. (Revised April 2011, January 2012, October 2012, July 2013.)"--Publisher's Web site.

Revised edition of Ambiguity squared: growing a new business in a nascent industry, originally published in [2012].

Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-40).