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Managing operational capabilities in startup companies/

Thesis: S.M. in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 59-63). / Hundreds of papers exist on entrepreneurial marketing and finance, whereas capabilities for operations get far less attention. Furthermore, much of the literature in operations management addresses challenges of companies in stable environments, leaving entrepreneurs with little theoretical or practical guidance on operations strategy. As a result, many entrepreneurs focus their efforts on value creation: marketing, product development, lead generation, and conversion. Ironically, extreme focus on value creation might represent a trap, whereby a company fails not because of a poor value proposition or bad marketing, but because of an inability to scale up and deliver value for perhaps an outstanding, innovative new product or service. In over a dozen case studies written during the past four years, we have found numerous examples where the development of operational capabilities was a determining factor for success or failure in entrepreneurial firms. We study the effect of timing of introduction of operational capabilities on market success as a function of firm's value proposition. We provide case evidence on the challenges and opportunities of building operations capabilities in entrepreneurial firms and we construct theoretical and testable models for assessing when and why entrepreneurs should invest sooner, or later, in operational capabilities. / by Sergey A. Naumov. / S.M. in Management Research

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/109651
Date January 2017
CreatorsNaumov, Sergey A
ContributorsCharles H. Fine and John D. Sterman., Sloan School of Management., Sloan School of Management.
PublisherMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Source SetsM.I.T. Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format67 pages, application/pdf
RightsMIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

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