Research Summary
Research Summary
Description
Professor Gilbert's research focuses on the areas of corporate entrepreneurship, discontinuous change, cognitive framing, and strategic resource allocation. Below is an description of his most recent research paper: 'Unbundling the Structure of Interia: Resource vs. Routine Rigidity':
In this paper I work to unbundled two distinct categories of inertia: resource rigidity (failure to change resource investment patterns) and routine rigidity (failure to change organizational processes that use those resources). Under conditions of discontinuous change, a failure to recognize these distinctions can lead to contradicting predictions about the role threat perception plays on inertia. Using field data on the response of newspaper organizations to the rise of digital media, I show that a strong perception of threat to the established business helps overcome resource rigidity, but then simultaneously acts to amplify routine rigidity. I then develop and interpretive model that explores mechanisms for overcoming this response paradox and discuss implications for future research.
More recently Professor Gilbert's research has evolved to look at how strategies change and evolve in new venture settings more generally. He is currently exploring how cognition and resource allocation shape and constrain the evolution of a firm's strategy.
In this paper I work to unbundled two distinct categories of inertia: resource rigidity (failure to change resource investment patterns) and routine rigidity (failure to change organizational processes that use those resources). Under conditions of discontinuous change, a failure to recognize these distinctions can lead to contradicting predictions about the role threat perception plays on inertia. Using field data on the response of newspaper organizations to the rise of digital media, I show that a strong perception of threat to the established business helps overcome resource rigidity, but then simultaneously acts to amplify routine rigidity. I then develop and interpretive model that explores mechanisms for overcoming this response paradox and discuss implications for future research.
More recently Professor Gilbert's research has evolved to look at how strategies change and evolve in new venture settings more generally. He is currently exploring how cognition and resource allocation shape and constrain the evolution of a firm's strategy.