A professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, Lyda Bigelow recently won the Best Paper Award at the Competitive Dynamics Conference at Imperial College London.
Her research paper is titled “Stuck in the Middle (of Time): Innovation Shocks and Strategic Repositioning in a Growing Market.” It explores how we live in a world where innovations in technology (AI, platforms, semiconductors, etc.) and business (on-shoring, near-shoring, remote work, etc.) are rapidly reshaping the competitive landscape.
“My research is designed to develop ideas and tactics about firm responses to innovation shocks that can be useful to both the academic research community as well as the practitioner community of managers and entrepreneurs,” Bigelow said. “My objective is to provide insights that improve the odds of founders and firms successfully navigating these shocks.”
The paper’s coauthors include Woo-Yong Park, of the Lee Business School at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Jackson Nickerson, of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Bigelow was one of many researchers from top universities around the world who presented at the Competitive Dynamics Conference. The conference organizing committee used expert reviewers to decide on the Best Paper Award in a double-blind process.
“I was deeply honored to receive this award because it is recognition from other top scholars who study topics related to how startups and incumbents can improve performance, either through effective competitive strategies or through collaborating with other organizations,” Bigelow said. “My work focuses on how firms can respond and reposition in the wake of an innovation shock- an increasingly important topic among researchers, managers and entrepreneurs.”
Bigelow has taught at the Eccles School since 2006. She currently serves as Pierre Lassonde Professor of Entrepreneurship and the academic director of the award-winning Master of Business Creation program, which allows founders to earn a graduate degree while growing their startups.
She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley, an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College. Her research interests include strategy, entrepreneurship, innovation, adaptation and survival, evolution of technology, boundaries of the firm, and transaction costs.
Learn more about the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at https://Ecces.Utah.edu/ENTP.