Jacqueline Kirtley

Jacqueline Kirtley
  • Assistant Professor of Management

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    2033 SH-DH
    3620 Locust Walk
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: technology entrepreneurship, early stage strategy evolution, technological innovation

Links: CV

Overview

Jacqueline (Jax) Kirtley studies how strategy and technology evolve in early stage entrepreneurial firms developing revolutionary and disruptive technologies. She uses multi-year longitudinal field studies to examine hard-science startups in energy and cleantech, robotics, and medical devices, the scientists and engineers who found these firms, and the public and private organizations that support them in their earliest days.

Professor Kirtley is a co-organizer of the Wharton Technology and Innovation Conference, a Representative-at-Large for the Knowledge & Innovation IG of the Strategic Management Society, and a mentor for the University of Pennsylvania’s Y-Prize Competition.

Professor Kirtley did her doctoral studies in the Strategy & Innovation Department at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. She holds a bachelor of science from MIT in Ocean Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering as well as a master of science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, also from MIT. She received an MBA with high honors from Boston University. Prior to entering academia, Professor Kirtley taught science and engineering through live demonstrations at the Museum of Science Boston.

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Research

  • Jacqueline Kirtley (Working), Following the Money: Entrepreneurial Firm Strategy Making and the Impact of Venture Investors.

    Abstract: Early stage entrepreneurial technology firm strategy is incomplete. Uncertainties and unknowns need to be identified; activities, structures, and routines need to be worked out; and resources need to be acquired. Each of which could result in changes to the strategy. Resource acquisition, especially venture investment, has often been used as a proxy measure for success, yet little is known about how the process of resource acquisition impacts the coincident process of strategy evolution in early stage firms. Through an 11-year, birth to death, longitudinal, qualitative field study of Ohm, a firm developing novel technology with the potential for industry disruption, I examined this question. I found that the process of attracting and appeasing venture investors drove many significant decisions including which product to target and when. Notably, those decisions led to both a successful product launch and the entrepreneurial firm being considered unfundable by those same venture investors. Examining this impact, I identified two properties entrenched in the current model of venture investment that had negative effects on the technology firm’s strategy evolution: the entrepreneur’s clock and the regulatory focus shift of venture investors from promotion to prevention. This research contributes to entrepreneurial strategy and finance by uncovering how resource acquisition can be both a measure of progress and a driver of firm strategy, and how venture investors can indirectly, but significantly impact not only the potential for firm success but also what firm is created in the process.

  • Jacqueline Kirtley and Siobhan O’Mahony (2020), What is a Pivot? Explaining When and How Entrepreneurial Firms Decide to Make Strategic Change and Pivot, Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3131

    Abstract: Most theories of strategic change focus on how large, established firms recognize or fail to recognize the need for strategic change. Little research examines how early stage entrepreneurs decide when and how to change their strategies. With a longitudinal field study of seven entrepreneurial firms developing innovations in energy and cleantech, we examined 93 strategic decisions at risk for change. We found that decision makers chose to change their strategies only after new information conflicted with or expanded their beliefs. Further, a pivot, or strategic reorientation, was not achieved with a single decision, but by incrementally exiting or adding strategy elements over time, accumulating into a pivot. We contribute a grounded definition of what constitutes a pivot and explain when and how entrepreneurial firms pivot.

  • Jacqueline Kirtley (Working), Future Whales: Speculated & Perceived Power in Entrepreneurial-Established Firm Partnerships for Novel Technology Development.

    Abstract: Entrepreneurial technology firms that partner with established firms are said to be “swimming with sharks;” however, entrepreneurs do not see themselves as powerless, small fish but instead as future whales. Power is a social attribute between partners, not an objective shared measure but an idiosyncratic, forward-looking valuation assessed by each partner separately. The perception of power is influenced by belief, motivation, confidence, and attitude about the competence of others; therefore, entrepreneurial firms may not be lower power simply because they need external resources. How do such firms gain power in partnerships with established firms for the development of novel technology innovations? I addressed this question through examination of 11 partnerships across three entrepreneurial firms and the relative power demonstrated in the resolution of 18 disputes of which two-thirds resolved in the entrepreneurial firm’s favor. I found that increased relative power came from decision makers’ speculations about future dependence with partners in roles across the value chain. Within the partnerships, both firms speculated about future resource dependence in their calculation of relative power, often resulting in the entrepreneurial firm being assessed as the higher-powered partner but not always. Speculations observed in this study focused on resources, the decision maker’s own role within the firm, and the entrepreneurial firm’s likelihood for success or failure. As such, the speculated power imbalance was volatile and dynamic even within a single partnership.

  • Fernando Suarez and Jacqueline Kirtley (2012), Dethroning an Established Platform, Sloan Management Review, 53 (4), pp. 35-41.

Teaching

All Courses

  • EDEN5080 - Technology Strategy

    Technology Strategy is designed to meet the needs of future managers, entrepreneurs, consultants and investors who must analyze and develop business strategies in technology-based industries. The emphasis is on learning conceptual models and frameworks to help navigate the complexity and dynamism in such industries. This is not a course in new product development or in using technology to improve business processes and offerings. The class will take a perspective of both established and emerging firms competing through technological innovations, and study the key strategic drivers of value creation and appropriation in the context of business ecosystems. Prerequisite: Enrollment in Education Entrepreneurship program.

  • EDEN6020 - Technology Strategy: 2

    Technology Strategy is designed to meet the needs of future managers, entrepreneurs, consultants and investors who must analyze and develop business strategies in technology-based industries. The emphasis is on learning conceptual models and frameworks to help navigate the complexity and dynamism in such industries. This is not a course in new product development or in using technology to improve business processes and offerings. The class will take a perspective of both established and emerging firms competing through technological innovations, and study the key strategic drivers of value creation and appropriation in the context of business ecosystems. Prerequisite: Enrollment in Education Entrepreneurship program.

  • MGMT2300 - Entrepreneurship

    How do you take a good idea and turn it into a successful venture? Whether you plan to become a founder, investor, mentor, partner, or early employee of a startup company, this course will take you through the entire journey of new venture creation and development. MGMT 230 is a project-based survey course designed to provide an overview of the entrepreneurial process and give you practical hands-on experience with new venture development. You and a team will have the chance to ideate, test, and develop a pitch for an early-stage startup by incorporating material from class lectures, simulations, labs, and class discussions. By the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of what it takes to create a successful startup, as well as proven techniques for identifying and testing new market opportunities, acquiring resources, bringing new products and services to market, scaling, and exiting new ventures.

  • MGMT2670 - Entrep & Tech Innov

    Building a new firm around technology innovation can mean different choices and challenges for entrepreneurs. The goals and outcomes of technology entrepreneurship vary as much as the innovations that inspire them. MGMT 267 will take you through the questions that entrepreneurs should address as they go from a technology innovation idea to founding and funding a tech startup. The course will appeal to individuals who have a desire to become technology entrepreneurs at some stage of their career, as well as others interested in the startup ecosystem such as investors, early employees, other professional service providers, etc. Through a combination of individual and team work, you will examine what is different when technology is at the core of an entrepreneurial opportunity and how to move a technology-based venture forward.

  • MGMT8010 - Entrepreneurship

    MGMT 801 is the foundation coures in the Entrepeurial Management program. The purpose of this course is to explore the many dimensions of new venture creation and growth. While most of the examples in class will be drawn from new venture formation, the principles also apply to entrepreneurship in corporate settings and to non-profit entrepreneurship. We will be concerned with content and process questions as well as with formulation and implementation issues that relate to conceptualizing, developing, and managing successful new ventures. The emphasis in this course is on applying and synthesizing concepts and techniques from functional areas of strategic management, finance, accounting, managerial economics, marketing, operations management, and organizational behavior in the context of new venture development. The class serves as both a stand alone class and as a preparatory course to those interested in writing and venture implementation (the subject of the semester-long course, MGMT 806). Format: Lectures and case discussions

  • PPE3999 - Independent Study

    Student arranges with a faculty member to pursue a research project on a suitable topic. For more information about research and setting up independent studies, visit: https://ppe.sas.upenn.edu/study/curriculum/independent-studies

Awards and Honors

  • Kauffman Dissertation Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2016
  • INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition Finalist, INFORMS College of Organization Science, 2014
  • School of Management Doctoral Fellowship, Boston University, 2010-2014
  • Recipient, LEAD Fellowship, Boston University School of Management MBA Program, 2007-2009

In the News

Knowledge at Wharton

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Latest Research

Jacqueline Kirtley (Working), Following the Money: Entrepreneurial Firm Strategy Making and the Impact of Venture Investors.
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In the News

Is the Great Resignation Giving Rise to the Entrepreneur?

The Great Resignation is coinciding with record applications for new businesses. Wharton management professor Jacqueline “Jax” Kirtley looks at what this means for the labor market.…Read More

Knowledge at Wharton - 10/25/2021
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Wharton Magazine

Defining the Entrepreneurial Pivot
Wharton Magazine - 10/09/2019