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Session Type: PDW Workshop
Program Session: 318 | Submission: 11069 | Sponsor(s): (OMT, BPS, TIM)
Scheduled: Saturday, Aug 5 2017 10:45AM - 12:45PM at Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Marquis M301
 
Optimal Distinctiveness: Past Approaches, Theoretical Integration, and Future Research Agenda
Optimal Distinctiveness
PracticeInternationalTheme: At the InterfaceResearch

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Organizer: Eric Y.-F. Zhao, Indiana U., Bloomington
Organizer: Jaekyung Ha, Boston U.
Speaker: Gino Cattani, New York U.
Speaker: David Deephouse, U. of Alberta
Speaker: Rodolphe Durand, HEC Paris
Speaker: Amir Goldberg, Stanford U.
Speaker: Brayden G. King, Northwestern U.
Speaker: Oliver Hahl, Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business
Speaker: Rory Morgan McDonald, Harvard U.
Speaker: Ming De Leung, U. of California, Berkeley
Speaker: Michael Lounsbury, U. of Alberta
Speaker: Joseph Porac, New York U.
Speaker: Wendy K. Smith, U. of Delaware
Organizations constantly face the competing pressures to be both “similar to” and “different from” their peers. To reconcile the competing pressures of conformity versus differentiation, organizations need to engage in strategies that achieve optimal distinctiveness (OD). Through this PDW, we aim to systematically flesh out the various theoretical perspectives in past research, unpack the underlying mechanisms driving OD, evaluate each perspective’s strengths, weaknesses and connections, and more importantly, point to directions for future research. The PDW will begin with a short introduction to the session, providing a background and setting the agenda. An opening plenary panel will follow, where six scholars from varied background and expertise will each reflect on their understandings of OD and how it is embedded in their own research. Following the first panel, we will have break-out roundtable sessions. The tables will each start with a provisional discussion topic, and participants will be encouraged to share their own ideas regarding how their research is related to the topic and how they could envision building a research program around OD. Finally, all participants will reconvene for a closing plenary panel that seeks to extend OD research with a broader array of topics. Seven new scholars on the closing panel represent some of the most contemporary topics of research related to OD. These scholars will offer insight about how the notion of OD could inform and be informed by these emerging and growing areas of research. Please visit www.ericzhao.org for more information on the structure of the PDW.
Search Terms: Optimal Distinctiveness | Strategic Management | Organization Theory
  
KEY TO SYMBOLS Teaching-oriented Teaching-oriented   Practice-oriented Practice-oriented   International-oriented International-oriented   Theme-oriented Theme-oriented   Research-oriented Research-oriented   Teaching-oriented Diversity-oriented
Selected as a Best Paper Selected as a Best Paper