We held a research workshop on December 15th and 16th, 2009 in Palo Alto, California. The only requirement was that participants provided a working paper to share and discuss at the meeting.  The conversation was excellent, and included the following scholars and manuscripts (with abstracts):

• Nicole Coviello
  How and Why Networks Develop Over Time: A Multi-Motor Perspective of Process
   
• Nicholas Dew, Stuart Read, Saras Sarasvathy and Robert Wiltbank
  Models of Creation: Of Organizations, by Organizations and for Organizations
  
  Entrepreneurs create new organizations. Both new and established organizations engage in the creation of new markets, be they product markets, factor markets or institutions related to the formation of important market structures such as standards bodies and political lobbies. The population of firms that constitutes an industry or a market consists in both new and established firms that sometimes compete and often co-operate. Which products and firms survive and thrive within the population or wither and die gets determined through selection processes that have traditionally been modeled as exogenous to the new product creation efforts within established organizations and to new venture creation efforts by entrepreneurs. In an important recent departure from this tradition, Henderson and Stern (2004) presented compelling evidence for studying internal and external selection as tightly interwoven processes. Moreover, their work pointed to the crucial role that a firm’s ability to develop new products played in mediating internal and external selection processes.
   
• Eileen Fischer, A. Rebecca Reuber
  An Investigation of the Implications for Effectuation of Social Media Adoption
  
  Social interaction plays a central role in effectuation processes, yet we know little about the implications for effectuation when an entrepreneur is able to dramatically increase the size and the number of both weak and strong ties in their social network. To address this gap, our paper uses a grounded theory methodology to develop propositions regarding how effectuation processes are impacted when entrepreneurs of varying experience levels adopt Twitter, a social media channel that can facilitate a marked increase in social networks and networking opportunities. We posit that adoption of this social media channel can stimulate or advance effectuation processes, but that it is unlikely to do so for entrepreneurs who are less “community-oriented” when the opportunity arises. We also posit that using social media like Twitter can lead entrepreneurs to reassess both what effects they can create with the means they have, and the very nature of those mean. However, experiences of increases in means are likely to be moderated both by community orientation and adherence to community norms. Implications for our understanding of effectuation and for practitioners adopting social media like Twitter are discussed.
   
• Sam Holloway and Helder Sebastiao
  Heroes and legends: How entrepreneurs simultaneously construct new markets and new ventures
  
  Traditional explanations of market emergence have focused on either transaction efficiency or achieving sociopolitical legitimacy as the mechanism by which markets are created and competitive norms are established. Under this framework, entrepreneurs who launch a new venture that significantly shapes the preferences and structure of an emerging market may be viewed as an anomaly. Their unexpected success is rationalized as the product of sheer determination, good fortune, and the failure of firms with greater resources and legitimacy to efficiently exploit the market opportunity. We believe that what distinguishes these entrepreneurs is their ability to proactively envision, catalyze, cultivate and ultimately dominate new markets through a process of effectuation (e.g. Sarasvathy, 2001) and by adopting a fundamentally market driving (Jaworski, Kohli, & Sahay, 2000) strategic orientation. This paper seeks to contribute to both the entrepreneurship and market creation / emergence literatures by explaining how effectuation and market driving contribute to successful market creation by entrepreneurs launching new ventures. We define heroes as a unique subset of entrepreneurs who launch market-catalyzing ventures. We identify as legends those serial entrepreneurs who successfully launch multiple market-creating / market-catalyzing ventures. We present several propositions that identify the distinct capabilities or strategies adopted by heroes and legends to simultaneously construct new markets and new ventures.
   
• Christian Keen, Per Servais and Erik Stavnsager Rasmussen
  The start-up of International New Ventures – effectively effectuated?
  
  Following a long line of economists, we define entrepreneurship as “the recombination of resources in the expectation of profit” (Schumpeter, 1934; Hayek, 1945; Kirzner, 1973; Casson, 1982; Shane, 2003). These new combinations may include new products, new markets, new processes, or new ways of organizing. However, unlike other views on entrepreneurship, our definition does not necessarily imply the creation of new ventures (see Gartner, 1988). In our view, speculators and corporate venturers are just as ‘entrepreneurial’ as small business owners and inventors (Vesper 1980, Casson 1982).
   
• Lois Whittall
  Planners or Explorers? Interpreting Social Entrepreneurship decision making in developing economies using effectuation theory.
  
  This study uses a case study to explore the development of social entrepreneurial ventures in a developing country context. It applies effectuation theory as a lens to explore the decision making processes of a social entrepreneur. The case showed that effectual logic was used at key ‘breakpoints’ in the organization’s development to create a dynamic Social Value Proposition. The study concluded that although the application of effectual logic in this field had some limitations, understanding the decision making processes of social entrepreneurs using an effectual lens highlights the transformative nature of social entrepreneurship but poses questions about its funding.

Based on the interest and the quality of the discussion, this is a meeting we would like to repeat.  Please stay tuned to effectuation.org for announcements of future dates, or subscribe to the effectuation group on Google groups to receive updates.  Thank you!