Understanding Unicorn Ventures

A Finalist for the Heizer Dissertation Award

Assistant professor of management, S. Joseph Shin, at the Milgard School of Business, UWT was recognized as one of the finalists for the Heizer Dissertation Award in New Enterprise Development at the 2023 Annual Academy of Management Conference, Entrepreneurship Division, in Boston.

Funded by the Heizer Corporation and the Heizer family, this award was founded in 1976 by Ned Heizer, Jr. It holds the distinction of being the Academy's longest-standing dissertation award.

This recognition is bestowed upon exceptional doctoral research that focuses on the establishment, administration, expansion, and advancement of promising new businesses, venture capital, or corporate entrepreneurship.

Shin joined the Milgard School faculty in 2022 after completing his Ph.D. studies in strategy and technology entrepreneurship at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington.

Shin’s dissertation attempts to understand how high-growth entrepreneurial ventures achieve their growth, focusing on unicorn ventures, valued at more than $1 billion of private market capitalization. Unicorn ventures significantly impact the entrepreneurial landscape as they attempt to exploit unique market and technological opportunities, scale rapidly, and come to create and exemplify new industries and market categories.

Drawing on the lenses of entrepreneurship, strategy, and organization theory, his dissertation attempts to unpack how high-growth entrepreneurial ventures achieve their growth in the unicorn ventures context.

Across the three essays, the dissertation seeks to understand the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurial growth and scaling.

1. The first essay reviews and integrates previous theories relevant to unicorn ventures. It first identifies four critical themes in the literature on unicorn ventures and three theoretical lenses through which the phenomenon can advance.
2. The second essay offers novel antecedents of venture growth. The study explores founder/CEO, venture, and investment characteristics on the scaling speed.
3. The third essay explores the consequences of entrepreneurial growth at an Initial Public Offering (IPO).