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1. Rating systems and increased heterogeneity in firm performance: Evidence from the New York City Restaurant Industry, 1994–2013

   https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3545  

   Greenberg, Jason ; Sands, Daniel B. ; Cattani, Gino ; Porac, Joseph ( August 2023 , Strategic Management Journal)

   We investigate the extent to which the increasing availability of ratings information has affected heterogeneity in firm performance and, if so, what market segments are responsible for these changes. A unique dataset was constructed with restricted‐access government data to examine these questions in the context of the New York City restaurant industry between 1994 and 2013. We find that firms serving tourist and expensive price point market segments experienced increasing sales discrepancies as a function of rating differentials when ratings information became more easily accessible with the advent of online rating platforms. These findings depict how the prevalence of online rating systems have shaped competition and value capture, thus providing insight into the determinants of firm performance heterogeneity.

   We examine the extent to which increasing availability of ratings information has affected firm performance by estimating changes in comparative sales between New York City restaurants between 1994 and 2013. Analyses indicate that increased access to ratings information during this period had a considerable effect on comparative sales for firms serving the tourist and the expensive price point market segments. These results provide insights into other industries where access to evaluations and rating systems have also increased. This work suggests that online ratings have affected how firms compete and capture value, and managers have opportunities to use rating systems to their advantage.

    

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2. What evidence exists on the performance of nature-based solutions interventions for coastal protection in biogenic, shallow ecosystems? A systematic map protocol

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-023-00303-4  

   Paxton, Avery B. ; Riley, Trevor N. ; Steenrod, Camille L. ; Smith, Carter S. ; Zhang, Y. Stacy ; Gittman, Rachel K. ; Silliman, Brian R. ; Buckel, Christine A. ; Viehman, T. Shay ; Puckett, Brandon J. ; et al ( May 2023 , Environmental Evidence)

   Anthropogenic pressures and climate change threaten the capacity of ecosystems to deliver a variety of services, including protecting coastal communities from hazards like flooding and erosion. Human interventions aim to buffer against or overcome these threats by providing physical protection for existing coastal infrastructure and communities, along with added ecological, social, or economic co-benefits. These interventions are a type of nature-based solution (NBS), broadly defined as actions working with nature to address societal challenges while also providing benefits for human well-being, biodiversity, and resilience. Despite the increasing popularity of NBS for coastal protection, sometimes in lieu of traditional hardened shorelines (e.g., oyster reefs instead of bulkheads), gaps remain in our understanding of whether common NBS interventions for coastal protection perform as intended. To help fill these knowledge gaps, we aim to identify, collate, and map the evidence base surrounding the performance of active NBS interventions related to coastal protection across a suite of ecological, physical, social, and economic outcomes in salt marsh, seagrass, kelp, mangrove, shellfish reef, and coral reef systems. The resulting evidence base will highlight the current knowledge on NBS performance and inform future uses of NBS meant for coastal protection.

   Searches for primary literature on performance of NBS for coastal protection in shallow, biogenic ecosystems will be conducted using a predefined list of indexing platforms, bibliographic databases, open discovery citation indexes, and organizational databases and websites, as well as an online search engine and novel literature discovery tool. All searches will be conducted in English and will be restricted to literature published from 1980 to present. Resulting literature will be screened against set inclusion criteria (i.e., population, intervention, outcome, study type) at the level of title and abstract followed by full text. Screening will be facilitated by a web-based active learning tool that incorporates user feedback via machine learning to prioritize articles for review. Metadata will be extracted from articles that meet inclusion criteria and summarized in a narrative report detailing the distribution and abundance of evidence surrounding NBS performance, including evidence clusters, evidence gaps, and the precision and sensitivity of the search strategy.

    

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3. Governing crowdsourcing for unconstrained innovation problems

   https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3505  

   Zaggl, Michael A. ; Malhotra, Arvind ; Alexy, Oliver ; Majchrzak, Ann ( April 2023 , Strategic Management Journal)

   Theories of crowdsourced search suggest that firms should limit the search space from which solutions to the problem may be drawn by constraining the problem definition. In turn, problems that are not or cannot be constrained should be tackled through other means of innovation. We propose that unconstrained problems can be crowdsourced, but firms need to govern the crowds differently. Specifically, we hypothesize that firms should govern crowds for solving unconstrained problems by instructing them not just to solve the problem but also to help (re)define the problem by offering their problem frames and integrating others' frames. We find evidence for this interaction hypothesis in a field study of over a thousand participants in 20 different crowdsourcing events with interventions for the different governance approaches.

   Unconstrained innovation problems, which require finding a new product and a new market at the same time, are thought to be difficult to solve via crowdsourcing. We propose and test a governance approach for problem‐finding, that is, (re)defining the firm's original problem statement by instructing crowds to make their problem frames explicit (by posting them) and to integrate others’ problem frames into their solution ideas. In doing so, we provide guidance for firms hoping to use crowdsourcing for both unconstrained and constrained problems. For constrained problems, as widely known, firms should govern for problem‐solving only; for unconstrained problems, they should govern for problem‐finding and problem‐solving. Both forms of governance are “light‐touch,” requiring only minimal intervention in the form of instructions for the crowd at the beginning of the crowdsourcing event.

    

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4. Regulation When Platforms Are Layered

   https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3427499  

   Lehr, W ; Clark, D ; Bauer, S ; claffy, k ( September 2019 , Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC))

   In previous papers, Lehr and Sicker (2018a,b) argued that the changing character of our telecommunications infrastructure called for a new regulatory approach, with a new Communications Act to define the duties and authorities of a reconceptualized FCC (what we call newFCC in this paper). Today's Internet ecosystem is comprised of multiple digital network platforms organized into a multi-layer architecture. Lower layer IP platforms provided by access and backbone ISPs collectively support the Internet, on which complementors can build higher-layer platforms, such as the platforms provided by powerful firms such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. These firms control and operate multiple platforms within the larger Internet ecosystem. When dominant platform providers pursue multi-platform strategies in an effort to capture or control a market, such strategies confound current methods for defining markets and assessing market power. This paper draws on the layered platform nature of the Internet ecosystem, as described in Claffy and Clark (2014), to illustrate how this layered character of today’s Internet ecosystem calls for new regulatory authority. This paper draws on the layered platform model to scope the duties for an agency (or agencies) with sector-specific expertise. 

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5. Gender differences in peer review of innovation

   https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1429  

   Belz, Andrea P. ; Graddy‐Reed, Alexandra ; Hanewicz, Isabel ; J. Terrile, Richard ( June 2022 , Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal)

   Gender differences in peer review and the associated impact on innovation financing are well documented but less well understood. We study peer review in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Small Business Innovation Research program, a public initiative seeking to increase women's access to innovation funds. We theorize that reviewers use status characteristics inappropriately as heuristics and create gender bias. Econometric analysis shows evidence of direct bias against female applicants, an effect linked to challenges for newcomers in demonstrating individual legitimacy rather than concerns about the organizational legitimacy of the associated firm. We also demonstrate a corrective redistribution to reverse this bias and create equity in the funding outcome. As these results negatively impact diversity in innovation, we propose policy recommendations to overcome this bias.

   Peer review is an important mechanism to rank and select technical proposals for funding. We examine the role of gender in a government program conducting this process. Controlling for the proposal quality and other factors, we show that the gender of the proposer is linked to lower scores. This effect is associated with proposals from females who are new to the program, suggesting their challenges in demonstrating credibility as leaders of these projects, and exacerbated by the fact that women represent a disproportionately high share of newcomers. Subsequently, the program reverses this bias such that the funding outcomes do not show the same inequities. This has important implications for policies supporting gender diversity in innovation.

    

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