Danny Miller

Bio: Danny Miller is an academic researcher from HEC Montréal. The author has contributed to research in topics: Consumption (economics) & Agency (sociology). The author has an hindex of 133, co-authored 512 publications receiving 71238 citations. Previous affiliations of Danny Miller include University of New Mexico & McGill University.

Response to “research on the dark side of personality traits in entrepreneurship: Observations from an organizational behavior perspective”

Abstract: As I am in full accord with De Nisi’s (2015) commentary on my essay (Miller, 2014), this response will be directed mostly toward that of Klotz and Neubaum (2015) [N&K]. I also agree substantially with many of the points made by N&K and with the directions they propose for furthering work in entrepreneurship. First, I heartily endorse the message that it is important to identify different types of entrepreneurial personality characteristics, positive and negative. Moreover, exploring the relationships between these characteristics, their evolution, and their organizational context would indeed be beneficial. Finally, there is little doubt that studying entrepreneurial management teams, the variations and interactions that occur therein, and their impact on firm behavior and performance, would be highly desirable. Certainly, there is much in N&K’s essay to commend. However, N&K have in a few instances made points with which I remain in disagreement and others where they appear to have misread my position. Therefore, in the interests of clarity I shall respond. Where appropriate I employ their section titles in what follows.

Building Virtual Watersheds: A Global Opportunity to Strengthen Resource Management and Conservation

Abstract: Modern land-use planning and conservation strategies at landscape to country scales worldwide require complete and accurate digital representations of river networks, encompassing all channels including the smallest headwaters. The digital river networks, integrated with widely available digital elevation models, also need to have analytical capabilities to support resource management and conservation, including attributing river segments with key stream and watershed data, characterizing topography to identify landforms, discretizing land uses at scales necessary to identify human-environment interactions, and connecting channels downstream and upstream, and to terrestrial environments. We investigate the completeness and analytical capabilities of national to regional scale digital river networks that are available in five countries: Canada, China, Russia, Spain, and United States using actual resource management and conservation projects involving 12 university, agency, and NGO organizations. In addition, we review one pan-European and one global digital river network. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the majority of the regional, national, and global scale digital river networks in our sample lack in network completeness, analytical capabilities or both. To address this limitation, we outline a general framework to build as complete as possible digital river networks and to integrate them with available digital elevation models to create robust analytical capabilities (e.g., virtual watersheds). We believe this presents a global opportunity for in-country agencies, or international players, to support creation of virtual watersheds to increase environmental problem solving, broaden access to the watershed sciences, and strengthen resource management and conservation in countries worldwide.

Nonconformity in competitive repertoires.

Abstract: This paper uses a sociological framework to identify factors influencing competitive nonconformity. These include market diversity, industry tradition, and the size, resources and industry experien...

Things that bright up the place

Abstract: This article argues that instead of examining kitsch from the perspective of taste, the same material needs to be understood from the experience of those who possess it and live through it. The emphasis in the case study presented here is not on humor and irony but on sentimentality, which is often the most denigrated aspect of kitsch. Through a detailed examination of the ornaments of one living room and a careful study of how and why they were collected and the part they play in the life of their owner, we can start to see how kitsch can actually work as a powerful aesthetic form that carefully discriminates between accepted and rejected social relations and ultimately is seen to possess transcendent qualities, or even, in this case, the light of the divine.

Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance

Abstract: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE introduces a whole new way of understanding what a firm does. Porter's groundbreaking concept of the value chain disaggregates a company into 'activities', or the discrete functions or processes that represent the elemental building blocks of competitive advantage. Now an essential part of international business thinking, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE takes strategy from broad vision to an internally consistent configuration of activities. Its powerful framework provides the tools to understand the drivers of cost and a company's relative cost position. Porter's value chain enables managers to isolate the underlying sources of buyer value that will command a premium price, and the reasons why one product or service substitutes for another. He shows how competitive advantage lies not only in activities themselves but in the way activities relate to each other, to supplier activities, and to customer activities. That the phrases 'competitive advantage' and 'sustainable competitive advantage' have become commonplace is testimony to the power of Porter's ideas. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE has guided countless companies, business school students, and scholars in understanding the roots of competition. Porter's work captures the extraordinary complexity of competition in a way that makes strategy both concrete and actionable.

Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of Its Top Managers

Abstract: Theorists in various fields have discussed characteristics of top managers. This paper attempts to synthesize these previously fragmented literatures around a more general “upper echelons perspective.” The theory states that organizational outcomes—strategic choices and performance levels—are partially predicted by managerial background characteristics. Propositions and methodological suggestions are included.

Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance

Abstract: The primary purpose of this article is to clarify the nature of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) construct and to propose a contingency framework for investigating the relationship between EO and firm performance. We first explore and refine the dimensions of EO and discuss the usefulness of viewing a firm's EO as a multidimensional construct. Then, drawing on examples from the EO-related contingencies literature, we suggest alternative models (moderating effects, mediating effects, independent effects, interaction effects) for testing the EO-performance relationship.

Social Identity Theory and the Organization

Abstract: It is argued that (a) social identification is a perception of oneness with a group of persons; (b) social identification stems from the categorization of individuals, the distinctiveness and prestige of the group, the salience of outgroups, and the factors that traditionally are associated with group formation; and (c) social identification leads to activities that are congruent with the identity, support for institutions that embody the identity, stereotypical perceptions of self and others, and outcomes that traditionally are associated with group formation, and it reinforces the antecedents of identification. This perspective is applied to organizational socialization, role conflict, and intergroup relations.