The seminar will take place on Tuesday, February 10th, from 12:00 to 13:00 (HG-05A37).
This is a lunch seminar; please register your attendance by accepting/declining your emailed invitation by Friday, February 6th, at 10 AM at the latest (for catering).
Abstract
We study whether entrepreneurial firms launching products with the potential for network effects engage in scientific entrepreneurial decision-making differently. We propose they (1) have a higher tendency to test since product-market fit at launch is more important and (2) test more extensively since inference is more challenging when utility depends on social interactions. Since managers of firms releasing products with the potential for network effects are concerned with winner-takes-most dynamics, we also (3) suggest that competitive pressure negatively moderates this testing behavior. Analyzing data from the video games industry, we confirm our predictions about testing tendency and extent. Additional analyses of the performance implications suggest that (extended) testing is associated with higher, whereas competition-driven truncation with lower performance, suggesting firms overrespond to competition. We contribute to research on scientific entrepreneurial decision-making and network effects.
ABRI Lunch Seminar Joe Ploog 10 February 2026 12:00 - 13:00
About ABRI Lunch Seminar Joe Ploog
Starting date
- 10 February 2026
Time
- 12:00 - 13:00
Location
- VU Main Building
Address
- De Boelelaan 1105
- 1081 HV Amsterdam
Organised by
- ABRI and the KIN Center for Digital Innovation
Language
- English
Biography
Joe N. Ploog is Assistant Professor in the Strategy Department at IE University. His research focuses on heterogeneous network effects and intra-platform competition. His work has been published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and Academy of Management Discoveries. Joe obtained his PhD in Strategy from the UCL School of Management in London. His dissertation, "Three Essays on Heterogeneous Network Effects: Implications for Firms and Users," has been nominated as a finalist for the Outstanding Dissertation Award of the TIM Division of the Academy of Management and won the Outstanding Dissertation Award of the STR Division. In his free time, Joe likes cooking, eating, and playing (video and board) games, which often inspire the empirical settings for his research.