Category Dynamics
Category dynamics recognizes that market categories are both influential and malleable. This presents the opportunity for category strategy. Strategy is not limited to choosing positions in an external market, or changing the firm to fit the market. It should also include shaping the market to align with the firm. Category strategy is especially important for entrepreneurs who need to carve out a space for a new idea, product, or technology. Then, a firm’s position within (evolving) market categories affects how it is evaluated.
Selected Publications
Pontikes, E.G. and V. Rindova (2020). “Shaping Markets Through Temporal, Constructive, and Interactive Agency.” Strategy Science.
[ARTICLE]Pontikes, E.G. “Category innovation in the software industry: 1990 – 2002.”
[PDF]Pontikes, E.G. (2018). “Category Strategy for Firm Advantage.” Strategy Science, 3(4): 555-682.
[ARTICLE]Pontikes, E.G. “The Categorical Basis of Combination. A Theory and Two Empirical Tests.”
[PDF]Pontikes, E.G. and R. Kim (2017). “Strategic Categorization.” in From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Volume 51). Durand, R., N. Granqvist, and A. Tyllström (eds), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 71-111.
[ARTICLE]Pontikes, E.G. and W.P. Barnett (2015). “The Persistence of Lenient Market Categories.” Organization Science, 26: 1415 – 1431.
[ARTICLE]Pontikes, E.G. (2012). “Two Sides of the Same Coin: How Ambiguous Classification Affects Multiple Audiences’ Evaluations.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 57(1): 81-118.
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