Jim Ostler

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to this I held faculty positions at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Both my research and teaching are driven by a passion for entrepreneurship and innovation, applying advanced analytical tools to strategic decisions, and a desire to have a positive impact on society.

My research focuses on two main areas of interest: (1) how individuals and firms make decisions under uncertainty and (2) in what way institutional forces and industry structure impact entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitive strategy. Within these areas of interest my work has generally focused on the strategic implications of both socially responsible and irresponsible business practices and the role of a “social contract” on organizational decision making.

Prior to pursuing career in academia I worked in various capacities in applying advanced data analytics to strategic marketing and supply chain decisions. This was done in different roles and contexts including at a Fortune 500 company, as a consultant and at a dotcom software startup.

I hold an M.S. degree in Engineering and an M.B.A. from BYU. I also hold an M.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Decision-Making from UCLA.

Published Papers

• “A Contingency Theory of Representational Complexity in Organizations ” with Felipe Csaszar. Organizational Science (2020)

• "Differences in Misconduct by Nonprofit, Public and For-profit Organizations" with Vanessa Burbano. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (2020)

  • Winner of best ethics paper for the Midwest Strategy Conference
    

Working Papers

• “The Competitive Dynamics of Risky Unethical Strategies and Entry ” (R&R at Strategic Management Journal)

  • Runner-up for best paper in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Industry Studies Conference 2016 (sponsored by Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation)
    

• “The Performance Effects of Competing Representations of Rivalry in Novel Innovation” with Nile Hatch

• "When One Isn't Enough: Organization-level and Product-level Sustainability in New Ventures" with Vanessa Burbano and Natalie Carlson

• “Swinging for the Fences: Strategic Risk-Taking in Entrepreneurship” (available upon request)

• “Biased and Unbiased Specification of the Learning Curve: Coping with Unobserved History and Prior Learning” with Nile Hatch (available upon request)

Works In Progress

• “A Cooperative Game Theoretic View of Social Goals in Organizations” with Vanessa Burbano (Preliminary model developed and developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “Which Barriers to Entry Protect Profits from Irrational Entry” with Nile Hatch (Preliminary model developed and developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “Manipulating the Competition: Can Firms Exploit Superior Mental Representations?” with Nile Hatch (Preliminary model developed and developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “When does Machine Learning Increase the Value of Real Options?” (Preliminary model developed and developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “Aleatory vs Epistemic Uncertainty in Real Options: Why it Matters for Strategy” (Preliminary model developed and developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “The Role of Institutions in the Development of Nascent Science-Based Industries: A Study of Pre-Commercialization Activity in the Superconductor Industry” (developing the first draft of a working paper)

• “The Impact of High-Temperature Superconductors on New and Pre-Existing Industries” (preliminary data analysis and developing the first draft of a working paper)