Articles


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The Price is Right: An Orders of Worth Analysis of Positions on Housing Prices

Gossi, Drake; Alba, Jonathan; Hennessey, Sophia; Spinuzzi, Clay IC² Articles 2021-10

Abstract In this pilot study, we investigate how community leaders in a rural Texas small town argue about economic development. To study this, we examine 33 semistructured interviews collected by undergraduate interns and analyze this data using Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot’s Orders of Worth framework. Using this approach, we find that morals exacerbate a […]Read More

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Editing the Pitch: Patterns of Editing Strategies of Written Pitches in a Chilean Accelerator Program

Cabezas, Paula; Spinuzzi, Clay; Sabaj, Omar; Varas Germán IC² Articles 2020-11

Background: After a six-month training program in the Chilean public accelerator Start-Up Chile, entrepreneurs are asked to update a short pitch they wrote in the submission stage to appear in the program’s online portfolio. Literature review: We reviewed relevant literature related to the pitch as well as research aiming to track changes within pitches. Research […]Read More

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The invisible supporters: Writing for reuse

Jakobs, Eva-Maria; Digmayer, Claas IC² Articles 2020-10

Text reuse is a widespread practice of text production in business-related contexts. Written communication is part of complex activities such as creating added value, organizing, regulating, and supporting work, building relationships between departments, companies, and customers, the market and competitors, or documenting products. As with other activities, text productive activities must be efficient and effective […]Read More

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Go or No Go: Learning to Persuade in an Early-Stage Student Entrepreneurship Program

Spinuzzi, Clay; Altounian, David; Pogue, Gregory P. 2020-06

Background. Early-stage accelerator programs teach new entrepreneurs how to identify and exploit venture opportunities. In doing so, they implicitly teach these new entrepreneurs how to develop and iterate claims. But since this function of teaching persuasion has been implicit and generally unsystematic, it’s unclear how well it works. Literature Review. We review related literature on […]Read More

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A Call to the Engineering Community to Address Human Trafficking

Caulkins, Jonathan P.; Kammer-Kerwick, Matt; Konrad, Renata; Maass, Kaysee Lee; Martin, Lauren; and Sharkey, Thomas 2019-09-19

Human trafficking (HT) is a horrific and seemingly intractable problem that is typically construed as falling beyond the purview of engineers. This paper argues that engineering systems analysis can produce important insights concerning HT operations and ways to reduce its frequency. Three cases of such systems analysis illustrate (a) the limitations of individual-level interventions against […]Read More

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Austin, Boston, Silicon Valley, and New York: Case studies in the location choices of entrepreneurs in maintaining the Technopolis

Stephens, Bryan; Butler, John; Garg, Rajiv; Gibson, David. 2019-06-15

Using institutional theory as a guiding framework, this study operationalized the “Technopolis” wheel, an innovative framework for understanding the factors and institutional structures and connections that are critical to developing and sustaining geographically concentrated technology clusters. We analyzed four established ecosystems (Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, and New York) for technology entrepreneurship as case studies, using […]Read More

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Articulating Problems and Markets: A Translation Analysis of Entrepreneurs’ Emergent Value Propositions

Spinuzzi, Clay; Altounian, David; Pogue, Gregory P.; Zhu, Lily; Cochran, Robert 2018-07-18

In this qualitative study, the authors apply Callon’s sociology of translation to examine how new technology entrepreneurs enact material arguments that involve the first two moments of translation—problematization (defining a market problem) and interessement (defining a market and the firm’s relationship to it) – which in turn are represented in a claim, the value proposition. […]Read More

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Introduction to Special Issue on the Rhetoric of Entrepreneurship

Spinuzzi, Clay 2017-04

Introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication on the rhetoric of entrepreneurship. The author introduces basic definitions and concepts from the field of entrepreneurship, then identifies three issues linking rhetoric to entrepreneurship: rhetoric and identity; rhetoric, culture, and community; and rhetoric and persuasion.Read More

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Empirical Evidence on the Use of Credit Scoring for Predicting Insurance Losses with Psycho-social and Biochemical Explanations

Golden, Linda L.; Brockett, Patrick L.; Ai, Jing; Kellison, J. Bruce 2016-09

An important development in personal lines of insurance in the United States is the use of credit history data for insurance risk classification to predict losses. This research presents the results of collaboration with industry conducted by a university at the request of its state legislature. The purpose was to see the viability and validity […]Read More

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A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to Improve Regional Innovation Ecosystems in Portugal

Resende, David N.; Bravo, Marco 2016-03

This article presents the University Technology Enterprise Network (UTEN), a successful program that built a national innovation network in Portugal based in the university technology transfer offices (TTOs), incubators and science parks. UTEN, which was launched in March 2007, includes 15 Portuguese universities and select international partners in a 5-year program funded by the Portuguese […]Read More

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How Magnets Attract and Repel: Interessement in a Technology Commercialization Competition

Spinuzzi, Clay; Nelson, Scott; Thomson, Keela S.; Lorenzini, Francesca; French, Rosemary A.; Pogue, Gregory P.; London, Noelle 2016-01

K6015, a South Korean firm seeking to commercialize its magnet technology in the US market, entered a technology commercialization training program structured as a competition. Through this program, K6015 (and others in the program) used several genres to progressively interest different sets of stakeholders. To understand how K6015 applied these genres, we analyze this case […]Read More

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Who Regulates It? Water Policy and Hydraulic Fracturing in Texas

Cook, Margaret A.; Huber, Karen L.; Webber, Michael E. 2015-04

Hydraulic fracturing, the injection of a pressurized fluid mixture of mostly water, sand and a small amount of chemicals (frac fluids), increases extraction rates and recovery of oil or gas. The technique has become increasingly popular when used in combination with horizontal drilling, especially in Texas shale formations. Hydraulic fracturing often requires thousands of cubic […]Read More

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The Energy-Water Nexus: An Analysis and Comparison of Various Conjurations Integrating Desalination with Renewable Power

Gold, Gary M.; Webber, Michael E. 2015-04

This investigation studies desalination powered by wind and solar energy, including a study of a configuration using PVT solar panels. First, a water treatment was developed to estimate the power requirement for brackish groundwater reverse-osmosis (BWRO) desalination. Next, an energy model was designed to (1) size a wind farm based on this power requirement and […]Read More

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Remaking the Pitch: Reuse Strategies in Entrepreneurs' Pitch Decks

Spinuzzi, Clay; Nelson, Scott; Thomson, Keela S.; Lorenzini, Francesca; French, Rosemary A.; Pogue, Gregory; Burback, Sidney D.; Momberger, Joel 2015-03

Examination of how Korean entrepreneurs in an entrepreneurship program revised their English-language slide decks for their competitive presentations (“pitches”) by reusing content from professional communication genres, including their own documents and feedback from potential stakeholders in their target markets. Research question: As entrepreneurs learn to pitch ideas to unfamiliar markets, how do they revise their […]Read More

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Making the Pitch: Examining Dialogue and Revisions in Entrepreneurs’ Pitch Decks

Spinuzzi, Clay; Nelson, Scott; Thomson, Keela S.; Lorenzini, Francesca; French, Rosemary A.; Pogue, Gregory; Burback, Sidney D.; Momberger, Joel 2014-09

Examination of how Korean entrepreneurs in an entrepreneurship program revised their slide decks for their presentations ("pitches") in response to professional communication genres representing feedback from potential stakeholders in their target markets. Research questions: As entrepreneurs learn to pitch ideas to unfamiliar markets, how do they revise their slide decks for their pitches when interacting […]Read More

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The Cost of Water vs. the Cost of Energy

Barchas, Isaac; Jacobson, Mitch; Webber, Michael E. 2014-03-29

The price dynamics of energy and water in Texas might be about to change. Historically, planners have assumed that the price of energy is volatile and trending up, while the price of water is stable and low. However, current trends in technology, demography, and Texas’ natural environment may mean that energy is actually getting more […]Read More

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Measuring Business Related Ethicality Globally: Cultural Emic or Etic?

Rogers, Mary M.; Peterson, Robert A.; Albaum, Austin G. International Journal of Management and Marketing Research 2013-05

When conducting or evaluating cross-cultural/cross-national research studies a critical question must be asked about the measurements: are they culturally an emic or etic? That is, is the research methodology culturally bound or culture free? The research described in this paper shows how etic and emic properties may be explored by using the Ethicality Scale developed […]Read More

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Assisting Regional Growth through Technology Commercialization: Lessons Learned in Global Programs

Global Commercialization Group 2012-06-28

The Global Commercialization Group (GCG) of the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin has been implementing economic development programs for over a decade. Through work in thirteen different countries and with a variety of players, GCG has experienced both great successes and frustrating challenges. GCG’s mission is to help regions around the […]Read More

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Application Driven Theory: Rigorously Combining Applied and Basic Research Relevant to Accounting and Marketing

Golden, Linda L.; Cooper, William W.; Brockett, Patrick L. 2012-01

In this editorial, the authors argue that accounting and marketing research can be both practically relevant and theoretically well-grounded, if a paradigm of application driven theory is adopted and rigorously applied. They distinguish between two dichotomies characterizing research, (1) basic vs. non-basic research and (2) applied vs. pure research. They call for an approach to […]Read More

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Making Sense of Health Information Technology Implementation: A Qualitative Study Protocol

Kitzmiller, Rebecca R.; Anderson, Ruth A.; McDaniel, Reuben R. Jr 2010-11-29

Background: Implementing new practices, such as health information technology (HIT), is often difficult due to the disruption of the highly coordinated, interdependent processes (e.g., information exchange, communication, relationships) of providing care in hospitals. Thus, HIT implementation may occur slowly as staff members observe and make sense of unexpected disruptions in care. As a critical organizational […]Read More

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Regulation and American Business

Echeverri-Carroll, Elsie L.; Ayala, Sofía G. Policy Review 2009-06

This article examines the cost of federal regulations for U.S. businesses and U.S. international competitiveness, as well as one proposal to address the issue, the Competitiveness Impact Statement (CIS). A review of the literature concludes that the lack of reliable data on the cost of regulation at the industry level leads to contradictory results. The […]Read More

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Does It Matter Where IT Workers are Located?

Echeverri-Carroll, Elsie L.; Ayala, Sofia G.; Kshetramade, Mayuresh; Murthy, Priyanka 2007

The predominant view in the literature is that cities affect labor productivity because spatial proximity facilitates the transfer of ideas which make workers more productive. We also anticipate that information technology, or IT (both equipment and labor), by facilitating human communication and speeding up the flow of ideas and data, also contributes to enhancing the […]Read More

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A Guiding Vision for Fluid Learning: The Future of Education and Training

Jackson, Melinda L.; Woelk, Darrell 2003-04

Position paper by the Digital Media Collaboratory (DMC) of the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. The authors envision learning systems as a ubiquitous public utility and propose an architecture to accomplish it. The paper includes a description of DMC research activities in 2003.Read More

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Incubating and Networking Technology Commercialization Centers among Emerging, Developing, and Mature Technopoleis Worldwide

Gibson, David V.; Conceição, Pedro 2003

The ability and desire to access knowledge and to be able to learn and put knowledge to work is central to regional economic development and for globalization to be a force for drawing the world together. This chapter presents the logic, conceptual framework, and key elements for leveraging codified knowledge and tacit know-how through Internet […]Read More

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Overview of US Incubators and the Case of the Austin Technology Incubator

Wiggins, Joel; Gibson, David V. 2003

Business incubators have a 25-year history in the US. Today they number more than 800. Most are non-profit entities, many associated with universities. This article provides a general overview of business incubation in the US and provides a case study of the award-winning Austin Technology Incubator whose companies have generated over $1.4 billion in revenues […]Read More

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Characteristics of Technology Transfer in Business Ventures: The Case of Daejeon, Korea

Sung, Tae Kyung; Gibson, David V.; Kang, Byung-Su 2003

This article explores the characteristics of venture business and entrepreneurs in Korea to (1) identify technology transfer activities, (2) analyze the differences between technology transfer in linear and nonlinear venture businesses, and (3) guide more effective venture business policy and strategy. This empirical assessment reveals that entrepreneurs have insightful evaluations about their resources and capacities […]Read More

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Knowledge Interaction Towards Inclusive Learning: Promoting Systems of Innovation and Competence Building

Conceição, Pedro; Heitor, Manuel V. 2002

This paper draws on recent conceptual approaches to economic growth, in which the accumulation of knowledge is the fundamental driving force behind growth. This fact is reflected in the trend in developed economies towards an increasing investment in advanced technology, R&D, education, and culture. Concepts such as learning ability, creativity, and sustained flexibility gain greater […]Read More

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Beyond the Digital Economy: A Perspective on Innovation for the Learning Society

Conceição, Pedro; Gibson, David V.; Heitor, Manuel V.; Sirilli, Giorgio 2000

In view of the current socio-economic context, in which innovation is a key driving force for the sustainable development, which challenges are facing education and research to enhance and nurture innovation and better contribute to help developing and exploiting engineering, science and technology? This broad question has motivated the work behind the present work, which […]Read More

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Knowledge for Inclusive Development: The Challenges of Globally Integrated Learning and Implications for Science and Technology Policy

Conceição, Pedro; Gibson, David V.; Heitor, Manuel V.; Sirilli, Giorgio 1999-12

As the importance of knowledge creation and diffusion is increasingly recognized as a major driver of economic growth, questions are starting to emerge on how to establish the conditions that foster the processes of knowledge sharing across countries at different levels of development. Under the broad designation of “knowledge for inclusive development,” these questions defined […]Read More

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Data Envelopment Analysis and Commercial Bank Performance: A Primer with Applications to Missouri Banks

Yue, Piyu 1992-01

This paper describes a particular methodology called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), that has been used previously to analyze the relative efficiencies of industrial firms, universities, hospitals, military operations, baseball players and, more recently, commercial banks. The use of DEA is demonstrated by evaluating the management of 60 Missouri commercial banks for the period from 1984 […]Read More

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Creating the Technopolis: High-Technology Development in Austin, Texas

Smilor, Raymond W.; Gibson, David V.; Kozmetsky, George 1989-01

New institutional alliances, driven by the rapid increase in and diversity of new technologies, are altering the strategy and tactics of economic development. As a result, communities across the world are seeking to create modern technopoleis or city-states that interactively link technology commercialization with public and private sectors to spur economic growth and diversification through […]Read More