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Todd Saxton - Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. Indianapolis, IN, UNITED STATES

Todd Saxton

Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship | Indiana University, Kelley School of Business

Indianapolis, IN, UNITED STATES

Todd Saxton is a venture strategy expert focused on launch and growth, entrepreneurial ecosystems, and competitive and corporate strategy.

Spotlight

Biography

Todd Saxton is an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the IU Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis. His research focuses on factors affecting early-stage venture success. Saxton has consulted with a number of emergent and high-growth ventures on their launch and growth strategy, including several Inc. 500 companies.

Professor Saxton serves on the advisory boards of several organizations including CIK/PERQ, a measured marketing software and services firm; Diagnotes LLC, a healthcare IT startup; Fight For Life, not-for-profit for social-emotional learning for deserving but underserved youth; VisionTech Partners angel investment network; Venture Club of Indiana; and Startup Indiana Chapter of Startup America.

Industry Expertise (4)

Corporate Leadership

Research

Education/Learning

Human Resources

Areas of Expertise (6)

Factors Affecting Alliance and Acquisition Success

Competitive and Corporate Strategy

Launch and Growth

Venture Strategy

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Corporate Image and Reputation

Accomplishments (1)

Kelley School of Business Teaching Awards (professional)

Professor Todd Saxton has received multiple teaching awards including the Eli Lilly Teaching Award, Trustees Teaching Award, Best Professor in MBA Program

Education (2)

Indiana University: Ph.D. 1995

University of Virginia: B.A. 1985

Articles (4)

Venture advocate behaviors and the emerging enterprise


Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

2016 Venture founders rely on the help of others in their community to move their emerging enterprises forward. While these helping behaviors, here called venture advocate behaviors (VABs), are critical for founders with limited resources, they have received little theoretical or empirical attention. We explore VABs and develop propositions regarding a venture advocate's propensity to engage in such behaviors. Using social exchange theory, we examine how reciprocity between different actors, including paying back and paying forward, and other factors promote VABs.

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Information Uncertainty, Risk, and Orientation: Examining Organizational Social Exchanges


Academy of Management Proceedings

2014 Engaging in organizationally-related exchanges – where the beneficiary of the exchange is ultimately an organization – is integral to the performance and sustenance of the firm. Using social exchange theory as the underlying framework, we develop a model that incorporates information uncertainty, risk tolerance, and general exchange disposition into research relating to interactions or exchanges that occur within an organization. Framing and titling the exchanges as “Organizational Exchanges”, we argue these interactions are a form of social exchange, and then leverage expectancy and signaling theories to demonstrate how a person’s risk tolerance, perceptions of uncertainty associated with the information available, and exchange orientation influence their likelihood to provide assistance to others. Using a novel survey instrument, we find information uncertainty is negatively related to the benefactor’s propensity to engage in organizational exchanges, and risk tolerance and exchange orientation are positively associated with this propensity. Further, moderation and interactions between these variables exist to create contingencies.

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Failure to advance: resource logic for early venture failure


Prometheus

2010 New ventures play an important role in economic growth. The resource logic underlying how these firms develop in the early stages, however, has not received adequate attention in the literature. This paper examines the launch trajectories of embryonic ventures. We propose a configurational model of these trajectories based on the resources and stages required to establish a viable commercial entity. Potential launching paths are identified, from the inception of a new product/service idea through to success outcomes, including rapid, independent sales growth, stabilized profit, acquisition or Initial Public Offering. We argue that embryonic firms must balance the development of product, financial and human resources through waves of resource accumulation as they move through different stages of development. We summarize our arguments in a model of venture evolution.

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Failure to launch: Why and when some ventures lose their way on the path to success


5th AGSE International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange

2008 New ventures have an important role in economic growth. However, how these firms develop in the early stages, has not received adequate attention in the literature. This paper examines the launch trajectories of embryonic ventures. We propose a theoretical model of these trajectories based on the resources and processes required to establish a viable commercial entity. Potential launching paths are identified, from the inception of a new product/service idea through to success outcomes including rapid, independent sales growth, stabilized profit, acquisition or IPO. In our model, we argue that different resources and processes may affect a firm’s ability to successfully complete one stage of development and move to the next, with important implications for the venture’s long-term growth trajectory as well. The implications of this model are discussed.

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