Toward a Typology of Co-emergence of New Firms and New Sectors

Abstract

In this paper we aim to explore the phenomenon of emergence in uncertain contexts. Specifically, we focus on co-emergence of new firms and sectors. It is an area high importance to practitioners and policy makers, but at the same, less researched and understood. We analyzed, synthesized, and theorized this intersection across 16 inter-disciplinary research contexts. Constant theorizing and iteration identified strong and weak emergence as key properties of emergence that can explain most of the co-emergence between new ventures and sectors. We employed typology construction by reduction to develop the typology of co-emergence by cross-tabulating weak and strong emergence of new sectors and ventures. This led to identification of four types of co-emergence: benign, supervenient, radical and nominal. These four types are the focus of the paper. Implications for academia, practice and polity conclude the paper.