Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2022
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Category Kings or Commoners? Marketing Shaping and Its Consequences in Nascent Categories

By: Rory McDonald
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:47
ShareBar

Abstract

For a new market category to materialize, someone must actively bring it into existence. Yet it remains a mystery how entrepreneurs, whose resources are stretched thin, can accomplish this task. Prior research emphasizes the importance of market-shaping efforts—evangelism—but overlooks its impact on ventures. Through an inductive multiple-case study of a new financial-technology category, I develop theory centered on how entrepreneurs use cultural resources during category formation. My framework describes how the use of such resources co-evolves with the nascent category, influencing ventures’ own trajectories. I also identify ways in which market-shaping activities can rebound back at a venture unexpectedly, contributing to organizational inertia and inflexibility. I pursue the contributions of the framework and discuss its implications for research on category-creating innovations, cultural entrepreneurship, and strategy in nascent markets.

Keywords

Nascent Markets; New Categories; Innovation; Qualitative Methods; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention

Citation

McDonald, Rory. "Category Kings or Commoners? Marketing Shaping and Its Consequences in Nascent Categories." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 16-095, February 2016. (Revised January 2022.)

About The Author

Rory M. McDonald

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • December 2022
    • Administrative Science Quarterly

    Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics

    By: Cheng Gao and Rory McDonald
    • September 2022
    • Strategy Science

    A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents

    By: Rory M. McDonald and Ryan T. Allen
    • MIT Sloan Management Review

    Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

    By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald
More from the Author
  • Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics By: Cheng Gao and Rory McDonald
  • A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents By: Rory M. McDonald and Ryan T. Allen
  • Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College