Optimal Distinctiveness

Majzoubi, Majid, Eric Yanfei Zhao, Tiona Zuzul, and Greg Fisher (2024) "The double-edged sword of exemplar similarity." Organization Science, Accepted. [PDF]

Majzoubi, Majid, and Eric Yanfei Zhao (2023) "Going beyond optimal distinctiveness: Strategic positioning for gaining an audience composition premium." Strategic Management Journal, 44(3): 737-777. [PDF]

Taeuscher, Karl, Eric Yanfei Zhao, and Michael Lounsbury (2022) "Categories and narratives as sources of distinctiveness: Cultural entrepreneurship within and across categories." Strategic Management Journal, 43(10): 2101-2134. [PDF]

Bu, Juan, Eric Yanfei Zhao, Krista Li, and Joanna Li (2022) "Multilevel optimal distinctiveness: Examining the impact of within- and between-organization distinctiveness of product design on market performance." Strategic Management Journal, 43(9): 1793-1822. [PDF]

Zhao, Eric Yanfei, and Mary Ann Glynn (2022) "Optimal Distinctiveness: On being the same and different." Organization Theory, 3: 1-15. [PDF]

Zhao, Eric Yanfei, Masakazu Ishihara, and P. Devereaux Jennings (2020) "Strategic entrepreneurship's dynamic tensions: Converging (diverging) effects of experience and networks on market entry timing and entrant performance." Journal of Business Venturing, 35(2): 1-23. [PDF]

Guo, Hai, Yonghui Li, and Eric Yanfei Zhao (2020) "To be different, or to be the same: Literature review and prospect." Nankai Business Review (南开管理评论）, 23(6): 214-224. [PDF]. —A leading Chinese management journal.

Zhao, Eric Yanfei, Masakazu Ishihara, P. Devereaux Jennings and Michael Lounsbury (2018) "Optimal Distinctiveness in the console video game industry: An exemplar-based model of proto-category evolution." Organization Science, 29(4): 588-611. [PDF]

Zhao, Eric Yanfei, Greg Fisher, Michael Lounsbury and Danny Miller (2017) "Optimal distinctiveness: Broadening the interface between institutional theory and strategic management." Strategic Management Journal, 38(1): 93-113. [PDF]

Zhao, Eric Yanfei, Masakazu Ishihara, and Michael Lounsbury (2013) "Overcoming the illegitimacy discount: Cultural entrepreneurship in the US feature film industry." Organization Studies, 34(12): 1747-1776. [PDF]