Tag Archives: entrepreneurship

[12]. The Legal Environment of Side Project Ownership and IT Innovation: Evidence from the Alcatel v. Brown Case

Xi Wu, Charlotte Ren, and Min-Seok Pang. 2025. Accepted by MIS Quarterly.  https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2025/18022

Abstract. Engaging in side projects outside of regular employment has become a growing trend among knowledge workers, particularly information technology (IT) professionals. Side projects offer valuable opportunities for employees to learn new skills and foster creativity. However, the legal ownership of side projects remains uncertain, raising questions about how this affects employee innovation at their primary jobs, which we refer to as “employee innovation at work.” In this study, we leverage an exogenous change in the legal arrangement of side project ownership—the Alcatel v. Brown case—to investigate how firms’ enhanced control over side projects influences employees’ innovation performance at work. We find that in states where firms gained greater contractual authority to claim ownership of employees’ side projects, the number of IT patents owned by firms decreased. However, paradoxically, the quality of these patents, as measured by the number of forward citations, improved following the legal change. Further analyses of the underlying mechanisms suggest that these contrasting findings likely stem from shifts in both employee innovation behaviors and firms’ innovation strategies post-Alcatel v. Brown. Our findings contribute to the information systems literature by highlighting the nuanced effects of side project ownership on IT innovation.

Note: An earlier version of this manuscript, titled “That’s mine! Employee side projects, intellectual property ownership, and firm innovation,” was selected for the International Conference on Information Systems Proceedings (2019).

[11]. Time Banking, Aging, and the Future of Care

Charlotte Ren, Chao Guo, and John J. DiIulio. October 6, 2025. Nonprofit Quarterly.

Abstract. As our population ages, How can we build systems of care that truly reflect our interdependence? Not solely through markets, government programs, or families, but also through the everyday relationships that hold communities together. In this article, we explore time banking as a community-based approach to strengthening social connections and rethinking how we care for one another. Time banking values everyone’s time equally and builds networks of mutual support, reminding us that giving and receiving care are part of the same shared cycle. This article is written for scholars, practitioners, and community leaders interested in more collaborative, community-driven approaches to supporting care.

Note: This is an editor-reviewed journal article. Available at https://nonprofitquarterly.org/time-banking-aging-and-the-future-of-care/.

[3]. Middle Managers’ Strategic Role in the Corporate Entrepreneurial Process: Attention-Based Effects

Charlotte Ren and Chao Guo. Journal of Management. 2011, 37(6): 1586-1610

Abstract. This article examines the strategic role of middle managers in the corporate entrepreneurial process from an attention-based perspective. By integrating literature from multiple disciplines, the authors delineate the attention-based effects on how middle managers provide the impetus for different types of entrepreneurial opportunities (i.e., exploratory vs. exploitative initiatives). Specifically, middle managers, constrained by the attention structures of the firm, likely pre-screen entrepreneurial opportunities from lower organizational levels and attend primarily to those that align with the strategic orientation of the firm. This tendency may be moderated by the presence of other players, middle managers’ structural positions, and the availability of slack resources. Moreover, in their efforts to sell initiatives to top management, middle managers may leverage “policy windows”—patterned regularities and irregularities in and around the organization—to exploit existing attention structures to their advantage or perhaps to dismantle those structures.

Note: An earlier version of this manuscript received the 2008 IDEA Award (Research Promise) from the AOM’s Entrepreneurship Division and was also selected for the Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings under the title “The rise and fall of entrepreneurial opportunities: A process model for corporate entrepreneurship” (August 2008). Click here for the paper Ren&Guo_2011JOM Online Pub.