Chance and Intent

A compact and readable book will help executives, entrepreneurs, and venture investors learn to search out and plan for those enterprise hazards that reside outside the bell curve, the conventional domain of risk:

• Uncertainty, where outcomes can be characterized in advance, reliable estimates cannot be made for the likelihood that they will occur;
• Ambiguity, where the events and outcomes cannot be well characterized, in some cases because we cannot imagine them and in others because characterization depends upon the institutional interests or cultural values of the observer; and,
• Ignorance, where neither likelihood estimates nor well-characterized events enjoy much credibility.

This edited volume emphasizes practical strategies for understanding and managing the hazards of the new venture in light of recent research. It will help corporate innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors employ a wider spectrum of risk management strategies than is now possible.

Dr. David L. Bodde serves as Professor of Engineering at the International Center for Automotive Research, Clemson University. His current research and teaching addresses open-architecture innovation processes and their implications for risk management. He serves on the boards of private equity and publicly traded companies.

Dr. Caron H. St. John is Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has published in leading scholarly journals including Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Organizational Research Methods, as well as two textbooks on strategic management. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that address the business, operations, and technology strategies of firms.