Essays on entrepreneurship and strategy.

This dissertation examines how environmental change shapes entrepreneurial activity, organizational adaptation, and firm-level strategic capabilities. Drawing on the External Enablers framework and the judgment-based approach to entrepreneurship, it develops a multi-level perspective linking economic shocks, organizational responses, and managerial decision-making. Across three essays, the research analyzes how exogenous changes influence entrepreneurship at the regional, organizational, and managerial levels. The first essay studies the discovery of Brazil’s pre-salt oil reserves as a quasi-natural experiment to examine how large environmental shocks affect new firm creation. Using municipality-level panel data, the analysis shows a temporary increase in entrepreneurial entry following pre-salt development, concentrated in local services rather than oil-related sectors. The second essay examines how an entrepreneurial incubator adapted to shocks such as COVID-19 and NCAA NIL policies, emphasizing the development of dynamic capability during the process. The third essay develops a theoretical framework explaining how dynamic capabilities emerge from entrepreneurial judgment under Knightian uncertainty.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Rossi Mazzoni, João Fernando, 1995-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Klein, Peter G.

• Strategy.
• Entrepreneurship.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14743

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14743