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Peter W. Roberts

Professor of Organization & Management; Director, Social Enterprise @ Goizueta
Phone: 404-727-8585
Fax: 404-727-6313
Email: peter.roberts@emory.edu
Mailing Address:
Goizueta Business School
Emory University
1300 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30322 USA
Biography
Peter's research interests relate to how the behavior and performance of organizations evolve over time. This incorporates related interests in innovation and entrepreneurship; reputation, status and identity; and industry evolution. He has studied these issues in diverse settings, including the pharmaceutical, hotel, wine and restaurant industries.
The results of his projects are published in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, Industrial and Corporate Change, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. Recently, he is directing his interests in entrepreneurship and organizational performance toward topics in the field of social enterprise. His current projects focus on social entrepreneurs, on microfinance institutions, and on philanthropic organizations and foundations.
For the past several years, he has also been spearheading Goizueta’s Social Enterprise Initiative, whose focus is to better understand how business principles and market-based solutions can be applied to address a range of important social issues.
Peter's Ph.D. is from the University of Alberta. Before taking up his current position, Peter served on the faculties of Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Australian Graduate School of Management.
Publications
- Network progeny? Pre-founding social ties and the success of new entrants, Management Science
- Founder backgrounds and the evolution of firm size, Industrial and Corporate Change
- Evaluative schemas and the mediating role of critics, Organization Science
- Isolating the symbolic implications of employee mobility: Price increases after hiring winemakers from prominent wineries, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings)
- Crossing a categorical boundary: the implications of switching from non-kosher wine production in the Israeli wine market, Research in the Sociology of Organizations
- Categorical coherence, classification volatility and examiner-added citations',Research Policy, 39, 89-102
- Roberts, P.W. & Khaire, M. 2009. 'Getting known by the company you keep: Publicizing the qualifications and former associations of skilled employees, Industrial and Corporate Change, 18(1), 77-106
- Simons, T. & Roberts, P.W. 2008. 'Local and non-local pre-founding experience and new organizational form penetration: The case of the Israeli wine industry, Administrative Science Quarterly
- Critical exposure and price-quality relationships for New World wines in the U.S. market, Journal of Wine Economics
- Corporate reputation and sustained superior financial performance, Strategic Management Journal
- Friendships among competitors in the Sydney hotel industry, American Journal of Sociology
- Product innovation, product-market competition and persistent profitability in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, Strategic Management Journal
Working Papers
- Role Specificity of the Effects of Founders' Career Experiences
- The profit orientation of microfinance institutions and effective interest rates
- Critical contributions: Addressing a status paradox and the phenomenon of the 41st chair
- A comparative analysis of company-sponsored and independent foundations
Areas of Specialization
- Status, Identity and Reputation
- Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship
- Social Enterprise
- Economic Sociology
- Wine Economics
Achievements and Honors
- Donald R. Keough Award for Excellence, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
- George Leland Bach Teaching Award for Excellence in the Classroom, GSIA, Carnegie Mellon University
Memberships and Activities
- Editorial Board, Administrative Science Quarterly
- Editorial Board, Organization Science
- Editorial Board, Strategic Organization
Education
| 1996 | Ph.D. | Organizational Analysis | University of Alberta | |
| 1989 | MA | Economics | University of Alberta | |
| 1988 | BA | Economics | Queen's University | |