Storm Clouds and Silver Linings: Responding to Disruptive Innovations Through Cognitive Resilience

Jim Dewald, Frances Bowen · 2009 · Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

Summary. Small incumbent firms respond differently to disruptive business model innovations depending on how managers cognitively frame the threat and opportunity. The study finds that managers' prior risk experience shapes how they perceive opportunities, while perceived urgency influences how they assess threats. Analysis of 126 real estate brokers facing discount broker competition confirms this framework, showing that cognitive resilience—balancing threat and opportunity perception—determines whether small firms adopt, resist, or adapt to disruption.

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@article{dewald-2009-storm-clouds-silver-linings-responding,
  title   = {Storm Clouds and Silver Linings: Responding to Disruptive Innovations Through Cognitive Resilience},
  author  = {Jim Dewald and Frances Bowen},
  journal = {Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice},
  year    = {2009},
  doi     = {10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00312.x},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00312.x}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Storm Clouds and Silver Linings: Responding to Disruptive Innovations Through Cognitive Resilience
AU  - Jim Dewald
AU  - Frances Bowen
JO  - Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
PY  - 2009
DO  - 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00312.x
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00312.x
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00312.x

Countries

Canada

Regions

North America

Categories

entrepreneurship, innovation-theory, general-innovation

Added

2026-04-28