Areas of Expertise

Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, Corporate Entrepreneurship and Turnaround Management

Academic Degrees

• PhD, University of Washington, 2012
• MBA, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, 2004
• BComm (Hons), University of Johannesburg, 2002
• BAcct, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 1997

Professional Experience

• Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa
• Expert Contributor and Advisor, Entrepreneur Magazine, South Africa
• Cofounder and Director, Learninglab Inc.
• Senior Manager, Deloitte

Awards, Honors & Certificates

• 2022 Helena Yli-Renko Research Impact Award from the Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California (recognizes an entrepreneurship paper that appeared in the top-tier management and entrepreneurship journals six years ago and received the highest citations in the five years following publication)
• 2021 MBA Teaching Excellence Award at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• 2021 Kelley School of Business Doctoral Program Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award, Indiana University
• 2021 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers: Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation
• 2021 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award
• 2018 Emerging Scholars Award from Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division
• 2018 MBA Teaching Excellence Award at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• 2018 Eyster Teaching Award at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• 2017 Article of the Year from the Journal of Business Venturing for the article entitled “Legitimate to Whom? Audience Diversity and Venture Legitimacy”
• 2017 Developmental Reviewer of the Year Award for Academy of Management Review
• 2017 Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) Conference Outstanding Paper Award
• 2017 Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award
• 2016 – 2021 John and Donna Shoemaker Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship
• 2016 Outstanding Reviewer Award for Academy of Management Review
• 2016 Named among the “Favorite Business School Professor Teaching MBAs” by Poets and Quants website.
• 2015, 2014 & 2013 Nominated for the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award.
• 2014 Named among the “40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs under 40 in the World” by the Poets and Quants website
• 2013 MBA Teaching Excellence Award at Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• 2013 Best Paper Award at the Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship Conference, Denver, CO.
• 2011 MBA Teaching Award for best instructor in the full time MBA program at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa
• 2011 Outstanding Instructor for the Business Fundamentals program at the University of Washington, Foster School of Business.
• 2011 Best Doctoral Student Paper Award at the Western Academy of Management meeting.
• 2011 Best Paper Award in the Ethics/Diversity track of the Southern Management Association Meeting.
• 2010 MBA Teaching Award for best instructor in the full time MBA program at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
• 2010 Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division IDEA Award in the Research Promise Category.
• 2010 Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award from International Leadership Association.
• 2009 Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice Award for the Best Conceptual Paper for the Annual Meeting of the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.
• 2009 Doctoral Student Paper award at the Southern Management Association meeting (Entrepreneurship/Innovation Track).

Selected Publications

• Fisher, G., and Neubert, E. (2023). Evaluating Ventures Fast and Slow: Sensemaking, Intuition, and Deliberation in Entrepreneurial Resource Provision Decisions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(4), 1298–1132.
• Murray, A., and Fisher, G. (2023). When more is less: Explaining the curse of too much capital for early-stage ventures. Organization Science, 34(1), 246–282.
• Wood, M., and Fisher, G. (2023). A Collective-Evolutionary Alternative for Appraising Entrepreneurship Theory. Strategic Organization, 21(2), 416–428.
• Mathias, B., and Fisher, G. (2022). That’s our beer! Contentious category blending to create collegiate beer. Journal of Management, 48(3), 693-737.
• Marvel, M., Wolfe, M., Kuratko, D. F., and Fisher, G. (2022). Examining Entrepreneurial Experience in Relation to Pre-launch and Post-Launch Learning Activities Affecting Venture Performance. Journal of Small Business Management, 60(4), 759-785..
• Kotha, S. Shin, S., and Fisher, G. (2022). Time to Unicorn Status: An Exploratory Examination of New Ventures with Extreme Valuations. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 16(3), 460-490.
• Kuratko, D. F., Fisher, G., and Audretsch, D. B. (2021). Unraveling the entrepreneurial mindset. Small Business Economics, 57, 1681–1691. DOI: 10.1007/s11187-020-00372-6
• Fisher, G. (2021). New Venture Legitimacy. In Oxford Encyclopedia of Business and Management. Oxford University Press.
• Fisher, G., Neubert, E., and Burnell, D. (2021). Resourcefulness Narratives: Transforming Actions into Stories to Mobilize Support. Journal of Business Venturing, 36(4), 106122.
• Wood, M., Bakker , R. and Fisher, G. (2021). Back to the Future: A Time-Calibrated Theory of Entrepreneurial Action. Academy of Management Review, 46(1), 147–171.
• Wood, M., Bakker, R., and Fisher, G. (2021). Unreasoned, Non-Deliberative, or Temporally Uncertain? Elaborating Time-Calibrated Entrepreneurial Action. Academy of Management Review, in press.
• Fisher, G., Stevenson, R., Burnell, D., Neubert, E. and Kuratko, D. (2020) Entrepreneurial Hustle: Navigating Uncertainty and Enrolling Venture Stakeholders through Urgent and Unorthodox Action. Journal of Management Studies, 57(5), 1002-1036.
• Fisher, G. (2020). The Complexities of New Venture Legitimacy. Organization Theory, 1(2), 1-25.
• Younger, S., and Fisher, G. (2020). The Exemplar Enigma: New Venture Image in an Emerging Organizational Category. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(1), 1-19.
• Obstfeld, D., Ventresca, M., and Fisher, G. (2020). An Assembly Perspective of Entrepreneurial Action: Social Networks in Action. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 14(2), 149-177.
• Murray, A., Kotha, S. & Fisher, G. (2020). Community-Based Resource Mobilization: How Entrepreneurs Acquire Resources from Distributed Non-Professionals via Crowdfunding. Organization Science, 31(4), 960–989.
• Fisher, G. (2019). Online Communities and Firm Advantages. Academy of Management Review, 44(2), 279-298.
• Liu, D., Fisher, G. & Chen, G. (2018). CEO Attributes and Firm Performance: A Sequential Mediation Process Model. Academy of Management Annals, 12(2), 789–816.
• Zhao, E. Y., Fisher, G., Lounsbury, M., and Miller, D. (2017). Optimal distinctiveness: Broadening the interface between institutional theory and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), 93-113.
• Fisher, G., Kuratko, D.F., Bloodgood, J., & Hornsby, J.S. (2017). Legitimate to Whom? Audience Diversity and Individual-Level New Venture Legitimacy Judgments. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(1), 52-71.
• Fisher, G. & Aguinus, H. (2017). Using Theory Elaboration to Make Theoretical Advancements. Organizational Research Methods, 20(3): 438-464.
• Kuratko, D.F., Fisher, G., Bloodgood, J. & Hornsby, J. (2017). The Paradox of New Venture Legitimation within an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Small Business Economics Journal, 49(1), 119-140.
• Li, J., Chen, X., Kotha, S. & Fisher, G. (2017). Catch Fire and Spread It: A Glimpse into Entrepreneurial Passion in Crowdfunding Campaigns. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(7), 1075-1090.
• Fisher, G., Kotha, S. & Lahiri, A. (2016). Changing with the Times: An Integrated View of Identity, Legitimacy and New Venture Life Cycles. Academy of Management Review, 41(3), 383-409.
• Waldron, T., Fisher, G., & Pfarrar, M. (2016). How Social Entrepreneurs Facilitate the Adoption of New Industry Practices. Journal of Management Studies, 53(5), 821-845.  
• Fisher, G. & Kotha, S. (2015). Entrepreneurial Identity and Resource Acquisition: The Role of Venture Identification. In Eds Hitt, M., Zhou, J. & Shally, C., Oxford Handbook on Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Waldron, T., Fisher, G. & Navis, C. (2015). Institutional Entrepreneurs' Social Mobility in Organizational Fields. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(1), 131-149.
• Waldron, T., Navis, C. & Fisher, G. (2013). Explaining Differences in Firms' Responses to Activism. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), 397-415.
• Fisher, G. (2012). Effectuation, Causation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage: A Behavioral Comparison of Emerging Theories in Entrepreneurship Research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(5), 1019-1051.

Edited on July 3, 2023