arbiter
JournalsAccount

When do shapers win? An NK simulation of shapers’ cognitive advantages

Tejaswi Channagiri & Gwendolyn K. Lee

Industrial and Corporate Change2026https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtag008article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

While the extant strategy literature has emphasized the importance of adaptation in response to exogenous changes in the environment, a recent development takes a design view and suggests that firms can shape their environments. We ask: under what circumstances can a shaper beat out adapting incumbents following an effective shaping attempt? We propose that (1) the process of shaping leads shapers to acquire unique cognitive advantages and (2) whether shapers can leverage these cognitive advantages to beat out adapting incumbents is contingent on landscape characteristics. Our simulation results show that the shaper is more likely to win when the new landscape is characterized by (i) high interdependencies among the new dimensions that the shaper introduces and (ii) many new dimensions impacting old dimensions’ contributions to performance.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtag008

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{tejaswi2026,
  title        = {{When do shapers win? An NK simulation of shapers’ cognitive advantages}},
  author       = {Tejaswi Channagiri & Gwendolyn K. Lee},
  journal      = {Industrial and Corporate Change},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtag008},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

When do shapers win? An NK simulation of shapers’ cognitive advantages

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.