Denver Conference > Session Details

Session 310

When the Smoke Clears: The Emergence of the Cannabis Industry

Track Q	Date: Monday, October 5, 2015
Track X	Time: 15:15 – 16:15
Showcase Panel	Room: Governor's Square 11

Session Co-Chairs:

Josh Keller, Nanyang Technological University

Josh Keller is an Assistant Professor of Strategy, Management and Organization at the Nanyang Business School in Singapore. His primary research is in the study of cultural dynamics at the organizational, industry and societal levels. He is currently studying cultural change in the US cannabis industry. He has published in several leading Management journals, including Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Management and Organization Review. He has PhD in Management from the University of Texas-Austin.
Paul Seaborn, University of Denver

Paul Seaborn is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver. His research interests include non-market strategy/corporate political activity and information intermediaries (rating/ranking/certification organizations). He is currently studying both political activity and identity/reputation in the US cannabis industry and has published a case on the industry, Medical Marijuana Industry Group: Outdoor Advertising in Denver, in Case Research Journal. He has a PhD in Strategic Management from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Xin Yao, University of Colorado-Boulder

Xin “Eva” Yao is Assistant Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado-Boulder. Her research interests include venture capital investment decisions, entrepreneur motivation and behaviors, and cross-cultural differences. Most recently, Eva Yao’s work examines venture capital investment in clean energy sectors, and entrepreneurs’ networking cognition and strategies. She has published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.

Panelists:

Diane Carlson, Smart Colorado

Diane Carlson studied economics at the University of Maryland and received a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard. As a financial and policy analyst at the New York Federal Reserve Bank she became an expert in banking regulatory and legislative policy. She later built and managed a successful human resource company in New York City, which she grew to over 40 million in revenues specializing in staffing solutions for major corporations and financial institutions. Diane Carlson currently works with Smart Colorado, a non-profit organization at the forefront of protecting the health, safety and futures of Colorado youth as marijuana becomes increasingly available and commercialized. Smart Colorado formed after the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in the state of Colorado, by a group of concerned citizens who voted both for and against the Constitutional Amendment with the sole interest of protecting Colorado youth. Smart Colorado has grown rapidly ever since.
Andrew Freedman, State of Colorado

Andrew Freedman holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from Tufts University and, in 2010, earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Upon law school graduation, Andrew Freedman joined John Hickenlooper’s campaign for governor – and was tapped to serve as Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia’s Chief of Staff. During his time with Garcia, the lieutenant governor’s office won a $45 million Race to the Top Grant for early childhood education, created the Office of Early Childhood, helped passed the READ act, and collaborated with Mile High United Way to create the Colorado Reading Corps. In 2013, Andrew Freedman left the lieutenant governor’s office to become the Director of Colorado Commits to Kids, the Yes on 66 campaign – the largest effort to date to overhaul Colorado’s education funding system. In 2014, he was appointed the state’s first Director of Marijuana Coordination. As Director, Andrew Freedman's mission is to ensure the efficient and effective regulation of Colorado’s retail and medical marijuana while promoting public health, maintaining public safety, and keeping marijuana out of the hands of children.
Tripp Keber, Dixie Brands, Inc

Tripp Keber is co-founder and CEO of Dixie Brands, Inc. The company's flagship brand, Dixie Elixirs and Edibles makes more than 100 marijuana-infused products, including sodas, chocolates, topicals and tinctures. Dixie started in 2009 with two employees, and now has over 50 employees and operates in a new, state of the art 30,000 square-foot facility in Denver, Colorado.
Violina Rindova, University of Texas at Austin

Violina Rindova (JD, Sophia University, Bulgaria; MBA, Madrid Business School, Spain; PhD, Stern School of Business, New York University) is the Zlotnik Family Chair and the Herb Kellelher Chair in Entrepreneurship at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin and a Fellow of the IC2 Institute of University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on the socio-cognitive processes through which firms build and maintain competitive advantage, create intangible assets, and discover and shape new market opportunities. Her research on the dynamic aspects of competitive advantage, the role of the media in shaping perceptions of firms, the accumulation of intangible assets based on such perceptions has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization. She has served as an Associated Editor for The Academy of Management Review, on the Research Committee of the BPS Division of the Academy of Management, and as a representative-at-large for the OMT Division.

How industries emerge and the role of different stakeholder groups within an industry in its emergence have long been important topics in the strategic management literature. The interaction among entrepreneurs, industry associations, governmental entities, and nonprofit organizations representing additional public and private interests contribute to the evolution of a young industry. The recent emergence of the cannabis industry within the U.S. presents a rare occasion for scholars to witness in real time the evolving challenges faced by all parties involved in a new industry. Moreover, as an industry that was completely illegal until 1996, legal only for medical purposes until 2012, and currently legal for both medical and recreational use in only four states, attempts to legitimize the industry have intensified amidst a confluence of regulatory, normative, and cognitive obstacles and uncertainties. As one of the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis in 2012 and a state that has been used as a model for subsequent legalization efforts, Colorado is an ideal location for understanding the emergence of the cannabis industry. In this Showcase Symposium, we bring together representatives of different stakeholder groups—including the state government, the entrepreneur, and the citizen activists—to engage in a discussion about the current state of affairs of the cannabis industry in Colorado and beyond and about the future of this industry from different stakeholder perspectives. We also invite a senior scholar to comment on the dynamics of the emerging cannabis industry and suggest interesting and rewarding research directions related to this unique study context.

All Sessions in Track Q...

Sun: 13:45 – 14:30
Session 307: Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Sun: 14:45 – 15:45
Session 7: New Frontiers in Technologies, Fields, and Business Models: Implications for Academic and Practice Knowledge Creation: Mon: 09:45 – 11:00
Session 8: Elevating our Understanding of Organizational Performance: Bridging the Frontiers of Business and Corporate Strategies: Mon: 15:15 – 16:15
Session 227: Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures: Reconfiguring Resource Bases for Value Creation and Growth
Session 308: Strategy Beyond the Firm: Creating and Capturing Value from External Resources
Session 310: When the Smoke Clears: The Emergence of the Cannabis Industry
Session 311: Theory Fragmentation in Strategic Management?
Session 312: Climate Change: Why and How Should Strategic Management Care?: Tue: 09:45 – 10:45
Session 9: Whatever Happened to Theory in Strategic Management?

Session 310

When the Smoke Clears: The Emergence of the Cannabis Industry

Session Co-Chairs:

Panelists:

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