Research

My research centers on the idea that what happens inside the minds of managers and entrepreneurs can be a powerful source of competitive advantage. My research examines three specific sources of cognition-based strategic advantage — perceptual sources (such as perceptual arbitrage), cognitive sources (such as learning and ideation), and experimental sources (such as scientific intensity) — and their effects on resource acquisition and competitive positioning in settings of entrepreneurship and private capital placement. Whereas strategy research has often taken perception for granted in entry, acquisition, and competition, my work suggests that cognitive mechanisms are a cornerstone of value creation upon which strategists can build both short-run advantages through factor-market arbitrage and long-run advantages through superior positioning in product markets. This has led me to an additional line of research leveraging my theory of perceptual arbitrage to examine the differences and complementarities between human and artificial cognition, particularly focusing on the role of perception in problem formulation and strategic ownership. 

Methodologically, I utilize AI and machine learning methods to develop theory and experimental methods to test it.

Publications & Working Papers

Valentine, J., Novelli, E., & Agarwal, R. (2024). The theory-based view and strategic pivots: The effects of theorization and experimentation on the type and nature of pivots. Strategy Science, 9(4), 433-460. Find it on Google Scholar.

Valentine, J. (2025). Perceptual Arbitrage: A Theory-based View of New Ideas and their Effects on Factor Prices. Available at SSRN 5394595.

Valentine, J. (2025). Rents, Rationality, & The Lifecycle of an Idea. Available at SSRN 5413915.

Agarwal, R., Camuffo, A., Gambardella, A., Sonka, S., Valentine, J. CAGE-ing Knowledge: Entrepreneurial Approaches as Learning Toolkits for Construction, Acquisition, and Generation of Entrepreneurial Knowledge. Available at SSRN 5649712.

Balasubramanian, N., Ganco, M., King, B., Starr, E., Valentine, J. Restrictive Covenants, Idea Generation, and Entrepreneurship. Preparing for submission.