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Interested in studying technology without relying on patents?

Join us for this PDW where we will introduce a novel technology profiling database - the BuiltWith database. This resource offers an opportunity for exciting new research, such as works recently published in Management Science and the Strategic Management Journal (Burford, Shipilov and Furr, 2022; Koning, Hasan and Chatterji, 2022). Specifically, the BuiltWith database tracks technology adoption and usage for internet-based companies and thus sheds light on the critical technology, strategy, and organizational choices of both large and small firms. An overview of the data and its potential use cases can be found in the supplemental article "Built with BuiltWith." [SSRN LINK]

The goal of the PDW is to equip participants with technical insight on how to manipulate and augment the database and the key fields therein. To that end, it will bring together scholars who have successfully utilized the database and are familiar with its advantages and shortcomings. Details on the panellists, time and location are listed at the bottom of this message.  The structure of the PDW is as follows;

First, it will open with brief presentations summarizing recent works using the database to inform contemporary research questions. Each presenter will also underscore key limitations, or 'red flags,' that scholars should heed if we are to facilitate careful interpretation of the results. The goal is to avoid mis-use of the data and further facilitate the construction of a cumulative body of knowledge.

Second, we will have people from the audience share their ongoing research projects as well as questions about the data. Although not required, feel free to send us Gary Dushnitsky (gdushnitsky@london.edu) or Bryan Stroube (bstroube@london.edu) one or two slides in advance of the PDW if you are already working with the data and would be willing to do a short of pitch of how you're using it.

Finally, we will convene roundtable discussions to explore these issues in detail and identify fertile areas to advance future work. Ideally, this could lead to coordination of effort and minimization of redundancies in research efforts.

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Gary Dushnitsky
London Business School
London
44 (0)20 7000 8723
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