Managing outliers and anomalies : tools for understanding unusual leaders, entrepreneurs, and organizations / Martin Ruef (Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Entrepreneurship, Department of Sociology, Duke University) and Colin Birkhead (assistant professor of management, Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University, USA).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruef, Martin, author.

Birkhead, Colin, author.

Contributor:

Edward Elgar Publishing, publisher.

Series:

New horizons in management

New horizons in management series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Entrepreneurship.

Leadership.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (152 pages)

Place of Publication:

Northampton : Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026.

Summary:

"In this timely book, Martin Ruef and Colin Birkhead consider how academics and practitioners can learn from unusual entrepreneurs, leaders, and organizations. They clarify how researchers make sense of extremes - in particular, whether they see them as outliers (extreme cases) or anomalies (extreme events). Chapters examine key outliers and anomalies throughout economic history, including eBay, General Electric, the House of Rothschild and Madam C.J. Walker. The book offers in-depth investigations of businesses and leaders, focusing on the distinctive qualities that drive performance. It assesses anomalous events via parameters and processes, highlighting spatial, temporal, industry and organizational contexts that shift performance outcomes. Pairing analysis of real world examples with comparison groups, Ruef and Birkhead address our bias towards extreme cases and events, while employing methodological tools for learning from them through qualitative, frequentist and Bayesian approaches. Managing Outliers and Anomalies is an insightful resource for scholars and students of entrepreneurship, leadership, organizations, sociology and public policy. The integrated case studies also make this essential reading for practitioners in business and entrepreneurship"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents: Preface

1. Learning from extremes

2. Outliers vs. anomalies

3. Managing exceptional cases

4. Managing exceptional events

5. Lessons from extremes

Appendix: Notes on methodology

References.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print record.

ISBN:

9781035368181 (e-book)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.