Institutions, Innovation & Strategy
My work spans four streams, each asking a different version of the same question: when do institutions create strategic opportunity, and when do they foreclose it?
When Do Institutions Expand the Entrepreneurial Opportunity Set?
How do political, legal, and social institutions shape whether entrepreneurship becomes a path to opportunity or a response to constraint? I draw on political science and institutional theory to study how variation in rules and governance affects who enters markets and why.
What Makes an Ecosystem Worth Building In?
Entrepreneurs need resources, resilience, and recoverability — not ecosystems per se. I study when regional institutional arrangements provide those conditions and how that shapes firm-level strategic choices, including in emerging and non-dominant economies.
When Does Public Investment Become Strategic Advantage?
Public R&D shapes the resource landscape that firms compete within. Drawing on economic development research, I study how that investment affects the quality and composition of new market entrants.
How Does Legal Design Shape Who Can Compete?
Legal institutions set the boundaries of competitive action. I study how variation in legal design — from antitrust to tax structures — alters who can enter a market, on what terms, and which strategic options are available.
Selected Work
Titles redacted for papers under anonymous review.
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Published
Snider, R. & Walter, J. (2026). Why Does Rice (Not) Play Texas? Conference Realignment and the Limits of Antitrust Law. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (in press).Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
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Published
Abdurakhmonov, M., Snider, R., Ridge, J., & Hasija, D. (2023). Perceptions of Political Self-Dealing? An Empirical Investigation of Market Returns Surrounding the Disclosure of Politician Stock Purchases. Strategic Management Journal, 44(5), 1168–1198.Strategic Management Journal
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Under Review
Snider, R. [Regional ecosystem governance and firm retention].Research Policy
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Under Review
Snider, R. [Cultural boundary conditions of entrepreneurial decision-making theory].Journal of Management Studies
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Under Review
Snider, R., Seagraves, C., & Goldsby, M. [Democratic institutions and entrepreneurial allocation].Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice
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Under Review
Snider, R. [Legal trust and the composition of entrepreneurial activity].Journal of Business Venturing Insights
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Working Paper
Snider, R. [Vulnerability and liberal assumptions in entrepreneurship research].Target · Journal of Management Inquiry
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Working Paper
Snider, R. & Seagraves, C. [University R&D and startup quality under economic uncertainty].Target · Research Policy
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Working Paper
Cummings, M., Pidduck, R., & Snider, R. [Rhetoric, inequality, and education crowdfunding].Target · Journal of Management Studies
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In Progress
Snider, R. [State tax structures and the composition of new market entrants].Target · Strategic Management Journal
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In Progress
Seagraves, C. & Snider, R. [AI detection of stealth acquisitions].Target · Management Science
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In Progress
Goldsby, M., Kuratko, D., Snider, R., & Morris, M. [Reckoning theory and entrepreneurial mobility in poverty contexts].Target · Small Business Economics
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In Progress
Snider, R. [Tocquevillean theory of entrepreneurial serendipity].Target · Journal of Business Venturing
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In Progress
Snider, R. [Cultural theory and ecosystem development in emerging economies].Target · Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal
Courses
Students learn to think by being asked to think. My classroom runs on case analysis, directed questioning, and the expectation that every claim gets defended. I lean toward written assessments over multiple choice — if a student can reason through ambiguity and explain why, that matters more than selecting the right answer from a list.
Corporate & Business Strategy
Strategic Management
Principles of Management
Antitrust, Innovation & Technology
Legal Environment of Business
New Venture Innovation
Before the Academy
Before pursuing a Ph.D., I held senior policy and management roles in Florida state government — experience that informs both my scholarship and my teaching.