We are delighted to announce that Amanda Baum has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, titled "Entrepreneurship in the Emerging Women's Health Market: Navigating Multi-Level Tensions to Support Societal Transformation through Technological Innovation." Her dissertation explores the emerging entrepreneurial field of women's health—a topic that is scientifically compelling, economically attractive, and socially relevant.
Across three empirical studies, Amanda analyzes how FemTech founders navigate stigma, hype, investor hesitation, and market expectations—and how they build legitimacy in a field that is as promising as it is structurally constrained. The particular strength of her work lies in the way it combines empirical depth with theoretical ambition: drawing on a historical discourse analysis spanning 1958 to 2024, more than 70 interviews with founders, investors, and experts, as well as social media data, field observations, and extensive archival material, Amanda develops contributions to management research alongside tangible implications for founders and policymakers.
Over the course of her doctoral studies, Amanda has presented her research at the field's leading conferences, including EGOS, the IPDMC, and the annual meeting of the Strategic Management Society (SMS); a paper at the Academy of Management (AOM) 2026 is forthcoming. Together with her co-authors, she received the zfo Junior Researcher Award of the Commission on Organization 2026; she is also a fellow of the Joachim Herz Foundation under the Add-on Fellowships for Interdisciplinary Economics and Business Administration.
We warmly congratulate Amanda on this achievement and wish her all the best for the next steps in her career.
