Introduction

In a typically windy and cold day in November, 2006, I was sitting at the Organizations and Markets Workshop at the Chicago Graduate School of Business (I was studying Social Sciences at the University of Chicago at that time). Driven by my ever growing curiosity about Economic Sociology, I had been religiously following the workshop presentations, even though my interest in spontaneous distributed forms of organization was not exactly congruent with the business school’s emphasis on strategic management for value-creation and profit-making. A tall and somewhat awkward young man came in front and started his presentation. There was one recurring thought in my head during the whole time: “I can’t believe you can actually do this!" Here was an avant-garde research using advanced computational methods and a rigorous theoretical critique to investigate what happens if everybody wants to be a social entrepreneur. The answer: an egalitarian society.

The presenter is an alumnus from Utrecht University and his co-author - a professor here. This was my first introduction to Utrecht University and its cutting-edge research. I am now here to be part of it. I would like to thank all the alumni who made this opportunity real for me.