ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on new empirical data in examining the journey of a start-up company. It describes the concept of sociomaterial relations, temporal context and power-political processes remain central in explaining the emergence and growth of Micro-X. Micro-X spotlights the complex processes of change and captures some common concerns and difficulties of growing a small, newly formed business. This case usefully informs the concept of sociomateriality and illustrates some of the practical challenges that face a company wishing to launch directly from start-up to global player in the provision of new innovative health products. The sociomaterial approach attends to the problem of regarding, explicitly or implicitly, the material world as being distinct and separate from social phenomena. Sociomateriality remains a slippery concept that fuses together notions of the social and material. As the case of Micro-X will illustrate, examining shifting sociomaterial relations as they occur provides considerable explanatory insight into processes of change.
