An Essay on the Origins of Entrepreneurial Opportunity
Abstract
In this article, we apply a process of logical inference to draw conclusions about the origins of entrepreneurial opportunity from existing conversations in the field of strategic management. We equate the execution of a competitive strategy – as described in the strategic management literature – to the exploitation of an entrepreneurial opportunity – as described in the entrepreneurship literature. Given this assumption, we survey five extant theories of strategy in an attempt to categorize and describe the circumstances that define how and with what consequence entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation results in future opportunity. Given this review, we characterize the `outcomes’ of strategy execution as a function of the ‹match’ between strategy and environment in an effort to extend and refine Holcombe’s [Holcombe, Randall, 2003, Review of Austrian Economics 16(1), 25–43] position that entrepreneurial opportunity is born of prior entrepreneurial action. ‘Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.’ Ovid, A.D. 17 Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Download Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Small Business Economics.
Volume (Year): 28 (2007)
Issue (Month): 4 (April)
Pages: 363-379
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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=100338
Related research
Keywords: entrepreneurial opportunity; strategy; uncertainty; D80; L10; L26; M13;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
- L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
- L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
- M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Israel M. Kirzner, 1997. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 60-85, March.
- Holcombe, Randall G, 2003. " The Origins of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 25-43, March.
- Gaglio, Connie Marie & Katz, Jerome A, 2001. " The Psychological Basis of Opportunity Identification: Entrepreneurial Alertness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 95-111, March.
- Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1504-1511, December.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Yao-Wen Hsu, 2010. "Staging of venture capital investment: a real options analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 265-281, October.
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