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The role of demand-side narratives in opportunity formation and enactment

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  • Nambisan, Satish
  • Zahra, Shaker A.

Abstract

Our understanding of how entrepreneurs capture knowledge about market needs and identify and exploit promising opportunities remains limited, despite the abundance of studies on the origins of opportunities. We propose that demand-side narratives—the cumulative articulations of needs, desires, ideas and experiences of demand-side participants—form a key micro-foundation of opportunity formation and enactment. New digital infrastructures such as social media facilitate the co-creation, sharing and collective interpretation of these narratives. We further propose that entrepreneurs’ success in forming and enacting opportunities revealed by these narratives is enhanced by their cognitive capabilities related to demand articulation and resource mobilization. Our discussion seeks to improve our understanding of the cognitive underpinnings of opportunity formation and enactment and holds important implications for future research and practice in entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Nambisan, Satish & Zahra, Shaker A., 2016. "The role of demand-side narratives in opportunity formation and enactment," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 70-75.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:5:y:2016:i:c:p:70-75
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2016.05.001
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    Cited by:

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    7. Muhammad Anwar & Thomas Clauss & Wunnam Basit Issah, 2022. "Entrepreneurial orientation and new venture performance in emerging markets: the mediating role of opportunity recognition," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 769-796, April.
    8. Abraham K. Song, 2019. "The Digital Entrepreneurial Ecosystem—a critique and reconfiguration," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 569-590, October.
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