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Entrepreneurial Collaboration: Terms of Endearment or Rules of Engagement?

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  • T Quince

Abstract

Many potential entrepreneurs face the choice as to whether they should collaborate when setting up in business. Small business research has generated little in the way of information or advice on collaborative entrepreneurship. This paper goes some way towards addressing that lack. The paper reports the findings of a survey of 106 collaborative entrepreneurs and describes their assessments of the benefits and disadvantages of co-ownership and their evaluation of the factors making for its success. Experiences of unsuccessful collaboration are also recounted. The findings illustrate how those involved saw collaborative entrepreneurship in terms of economic, organisational and interpersonal relationships. Whilst the benefits of collaboration were primarily economic, the affective aspects of the close inter-personal relationship provided the 'glue'. The paper makes a contribution to the arguments for a more holistic approach in small business research in general, and the need to take account of the impact of the feelings and beliefs of owner-managers on the 'economic' choices they make.

Suggested Citation

  • T Quince, 2001. "Entrepreneurial Collaboration: Terms of Endearment or Rules of Engagement?," Working Papers wp207, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp207
    Note: PRO-1
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    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp207/
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    Cited by:

    1. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Adomako, Samuel & Berko, Damoah Obi, 2022. "Once bitten, twice shy? The relationship between business failure experience and entrepreneurial collaboration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 983-992.
    2. Jawad Minhas & Stavros Sindakis, 2022. "Implications of Social Cohesion in Entrepreneurial Collaboration: a Systematic Literature Review," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 2760-2791, December.
    3. Jawad Minhas & Stavros Sindakis, 2021. "Implications of Social Cohesion in Entrepreneurial Collaboration: a Conceptual Model and Research Propositions," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(4), pages 2016-2031, December.
    4. Thelma Quince, 2002. "'Meet the parents': the importance of 'pre-conception' conditions in facilitating high-technology spin-out companies," Working Papers wp233, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; collaboration; small businesses; venture teams;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm

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