Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Are You Experienced...Too Bad!

by Ken Duggan

As the U.S. economy selectively improves, why aren't more of the experienced and Baby Boomer workers looking outside... more As the U.S. economy selectively improves, why aren't more of the experienced and Baby Boomer workers looking outside of the traditional job market to change their unemployment/under employment circumstances?

Discovering International Imitative Entrepreneurship: Towards a New Model of International Opportunity Recognition and Realization

by Martin Ihrig

Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft, Special Issue 1, 2009, (with Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß).

Sourcing entrepreneurial ideas internationally: simulating opportunity recognition in a global knowledge economy

by Martin Ihrig

Strategic Management Society (SMS) Conference, November 2011, Miami, USA, (with Ian MacMillan and Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufsess).

A Terminal Assessment of Stages Theory: Introducing a Dynamic States Approach to Entrepreneurship

by Benyamin Lichtenstein

Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 34 (2): 314-351

Stages of Growth models were the most frequent theoretical approach to understanding entrepreneurial business growth... more Stages of Growth models were the most frequent theoretical approach to understanding entrepreneurial business growth from 1962 to 2006; they built on the growth imperative and developmental models of that time. An analysis of the universe of such models (N=104) published in the management literature shows no consensus on basic constructs of the approach, nor is there any empirical confirmations of stages theory. However, by changing two propositions of the stages models, a new dynamic states approach is derived. The dynamic states approach has far greater explanatory power than its precursor, and is compatible with leading edge research in entrepreneurship.

Moving Far From Far-From-Equilibrium: Opportunity Tension as the Driver of Emergence

by Benyamin Lichtenstein

Emergence: Complexity and Organization. Vol. 11 (4): 15-25. 2009.

Le dossier d’opportunité : Une alternative au plan d’affaires pour le démarrage d’entreprise?

by Marie-Ange Masson

Mémoire de MSc, HEC Montréal

Ce travail est le fruit d'une collaboration avec Claude Ananou, Alain Thériault et le CLD de Longueuil, qui s'étoffe... more Ce travail est le fruit d'une collaboration avec Claude Ananou, Alain Thériault et le CLD de Longueuil, qui s'étoffe au fur et à mesure (démarche SynOpp).

International opportunity recognition among small and medium-sized family firms

by Arto Ojala

Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key... more Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key element in the entrepreneurial process. It has been recognized that network ties, activeness and alertness, and prior knowledge are related to how entrepreneurs recognize new opportunities. However, it is unclear how important these factors are when a firm explores opportunities for entry into a foreign market. In this exploratory case study, covering the international opportunity recognition of eight family-owned SMEs, we found that the firms in question mainly recognized international opportunities by establishing new formal ties rather than using existing informal or family ties. The findings also indicated that due to the small size and the flexibility of the management team in family SMEs, these firms were able to react quickly to new international opportunities. However, there was no direct relationship between the prior knowledge of the firms and their international opportunity recognition. In addition, we found that trade exhibitions formed the primary context for the international opportunity recognition of the SMEs in this study. These findings motivate a set of five propositions that may lead to further studies on this topic.

Ethnic Concentration, Cultural Identity and Immigrant Self-Employment in Switzerland

by Roberto Patuelli

Co-authored with G. Guerra and R. Maggi, forthcoming in P. Nijkamp, J. Poot and M. Sahin (eds), 'Migration Impact Assessment: New Horizons', Edward Elgar

Immigrant self-employment rates vary considerably across regions in Switzerland. Business ownership seems to provide... more Immigrant self-employment rates vary considerably across regions in Switzerland. Business ownership seems to provide an alternative to wage labour, where immigrants have to face structural barriers such as the limited knowledge of the local language, or difficulties in fruitfully making use of their own human capital. Despite the historically high unemployment rates with respect to natives, immigrants in Switzerland are less entrepreneurial. It is therefore important to uncover the determinants that may facilitate the transition from the status of immigrant to the one of economic agent. Among others factors, concentration in ethnic enclaves, as well as accumulated labour market experience and time elapsed since immigration, have been associated to higher business ownership rates. In this paper we use a cross-section of 2,490 Swiss municipalities in order to investigate the role played by the ethnic concentration of immigrants, as well as cultural factors, in determining self-employment rates.

Ioan Popoviciu, Salomea Popoviciu (2011) Social Entrepreneurship, Social enterprise and the principles of a community of practice, Revista de cercetare si inovatie sociala, 33: 44-55

by Ioan Popoviciu

co-authored with Salomea Popoviciu, published in Review of Research and Social Intervention

Social entrepreneurship is defined as a theoretical and practical paradigm based on a specific context,... more Social entrepreneurship is defined as a theoretical and practical paradigm based on a specific context, characteristics and outcomes. The entrepreneurial context implies identifying the social factors that determine and sustain poverty, marginalization and exclusion; entrepreneurial characteristics refer to a direct action initiated by a social entrepreneur in the form of new solutions (innovation) for the target population, context or application; the entrepreneurial outcome is a visible and measurable social change that can be either small-scale (local) or large-scale (systemic). While social entrepreneurship starts at an individual level,the social enterprise begins as an organizational movement that applies market-based strategies in order to achieve social change. This article offers a theoretical perspective on the conceptualization and specific components of entrepreneurship, describes the social enterprise as an organizational movement for providing sustainable solutions and applies the principles of a community of practice to the communication in a social enterprise.

Rural Entrepreneurship for Women: A Case for Wealth Creation by Africa’s Rural Poor amidst Global Financial and Economic Crises

by Dr K M Baharul Islam

Plenary Presentation made at the African Economic Conference 2009 on
"Fostering Development in an Era of Financial and Economic Crises",
11 – 13 November 2009 • United Nations Conference Centre • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This paper underlines the strategic challenges and opportunities
from a gender focus to analyze the prospects of... more This paper underlines the strategic challenges and opportunities
from a gender focus to analyze the prospects of rural small and medium entrepreneurship for women through an analytical research on women’s IT-based commercial enterprises and present a matrix of issues before the women entrepreneurs.
Women Entrepreneurs have grown in large number across the globe over the last decade and increasingly the entrepreneurial potentials of women have changed the rural economies in many parts of the world. Besides the star cases like “Grameen Telephone Ladies” in Bangladesh spearheaded by Nobel
Laureate Muhammad Yunus, many other isolated cases of successful women businesses abound in recent years.


With the increasing number of rural women joining the entrepreneurial bandwagon their conventional role in the society has also been changing with the growing economic leverage they are mastering now. The quintessential home-maker with her born managerial skill, knowledge and adaptability in the difficult social milieu made them eager to take up even otherwise apparently ‘non-viable’ business ventures and often turned them into success
stories. ‘Women Entrepreneur’, in a larger sense, therefore is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal needs and become economically self-sufficient. 

Supporting the contribution of Higher Education Institutes to regional development

by Matthijs Hammer

This self-evaluation report on the Twente region is the result of the project “Supporting the Contribution of Higher... more This self-evaluation report on the Twente region is the result of the project “Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to regional Development” of the OECD/IMHE. Twente is the only region in the Netherlands that participated. All higher education institutions in the Twente region have cooperated and were involved in this study.The report was written by a group of writers, consisting of the two largest institutions: Saxion Hogescholen and Universiteit Twente. The complete project was carried out under the supervision of
the regional coordinator who was supported by a group of experts. All institutions have provided input and made comments on draft versions of the report. Additional useful contributions came from the Innovatieplatform Twente.

A steering group, chaired by a board member of the Saxion Hogescholen was set up for the project, consisting of representatives from government, industry and the higher education institutions. The steering group discussed, monitored and approved the structure and methodology of the study, and agreed on the content of the report.
Various regional stakeholders, from the profit and non-profit sectors, were involved in the selfevaluation. 35 people, many holding key positions in the region, were interviewed. Without
exception, everybody was very helpful, an important positive signal for the importance attached to the outcome of this study for the higher education institutions and the development of the Twente region.

For the higher education institutions, interaction with the region is of crucial importance. In the accreditation of study programmes developing, utilizing, maintaining and strengthening this interaction is a prerequisite for good education and good, independent provision of services.
Therefore, we are convinced that this self-evaluation was not a once-only activity. The various parties involved will incorporate the findings into their quality assurance policies and systems.
It can be concluded that this project will further strengthen the cooperation between higher education and regional stakeholders aimed at strengthening the economic, social and cultural development of Twente.

The report is a good basis for this. The last chapter (the way forward) indicates in what fields in particular this strengthening is likely to succeed. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the follow-up of the self-evaluation will also be embedded
in the objectives and activities of the Innovatieplatform Twente. The themes named as spearheads by that platform have been explicitly included. The Province of Overijssel and Network City Twente set up the Innovatieplatform Twente in December 2004. All major parties from industry and higher education that (can) contribute to the further development of the region are represented in the platform.

Industry Differences in Opportunity Recognition

by David Hansen

Published in JRME 2004

This exploratory study examines differences in opportunity recognition by industry. A sample of 142 entrepreneurs... more This exploratory study examines differences in opportunity recognition by industry. A sample of 142 entrepreneurs completed a detailed questionnaire. Certain differences by industry were found in the product, firm and respondents’ characteristics as well as in opportunity recognition processes, especially in regards to innovation and level of creativity. In addition, there is a very clear, significant relationship between level of creativity and the number of opportunities identified and pursued across industries. The implications of this is that future research that involves creativity, such as using the creativity-based model provided by Lumpkin, et al. (2003), should include industry in the analysis.

A value creation view of opportunity recognition processes

by David Hansen

Qualitative, dual-country study on entrepreneurial opportunity in IJESB 2005

Opportunity recognition is an important part of value creation processes and vice-versa. A qualitative study,... more Opportunity recognition is an important part of value creation processes and vice-versa. A qualitative study, involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 59 firm-owners/founders in the USA and Sweden was conducted to better understand how entrepreneurs and SME owners engage in opportunity recognition and marketing practices. The findings revealed evidence of: planning to be opportunistic, a propensity to take action, opportunities perceived incrementally over years, instantaneous opportunity evaluation, first customer testing rather than formal market research, both Kirznerian alertness and Schumpeterian new combinations, job dissatisfaction and industry experience preceding opportunity recognition, support for the Bhave model, variations in the level of search, entrepreneurs taking ‘ownership’ of ideas that were not originally theirs, use of supply and demand in recognising opportunities and contingent opportunity recognition.

Testing and Refining a Creativity-Based Model of Opportunity Recognition

by David Hansen

One of two papers on opportunity accepted into Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research in 2009

We conducted a longitudinal study of a creativity-based process model of opportunity recognition. Our findings suggest... more We conducted a longitudinal study of a creativity-based process model of opportunity recognition. Our findings suggest three elaborations: First, there are multiple layers/levels concurrent creative processes taking place in any given opportunity recognition process; each creative process results in a creative product; and creative products feed back into the overall process. Additionally, a critical transition was found in which the process “turned into something completely different” upon selection of a concept. Finally, two modes of opportunity development were observed, one in which the final concept was conceived early and survived by withstanding criticism and one in which the concept evolved over time through an iterative process.

Defragmenting Definitions of Entrepreneurial Opportunity

by David Hansen

JSBM 2011, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 283-304 (now published)

We examined 19-years worth of definitions of entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity-related processes. We found... more We examined 19-years worth of definitions of entrepreneurial opportunity and opportunity-related processes. We found 56 articles in six entrepreneurship-focused publications, with a total of 49 conceptual definitions and 32 operational definitions. Among those definitions, we identified 25 distinct conceptual and 12 operational elements of opportunity plus 48 definitional and 39 operational elements of opportunity-related processes. We found considerable fragmentation across conceptual and operational elements. However, based on commonalities among conceptual definitions, we developed six composite conceptual definitions of opportunity and eight composite conceptual definitions of opportunity-related processes, which we hope will help reduce the fragmentation of the entrepreneurial opportunity literature.

A multidimensional examination of a creativity-based opportunity recognition model

by David Hansen

Forthcoming in IJEBR 2011, 17 (5)

Purpose – This paper details an exploratory examination of a multidimensional, creativity-based theoretical model of... more Purpose – This paper details an exploratory examination of a multidimensional, creativity-based theoretical model of opportunity recognition originally proposed by Hills, et al. (1999) and later refined by Lumpkin, et al. (2004), but never empirically tested. The paper also examines the relationship between individual dimensions of the model and creativity.

Design/methodology/approach – Analyses were conducted using AMOS software on a sample of 145 entrepreneurs. One structural equation model (SEM) and three confirmatory factor analysis models were tested.

Findings – The five-dimensional model – consisting of preparation, incubation, insight, evaluation, and elaboration – was determined to be the best fitting model. The SEM model also indicated that incubation and elaboration were significantly related to creativity. Overall, a multidimensional, creativity-based approach to modeling opportunity recognition is supported by this study.

Research limitations/implications – Cross-sectional data does not allow for testing of the process aspect of the model; however, it does provide evidence that the model can stand up to empirical tests of the five elements of the model. Future research should examine opportunity using multiple dimensions and a creativity perspective. Additional research is needed to examine the process aspects of opportunity recognition.

Originality/value – This study provides one of the few examples of a multidimensional perspective on opportunity recognition as well as an empirical examination of a creativity-based theoretic model of opportunity recognition.

Practical implications – Fostering opportunity recognition processes that are iterative and involve multiple stages is likely to promote more creative entrepreneurial outcomes.

Keywords entrepreneurial opportunity, opportunity recognition, creativity, structural equation modeling

Category Research paper