In contrast to structurally-determinist and cognitive/agency oriented views of opportunity recognition, it is argued that opportunity formation is relationally and communally constituted -an insight that is not recognised in descriptive or linear process models of opportunity recognition. To arrive at this claim, use is made of social constructionist ideas.These ideas have been frequently applied in entrepreneurship studies but less attention has been given to the relational aspects of social constructionist thinking particularly with regard to opportunity formation processes. To aid this line of inquiry an analysis is undertaken of a siblingautobiographical account of a high profile business venture, Coffee Republic. This account has been crafted by the sibling partnership with a particular audience in mind (the would-be entrepreneur) with guidelines and principles on how 'anyone can do it'. However, it is not utilised here as a good specimen of business venturing to be probed for particular (hidden) meanings. Instead, the account is evaluated in order to illustrate how individualistic statements about opportunity discovery can be reconceptualised as relationally and communally constituted -an emphasis which is important for widening our theoretical understanding of the activities we label entrepreneurship.

No abstract

A B S T R A C TIn spite of various calls for a wider application of qualitative research in the family business field, it is our contention that the full potential of qualitative inquiry is not being fully realized. Part of the reason for this relates to the tendency to promote methods choice and diversity rather than addressing the foundational questions and processes which underlie qualitative research choices. These tendencies obscure attention to the reasons why researchers choose qualitative methods and the kinds of foundational issues about family businesses that are brought to light through qualitative research. To address this, we undertake an analysis of the most-cited articles using qualitative methods from an annotated bibliography of family business studies. From this, we identify the strengths and weaknesses of extant qualitative studies in family business research and argue for the need to re-orientate calls in family business research towards the foundational questions (rather than methods) that underline qualitative inquiry.

No abstract

No abstract