Inside opportunity formation: enterprise failure, cognition, and the creation of opportunities

Entrepreneurial Growth Ambitions: The Case of Finnish Technology Startups

“…Given that the impression given by these startups was that they were satisfied with creating profitable businesses in smaller geographical areas, the question remains whether the lack of growth ambition drives a certain type of entrepreneurs to build their business on non-scalable business model? Third, our data confirm previous research (e.g., Mitchell et al, 2008) showing that growth ambitions strongly depend on the entrepreneurs' personal characteristics and previous experiences. Our data provides three initial insights in this area.…”

The production of entrepreneurial opportunity: a constructivist perspective

“…Because opportunity enactment requires a coalition of stakeholders, the entrepreneur must work to absorb stakeholders into his or her view of the future and eventually reach a shared understanding of a future to come (Shackle, 1979). This entails an iterative process of talking with potential investors, contacting possible employees, surveying potential customers, and searching for technology that might be used to create the product or service that will fulfi ll the opportunity (Alvarez and Barney, 2007;Mitchell, Mitchell, and Smith, 2008). Market research may be conducted, distribution channels may be explored, the availability of capital assessed, and the resource space scanned.…”

The Causes of the Failure of New Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa

“…Business failure can further lead to reduced income for the government in the form of lower taxes and increased expenditures on crime prevention. Mitchell et al (2008) argue that the effect of new SME failure can be portrayed both negatively and positively. While the negative effects of failure are manifest in monetary and emotional costs, its positive effects are less visible, being associated with learning, experience, and other cognitive constructs.…”