ABSTRACT

This qualitative, longitudinal study of 12 innovative young New Zealand ventures investigates how individual entrepreneurs develop their venture opportunity amidst emerging rivalry. Two phases are identified: the pursuit of the initial opportunity, and developing it under rivalry. Adopting a sensemaking perspective and a social understanding of rivalry, we explain how entrepreneurs’ backgrounds impact opportunity confidence and the construction of rivalry, and reveal three main pathways whereby entrepreneurs develop their venture. First, entrepreneurs with neither start-up experience nor industry knowledge construct rivalry as threatening and narrow their network as opportunity confidence declines. Second, entrepreneurs with industry knowledge construct emerging rivalry as a challenge and strengthen within-industry ties to meet it. Third, entrepreneurs with serial start-up experience remain unfazed by rivalry and may abandon existing networks in favour for new networks. Comparing pathways, the paper makes two main contributions. First, it illustrates a link between entrepreneurs’ backgrounds and the construction of rivalry. This construction impacts opportunity confidence. Second, the paper suggests that such changes in opportunity confidence guide decisions about how to embed the venture into social context. Overall, the paper contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms whereby entrepreneurial backgrounds influence developing venture opportunities in competitive settings.

摘要

这项对 12 家新西兰年轻创新企业的定性纵向研究调查了个体企业家如何在新兴竞争中发展他们的创业机会。确定了两个阶段：追求最初的机会，以及在竞争中发展它。我们采用意义建构的视角和对竞争的社会理解，解释了企业家的背景如何影响机会信心和竞争的构建，并揭示了企业家发展风险的三个主要途径。首先，既没有创业经验也没有行业知识的企业家将竞争构建为威胁，并随着机会信心的下降缩小他们的网络。其次，具有行业知识的企业家将新兴竞争视为挑战，并加强行业内联系以应对挑战。第三，具有连续创业经验的企业家不会受到竞争的影响，可能会放弃现有网络而转向新网络。比较路径，本文有两个主要贡献。首先，它说明了企业家背景与竞争结构之间的联系。这种结构会影响机会信心。其次，该论文表明，机会信心的这种变化指导有关如何将企业嵌入社会环境的决策。总体而言，本文有助于我们理解创业背景影响竞争环境中发展风险机会的机制。它说明了企业家的背景与竞争结构之间的联系。这种结构会影响机会信心。其次，该论文表明，机会信心的这种变化指导有关如何将企业嵌入社会环境的决策。总体而言，本文有助于我们理解创业背景影响竞争环境中发展风险机会的机制。它说明了企业家的背景与竞争结构之间的联系。这种结构会影响机会信心。其次，该论文表明，机会信心的这种变化指导有关如何将企业嵌入社会环境的决策。总体而言，本文有助于我们理解创业背景影响竞争环境中发展风险机会的机制。