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PurposeOpportunity recognition is an important aspect on entrepreneurship, especially for technology‐based ventures. Drawing on Austrian economic theory, recent studies have emphasized the importance of market knowledge in opportunity recognition. Although insightful, these studies do not take account of relationships that exist between different types of knowledge (e.g. technology and market knowledge). The authors aim to address this gap by integrating the Schumpeterian theory of opportunity development with Kirzner's theory of opportunity discovery to examine these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe data consist of a longitudinal sample of 42 new biotechnology ventures from the USA, Finland, and Sweden.FindingsThe paper finds that both market knowledge and technological knowledge (measured as the number of patents) contribute to firms' subsequent recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities.Originality/valueThe results show the value and importance of early market knowledge and technological knowledge for subsequent opportunity recognition. The empirical findings are reflected in the light of current research on Kirznerian and Schumpeterian opportunity recognition.

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore what constitutes being "born global." We approach the born global phenomenon by applying ideas presented in existing international entrepreneurship, business, and marketing literatures. In addition, the paper illustrates how market orientation is a relevant construct for understanding the existence of born global firms. Market orientation is contrasted with science driven strategies in young, technology based firms and in both domains. In markets as well as in science, both global and local forces influence the behavior of new biotechnology based companies. Methodology: This paper uses mixed methods including interviews and multiple industry cluster surveys. Qualitative data is analyzed by categorizing and combining data (thematic interviews). Numeric (quantitative) survey data is summarized by using non-parametric statistics. Findings: Young ventures in a global biotechnology based industry simultaneously face forces that drive them towards localization and other forces that require a more global approach. Even though both the markets of biotechnology products as well as the science base are increasingly global, this paper suggests that true born globals must do more than passively adapt to this global scene. Born global firms should pursue active, market oriented strategies in their internationalization. Since our sample firms typically perceive international market orientation as less valuable that international scientific reputation, we conclude that they do not always fulfill the "born global" criteria.

AbstractBackgroundSocial entrepreneurship is a growing trend that reflects a shift in contemporary policy towards entrepreneurship and self‐employment as viable employment option for people with disabilities. Entrepreneurship is intended to promote autonomy and reduce dependence on entitlement‐based services as well as reduce employment disparities while stimulating business and job creation.However, it is not well understood what exactly this means for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) involved in social entrepreneurial ventures.MethodsDyadic interviews were conducted with people with ID participating in social entrepreneurship (n = 7) as well as with the person they identified as instrumental in providing support (n = 7). Interviews focused on understanding the management processes used by people with ID, or "how they act" in negotiating between formal and informal systems of services and supports and barriers encountered.ResultsThemes that emerged include the main barriers they experienced, how their businesses are organized; and the use of formal and informal services and supports.ConclusionsThis research expands upon our understanding of social entrepreneurship and the management processes involved in customized employment for people with ID. It offers new insights and information for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to inform the expectations we set for entrepreneurship as a sustainable employment option, from the perspective of social entrepreneurs with ID themselves.

PurposePrevious research has predominantly approached the concept of entrepreneurial opportunities from either one of two perspectives: opportunities exist as objective phenomena in the environment waiting to be discovered by alert entrepreneurs, or opportunities are subjectively perceived and even created by individual entrepreneurs. This paper aims to put forward a framework of opportunity perception which demonstrates that all entrepreneurial opportunities possess both objective and subjective qualities, thus helping reconcile both perspectives.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework is developed, based on previous literature and insights from entrepreneurship, economics, psychology and related disciplines.FindingsVarious perspectives presented in previous research can be combined into a coherent framework that summarizes the components of entrepreneurial opportunity perception. Testable propositions are provided for future research.Originality/valueThe authors show that elements of both subjective perception and objective market conditions contribute to recognized entrepreneurial opportunities. Also, they show that while the perception and pursuit of opportunity is fundamentally idiosyncratic to each entrepreneur, the success of an entrepreneurial endeavor is constrained by the objective conditions of opportunity.

What makes nascent entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running? We answer this by examining in a broad and unifying way: motivation and cognition, knowledge and experience and social support. We apply extensive multivariate analyses to a sample of 338 nascent entrepreneurs from the PSED database. Interestingly, most of our long-term (4½-year) model predictions of startup transition based on early antecedents are more accurate than the short-term ones — a practical strength of these models. Findings indicate that experienced, persistent, confident individuals, motivated mostly by non-financial outcomes, perceiving support from their social contacts and institutional environment, are likely to make the transition to a successful business.

This paper reports on a comparative quasi-experiment of how perceptions of entrepreneurial growth strategies differ between students, managers and technology entrepreneurs. The differences in perceptions as to what critical factors drive three strategies: no growth, market share growth and annual profit growth across to stages: start-up and take-off are measured. The ranks of the critical success factors are the dependent measures and the strategies and the phases the independent variables. Results show that experience impacts the ability to distinguish between strategies. Results also show that the perceptions of the critical success factors significantly differ between the groups. Hence even experience will yield quite different cognitive maps.

This article presents a conceptual discussion and a theoretical framework explaining how the liabilities of newness, which are traditionally thought of as disadvantages that young companies face, contribute to early firm internationalization. Through a systematic analysis of the liabilities that international new ventures face, as well as the liabilities and the advantages that a young age provides, we are able to integrate findings from the existing body of diffuse research on newness and internationalization, and develop propositions for future empirical research. Based on previous liabilities of newness and foreignness research, our study provides a novel theoretical model that explains early internationalization over and beyond existing internationalization models.