It is almost a truism in entrepreneurship research that the entrepreneurial process begins most basically with the discovery of opportunities (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Entrepreneurship scholars have also noted that opportunities have distinctive conceptual properties (Venkataraman, 1997). Even so, it has gone almost unnoticed that the basic and distinctive nature of opportunities calls for ...

Human motivation has been treated as a significant determinant of initiating work related behavior and subsequently getting optimal performance. The relationship motivation, performance is commonly tested in several domains human life (e.g. education, health, sports, exercise, etc.). However, application approach the domain entrepreneurship only its infancy. Hence, this paper aims to review lit...

This paper develops a model of entrepreneurial learning in order to explain how VCs support the process of entrepreneurial learning and thereby add value to their ventures. We draw on two generic approaches to learning, termed the hypothesis-testing mode and the hermeneutic mode, which turn out to be closely interrelated in such learning processes. The resulting model comprises four categories,...

It is argued that timely adaptation of one’s broadly-defined business concept has more to do with entrepreneurial success than having the right concept from the start or being in the right place at the right time. A conceptual model is proposed in which the need for adaptation is linked to three characteristics of the business itself: the level of ambiguity surrounding the venture, the level of...

Many entrepreneurs who close a business are actually willing to venture anew. However, to realize a restart is not only a matter of willingness on the part of the entrepreneur but also of its feasibility. Regarding the feasibility of a restart, the aspect of capital acquisition might be particularly precarious for renascent entrepreneurs since business closures are likely to come up with financ...

E-business is being heralded as the new economy. However, developments in the area of new online business-to-consumer (B2C) venture creation has been accompanied by varying degrees of success, and it is increasingly recognized that online venture creation does not materialize overnight. E-business development typically follows an evolutionary cycle of initial experimentation with Internet techn...

This research is an attempt to make progress in the understanding of the process of board formation and its impact on the functions performed by the board in young entrepreneurial ventures. We study the link between board members’ characteristics and the effective accomplishment of monitoring and resource provision functions. Expanding earlier research we argue that the identity of external fin...

We develop theory to better understand the role of networks in accessing the entrepreneurial competencies required to create new ventures within the academic environment. We follow the initiation and early development of four university spin-offs within the UK and Norway. Following a competency perspective, we observed how each nascent venture relied on strong and weak network ties to access th...

This dissertation focuses on three of the most important questions in entrepreneurship study, namely venture financing, corporate strategy and firm performance. The main thrust of the dissertation is to elaborate the mechanisms through which institutional and social factors impact entrepreneurial activities in developing countries. The first essay, "Evaluation or Attention", examines the causal...

Here we tested the hypothesis that entrepreneurs' emotional experience and brain responses toward their own firm resemble those of parents toward their own children. Using fMRI, we measured the brain activity while male entrepreneurs viewed pictures of their own and of a familiar firm, and while fathers viewed pictures of their own and of a familiar child. The entrepreneurs who self-rated as be...