Processes in collaborative entrepreneurship: a longitudinal case study of how multiple actors exploit a radically new opportunity

Int Entrep Manag J (2014) 10:713726

DOI 10.1007/s11365-014-0304-9

Published online: 21 February 2014# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Abstract In this longitudinal case study, the authors integrate the theory on social movement with the entrepreneurship literature on opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploitation. They construct a model on collaborative entrepreneurial processes in which multiple partners are involved in identifying, forming, and exploiting an opportunity. Three interdependent subprocesses are identified: (1) the opportunity conceptualization dialogue, (2) resource mobilization and, (3) legitimacy building, which significantly contribute to our understanding of how individuals across different organizations become engaged in collaborative entrepreneurial processes. The model of collaborative entrepreneurial processes complements traditional models of the entrepreneurial process, which place the individual entrepreneur at the center of the process and does not consider group mobilization processes in which the actors aim to be creative and innovative in collaborating with actors from other organizations or firms.

Keywords Entrepreneurship . Collaborative entrepreneurship . Resource mobilization .

Legitimacy building . Social movement . Opportunity

E. Andresen : H. Lundberg

Department of Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall, Sweden

E. Andresene-mail: [email protected]

H. Lundberge-mail: [email protected]

J. Wincent (*)

Department of Management and Organization, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland e-mail: [email protected]

J. Wincente-mail: [email protected]

J. Wincent

Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Lule University of Technology, Lule, Sweden

Processes in collaborative entrepreneurship:a longitudinal case study of how multiple actors exploit a radically new opportunity

Edith Andresen & Helne Lundberg & Joakim Wincent

714 Int Entrep Manag J (2014) 10:713726

Introduction

The entrepreneurial process has been studied extensively from the individuals perspective, which captures the decisions in which individual entrepreneurs engage when deciding whether to proceed or exit at the various steps of the entrepreneurial process. Such steps range from discovering an opportunity to exploiting it into a product or service (Eckhardt and Shane 2003; Alvarez and Barney 2007). It is not uncommon, however, that economic development through entrepreneurship is a result of collective actions in group processes, which involve multiple partners embedded in network structures (Johannisson et al. 2002; Thornton et al. 2011). Process-oriented network perspectives on entrepreneurship have not been described to a great extent (Audretsch et al. 2011), but the need for dialogue that recognizes such opportunities has been acknowledged...