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Recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing strategies and tactics are critical for any enterprise. Entrepreneurs, in particular, continually search for and seek to develop opportunities in the marketplace. We present a framework for opportunity recognition and marketing strategy development, designed to integrate marketing theory and practice.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the search for entrepreneurial relevance in business schools has been given additional impetus. Entrepreneurs complain that business schools often fail to meet their needs. Their major concern is that the traditional marketing strategies and tactics of Fortune 500 companies simply don't work for start-up companies. Because of this, entrepreneurs have given additional stimulus to the search for managerial relevance in business schools. The purpose of our paper is to present a framework for opportunity recognition and marketing strategy development, designed for entrepreneurs.
The framework for opportunity recognition and marketing strategy evolves from the relevant marketing literature, from field interviews and observations that identify best marketing practices of successful entrepreneurs as well as pitfalls of startup failures. This research initiates a process of identifying and categorizing various approaches, techniques, tactics, and methods that might be useful in guiding entrepreneurs in recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing strategies. Furthermore, the classification framework provides a means of organizing strategic decisionmaking activities into groups that are amenable to systematic investigation.
The basic premise of the framework is that information about the marketplace has value to entrepreneurs in competitive markets. The resulting framework, delineated in Figure 1, presents a systematic approach to evaluate and execute entrepreneurial marketing: (1) creating opportunity; (2) multiplying the effect; (3) leveraging relationships; (4) accelerating the process; (5) making profits. The framework has been tested with graduate and undergraduate business students, would-be entrepreneurs, and practicing entrepreneurs.
CREATING OPPORTUNITY-COMPETITIVE ANGLES
Opportunities are hard to spot because, often, they look like simple tactics or angles. For startups, the choice of competitive angle is what really determines winners and losers. Successful products and services have competitive angles. The first test in evaluating a business idea or opportunity is to look for the competitive angle. We define a competitive angle by its components. A competitive angle has five facets, dimensions or qualities. These are (1) need to believe, (2) reason to believe, (3) blows away...