Becoming a public sector insider -A case study of Swedish digital healthcare start-ups´ entrepreneurial business formation processes

Abstract

The aim of the study is to better understand start-ups' entrepreneurial business formation processes from a contextual perspective. We examine a digitalization process in the healthcare sector in Sweden, and investigate the start-up processes taking place in order to reach a better understanding of what it takes for new actors to obtain an insider position in this particular type of highly regulated networks. The study offers important insights into the dynamics of constituent elements in the process, including the sequences of events through which start-up processes evolve, and insights into new ventures' initial entry into a business network. It is concluded that the studied processes were interactive, forcing the start-ups to be both innovative and able to conform. It was also found that legitimacy constitute an important resource in this type of politically sensitive context.