Entrepreneurial Opportunity Revelation as the “Anti-Antenarrative”.

Abstract

Discussions of entrepreneurial opportunity revolve around two competing constructions – opportunity as discovered vs. opportunity as created. Those in the discovered approach are predominantly in the Austrian Economics camp and postulate that entrepreneurs achieve opportunities through expertise or superior knowledge to spot gaps within the market place. Alternatively, created approached in entrepreneurial opportunity thrive in processual approaches, such as effectuation, bricolage, and even the awakening of social capital. Each of these orientations is nonetheless built upon different antenarratives. In the discovered approach, astute entrepreneurs are able to successfully navigate between competing antenarratives to select the “correct” choice, or that which emulates a more faithful interpretation of a supply and demand curve, or best approaches to a metaphysical source as shown in the undifferentiated individual ontology. In the created approach, entrepreneurs choose antenarratives embodied in personal networks, material objects, and preexisting knowledge to create new future oriented narratives as embodied in the differentiated individual ontology. Based on the selected antenarrative, actions occur such as new venture and organization formation.