Entrepreneurial thinking and action in opportunity development: A conceptual process model

Abstract

This article develops a conceptual process model of how founders develop entrepreneurial ideas into opportunities. Drawing on translation theory, I conceptualise opportunity development as a process of translation between three interlinked but distinct entities over time: ostensive ideas (abstract entrepreneurial ideas), performative ideas (context-specific entrepreneurial ideas) and venture offerings. Whereas ostensive and performative ideas reside in the realm of conceptual and entrepreneurial thinking, venture offerings reside in actual business worlds and entrepreneurial action. The model identifies learning about the abstract nature of the entrepreneurial idea itself (ostensive) through lateral translation and abstraction and separates this from developing a concrete manifestation of the idea in time and space (performative) through vertical translation and concretisation. This is different from the venture offering, which is a specific empirical translation of the performative idea. Entrepreneurs receive feedback about the viability of the venture offering from social interaction that influence further opportunity development. The model portrays opportunity development as a triple-looped process driven by distinct types of translation, lateral, vertical and empirical. It clarifies the relationship between entrepreneurial ideas and entrepreneurial opportunities and maps the role of thinking and action in this regard.