Experience, Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurial Learning

Abstract

This chapter presents the identifiable patterns derived from the entrepreneur-senior managers’ interactions to ascertain the implicit reciprocal and causal relationships of experience, knowledge sharing, and entrepreneurial learning. Although not specifically cause-effect focused, experience, knowledge transfer, and entrepreneurial learning are regarded as key concepts affecting the entrepreneur-senior manager relationship. We know that entrepreneurial prior experience has an effect on opportunity recognition and realization, but not the effect on their interrelationships with senior managers in the context of an established entrepreneurial firm. As environments change, there are certain aspects of knowledge and experience that are imprinted and reappear in entrepreneurial decision making (Marquis and Tilcsik 2013; Mathias et al. 2015) without entrepreneurs and senior managers fully understanding the underpinning themes that have led to this. Knowledge is seen by some researchers as a strategic resource (Eisenhardt and Santos 2002) which allows firms to upscale and in the case of technology and intellectual property rich businesses, provides a competitive advantage (Grant and Baden-Fuller 2004). This has significant implications for established firms in which the entrepreneur is handing over control to future successors and has to pass the baton in terms of tacit knowledge and experience.