Exploitation Of Opportunities Research Articles

Symbiotic Resonance, Nexus of Generative Influence, Ecologies of Innovation and Opportunity Exploitation among Small and Medium Enterprises

ABSTRACT This paper used a quantitative cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 228 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Uganda to test the mediating role ecologies of innovation in the relationship between symbiotic resonance, nexus of generative influence and opportunity exploitation, but also, the moderating role of firm size in the relationship between symbiotic resonance and ecologies of innovation. The mediated – moderated hypotheses were tested through Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS version 3.3.0. The study found that ecologies of innovation positively and significantly mediate the relationship between nexus of generative influence and opportunity exploitation. Additionally, we confirmed that firm size moderates the relationship between symbiotic resonance and ecologies of innovation. Managers of SMEs and policy makers should pay more attention to situations where the owner/manager can act as a leader to influence employees positively, create an enabling environment, provide feedback, allow employee to deviate from norms.

COOPERATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL DWELLERS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated cooperative entrepreneurship and the social empowerment of rural dwellers in Anambra state, Nigeria. The objectives are to determine the nature of the relationship that exists between entrepreneurial orientation and self-actualization of rural dwellers and to ascertain the nature of the relationship between risk-taking and autonomy of rural dwellers in Anambra state. A descriptive survey research design was employed and data were analyzed with frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test hypotheses at a 5 per cent level of significance. Findings revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation as well as risk-taking and autonomy, the results of the findings showed that exploitation of new business opportunities by cooperative entrepreneurs contributes to the realization of their abilities. It was recommended among others that Cooperative Entrepreneurship should be encouraged at all levels (local, regional and national levels) because it remains a viable strategy in achieving self-actualization and reducing unemployment. Keywords: Cooperative Entrepreneurship, Social Empowerment, Entrepreneurial Orientation, Anambra State.

How founders' affective commitment moderates the effect of flexibility on opportunity exploitation

Is flexibility or formality more useful for organizations that are pursuing improved performance? Organizational structure scholars offer opposing answers to this question, and empirical results have been mixed. Our study contributes to this research by describing a mediational model that links organizational flexibility to performance via opportunity exploitation. Specifically, we argue that flexible firms are able to exploit a greater number of opportunities, which, in turn, can improve performance. We also argue that the indirect effect of flexibility on performance via opportunity exploitation is stronger when top executives display higher affective commitment for their firms, meaning that they have a positive emotional attachment to their firms. Top executives with higher affective commitment can mitigate the downsides experienced by the staff of flexible firms, such as uncertainty and negative affect, which improves the outcomes of flexibility. Drawing on a sample of 211 firms and their founders, we find support for our hypotheses.

Being Alert Matters! A Sequential Interplay of Entrepreneurial Training and Business Outcomes

Recently the interest in argentic psychological factors promoting the small business sector is burgeoning. The scholarship in this field has called for not only developing the psychological traits in business owners but also to uncover the mechanisms through which these trainings influence training outcomes. To respond to this, we introduced individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) training based on Action Regulation Theory. Through a randomized controlled field experiment spanning 4 waves (T0= at the time of training, T1=6 months after training, T2=1 year after training, and T3= 2 years after training, each wave of 6 months apart); of 165 small business owners (training group=79, control group=86) in Pakistan, we found that individual entrepreneurial orientation training promotes the small business success. Moreover, we shed light on the serial mediating role of IEO behavior and opportunity exploitation in translating the training impacts into business outcomes. Lastly, we highlighted that individual action characteristics i.e., entrepreneurial alertness enables small business owners to be more efficient in opportunity exploitation after the individual entrepreneurial orientation training intervention. This study offers implications for entrepreneurial psychology, action-based training, and has practical takeaways for small business owners, trainers, and regulatory authorities.

Regulatory alignment capability and corporate political activity

Firms are devoting increasingly significant time and capital to influence their legal/political environments. Researchers have attempted to understand how and why firms may rely on corporate political activities (CPA), and while this research has led to important findings, the theoretical and empirical link between CPA and firm performance remains elusive. Therefore, scholars have called for a finer-grained understanding of the mechanisms that link CPA to performance. In response, this paper explains how firms use CPA to loosen their regulatory bonds in order to exploit a greater number of opportunities, and, in turn, obtain performance benefits. We also explain why firms exhibit various levels of benefits from their CPA – namely, firms may develop and deploy regulatory alignment capability, which is composed of a set of activities that helps them work with, understand, and comply with government agents. Hypotheses are tested on a sample of 257 commercial banks, and findings suggest that deploying regulatory alignment capability may help firms obtain performance benefits from opportunity exploitation, regulatory alignment capability tends to reduce the initial number of opportunities exploited.

Entrepreneurial Experience and Opportunity Exploitation: How Does the Context Matter?

We develop and test a multi-level framework postulating that both property rights institutions and entrepreneurial opportunities moderate the positive influence of prior entrepreneurial experience on opportunity-motivated entrepreneurship. We analyze this framework by exploiting a hierarchical dataset that spans 92 countries and a period of 16 years. Using the multi-level logit regression in conjunction with the instrumental variables approach, we find that the exogenous variation in property rights protection has both a direct and an indirect—through entrepreneurial experience—positive influence on the likelihood of becoming an opportunity-motivated entrepreneur. On the other hand, we find that while entrepreneurial opportunities increase the odds of observing opportunity-motivated entrepreneurs, they nevertheless weaken the positive effect of entrepreneurial experience on the likelihood of becoming an opportunity-motivated entrepreneur.

Opportunities Identification in Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Our research examines the sustainable entrepreneurial process and focuses on the identification and exploitation of sustainable opportunities. Some scholars consider opportunities as objective phenomena that need to be discovered. In this entrepreneurial process, known as causation, entrepreneurs first decide on the objectives to be achieved and then select the resources needed to achieve them. Other researchers argue that opportunities are created and cannot exist without the actions of entrepreneurs (Baker and Nelson, 2005; Sarasvathy, 2001). The entrepreneurial process is then said to be effectual in which entrepreneurs focus on the resources and means at hand to choose the possible effects that create opportunities. The objective of our research is to answer the following question: how do responsible entrepreneurs identify and exploit opportunities in responsible entrepreneurship? Do they adopt effectual or causal behaviours to identify and exploit sustainable opportunities? Using a qualitative multiple-case methodology, we traced the entrepreneurial process of six cases of sustainable new ventures. Our results show that responsible entrepreneurs not only adopt effectual and causal behaviours, but also demonstrate behaviours that are unique to them given the sustainable nature of their activities. We thus propose a model that describes the process of identifying and exploiting sustainable opportunities.

The governance of entrepreneurial community ventures: How do conflicting community interests influence opportunity exploitation?

Participatory governance is upheld as a fundamental organizing principle in community entrepreneurship. This paper brings new insights from a case study that investigated how governance structures, processes, and practices, and divergent community interests influence community venture opportunity exploitation. We find that while community stakeholder governance enables community participation and accountability, the interests of the majority triumph over the minority in determining opportunity exploitation. Adopting supplementary governance mechanisms of multistakeholder advisory committees and community engagement process reporting would enable minority interests to be acknowledged and communicated, and increase accountability by acknowledging conflicting views about opportunity exploitation.

Ambiguity, Managerial Ability, and Growth Options

AbstractThis paper studies the role of ambiguity and managerial ability in firm growth options from the perspective of behavioural theory. We argue that managerial ability increases both the identification and exploitation of growth options opportunities, but ambiguity reduces strategic growth options value as a result of information incompleteness and non‐Bayesian behaviour. Using a dataset of all US‐listed firms, we test the joint effects of ambiguity and managerial ability on growth options value after controlling for standard determinants and endogeneity. The results indicate that ambiguity has a negative effect on growth options value, while ability has a positive effect. We also find that the negative association between ambiguity and growth options is less pronounced with higher managerial ability. These findings underscore the importance of firm heterogeneity in the identification, exercise, and management of strategic and innovative real options opportunities. The paper's contribution provides relevant management insights into the behavioural antecedents of real options at the firm level as well as highlights that managerial and behavioural characteristics are important determinants of growth options value.

Who really acts as an entrepreneur in the science commercialisation process: the role of knowledge transfer intermediary organisations

PurposeConsistent with the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship, the purpose of this paper is to recognise the complementary entrepreneurial role of knowledge transfer intermediary organisations in the context of two Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries: Poland and the Czech Republic.Design/methodology/approachThe aim was achieved through empirical studies relying on multiple-case study methodology and cross-case analysis covering 21 cases of commercialisation intermediary institutions. It was assumed that institutional and geographical conditions can impact the knowledge-based opportunity exploitation between different national economies.FindingsResearch confirmed that scientists in Poland and the Czech Republic are the central figures of the commercialisation process in terms of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition; however, they need support from intermediary organisations in many other entrepreneurial activities. The history of knowledge commercialisation and its intermediating entities in these countries is relatively young and spin-off company creation is not a common practice. Expertise knowledge, creativity and self-confidence admitted, by the respondents in both countries, can be an optimistic sign for the future efforts in fostering innovativeness of CEE countries. Stronger support of formal institutional framework and policies in those countries is expected.Originality/valueScience commercialisation has lately attracted much attention, but only a few studies have tried to develop conceptual frameworks considering knowledge-based entrepreneurship and knowledge commercialisation in their relations and subsequential roles. Also, over the past couple of years literature in this area has expanded mainly relying on observations in the USA and Western European countries. Hence, this study allowed to collect findings from CEE countries for which data are still insufficient but can significantly contribute to the theory development. Also, some recommendations for policymakers arise from this study. Further research could validate the results in an extensive quantitative study.

Opportunity Exploitation in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic – The Importance of Dynamic Capabilities and the Entrepreneur’s Characteristics

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to answer the question of how entrepreneurs can take advantage of and exploit the conditions and opportunities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: In the paper, we apply the conceptual review method in order to review extant knowledge, identifying important research gaps, and propose a conceptual framework for the research. Findings: We propose a conceptual framework of the recognition and exploitation of business opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework assumes the influence of specific dynamic capabilities (strategic foresight – at the strategic level and innovation, self-structured and relational capabilities – at the operational level) and the entrepreneur’s key characteristics (being intuitive, having the ability to learn – especially in the field of crisis management, being innovative, having leadership competencies and having the ability to use advanced digital technologies) on the identification, creation and exploitation of opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research limitations: The main limitation results from the dynamism of the pandemic situation. Therefore, our results need further empirical verification. Practical implications: The model provides managerial implications for entrepreneurs responsible for decisions and actions during the pandemic crisis. We underline the importance of the development of entrepreneurs’ own competencies as well as the development of the competencies of their employees in the context of crisis management. We especially suggest that managers develop leadership competencies which relate to the competence of how to delegate powers and build empowerment in order to take advantage of the opportunities resulting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. To exploit opportunities effectively, they should be recognized early, and therefore entrepreneurs should consider the benefits of using intuition in this area. Value: The special value of the paper can be seen in the context of the analysis. There is a shortage of studies identifying the impact of dynamic capabilities and the entrepreneur’s characteristics on the exploitation of opportunities during the specific situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why do disequilibria exist? An ontological study of Kirznerian economics

AbstractIn his influential critique of mainstream economics, Israel Kirzner rejected the notion of equilibrated economies in an attempt to develop a realistic account of the workings of entrepreneurial markets. Key to Kirznerian analysis are the arguments that (i) economies do not equilibrate because there always exist unexploited opportunities, and (ii) opportunities remain unexploited until ‘entrepreneurially alert’ individuals discover them. This paper draws from Tony Lawson’s philosophy of economics to explain that Kirznerian economics is no more realistic than mainstream. According to Lawson, it is the ontological commitment to closed systems thinking—not superficial theoretical features such as equilibrium—that makes mainstream economics unrealistic. I argue that Kirzner’s theoretical system similarly presupposes a closed system ontology. Whereas the mainstream worldview presumes the instant exploitation of opportunities, the Kirznerian worldview presumes their delayed yet unavoidable exploitation. The ontological critique of Kirznerian economics simultaneously facilitates the reorientation of entrepreneurship theory towards genuinely realistic modes of thought. This is feasible once we acknowledge the non-empirical ontology of ‘entrepreneurial opportunity’ and concomitant fallibility of the ‘entrepreneurial imagination’: opportunities remain unexploited because (inter alia) their existence is known only after their actualisation. The existence of economic disequilibria does not require non-actors who are blind to opportunities, and there is no mysterious force of ‘entrepreneurial alertness’ guaranteeing their eventual exploitation and inevitable movement towards economic equilibria.

Modeling the Institutional Factors Affecting the Exploitation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Sports Tourism Industry, using an Interpretive-Structural Approach

The purpose of this study is to examine the most important institutional factors that support the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities within the sports tourism industry.The present study is a qualitative research based on data gathered from available documentary studies and semi-structured interviews conducted with 35experts in the field of sports tourism and sports entrepreneurship in Iran. The interpretive structural model (ISM) was used to analyze the data.According to the results of the research, 74 indicators were identified and classified under 11 institutional factors, including rule of law, government policies, social norms, social values, social beliefs, expert knowledge promotion, social knowledge promotion, public sector support, private sector support, complementary attraction,and information technology, at five hierarchical levels. Government policies and public sector support were identified as fifth-level factors that act as the model’s cornerstone. Finally, the research results suggest that for the growth of the sports tourism industry in developing countries such as Iran, other identified factors must also be involved in the growth of this industry.In this regard, the existence of an appropriate legal,normative, supportive, and educational environment will affect the ability and willingness of market participants to identify and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging sports tourism industry.

Portfolios of learning in entrepreneurial internationalisation

By adopting a process approach to entrepreneurial internationalisation, we longitudinally study eleven case firms, discussing entrepreneurial learning as a portfolio of different sources of learning underpinning the exploration and exploitation of international opportunities. First, we identify the most recurring combinations of learning sources: (i) customer-centred learning with either learning by doing/trial and error or market-specific learning; (ii) imitative learning with relational learning and/or learning by doing; (iii) searching with networking learning and/or customer-centred learning. Second, we uncover instances of opportunity exploitation “looping back” to novel exploration via customer-centred, imitative, and grafting learning. Empirical results are systematised within a set of Propositions to be tested in future research.

Configuring foreign market knowledge and opportunity recognition capabilities to predict the performance of export-manufacturing firms

ABSTRACT Export-manufacturing firms survive and ultimately succeed when they can accumulate, harvest,and utilise foreign knowledge to better marshal the capabilities to recognise opportunities. Prior studies are replete with a single solution by combining foreign market knowledge (FMK) and firm performance. A shift from contingent theory to the configurational approach suggests that there are multiple solutions available to achieve intended outcomes. Based on the equifinality assumption, we configure FMK in conjunction with opportunity recognition capabilities to predict performance. In total, 382 export-manufacturing firms were investigated by employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and necessary condition analysis (NCA). Salient findings suggest that young firms achieve superior performance from foreign business and institutional knowledge by enhancing opportunity exploration capability, whereas mature firms succeed from internationalisation knowledge and nurturing opportunity exploitation capability. The study is one of which that contributes to the methodology by introducing fsQCA and NCA in the knowledge management literature.

Is shame-proneness the missing link between social norms, policymaking and productive entrepreneurship?

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to establish the need to study the shame-proneness trait of entrepreneurs – what is it and why is it important to study.Design/methodology/approachIn this conceptual paper, the authors argue that shame-proneness is an important understudied trait of entrepreneurs and put up a case for further research. The authors argue that shame-proneness moderates the effect of social acceptability on opportunity exploitation decisions. The authors also argue that productive entrepreneurship can be promoted and unproductive entrepreneurship can be prevented through policy intervention, and the level of intervention can be determined by knowing the shame-proneness level of entrepreneurs.FindingsThe key argument is the following: an entrepreneur is homo economicus and homo sociologicus, i.e. she is driven both by rational economic value consideration and by the prevalent social norms, which influence opportunity exploitation decisions. Since shame enforces compliance with social norms, it is vital to study entrepreneurs' shame-proneness to understand entrepreneurial founding across different regions. Knowing the level of shame-proneness of entrepreneurs in a given region would help the government devise effective interventions to promote productive entrepreneurship and deter unproductive or destructive entrepreneurship.Originality/valueThis paper is an original creation of the authors.

The strategic management and its relationship with organizational success: Empirical study on the pharmaceutical industry sector in Jordan: التجديد الاستراتيجي وعلاقته بالنجاح التنظيمي: دراسة ميدانية على قطاع الصناعة الدوائية في الأردن

The study aims to test and evaluate the relationship between strategic renewal and organizational success of the pharmaceutical industry sector companies in Jordan. The descriptive and analytical approach was used. and the study population consists of (1000) leaders and managers in the top and middle management level in the pharmaceutical industries sector companies in Jordan. And a random sample was chosen of (420) participants. In order to reach the objectives of the study, a questionnaire was developed to collect data. The study concluded that the independent variable, which is strategic renewal, is available in the companies at a high level. Where the exploration of opportunities came in the first rank, which corresponds to a great degree of appreciation with a mean (4.03).Then came the coordinated strategic action, strategic imagination, the exploitation of opportunities, and the genesis of new ideas, ranked respectively in terms of relative importance. It was found that the researched companies achieved a high level of organizational success with an overall average of (3.81), in addition to the existence of a statistically significant correlation between strategic renewal and organizational success, and the study recommended maintaining the level of practical application of strategic renewal in the pharmaceutical industry sector companies in Jordan. And that is through practical steps that companies follow and work to develop and sustain the level of organizational success by developing and strengthening the process of strategic renewal in all functional areas of companies.

Motivational foundations of identifying and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities

PurposeMotivation can serve as the engine that turns intention into action, and, as such, is indispensable in the early phase of the entrepreneurial process, where opportunity recognition and exploitation are key. However, research in this area has so far shed a selective spotlight on specific facets of entrepreneurial motivation, whereas the consideration of basic motives has been widely neglected. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to illuminate the basic motivational foundations of one core aspect of entrepreneurial behavior, namely opportunity recognition.Design/methodology/approachThe study examined how motivation influences the process of recognizing and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities in a sample of 312 managing directors and managing partners of small and medium-sized enterprises. Opportunity recognition and exploitation were assessed by two different measures: one evaluating the objective number of recognized and realized business opportunities, the other assessing the perceived proficiency in identifying and exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. Implicit and explicit facets of basic motivation were measured using a comprehensive assessment of human needs.FindingsFindings show that entrepreneurs' achievement motive is an important driver in both the identification and exploitation of opportunity. The power motive affects the perceived ability to exploit business opportunities. Interestingly, the explicit affiliation motive showed an inhibitory effect on the perceived ability of opportunity identification, whereas implicit affiliation motive is affecting the number of recognized and realized business opportunities positively.Originality/valueThis research clearly highlights the preeminence of basic motivational factors in explaining individual early-stage entrepreneurial behavior, making them a prime target for training interventions.

Technology and Entrepreneurial Marketing Decisions During COVID-19.

The prime concern of this study is to explore how technology influences entrepreneurial marketing decisions during the world pandemic (COVID-19). The study uses a sample of 127 SMEs from Bangladesh. Data were collected by sending out questionnaires electronically and by mail. Smart PLS (SEM) 3.0 was used to analyse the data following the quantitative method. The study reveals positive and significant relationships between entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, opportunity development and opportunity exploitation with their entrepreneurial marketing decisions. It also claims that entrepreneurial passion mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and opportunity development with their entrepreneurial marketing decisions. However, entrepreneurial passion does not mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation and entrepreneurial marketing decisions. The study offers researchers a broader and more wide-ranging view of the importance of artificial intelligence in small firms. Researchers, educators and practitioners will benefit from the findings. The analyses are more complex and varied than the methodologies used in most of the limited previous research.

Lean startup for opportunity exploitation: adoption constraints and strategies in technology new ventures

PurposeMost studies investigating the adoption of lean startup (LS) practices by technology new ventures focus on software startups in mature entrepreneurial ecosystems and disregard their applicability for opportunity exploitation in other technological backgrounds. This study contributes to this research stream by exploring how Brazilian technology new ventures (in different technological fields) tentatively adopt LS to exploit opportunities and whether LS is suitable to their emerging economy context.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt an exploratory multiple-case study based on qualitative data collection and analysis of nine Brazilian biotechnology, engineering and software startups.FindingsThe study shows how technology new ventures tackle the activities of opportunity exploitation – namely, developing a product or service, acquiring human resources, gathering financial resources and setting up the organization – by leveraging LS tools and practices for business model validation; also, it identifies six contextual constraints hindering the systematic adoption of LS and reveals how technology new ventures cope with such constraints in their early stages by integrating LS with complementary strategies and practices. Furthermore, the study reveals that the systematic and comprehensive adoption of LS nurtures the development of an entrepreneurial experimental capability to explore opportunities in a quasi-scientific and hypothesis-driven fashion.Originality/valueThe study investigates how Brazilian engineering, biotechnology and software startups exploit opportunities and overcome constraints to business model validation through the combined adoption of LS and complementary strategies and practices and provides a set of propositions to guide future research.