Hybrid Entrepreneurs Research Articles

IBM salesman meets Norwegian tax collector: computer entrepreneurs in the making

In Norway, the introduction of electronic data processing in the 1950s came about through the actions of hybrid-role characters combining, to various degrees, the skills of tax collectors, IBM salespeople and systems managers. The three kinds of hybrid entrepreneurs outlined in this article were very successful role-models at the time, and may account for the rapid adoption of data processing by the tax collection authorities. However, there also occurred periods of stress in which the hybrid entrepreneurs were unsuccessful and reconstruction efforts proved ineffective.