How does an old firm learn new tricks? A material account of entrepreneurial opportunity

Philip John Roscoe, Allan Discua-Cruz, Carole Howorth

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Opportunity has become the central concept in entrepreneurship. Discovery focused accounts assume opportunity to be objective and to exist independently of the entrepreneur. Process-focused studies critique such notions. We contribute to process-based conceptions of entrepreneurship with an account of opportunity as historically specific and materially embedded. Drawing on Latour we argue that opportunities are constituted through dense material networks. We argue that opportunity and entrepreneurship are mutually constitutive, and emphasise that the entrepreneur shares agency with a heterogeneous array of ‘actants’ in the network of opportunity. We make use of this framework in a historical analysis of a large family agribusiness in Honduras, illustrating the historically dependent nature of entrepreneurial process and the role that the material plays in it.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)53-72
    Number of pages20
    JournalBusiness History
    Volume55
    Issue number1
    Early online date1 Aug 2012
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Keywords

    • Entrepreneur
    • Opportunity
    • Honduras
    • Family business
    • Latour
    • Actor network

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'How does an old firm learn new tricks? A material account of entrepreneurial opportunity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this