Entrepreneurship : In between What?: On the 'Frontier' as a Discourse of Entrepreneurship Research

Uses discourse analysis to examine howentrepreneurship scholars view their field. The discourse of thesescholars uses three versions of the concept of the frontier: as"limit," "horizon," and "border zone" (or in-between).The discourse of limits speaks of coherence, comprehensiveness, drawing a line,self-enclosure, delineation, or creating a border - i.e., it seeks to setlimits around the field of entrepreneurship. The discourse of horizonsspeaks of "the other side," emerging new horizons, things not relatedor not brought into connection. Scholars with this perspective may seekto establish entrepreneurship as a new academic field. The author argues that entrepreneurship can best be considered as a borderzone: entrepreneurship as fertile middle space, a space for varied thinking, aspace connected to multiple forms of theoretical thinking, a true"inter-discipline." Three groups of activities are identified throughwhich scholars can support entrepreneurship as a border zone: (1) rereading,remembering, rethinking, and revisiting (e.g., critiquing key texts and earlytheories); (2) multiplying, intensifying, and connecting (e.g., integratingtheories from different contexts); and (3) experimenting, radicalizing, andintervening. Entrepreneurship as a border zone thinks of entrepreneurship interms of movement, lines of flight, and an in-between zone. (TNM)