Perception and pursuitof entrepreneurial opportunities:an evolutionary economics perspective

Considerable debate surrounds the concept of entrepreneurial opportunities. This papercontributes to the discussion by bringing in concepts and findings from evolutionaryeconomics. It makes three points. First, adopting an evolutionary market process perspectivesheds new light on the nature of opportunities. Second, not only the pursuit of entrepreneurialopportunities, but also the further development of the entrepreneurial venture is dependent onsubjective opportunity perception and interpretation. Third, findings on industry evolutionhelp understand how opportunities, as well as agents’ ability and willingness to pursue them,change over time. Effects of pre-entry experience on opportunity recognition and firmperformance are also discussed...