The Entrepreneurial Process As A Matching Problem

The purpose of this paper is to integrate and expand on some key insights from recent conceptual and empirical work on the entrepreneurial process. After first defining the key term “entrepreneurship,‿ the paper moves on to deepen the conceptualization of the entrepreneurial process and its two sub-processes, discovery and exploitation. The then following section deals with two previously suggested categorizations of different types of processes, namely Bhave’s (1994) distinction between internally and externally triggered processes and Sarasvathy’s (2001) contrasting of causation vs. effectuation. While it seems indisputable that these different types of processes are descriptively valid, i.e., real world entrepreneurs actually use them, they are not necessarily normatively valid. The empirical co-existence of different process types makes it a plausible assumption that their applicability is contingent on the context. Consequently, the latter part of this paper uses theoretical deduction and various empirical results to arrive at conclusions about under what conditions which type of process is more commendable. A model is developed depicting how characteristics of the individual(s), the venture idea and the environment interact with the type of entrepreneurial process in determining the outcomes of the process.