Entrepreneurs regularly "operate at the edge of what they do not know" (Hill & Levenhagen 1995:1057), trying to identify and pursue potential business opportunities. It is claimed that they have "to make the unfamiliar familiar by framing the new venture (often through metaphor and analogy) in...

Full-text of this article is not available in this e-prints service. This article was originally published following peer-review in the Journal of small business and enterprise development, published by and copyright [publisher].

Purpose – The paper seeks to draw on the work of Engeström to set out an activity theory framework for the analysis of entrepreneurs engaged in the creation of new business ventures (NBVs). Adopting an activity‐based approach involves analysing the actions of individual and groups that are...