Henrik Berglund

OPPORTUNITIES AS EXISTING AND CREATED: A STUDY OF ENTREPRENEURS IN THE SWEDISH MOBILE INTERNET INDUSTRY

The notion of opportunities is fast becoming a central theme in the field of entrepreneurship research. As part of this growing interest, the ontological status of opportunities has been scrutinized with researchers tending to view them as either objectively existing or socially created. In the present treatment, this ontological debate is partly avoided in favor of a phenomenological examination of Mobile Internet entrepreneurs, which naturally bridges these distinctions. The empirical findings are used to propose a framework in which opportunities are seen as both existing and created in the evolving set of perceptions and projections, sometimes fixed and sometimes mutable, that provide the cognitive and practical drivers needed to guide entrepreneurial action.

Business model innovation from an open systems perspective: structural challenges and managerial solutions

There is an emerging consensus that business models are systemic and transcend firm boundaries. Yet, existing research on Business Model Innovation (BMI) challenges focus almost exclusively on intra-firm factors such as capabilities, cognition and leadership. We explore challenges related to BMI by instead drawing on an open systems perspective on organisations. In particular, we argue that the systemic and boundary-spanning nature of business models imply that firms are forced to act under conditions of interdependence and restricted freedom, since they do not have executive control over their surrounding network. Consequently, we propose that suitable managerial solutions include the development of shared knowledge, appropriability regimes based on trust, network stability and the alignment of heterogeneous interests.

RISK CONCEPTION AND RISK MANAGEMENT IN CORPORATE INNOVATION: LESSONS FROM TWO SWEDISH CASES

Risk is central to innovation, but in order to be theoretically interesting and of practical use, the relation between risk and innovation needs to be investigated in more specific situations. This paper explores the risk conceptions of innovators in two large corporations and identifies three themes that illuminate the relationship between risk and innovation in the corporate setting. The first relates risk to the issues of boundaries and control over parts of the innovation process; the second shows how risk is primarily related to innovation as process and not as output, and the third shows how a flexible view of business models can be used to manage risk in corporate innovation.

Entrepreneurial learning and the role of venture capitalists

Abstract This paper develops a model of entrepreneurial learning in order to explain how VCs support the process of entrepreneurial learning and thereby add value to their ventures. We draw on two generic approaches to learning, termed the hypothesis-testing mode and the hermeneutic mode, which turn out to be closely interrelated in such learning processes. The resulting model comprises four categories, which focus on what entrepreneurs learn and how it is learnt: experimentation, evaluation, unreflective action and unverified assumptions. We then use these analytical categories to illustrate how VCs apply their different forms of expertise to increase a ventures value once an investment has been made.

The innovating self: exploring self among a group of technological innovators

This paper explores the relevance of the concept of self in the process of independent technological innovation. In‐depth interviews were conducted with technological innovators from start‐up firms in IT, biotech and advanced services concerning the subjective and social forms of engagement in the innovation process. Emerging factors in the interview data revealed aspects pertaining to the innovator’s reflexive self‐conception, innovator ego‐involvement in the venture, forms of commitment and control, personal and social stakes, and various self‐oriented cognitive strategies. It is argued that the self‐concept allows the innovator to come into view as a social and subjective being who is involved in reflexive activities such as dynamic role‐taking, “is” vs “ought” reflections and social negotiations.

Enacting risk in independent technological innovation

The present study aims at investigating the role of risk in the activity of independent technological venturing. Altogether 12 deep-interviews were conducted with technological entrepreneurs, who had taken part in the inventive, developmental and the commercialisation phases of a technologybased innovation process. The interviews revealed a number of enactment approaches through which these innovators encountered and affected (dealt with or transformed) risk within the innovation process. Factors thus developed from the empirical material included: human capital, pace and priority, the world moves, activating social networks, risk learning, risk incrementalism, maintaining venture agility, and creating and sustaining autonomy. The paper presents a theoretical contextualisation as to the significance of these factors, and finally suggests a number of ways in which these may be interpreted for the benefit of innovation management.

Early stage venture capital investing: comparing California and Scandinavia

While venture capital has become a global phenomenon, our knowledge about regional differences in venture capitalist (VC) behavior is quite poor. Most cross-regional comparisons have been quantitative replications of US based studies, which has made it difficult to discern qualitative differences. To help remedy this situation, we conducted semi-structured interviews with altogether 12 early stage VCs in California and Scandinavia. The results, which are presented in some detail, reveal substantial differences in VC activities and priorities during deal flow generation, investment, post-investment involvement, and exit. Taking a cue from these specific findings, we conclude by suggesting that VCs can be conceived of as fulfilling three ideal typical roles as investors, coaches and partners. Since they imply quite different modes of engaging with portfolio companies, it is also suggested that these roles – while based on a limited sample – may be useful for discriminating between VCs also in other settings.

Symmetric Assumptions in the Theory of Disruptive Innovation: Theoretical and Managerial Implications

The literature on disruptive innovation has convincingly explained why many established firms encounter problems under conditions of discontinuous change. Incumbents fail to invest in new technologies that are not demanded by their existing customers. This argument is grounded in resource dependency theory and the associated assumption that existing customers control a firms internal resource allocation processes. While the problem of disruptive innovation has been convincingly explained, there is still a need for managerial solutions. We argue that a key reason why such solutions are lacking can be found in the asymmetric assumptions made in the original theory of disruptive innovation. Specifically, we identify two related forms of asymmetry. First, the focal (incumbent) firm is treated as a collection of heterogeneous actors with different preferences, incentives and competencies, whereas firms in the surrounding environment are treated as if they contained no such heterogeneity. Second, the theory of disruptive innovation describes incumbents as controlled by their environment, but has failed to recognize that the environment can also be influenced. In this paper we argue that a more symmetric theory of disruptive innovation – i.e. one that treats all similar entities in the same way – opens up for a range of interesting managerial solutions.

A tale of two kirzners: : Time, uncertainty, and the “nature” of opportunities

This paper discusses the influence of Israel Kirzner on the field of entrepreneurship research. We review Kirzners work and argue that it contains two distinct approaches to entrepreneurship, termed Kirzner Mark I and Kirzner Mark II. Mark I with its focus on alertness and opportunity discovery has exerted a strong influence on entrepreneurship research in the last decade, and helped catapult the field forward. We propose that Mark II, with its emphasis on time, uncertainty, and creative action in pursuit of imagined opportunities, complements the discovery view and can provide an alternative conceptual grounding for the decade to come.

Between cognition and discourse: phenomenology and the study of entrepreneurship

This paper describes phenomenological approaches to studying entrepreneurs and their behaviours with the goal of providing a useful complement to the cognitive and discursive approaches that are common in the field today. These two approaches typically seek coherent explanations of entrepreneurial behaviours by grounding them in underlying cognitions or extra-individual discourses. Phenomenology on the other hand seeks to capture the richness of individuals’ lived experiences. While some degree of scientific reduction is inevitable in all empirical research, such reduction is also accompanied by the risk of ignoring essential insights. This paper argues that the study of entrepreneurship is especially vulnerable to misleading conclusions stemming from premature abstraction and analysis.