Outlines of a behavioral theory of the entrepreneurial firm

By Nicholas Dew, Stuart Read, S. Sarasvathy, Robert Wiltbank. 2008

228 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (BTF), Cyert and March [Cyert, R.M., March, J.G., 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ] present a clutch of ideas for explaining the behavior of established firms within an environment of well-defined markets, stakeholder relationships, technologies, and so on. In this paper, we outline a behavioral theory of the entrepreneurial firm that emphasizes transforming environments rather than acting within extant ones. In particular, we explicate three ideas that parallel key concepts in BTF: (1) accumulating stakeholder commitments under goal ambiguity (in line with a political conception of goals), (2) achieving control (as opposed to managing expectations) through non-predictive strategies, and (3) predominately exaptive (rather than adaptive) orientation.

Subfields: Business and International Management, Management of Technology and Innovation, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6d27c83fde1cedc40e120b89e6cb1f80692e864e

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In Business and International Management

In Management of Technology and Innovation

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Citations in the corpus

Effectuation As Ineffectual? Applying the 3E Theory-Assessment Framework to a Proposed New Theory of Entrepreneurship (2015, background): “…characteristics of who he or she is—for example, his/ her own traits, tastes, abilities, and attributes; what he or she knows—for example, his/her own knowledge corridors, education, experience, and expertise; and whom he or she knows—for example, his/her social networks (Dew et al., 2008).”
THE PRODUCTION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITY: A CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE (SUMMARY) (2010, background): “Prior research has indicated that social ties and reputation are likely to be infl uential factors in the entrainment of stakeholders (Reynolds and Miller, 1992; Rindova et al., 2005; Dew et al., 2008; Sarasvathy et al., 2008).”
The Importance of Being Emotional : How do Emotions Affect Entrepreneurial Opportunity Evaluation and Exploitation? (2010, background): “Researchers following the notion of new institutional economics have started to extend the basic model by assuming bounded rationality (Dequech, 2006; Casson, 2005; Shane, 2000, 2003; Delfgaauw and Dur, 2007) and behavioral scholars are now broadening the model by incorporating robust psychological ”