Opportunity recognition by international high-technology start-up and growth photonics firms

Abstract

For high technology firms that depend on foreign markets from the outset, identifying opportunities is a matter not only of business development but of survival. This study contributes to the opportunity recognition literature by exploring the paths taken by these international entrepreneurs to find opportunities in foreign markets. Moreover, it examines the paths of firms at different lifecycle stages. Based on indepth interviews with 5 start-ups and 5 growth firms in Canada specialized in photonics, this research delves into both the personal characteristics of the entrepreneurial teams and the methods they use to find international opportunities. The sources they use as well as the actions undertaken are examined and compared. The practical goal is to identify path components which may be adjusted in start-up firms to improve the probability of finding and developing fruitful opportunities.

Tackling the Critical Hurdles: Revising Technology-Based Ideation Processes

“…Empirical evidence exists for Personality Traits in the TAS process, as some are significantly correlated with entrepreneurial behaviour (Rauch and Frese, 2007). In the context of ideation, activeness (Veilleux et al 2018), creativity, optimism, and self-efficacy (Ardichvili et al 2003) First introduced by Kirzner (1997), the term of Entrepreneurial Alertness gathered popularity in terms of application identification, enabling the entrepreneur to perceive opportunities without actively searching (Baron, 2006). It can be strengthened by personality traits like creativity and optimism (Ardichvili et al 2003) and is seen as a key determinant of the ideation process (Garcia-Cabrera and Garcia-Soto, 2009;Lim and Lee, 2019).…”

“…Additionally, studies explored the theoretical underpinnings in practical settings, testing the derived factors and contributions in the business environment (Wohlfeil and Terzidis, 2015;Okhli et al 2019). Associated research topics, like methods to support the identification and selection process of applications for technology, have been covered by e.g., Hartelt et al (2015) and Veilleux et al (2018). Few authors address the development and testing of practical approaches to identify and select applications for new technologies, despite the continuous interest in tackling the challenge of TP innovations leading back to Roberson and Weijo (1988), being followed by various studies until today (Moncada-Peternò-Castello et al 2003;Bianchi et al 2010;Terzidis and Vogel, 2018).…”

Where do international opportunities come from and where does literature go?

“…Seguindo essa abordagem, as pesquisas empíricas desse quadrante analisam as seguintes características do empreendedor, que permitem a descoberta de oportunidades internacionais: o estado de alerta (Rezvani et al, 2019); a capacidade dinâmica de gestão (Karra et al, 2008 A descoberta das oportunidades internacionais ainda foi estudada com base na influência: da aprendizagem (Lee e Williams, 2007;Kauppinen e Juho, 2012;Fayena et al, 2020); da obtenção de conhecimento (Eerme e Nummela, 2019); da abordagem de effectuation (Uthamaputhran, 2018); e, de maneira mais genérica, dos determinantes do processo de sua identificação (Angeli e Grimaldi, 2010;Caiazza, 2014;Urban e Willard, 2017;Veilleux et al, 2018). Além disso, foram desenvolvidos um modelo (Pearson et al, 2010) e uma escala (Mostafiz et al, 2019) para o auxílio nesse processo.…”