Sustaining Actor Engagement During the Opportunity Development Process

Abstract

Research summary Recent entrepreneurship research has examined how opportunities are developed, highlighting the engagement of external actors. However, we know little about how entrepreneurs should interact with external actors to sustain their engagement. Since opportunity development is a process that unfolds over time, sustaining actor engagement is critical because it enables continued feedback and access to actors’ resources. We present a process model that explains how entrepreneurs can sustain external actor engagement through two iterative phases: translation and transformation. We also propose that entrepreneurs can sustain actor engagement by structuring the timing of interactions and by modifying actors’ perceptions of the time available for novel opportunity development. We conclude with an agenda for future research on actor engagement and entrepreneurs’ temporal capabilities. Managerial summary To develop business opportunities, entrepreneurs require support, feedback, and other resources from different groups of individuals (actors), such as customers, business partners, investors, and regulators. We explain how entrepreneurs should continue to interact with these actors throughout the development period to secure sustained access to resources. Entrepreneurs need to present the business opportunity to actors in an engaging way, and subsequently integrate the feedback received during development of the project. Sustaining engagement from actors involves an iterative process through which the business opportunity is communicated and transformed. Entrepreneurs can influence actors’ engagement by choosing how and when to interact with them. We highlight time and actor feedback as important resources that can be used by skillful entrepreneurs to increase the odds of opportunity development success. Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society.

Formation and Constitution of Effectual Networks: A Systematic Review and Synthesis

“…More generally, a lack of goal clarity heightens the potential for inter‐partner misalignment (Inkpen and Tsang ) and sustaining stakeholder involvement can be more difficult when novel opportunities are involved (Snihur et al . ). Docility and altruism aside, subsequent negotiations might generate conflict that leads certain stakeholders to disengage.…”

An Ecosystem-Level Process Model of Business Model Disruption: The Disruptor's Gambit

“…The company experimented with several shop layouts and constantly adjusted the new BM to customer feedback, opening only four outlets during the first five years to fine-tune the model before scaling. Entrepreneurs often need to adjust their BMs through dialogue with ecosystem stakeholders (O'Connor, 2002;Snihur et al, 2017), and these adjustments imply that BMs often evolve due to the paradoxes and tensions that arise during the ongoing entrepreneurial journey (Garud et al, 2014b). The need for BM adaptation is also implicitly present in the recent ecosystem literature: Dattée et al (2018) find that ecosystem creators monitor and update the ecosystem value proposition and associated governance to ensure ongoing control.…”

An Ecosystem‐Level Process Model of Business Model Disruption: The Disruptor's Gambit

“…The company experimented with several shop layouts and constantly adjusted the new BM to customer feedback, opening only four outlets during the first five years to fine‐tune the model before scaling. Entrepreneurs often need to adjust their BMs through dialogue with ecosystem stakeholders (O'Connor, ; Snihur et al, ), and these adjustments imply that BMs often evolve due to the paradoxes and tensions that arise during the ongoing entrepreneurial journey (Garud et al, ). The need for BM adaptation is also implicitly present in the recent ecosystem literature: Dattée et al () find that ecosystem creators monitor and update the ecosystem value proposition and associated governance to ensure ongoing control.…”