Stages theory of entrepreneurship

The entrepreneurial process is often conceptualized as stage-based. In ecology and biology, there are stages of development or decay present in many phenomena. The description, explanation and prediction of cycles is one of the mainstays of the hard sciences.

Kazanjian and Drazin (1990) suggest four stages to explain the how an entrepreneurial opportunity becomes a business. They propose that the drivers and resisters of entrepreneurship are different at each stage of venture development. Probably only the first stage or two is really about entrepreneurship, whereas growth and stability are really managerial issues after a certain point. 
  1. conception and development
  2. commercialization 
  3. growth
  4. stability
Bhave (1994) put forward four stages. In this case, the transitions where ordered but one can easily imagine cases where these stages overlap temporally or are happening simultaneously. While the stages proposed by each theory do not perfectly line up, there is a pattern between them. However, the length of each stage and the emphasis on indicators of stage transition differ. Perhaps there are stages, but these would be too context-specific to replicate.  
  • opportunity
  • technology set-up  
  • organization-creation
  • exchange stage 
The pattern in academia seems to be to define the stages and check that they are really there, especially across contexts. There are many stage based models out there and new ones are continually popping up. A critic might wonder if a four stage theory is a great way to kill an hour long paid keynote--it's a story with a nice progression, after all.
Other biological theories of entrepreneurship you should know about:
Sources:

Bhave, M. P. (1994). A process model of entrepreneurial venture creation. Journal of business venturing, 9(3), 223-242.

Kazanjian, R. K., & Drazin, R. (1990). A stage-contingent model of design and growth for technology based new ventures. Journal of business venturing, 5(3), 137-150.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marshall McLuhan's theory of entrepreneurship

Image
“The crossing or hybridizations of the media release great new  force and energy a s by fission or fusion…” (1964:48).  Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian academic and celebrity who famously coined the phrase “ the medium is the message ” back in the 1960s to express his thesis about the effect of new technologies on culture and society. At a time when critics railed against sex, violence, and blasphemy on vacuum tube televisions, McLuhan claimed that the content of television was irrelevant, as it is the medium of television that really changes us by creating new audio/visual tribes, and seating us passively in front of the tube. New environments! The implication of McLuhan’s theory was that new technologies shape environments and perceptions, by making accessible new dimensions of time and space. He gave the example of the light bulb, which is a medium devoid of any content (or message), yet it creates an environment by its mere presence, illuminating the dark, extending our a...
Read more

Impulsive theory of entrepreneurship

Image
Impulsiveness  refers to taking action without thinking about it first and considering data before deciding. Wiklund et al. (2016) state that "acting without thinking is characterized by rapid decision making in situations that would seem to require extensive analysis and deliberation." They go on to explain that individuals need to act impulsively in some entrepreneurial conditions because it is impossible to complete a throughout analysis due to uncertainty, ambiguity, and urgency. Rather than succumbing to analysis paralysis, entrepreneurs take leaps of faith that most others are not willing to. As it turns out, there is a way to measure impulsivity. Attention deficit and hyper-active disorder (ADHD) is usually considered a problem that need to be addressed. For instance, many parents medicate their children with drugs like Ritalin in order to combat the negative effects of ADHD.  Interestingly, ADHD has been associated with entrepreneurial behaviors. The disorder increase...
Read more

Cultural theory of entrepreneurship

Image
Thomas Cochran (1965) proposed that entrepreneurs are influenced by their own attitudes toward their occupation, and the expectations of groups facilitating new ventures, as well as the difficulty level of the operational requirements of the career. He argues that both attitudes of potential entrepreneurs and the expectations of sanctioning groups are culturally determined. He looked to evidence in historical cases such as the entrepreneurial prominence of Protestants in America , Samurais in Japan , the Yoruba in Nigeria , the Kikuya in Kenya , Christians in Lebanon, the Halai Memon in Pakistan , and the Parsis in India . Each of these cases can be considered interpretations derived from cultural biases. Hofstede (1980) proposed that culture captures the set of values, beliefs and expectations about behaviors that are shared by a social group. Cultural values can be unconscious or conscious, rational or irrational, but either way, they influence the social, political and technological...
Read more