The Entrepreneurial Process: Seeing and Seizing Opportunities

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of figures
List of examples
List of insights
Introduction and some positions
	Entrepreneurship as the art of seeing and challenging things we take for granted
	Entrepreneurship and management: as fire to water?
	Theory and practice
	The leitmotif and structure of the book
	A ‘fast forward’ through the chapters ahead
1 The rise, fall and return of the entrepreneur
	The economy as a zero-sum game
	The physiocrats and the entrepreneur
	Classical political economy and the exit of the entrepreneur
	The demise of the entrepreneur: the neoclassical school
	For some, the entrepreneur remained in sight
		In a paradigmatic shadow: the Austrian school
		The Austrians’ world
	The return of the entrepreneur
		Israel Kirzner and the alert entrepreneur
		Joseph Alois Schumpeter and creative destruction
		Problems with Schumpeter’s entrepreneur
	What, then, does the entrepreneur do?
		A thicket of definitions
	Some concluding thoughts: What is . . . ? Who is not . . . ?
2 The environment
	The arena of the venue
	The industrial era, the entrepreneurial economy and new growth theory
	A new theory of growth
	Still a missing link: entrepreneurial capacity?
	The entrepreneurial economy?
	Large on a small scale or small on a large scale: a new view of the importance of size
	Entrepreneurship, knowledge and the dynamics: ‘connecting the dots’
	Uncertainty, problems and opportunity: different faces of the same coin?
		Uncertainty unpacked
		Levels of uncertainty
3 The person(s) and the network
	The trait approach
	The classics
		Need for achievement
		Risk-taking propensity
		Tolerance for ambiguity
	The cognitive school
		The analytical direction
		The humanistic direction
		Locus of control
		Self-efficacy
		Intelligence, creativity and the entrepreneurial mindset: why are they missing out?
		Different paradigms, different outcomes
	No entrepreneur is an island: the network as ‘hero’
		The individual or the collective?
	Fitting the pieces together: the moment of truth
4 The opportunity
	What are we talking about when we talk about opportunities?
	The triad becomes a dyad, becomes a nexus
	Where do opportunities come from?
		The discovery and creation views: does it matter?
		An artificial contradiction?
		Some hypotheses
	Six sources to opportunities
		1. Opportunities are found through noticing things that work elsewhere
		2. Opportunities can be traced to economic and social change and consumer trends
		3. Opportunities develop from research/new technology/new knowledge
		4. Opportunities based on ‘customer pains’: everyday problems that can be eliminated
		5. Opportunities are created through ‘effectuation’: the entrepreneurial method
		6. The entrepreneurial gaze: a lens of opportunity
	The gaze, the opportunities and reality
	From idea into an entrepreneurial opportunity: from vagueness to clarity
		What ideas should be taken forward?
		Which opportunities are identified and which are missed?
		Seeing and seizing opportunities: a learning-in-action perspective
	Filling the box and cultivating the gaze
	Afterthought: why is it so difficult to see new alternative solutions?
	Summary
5 The process
	A process as a stream of activities
		More or less orderly processes
		What does the research have to say?
	The linear process: the goal-driven, ‘ready, aim, fire’ process
		The business plan: the ‘pros’
		The business plan: the ‘cons’
	Effectuation: the resource-driven, improvisational process
		How does one do something effectually?
		The five principles of effectuation
		The causal and the effectual
	Experience-based schools: ‘best practices’, lean start-up
		Basic lines of thinking and acting
		The lean start-up approach: just a passing fad?
	The planned, the effectual or the lean process?
6 The business model
	The business model’s role and position
	The concept of the business model and its essence
		The business model as system
		The business model as a model for creating value
		The business model as answers to key questions
	The business model canvas
		Value proposition: what is the offering to the customer?
		Customer segments: who are we creating value for?
		Customer relationships: how do we establish and maintain our relation to the customer?
		Channels: how do we communicate and deliver?
		Key activities: what activities are needed to create and deliver our proposition?
		Key resources: what resources are needed to create and deliver our proposition?
		Key partners/networks: what partners and networks are needed to create and deliver the proposition?
		Financial aspects: do revenues and costs match?
	Improving the business model: business model innovation
		Value innovation: using the value curve and the ‘four questions’
		Value and the value proposition: the existential core of the business model
	From ‘pipes’ to ‘platforms’: toward a new value-driving logic?
	Social business models: social enterprises
7 The business model’s financial ABCs
	To give the business model a fair chance
	Cost structure: what costs are necessary to run the business model?
	Revenue streams: how much revenue can the offering generate overall?
	Is the business model economically viable? Do revenues appear to cover costs?
	Do we have enough money available?
	Can we expect to make a profit?
	When will your business become profitable? Break-even analysis
	The gross margin and what it stands for
		What is a good gross margin?
	Will we make enough?
	Start-up costs and ways to finance them
Epilogue: Final remarks – a fast rewind
Further reading
Bibliography
Index