Sustaining Actor Engagement During the Opportunity Development Process

• Author: B. Sebastian Reiche,Yuliya Snihur,Eric Quintane
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1233

SUSTAINING ACTOR ENGAGEMENT DURING THE

OPPORTUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

YULIYA SNIHUR,

1

* B. SEBASTIAN REICHE,

2

and ERIC QUINTANE

3

1

Toulouse Business School, ToulouseUniversity, Toulouse, France

2

Departmentof Managing People in Organizations,IESE Business School, Barcelona,

Spain

3

School of Management, The University ofLos Andes, Bogota, Colombia

Research summary: Recent entrepreneurship research has examined how opportunities

are developed, highlighting the engagement of external actors. However, we know little

about howentrepreneurs shouldinteract with externalactors to sustain theirengagement.

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 actorengagement 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’perceptionsof the time available for novel

opportunity development. We conclude with an agenda for future research on actor

engagement and entrepreneurs’temporal capabilities.

Managerialsummary: To developbusiness opportunities, entrepreneursrequire support,

feedback, and other resources from different groups of individuals (actors), such as

customers, business partners, investors, and regulators. We explain how entrepreneurs

should continueto interact with these actorsthroughout the developmentperiod to secure

sustained access to resources. Entrepreneursneed 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 actorfeedback as important resources that can be used

by skillful entrepreneurs to increase the odds of opportunity development success.

Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, there has been growing interest in

better understanding the process through which

entrepreneurs develop opportunities (Dimov, 2007;

Venkataraman et al., 2012; Wright and Marlow,

2012), that is, actionable ideas for value creation.

The opportunity development process, understood as

the nexus of opportunities and individuals (Shane

and Venkataraman, 2000), lies at the heart of

entrepreneurship research. Scholars have begun to

study the process from different perspectives, looking

at the engagement of actors other than the

entrepreneur (customers, business partners, investors,

or regulators). They have highlighted the importance

of external actor s in providing entr epreneurs with

resources, including money, expertise, network

connections, and legitimacy (Dimov, 2007, 2011;

Hallen and Eisenhardt, 2012).

Keywords: opportunity development; sustaining actor engagement;

translation;transformation; process model; temporalcapabilities

*Correspondence to: Yuliya Snihur, Toulouse Business School,

ToulouseUniversity, 20, BoulevardLascrosses, 31068Toulouse,

France. E-mail:y.snihur@tbs-education.fr

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Strat. EntrepreneurshipJ.,••

:••–•• (2016)

Published onlinein Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/sej

Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society

Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Strat. Entrepreneurship J., 11: 1–17 (2017)

Published online 24 October 2016 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/sej.1233

Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society

Specifically, studies examining opportunity

development as instituted in market structures (e.g.,

Aldrich and Fiol, 1994; Dimov, 2011; Lounsbury

and Glynn, 2001) suggestthat entrepreneurs elaborate

particular strategies to obtain actor engagement and

mobilize feedback and resources for opportunity

development (Clarke, 2011; Santos and Eisenhardt,

2009; Zott and Huy, 2007). For example, scholars

have argued that entrepreneurs use metaphors and

analogies to describe and justify an opportunity to

external actors (e.g., Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010).

However, when opportunity development is

considered as an entrepreneurial journey (Garud and

Karnøe, 2003; Selden and Fletcher, 2015;

Venkataraman et al., 2012), that is, a process that

unfolds over time, it becomes important for

entrepreneurs not only to gain initial actor

engagement but also to sustain this engagement to

secure continued access to feedback and resources.

This journey of opportunity development, and the

social learning that accompanies it (Dimov, 2007;

Dutta and Crossan, 2005), imply continued

interactions with external actors.

To explain how entrepreneurs can sustain actor

engagement, we conceptualize the process of

opportunity development as an iteration of two

phases: translation, during which the entrepreneur

presents and adapts the opportunityto external actors,

and transformation, during which the entrepreneur

integrates actors’feedback in the opportunity.

Following the extant literature, the initial translation

phase is aimed at eliciting engagement from actors.

We argue that it is the subsequent transformation

and ongoing iterations between translation and

transformation that ensure actors’sustained

engagement, as actors learn and become committed

to the opportunity. Further, focusing on the timing of

this iterative process, we suggest that entrepreneurs

can sustain external actor engagement by modifying

both external actors’subjective perceptions of time

(as experienced and interpreted by these individuals)

and the objective (linear and measurable) timing of

the opportunity development process.

We offer two contributions to the literature on

opportunity development. First, we contribute to an

emergence-based theory of entrepreneurship (Garud

and Karnøe, 2003; Phan, 2004) by providing

conceptual clarity about how entrepreneurs can

sustain the generative role of external actors in the

opportunity development process through iterations

of translation and transformation. This is important

because so far the literature has remained silent about

how entrepreneurs can continue to leverage external

actors during the opportunity development process.

In doing so, we move beyond the recognition that

external actors are important providers of resources

(Dimov, 2007; Maguire, Hardy, and Lawrence,

2004) to outline the specific process through which

entrepreneurs sustain actor engagement in order to

access these resources. We also provide a discussion

of the boundary conditions under which external

actors can be constructively engaged.

Second, we add to our knowledge of the range of

influencing skills that entrepreneurs can use during

the opportunity development process (Clarke, 2011;

Zott and Huy, 2007). Existing research acknowledges

the dynamic nature of opportunity development (e.g.,

O’Connor, 2004; Selden and Fletcher, 2015) and the

importance of the entrepreneur’s temporal

capabilities, such as the pacing of strategic events

(e.g., Gersick, 1994). Temporal capabilities are

important because time can be a critical resource for

entrepreneurs during actor engagement. We specify

how entrepreneurs can use their temporal capabilities

in order to sustain actor engagement by purposefully

structuring the timing of interactions with actors and

modifying actors’subjective perception of time.

Specifically, entrepreneurs can adjust the duration of

the translation andtransformation phases by choosing

when and how often to interact with external actors

and by outlining the implementation of the

opportunity as more or less distant in time—for

example, in the form of an imminent or more distant

new product launch.By specifying how entrepreneurs

can use their temporal capabilities as a strategic

resource during opportunity development, we add

substance to Orlikowski and Yates’(2002: 690)

notion that ‘if the time is not ripe, then it should be

your purpose to ripen the time.’

OPPORTUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP RESEARCH

Since Shane and Venkataraman (2000), the

conversation in the entrepreneurship literature has

turned to the nature of opportunities and the

characteristics of entrepreneurs. While the discussion

about the nature of opportunities continues

(Davidsson, 2015; McMullen and Shepherd, 2006),

several researchers (Cornelissen and Clarke, 2010;

Garud and Giuliani, 2013; McMullen and Dimov,

2013) suggest that the field could move forward by

2Y. Snihur, B. S. Reiche, and E. Quintane

Strat. EntrepreneurshipJ.,••

:••–•• (2016)

DOI: 10.1002/sej

Copyright © 2016 Strategic Management Society Strat. Entrepreneurship J., 11: 1–17 (2017)

DOI: 10.1002/sej

2 Y. Snihur, B. S. Reiche, and E. Quintane