HAS THE CONCEPT OF OPPORTUNITIES BEEN FRUITFUL IN THE FIELD OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

摘要

Recent criticisms of the concept of opportunities either ignore the natural evolution of conceptual definitions in all the social sciences (Davidsson, 2015; Davidsson, Recker, & von Briel, 2020) or substitute different words for this concept (Foss & Klein, 2020). Neither tack provides a strong justification for abandoning the concept of opportunity in the field of entrepreneurship. Indeed, the concept of opportunities has forced entrepreneurship scholars to be clearer about their assumptions, has focused attention on Knightian uncertainty and the process of forming and exploiting opportunities, and links entrepreneurship research with some theories in the field of strategic management. It seems likely that opportunities will continue as an important concept in the field of entrepreneurship for some time.