VENTURE ARCHETYPES AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL EVENT: CROSS-CULTURAL EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

摘要

This study sheds light on the so-called 'entrepreneurial event' which is of utmost importance within the entrepreneurial process. We develop a framework describing the occurrence of such an event in terms of characteristics of the business opportunity as well as in terms of characteristics of the implementation process. Furthermore, possible entrepreneurial events and influencing factors are theoretically identified. To test our assumptions, a cross-cultural survey among 110 entrepreneurs from seven distinct cultural regions was conducted. Empirical results suggest there are primarily two classes of entrepreneurial events: One part of the entrepreneurial population perceives the moment of first entrepreneurial action as their entrepreneurial event, while the other part needs market acceptance to believe in the viability of the entrepreneurial project. Furthermore, we provide evidence for the existence of four venture archetypes which are related to the circumstances of the entrepreneurial event.