Network development among habitual entrepreneurs when starting a new venture in a different industry
(2016) ENTN19 20161Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate how the business network develops, when habitual entrepreneurs enter into a different industry context. How these entrepreneurs expand their existing networks, and how they build new networks, when entering new industry context.
Design - Qualitative analysis. Findings are primarily based on semi-structured interviews with ten habitual entrepreneurs located in the region of Scania, Sweden. We are using a multiple case study design and making a thematic analysis. We analyse the micro level (ties) and macro level (structure) of the network development process (Slotte-Kock and Coviello, 2010).
Findings - We have discovered that the habitual entrepreneurs first do an industry... (More) - Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate how the business network develops, when habitual entrepreneurs enter into a different industry context. How these entrepreneurs expand their existing networks, and how they build new networks, when entering new industry context.
Design - Qualitative analysis. Findings are primarily based on semi-structured interviews with ten habitual entrepreneurs located in the region of Scania, Sweden. We are using a multiple case study design and making a thematic analysis. We analyse the micro level (ties) and macro level (structure) of the network development process (Slotte-Kock and Coviello, 2010).
Findings - We have discovered that the habitual entrepreneurs first do an industry research, before calls and meetings were made. The entrepreneurs do the industry research with LinkedIn and search engines, as well as participate in different industry specific organisations and events. They contact industry experienced professionals to evaluate the feasibility of their business ideas (Cassar, 2014) and to continuously shape the business model in coherence with the market needs. The network structure is made of both industry specific and other business professionals. Lastly, we discovered that team members’ industry specific network is a very important social resource for the new venture.
Research limitations - All the cases are located in Scania, Sweden so it might therefore be hard for us to general internationally, the reason being that most of the entrepreneurs are located in incubators. It is difficult to define the level of subjectivity of every habitual entrepreneurs’ interpretations of their own action. In addition to that there might be challenges in terms of transparency (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Originality - The originality of the thesis is to investigate how the habitual entrepreneurs develop their networks in a new industry context to make the new venture successful. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework of previous research about business networks, habitual entrepreneurs, network structure, strong/weak ties, industry experience, and the network development process.
Key words - Networks, social resources, network process development, habitual entrepreneurs, industry experience and context change. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8882215
- author
- Minev, Nikolay LU and Sørensen, Karen Margrethe LU
- supervisor
-
- Gustav Hägg LU
- organization
- course
- ENTN19 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Networks, social resources, network process development, habitual entrepreneurs, industry experience and context change.
- language
- English
- id
- 8882215
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-20 13:39:11
- date last changed
- 2016-06-20 13:39:11
@misc{8882215,
abstract = {{Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate how the business network develops, when habitual entrepreneurs enter into a different industry context. How these entrepreneurs expand their existing networks, and how they build new networks, when entering new industry context.
Design - Qualitative analysis. Findings are primarily based on semi-structured interviews with ten habitual entrepreneurs located in the region of Scania, Sweden. We are using a multiple case study design and making a thematic analysis. We analyse the micro level (ties) and macro level (structure) of the network development process (Slotte-Kock and Coviello, 2010).
Findings - We have discovered that the habitual entrepreneurs first do an industry research, before calls and meetings were made. The entrepreneurs do the industry research with LinkedIn and search engines, as well as participate in different industry specific organisations and events. They contact industry experienced professionals to evaluate the feasibility of their business ideas (Cassar, 2014) and to continuously shape the business model in coherence with the market needs. The network structure is made of both industry specific and other business professionals. Lastly, we discovered that team members’ industry specific network is a very important social resource for the new venture.
Research limitations - All the cases are located in Scania, Sweden so it might therefore be hard for us to general internationally, the reason being that most of the entrepreneurs are located in incubators. It is difficult to define the level of subjectivity of every habitual entrepreneurs’ interpretations of their own action. In addition to that there might be challenges in terms of transparency (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
Originality - The originality of the thesis is to investigate how the habitual entrepreneurs develop their networks in a new industry context to make the new venture successful. The thesis is based on a theoretical framework of previous research about business networks, habitual entrepreneurs, network structure, strong/weak ties, industry experience, and the network development process.
Key words - Networks, social resources, network process development, habitual entrepreneurs, industry experience and context change.}},
author = {{Minev, Nikolay and Sørensen, Karen Margrethe}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Network development among habitual entrepreneurs when starting a new venture in a different industry}},
year = {{2016}},
}