An alternative construction of opportunity-seeking action for strategic entrepreneurship created by Kaarlo Paloniemi and Ville-Veikko Piispanen

This article considers how entrepreneurs utilise strategic entrepreneurship, or strategic and entrepreneurial actions, in business development. The domination of strategic management as advantage-seeking activity is widely accepted as an accurate perspective to the business development in the context of established firms. Our focus, however, is on entrepreneurship and the constructs of opportunity that drive opportunity-seeking actions in strategic entrepreneurship. In the context of SME, both start-up and established business, we conduct a longitudinal multiple-case study of the growth-oriented business development process of two Finnish ICT entrepreneurs. Our findings indicate that, if we look at opportunity through alternative theoretical perspectives rather than utilising opportunity based on the dominant entrepreneurship literature definition, we will open up new avenues for opportunity's role in growth-oriented business development. According to our findings, the firm context affects the way entrepreneurs utilise opportunity-seeking actions.