A Process Model of Opportunity Actualization in Entrepreneurial Growth

Opportunity is central in entrepreneurship research. However, research has developed several approaches to explain entrepreneurial phenomena based on mutually exclusive ontological assumptions about entrepreneurial opportunities. Reconciling this tension, we develop a process view of opportunity actualization to examine how a firm proactively discovers and creates opportunities to enable rapid entrepreneurial growth. We draw on an inductive case study of an Internet-based technology entrepreneurial firm which rapidly grew by successively seizing opportunities in two different product markets. Our proposed theory emphasizes that entrepreneurship is a cyclical transformation process of multi-form opportunity. During this process, entrepreneurs with resourcefulness proactively transform discovered-form opportunities from a deeper unobservable level to a less conspicuous level, whereby external opportunities are internalized as tangible resources for growth. We contribute to the concepts in opportunity discovery, creation, and actualization approaches. Our most fundamental insight extends the resources-based firm growth theory: opportunity actualization has value in envisioning the business and exchanging resources for growth. We also identify momentum-driven entrepreneurial growth as an objective condition-centric process.