The Matter of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Literature Review

This paper is a comprehensive review of the entrepreneurial learning literature and its engagement with the material aspects of entrepreneurship, as part of the “material turn” in the social sciences. Drawing on actor-network theory, we construct a classificatory scheme and an evaluative matrix to find that this field is dominated by an anthropocentric bias and cognitivist approaches which largely ignore issues of materiality in entrepreneurship. However we also identify some heterogeneous network-based conceptualisations of entrepreneurial learning which could provide the foundations for more materially aware approaches. We conclude by calling for a material turn in entrepreneurial learning and outline some possible avenues for it

Schumpeterian entrepreneurship as dual mediation between markets and between heterogeneous resources

The dualism of Joseph Schumpeter's personal and depersonalised concepts of entrepreneurship, together with his thesis about the obsolescence of the entrepreneur leading to the downfall of capitalism, have spawned contradictory interpretations and divergent research traditions. Richard Langlois proposes to resolve this dualism and the obsolescence thesis by defining entrepreneurship in terms of charisma and also applying it to corporate leaders. We disagree with Langlois's solution and instead define entrepreneurship as a dual mediation between markets and between heterogeneous resources. Our solution nevertheless shares similarities with Langlois's own entrepreneurial theory of the firm and builds on the post-Schumpeterian evolutionary economics literature

Following entrepreneurs to markets: What entrepreneurship theory and market studies can learn from each other

Rationalist approaches of entrepreneurship theory and empiricist studies of markets that draw on Science and Technology Studies and actor-network theory (ANT) have had limited interactions so far and tend to treat each other with suspicion and dismissal. We review both approaches from their respective points of view to identify their differences and misunderstandings, but also their historical, methodological and theoretical commonalities and complementarities. Drawing on an empirical study of e-commerce entrepreneurship in southern England in the mid-2000s that utilised ANT, we articulate the notion of the entrepreneurial market as a promising construct for establishing common ground between entrepreneurship theory and market studies for a more fruitful dialogue

Implementing the knowledge-based economy: Market devices as policy instruments

We chart the rise and fall of Business Link as a policy instrument for furthering the knowledge-based economy, while also examining how it was implemented by one particular Business Link Operator in Southern England. We zoom in on the specific policy objective to encourage SMEs to adopt e-commerce, which was singled out by the Blair government as a key innovation that marked a competitive "knowledge-driven economy." Drawing on qualitative data and analysis (including policy documents, media reports and interviews with Personal Business Advisers), we undertake a socio-material description of Business Link's enterprise support activities. We found that the implementation of Business Link by successive UK governments required the construction and operation of socio-technical devices to perform a variety of market functions to address a perceived market failure that was thought to impede the rate of SMEs’ adoption of managerial and technological innovations. We show that the effectiveness and efficiency of these market devices depended on their particular design, composition, and mode of deployment, and that after the Labour government’s 2005 reforms broke the original market devices, Business Link actors created new ones to perform those market functions and fulfil the policy objectives, sometimes in contravention of government rules

The co-production critical mix: the relationship between the small enterprise and business support

This paper sets out to identify how value is added for small enterprises engaging in business support and how this effects strategy development, using theories of co-production in the relationship between the business advisor and the small enterprise owner/manager and, more specifically, in the application of the critical mix (Brudney and England 1983)

Relationship and Network Approach to Innovation and Capabilities Building in Small and Medium-Sized UK Organic Food and Drink Suppliers: A Literature Review

Both business and consumer markets of food and drink are increasingly changing, concomitant with changing consumer habits and lifestyles. Particularly in industrialised countries, there has been a tremendous growth in consumer interest for organic food in the last fifteen years, largely driven by the need for healthy food. These market changes have implications for the way firms in the food and drink industry conduct their business. Nevertheless, unlike large firms, small suppliers tend to be constrained in terms of innovations and capabilities, for instance to enable them keep pace with market changes. Based on the literature review, this paper develops a framework that suggests that market-driven innovations may be developed and implemented through augmentation of small and medium-sized suppliers’ (SMEs) own capabilities with those of their larger customers. This consequently would enable SMEs to keep pace with market changes and hence sustain their survival