Plural-entrepreneurial activity for a single start-up: A case study

1. Plural-entrepreneurial activity for a single start-up:A case study Thierry BURGER-HELMCHEN Université Louis Pasteur 61 avenue de la Forêt Noire F - 67085 STRASBOURG Bureau d’Économie Théoriqueet Appliquée(BETA)UMR 7522

2. Presentation outline • Motivation / Purpose • Theoretical background • Case presentation • Results • Conclusion / Discussion

3. Motivation / Purpose The aim of this work is to explain the difficulties of start-up firms, and their low survival rate by linking the firm creation to the entrepreneurial behaviour : • The entrepreneurial behaviour is complex and multi-dimensional • The entrepreneurial behaviour at the firm level is the result of the interplay between several people, all can be entrepreneurs, but on different dimension • We call this aggregation of entrepreneurship behaviours ‘plural entrepreneurship’

4. Theoretical background(too) Many forms of entrepreneurship ? Academic entrepreneurship Diffused Entrepreneurship Dispersed entrepreneurship Distributed entrepreneurship Disintegrated entrepreneurship Collaborative entrepreneurship Collective entrepreneurship Cluster based entrepreneurship Community based entrepreneurship Intra-preneurship Knowledge based entrepreneurship Managerial entrepreneurship Modular entrepreneurship Network entrepreneurship Open entrepreneurship Plural entrepreneurship

5. Theoretical background(too) Many forms of entrepreneurship ? Dimension(s) Entrepreneurship Distributed /network Entrepreneurship Plural Entrepreneurship Classic Entrepreneurship Dispersed /in community 1 Several Localisation(s) SeveralPersons/Firms 1 Person/Firm

6. Theoretical backgroundPlural entrepreneurship and knowledge based entrepreneurs Regular entrepreneurship defines that innovation can be a product, a service, a process, a new commercial or organizational scheme. Knowledge-based entrepreneurship develops a somewhat different definition, which implies that the firm is a plural innovative bundle. Can be labelled knowledge-based entrepreneurship those entrepreneurs who meet at least two of the following conditions:(i) creation of a new combination,(ii) creation of new knowledge,(iii) employ knowledge built originally in science. Garavaglia and Grieco (2005)

7. Theoretical backgroundPlural entrepreneurship and outcomes at the firm level Dimension of entrepreneurship Outcome good (bad) Development of new knowledge, new product(network lock-in/ different views between scientist and firm founder) Science-based entrepreneurship Knowledge-based entrepreneurial success (failure) Combinatory, Schumpeterian entrepreneurship Development of new market, new business model (network lock-in/ different views between customers and firm founder) Organizational, marketing, entrepreneurship

8. Theoretical backgroundPlural entrepreneurship in previous works • Witt U., Zellner C., 2005, “Knowledge-based entrepreneurship: The organizational side of technology commercialization”. • Radosevic S., 2005, “National systems of innovation and entrepreneurship: In search for a missing link”. • Cohendet P., Llerena P., 2006, “Knowledge-based entrepreneur: The need for a relevant theory of the firm”. • Bureth A., Pénin J., Wolff S., 2006, “Entrepreneurship in biotechnology : The case of four start-ups in the Upper-Rhine Biovalley”.

9. Theoretical backgroundPlural entrepreneurship and other issues in strategy • “Plural management” SBU’s are managed by different managers, each having specific abilities. Specific towards the main domain of the SBU Entrepreneurial management (Stevenson & Jarillo 1990) • Entrepreneurial strategy, Mintzberget al. (1998). “(…) characterized by a visionary process: strategy exists first of all in the leader’s mind as a long-term direction, a vision of the future and of the results of the organization. Such a strategic vision tends to be malleable, and due to this, entrepreneurial strategy often appears to be both deliberate and emergent, deliberate from the point of view of its global vision, and emergent in the way in which the details of the vision evolve.”

10. Case studyResearch methodology • A theory building approach rather than a theory testing approachEisenhardt K., Graebner M.E, 2007, “Theory building from cases : Opportunities and challenges”, AMJ. Siggelkow N., 2007, “Persuasion with case studies”, AMJ • Data collection and data analysis • Firm selection

11. Case studyFirm presentation • Industry : multi-country mobile telecommunications • Started : August 2000 • Patent / business idea :Patent on SIM card integration, reduce roaming costs • Operating Countries : France (home) Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands for 2007 market entries in the UK, Germany and Switzerland are planned • Founders (2) background :Entrepreneur A (now CEO) previously employed as international brand manager for a major phone company, Entrepreneur B (now CSO) previously employed as a project chief for developing new products by a major French telephone operator. Both engineers + MBA

12. ResultsGeneral results

13. ResultsGeneral results

14. ResultsGeneral results

15. ResultsGeneral results

16. ResultsPlural entrepreneurial activity oriented results • We identified three types of entrepreneurial activity that enable the firm to overcome the problems a start-up faces in her early days: science-based entrepreneurship (patenting activity), marketing entrepreneurship (to communicate around a new type of product), and combinatory entrepreneurship (to tie together a new technology and a new type of business model). • Combinatory entrepreneurial activity • Science-based entrepreneurship • Marketing entrepreneurship

17. Conclusion / Discussion • The importance of the plural-entrepreneurial organization for the firm • Implications