Structuration in entrepreneurial opportunity pursuit : the case of a small technology entrepreneur

This paper explores a new idea that entrepreneurial opportunity pursuit can be looked upon as a process of structuration. The paper first discusses the opportunity paradigm in entrepreneurship literature and describes the relevant creation-discovery debate in the entrepreneurial opportunity paradigm. It then discusses Giddens’ Structuration Theory (Giddens, 1979, Giddens, 1984). Presenting empirical data from verbal protocol of a technology entrepreneur describing the pursuit of a new opportunity in the marketplace, the paper discusses how entrepreneurial opportunity pursuit can be seen as a process of structuration rather than either exclusively of creation or of discovery. It could also provide a platform to synthesise the opposing perspectives of the creation-discovery debate.