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Entrepreneurial Learning: AConceptual Framework for Technology-based Enterprise
DAVID RAE
The Derbyshire Business School, University of Derby, UK
ABSTRACT Entrepreneurial learning has emerged as an important yet insufficiently understoodarea of enquiry. This paper develops new understanding in this area from a social constructionist
perspective by using narratives elicited from technology-based entrepreneurs to explore theirlearning experiences and behaviours. The unit of analysis is the emergent entrepreneur in thetechnology-based enterprise. The paper develops a framework for analysing entrepreneuriallearning through in-depth analysis of entrepreneurial experiences by using discourse analysisbased on a social learning perspective. This conceptual framework includes three major themesof personal and social emergence, contextual learning and the negotiated enterprise, and 11related sub-themes. These demonstrate connections between the emergence of entrepreneurial
identity, learning as a social and contextual process, opportunity recognition, and ventureformation as a negotiated activity.
Introduction and Rationale
Entrepreneurial learning has emerged as an important area of enquiry in relation to both
the academic study of entrepreneurship and the practical development of new entrepre-
neurs, yet it is an area that is not well understood.1 Learning is of increasing importance
in technology-based enterprises, given the growing significance of science and technology
innovation in new venture creation.2 This paper explores the question of how entrepre-
neurial behaviours are learned by formative technology-based entrepreneurs, and aimsto identify significant processes and experiences in their learning. From these it develops
a conceptual framework that can be used to interpret entrepreneurial learning experiences.
The study is undertaken by means of a social constructionist methodology, making use
of narrative and discourse analysis.3 This provides an alternative and equally valid per-
spective to the entitative ontology that has prevailed in entrepreneurship research, yet is
gaining in acceptance for the new insights into the entrepreneurial experience that can
be produced.4 This approach is used to interpret the learning experiences of a group of
Technology Analysis & Strategic Management
Vol. 18, No. 1, 3956, February 2006
Correspondence Address: Dr David Rae, Centre for Entrepreneurial Management, The Derbyshire Business
School, University of Derby, Kedleston Rd., Derby, DE22 1GB, UK; Tel: 44 1332 591400; Fax: 44 1332622741. E-mail: d.rae@derby.ac.uk
0953 7325 P i =1465 3990 O li =06=010039 18 # 2006 T l & F i
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technology-based entrepreneurs (TBEs) and to develop a conceptual framework of the
significant themes in their learning experiences. The paper offers two propositions. The
first is that entrepreneurial learning is a fundamental and integral part of the development
of the technology-based enterprise, and therefore the human, social and behavioural
aspects of learning are as much of a concern as the economic aspects that are often high-lighted.5 The second proposition is the conceptual framework that sets out three major
themes through which entrepreneurial learning can be understood.
Entrepreneurship is defined for the purpose of this study as the inter-related processes of
creating, recognising and acting on opportunities, which combine innovating, decision-
making and enaction.6 Learning is defined an emergent, sense-making process in which
people develop the ability to act differently, through knowing, doing, and understanding
why.7 By learning, people construct meaning through experience and create new reality
in a context of social interaction.8 The term entrepreneurial learning is defined as learning
to recognise and act on opportunities, through initiating, organising and managing ven-
tures in social and behavioural ways. The paper aims to explore entrepreneurial learning
as dynamic social processes of sensemaking, which are not only cognitive or behavioural
but also affective and holistic.9
The Theoretical Basis for the Study
A summary of the key assumptions and theoretical underpinnings for the study from
relevant literature is set out in this section. The lack of accepted unifying theoretical
assumptions of entrepreneurship, combined with a wide diversity of perspectives and
lack of congruence in the literature, continues to constrain its theoretical development.10
Entrepreneurship theory has traditionally been dominated by economics-based thinking,11
and both Schumpeter12 and Kirzner13 observed the importance of learning in the entrepre-neurial process, but the contribution of economics to understanding the human and social
processes of entrepreneurship and learning is limited,14 while human, sociological and
psychological sciences have started to make important contributions to the understanding
of entrepreneurial behaviour.15
However recent studies of entrepreneurial cognition have been limited by the cognitivist
paradigm of individual (rather than social) and cerebral (rather than behavioural) conceptu-
alisation.16 The cognitive paradigm, which concentrates on the individual acquisition and
comprehension of knowledge, has dominated the study of learning, but has limitations in
using the metaphor of man as computer as a means of understanding the human mind,
the ability to learn, and social interaction.17
The understanding of entrepreneurial learninghas been constrained by the divide between cognitivist methods that propose routinised con-
ceptualisations related to cognitive theory,18 generally from an entitative perspective, and
interpretive methods that aim to create dynamic approaches based on inductive inquiry
into the entrepreneurial experience.19 Approaches based on cognitive science have empha-
sised the role of entrepreneurial knowledge20 and rational decision-making,21 with some
development of learning within a social or team-based context22 and of the contextual appli-
cation of experience.23 Interpretive approaches have sought to understand the situated24
nature of the entrepreneurial experience in a lifeworld25 perspective by using a range of
qualitative research methods within a social and behavioural conception of learning.26
There is a corresponding need to move beyond this divide between entitative and inter-pretive approaches in order to create fresh understanding of what is learned as well as how
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this is learned through the human processes of entrepreneurship.27 Beyond cognitivism,
experiential28 and social29 theories of learning have been developed which combine
action, conceptualisation and social practice, while the study of language and discourse30
has also contributed to understanding learning. Wenger31 has developed a comprehensive
social and behavioural theory of learning as a transformational process of identity creation,including dimensions of meaning, practice, identity and community. This provides a con-
ceptual foundation for understanding learning that accommodates social participation and
human action as well as cognition, enabling advanced learning theory to be applied to the
subject of entrepreneurship.
There has been extensive writing on entrepreneurship education,32 from which it can be
concluded that, while such education can provide cultural and personal support, knowl-
edge and skill development about and for entrepreneurship, the art of entrepreneurial
practice is learned mainly in the business environment through inductive, practical and
social experience rather than in the educational environment.33 This must lead to the
exploration of learning as a situated and active experience, rather than as a purely edu-
cational and theoretical process, in which considerations of emergent social identity and
becoming an entrepreneur are included as well as the social and contextual experiences
that shape identity and learning.34 The focus of this study is therefore on work-based learn-
ing in the business environment rather than on educational practice, which has been
thoroughly explored.
Table 1 illustrates the development of theories concerning entrepreneurial learning.
Significant progress has been made recently in developing new theoretical perspectives
Table 1. Conceptualisations of entrepreneurial learning
Author(s) & year Contribution
Schumpeter (1934) Imagination & innovation resulting from natural & sociallearning
Kirzner (1973) Creative discovery learning generating alertness toopportunities
Reuber & Fischer (1993) Value of recent concrete experience related to context of useYoung & Sexton (1997) Acquisition storage & use of entrepreneurial knowledge as
expert resourceDeakins & Freel (1998) Five key learning abilities within the small firmMinitti & Bygrave (2001) Algorithmic model of entrepreneurial decision-making based
on experienceRae & Carswell (2001) Confidence & self-belief connect learning resources with
achievementGibb (2001) Hartshorn (2002) Lifeworld of the small firm as a dynamic entrepreneurial
learning environmentMitchell et al; Shepherd &
Krueger (2002)Rational models of knowledge structures, cognition & decision-
making applied to stages of the entrepreneurial processCope (2005) Dynamic learning process with phases, processes &
characteristicsPolitis (2005) Dynamic framework of career, transformation & knowledge,
distinguishing learning process & knowledge outcomesDutta & Crossan; Lumpkin &
Lichtenstein; Corbett
(2005)
Connections between organisational learning, opportunityrecognition, creativity and entrepreneurial learning processes
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on entrepreneurial learning, which can be summarised in the following five observations.35
Entrepreneurial learning is a dynamic process of awareness, reflection, association and
application that involves transforming experience and knowledge into functional learning
outcomes. It comprises knowledge, behaviour and affective or emotional learning.36 It is
affected by the context in which learning occurs and it includes the content of what islearned as well as the processes through which learning takes place.37 It is both individual,
with personal differences in ability producing different learning outcomes, as well as
social and organisational.38 Finally there are close connections between the processes
of entrepreneurial learning with those of opportunity recognition,39 exploitation, creativity
and innovation.40 These conceptualisations provide a basis for the further development of
a framework through which entrepreneurial learning can be understood, both generally
and in relation to the technology-based enterprise. This will be demonstrated after
providing a summary of the methodology used in this study.
Methodology
The methodology used in this study is social constructionist,41 narrative42 and interpre-
tive.43 Social constructionism affirms that we construct our selves and worlds through dis-
course, the linguistic resources and concepts with which we frame reality,44 and therefore
analysis of the discourse people use affords interpretation of their world-making and learn-
ing. This study aims to explore the entrepreneurial learning process in the lifeworld45 of
the entrepreneur, by interpreting their narrative accounts of their personal and business
venturing in their social and contextual environment and interactions with others. This
position argues that the voice of the entrepreneur, together with the interpretation of
the researcher, are vital aspects of understanding the entrepreneurial experience in ways
that enable this to be shared with the reader.The study takes as its unit of analysis entrepreneurs who were in the first five years of
establishing a technology-based business venture and who had varying degrees of prior
experience. The criteria for selection were emerging entrepreneurs who aimed to
achieve significant business growth, and whose business ventures were developing or
applying new technologies to business opportunities in innovative ways. The study fol-
lowed their personal and business development over a two year period, and conducted a
series of in-depth life story interviews in which the researcher acted as co-author with
each participant to create an account of their experiences. A range of related information
on the entrepreneur and the business was also gathered from other sources in order to
confirm supplementary and corroborative detail. Table 2 lists the entrepreneurs andtypes of business selected.
Each interview was transcribed and coded against a set of 29 categories generated from
consideration of the literature previously cited and through discourse analysis procedures,
and which are shown in Appendix 1.46 This allowed the comparison of similarly coded
speech extracts from the same account and from other accounts. The narratives were ana-
lysed using the coding structure and the number of significant categories was reduced by
further analysis by eliminating overlapping and redundant categories to establish a total of
three dominant themes that were derived from sociological concepts in the literature and
11 subsidiary themes that were derived from discourse analysis and are also supported by
theoretical literature. The material from each narrative was interpreted and edited into adraft case study by using this structure.
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Findings
The conceptual framework for entrepreneurial learning was developed from the themes
identified through discourse analysis. This comprises three major themes of personal
and social emergence of the entrepreneur, contextual learning and the negotiated enter-
prise. Together these three related concepts constitute the triadic model of entrepreneurial
learning that is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.
It is proposed that entrepreneurial learning occurs and can be interpreted by reference to
these themes. Within each of these major themes, a number of subsidiary themes, in total
11, were identified and are described in the following section. Table 3 demonstrates the
connections between the themes with reference to relevant theoretical literature from
the domains of entrepreneurship, management and social sciences. Each of the major
themes is illustrated in the following section by extracts from one of the case studies
that provides a description and narrative evidence of the sub-themes. Personal and
Table 2. Case studies and types of business
Case Name Type of business Prior experience
A Mark Aluminium building systems Employee in family business
B Guy Online news service Founder of trade journalC Mike FM & DAB radio stations Radio station managerD Tony Design & internet marketing Marketing executiveE Rob IT security services GraduateF Ed Prenatal medical product Corporate executiveG Alan IT metrological systems Graduate in family businessH Derek Industrial cryogenics Manager of engineering firmI George Turbine heat exchangers Engineer
j Greg Nanotechnology Founder of technology based firm
Figure 1. Triadic model of entrepreneurial learning
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social emergence is illustrated by case A (Mark); the negotiated enterprise by case B
(Guy); and the negotiated enterprise by case C (Mike). Salient issues regarding theapplication to technology-based enterprises are identified in relation to each theme.
Personal and Social Emergence
The first concept is the personal and social emergence of entrepreneurial identity. The
development of entrepreneurial identity is the outcome of a process of personal and
social emergence, which generally includes the narrative construction of identity; identity
as practice; the entrepreneurs role in relation to family; and tension between current and
future identity. As people become entrepreneurs, their identity47 of how they see them-
selves and how others see them changes through a process of personal learning and emer-gence,48 including the sense of self and of future aspirations. Simply acquiring
Table 3. Theoretical connections of the entrepreneurial learning framework
Concept Theoretical links
Personal and social emergence Social identity theory - Abrams & Hogg
Emergence in management learningWatson & HarrisNarrative construction of identity Identity expressed through narrativeBruner
Entrepreneurial narrativesHjorth & Steyaert
Identity shaped by familybackground & experiences
Interaction between family & enterpriseFletcherEntrepreneurial learning in family businessHamilton
Identity is shaped by practicelearned from experience
Identity through social participationWengerExperiential & entrepreneurial learningCope
Entrepreneurial action arises fromtension between experiencedcurrent & desired future identity
Cognitive dissonanceFestingerCritical events in entrepreneurial learningCope
Contextual learning Entrepreneurial lifeworld learningHartshorn
SME as a learning environmentGibb
Learning through experience &immersion within an industrycontext
Assimilate contextual experienceDeakins & FreelContextual experience in industryReuber & Fischer
Opportunity recognition &innovation through participation
Contextual opportunity recognitionLumpkin &LichtensteinInnovation arising from contextual knowledgeCorbett
Development of practical theories ofentrepreneurial action
Entrepreneurial theories of actionPittSensemaking - Weick
Negotiated enterprise Negotiated enterpriseWenger
Participation and joint enterprise Entrepreneurial teams social cognitionShepherd &Krueger
Negotiated meaning, structures andpractices
Negotiated orders in organisationsWatsonAbilities of the entrepreneurial team Deakins & Freel
Changing roles over time Development of managers in SMEsDevins & Gold
Engagement in external networks Entrepreneurship through social networksAldrich &Zimmer
Networking in the industry sectorDeakins & Freel
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identity, website and brochures projecting a strong, corporate image, and an inclusive
approach to managing people which aims to instil the feelgood factor at work. As
Mark says:
they work with you, not for you, they need to shine in their own roles.
Identity as practice is developed from the activities and roles that people develop in
social interactions. People discover from experience their natural talents and abilities
and learn how these can be of value and be applied, finding out the interface between
their abilities and negotiated applications within networks of social relationships. Practice
is developed by discovery and experience, from education, hobbies or interests, and from
developing and gaining confidence in abilities in early employment. Identity based on
practice is both personal and social, often situated within social or industry contexts.
The abilities, skills and know-how are often applied in the core activity of the new
enterprise which practitioners form.
Tension between Current and Future Identity
Mark left employment in the family business, frustrated by the lack of innovation and
development, and started his own venture as a career move. He had realised that there
was a growing demand for architectural fabrications but existing manufacturers had not
kept pace with designers and he saw the opportunity to bridge this gap, realising his
modest but realistic ambition to start his own company in 1999.
The point at which the person becomes an entrepreneur is significant. The cases show
critical episodes during which each participant changed their existing social identity
through entrepreneurial action. These episodes include unsatisfactory or unfulfillingemployment, conflict with personal values, or more positively the recognition of opportu-
nities or ambition to innovate. The dissatisfaction with existing reality is often connected
with the initiation of a new venture and with it a changed identity. There can be an
emotional recognition that the experienced reality did not feel right, which is not only
a cognitive dissonance but also conative and affective.52
It is clear that such decisions to create new ventures may, in some cases, be connected
with the rejection of an unsatisfactory present, the urge to create a new reality and
changed identity. This represents a move from being dissatisfied employees, in work
roles where practices and identities are defined socially by others and are increasingly
at odds with what feels right, to create a new reality in constructing new businessventures, enabling people to work in ways more consistent with their personal
values and practices. Faced with similar circumstances, people will respond differently
as their individual and social construction of present and future reality affects their
actions.
In terms of identity, the entrepreneurial act is creating what could be and translating
imagined possibilities into enacted reality, taking responsibility for shaping future events.
It is a move from assuming an identity defined by others, such as through work and family
roles, into creating, changing and renegotiating a new identity. This can involve
experiencing emotional uncertainties, which require resources of self-belief and
personal confidence to accomplish the shift from being an employee to becoming anentrepreneur.
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The implications for technology-based entrepreneurs are to recognise that personal
and social emergence is an inherent aspect of becoming an entrepreneur and
involves social as well as cognitive learning. Finding practical ways of learning
entrepreneurial skills in early life, family and education, through projects, personal
interests, and work experience, in formative years is likely to be influential andhelpful.
Contextual Learning
The second concept is contextual learning. The recognition and enaction of opportunities
in specialised situations is an outcome of a process of contextual learning, which includes
learning through immersion within an industry, opportunity recognition and innovation
through participation, and the formation of practical theories of entrepreneurial action.
There is strong support for the view that entrepreneurial learning is formed through the
social, environmental and economic context in which it takes place, and that contextgoverns what is learned as people become entrepreneurs, how this learning takes
place and how it is used.53 Contextual learning includes social participation in
community, industry and other networks through which individual experiences are
related, compared and shared meaning is constructed. Through situated experience and
social relationships people learn intuitively and may develop the ability to recognise
opportunities. Such learning connects personal emergence with the negotiation of the
enterprise; people are in process of learning in their social context who they can
become and how to work with others to achieve their ends as well as the realism of
what can and cannot be.
This theme is demonstrated by Guy who developed an online news service from careerexperience in news media.
Learning through Immersion within the Industry
Guy used his skills and experience gained in industry journalism and public relations to
start a new type of media service that he termed press marketing for corporate organis-
ations. This innovated by applying leading edge technology to match company news with
interest from trade press:
I made an applied process out of a black art. We used technology, skill and expertiseto manage this and made it measurable, so businesses could see the return they got
for their media spend.
Contextual learning includes the development of skills, expert knowledge and social
contacts from employment, experience and know-how in industry.54 This learning is
social and relational, gained from interpersonal participation.55 Much of the learning is
functional, technical and problem-solving, finding out by discovery and experiential learn-
ing how things are done, and establishing routines and practices that work in given situ-
ations. It occurs through intuitive practice, often providing the skills and insights people
use in creating their own businesses.
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The influence of contextual career experience onentrepreneurial formation is often profound.57
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Opportunity Recognition and Innovation through Social Participation
In the early 1990s the company started to lose customers and turnover. Guy realised that
the Internet would revolutionise the media industry:
I wanted to innovate where nobody had been before. I was intrigued by how
technology could impact on my sector of the market.
We carried out a survey to find out the demand for an online news service. This
showed a very clear requirement for a service which was not available then and
which personalised news as its broken to meet journalists requirements.
I knew I had to get into the market quickly, and re-engineered my business because
technology was moving so fast. I realised that the business was chicken and egg
you had to attract both the journalists and the companies to put news onto the
network to get the other party.
Guys opportunity recognition arose from fear of loss of business combined with curi-
osity about technical innovation. Opportunities are apparent to those who learn to recog-
nise them, using knowledge, cognition and behaviour.58 By being active within industry
and social networks, people can recognise future possibilities, identify and act on an oppor-
tunity to create a new venture by drawing on their deep knowledge of an industry context;
this goes beyond both Kirznerian alertness and rational information search.59 Creative
imagination, or prospective sensemaking, is necessary to envisage the future and
imagine how the venture can be created, before all the necessary knowledge, circumstances
or conditions exist. This is a creative process of associative learning and innovation, ofputting ideas, opportunities, technologies and resources together in new ways, and acting
at a time when the market opportunity and the other extrinsic factors such as regulation
and the absence of competition provide advantage.60 It involves converging resources
people and their expertise, finance, technologyto develop the business idea into reality.
Practical Theories of Entrepreneurial Action
The business was complex because it meant balancing the revenue-generating part
of the business with the non-earning part of the community, how does that all work?
No-one knew. We figured it out and gave the journalists what they wanted.
We had to sell this new service to the key movers and shakers in the market, so we
went to the big early adopters at the top of the pyramid and got IBM, Hewlett
Packard, Microsoft interested in using us. Once you get those signed up they
bring in the whole market.
We demonstrated our online service on the trade show floor at the big IT network
trade shows and demonstrated to journalists how it worked. We put a modem into
a laptop and walked round remotely accessing news on the internet without any
connection. We were changing the paradigm of the industry, eliminating the needto distribute news in hard-copy format.
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Entrepreneurs, through their experience and contextual learning within the industry,
develop routines and ways of working that they find are effective. The knowledge,
gained from experience, intuition and sense-making61 of what works, why, how and
with whom, constitute practical theories.62 These practical theories enable people to
reduce risk through using prior experience because they know what they are doing.Practitioners produce practical theories in their own words from their own experience,
observation and social exchanges with other practitioners.63 These theories, developed
from experience, remain tacit and intuitive unless they are verbalised and shared.
Shotter64 described practical theories of action as analytical tools that enable people
to see connections and create meaning between aspects of their lives and practices, and
to account for their actions. He proposed that the manager is a practical author who
develops knowledge in practice, resulting in special, contextualized forms of
knowing and practical theories of action.
Guys case demonstrates that contextual learning has important implications for tech-
nology-based entrepreneurship, because innovations, opportunities and entrepreneurial
skills are developed through contextual learning and this cannot occur without partici-
pation. The value of prior work and career experience provides a richness of experience
in research and innovation, production and customer-facing roles, in both corporate and
small business contexts.
The Negotiated Enterprise
The third concept is the negotiated enterprise.65 The enaction and growth of a business
venture is an outcome of negotiated enterprise, which includes processes of participation
and joint enterprise; negotiated meaning, structures and practices; changing roles overtime; and engagement in networks of external relationships. The notion of the negotiated
enterprise is that a business venture is not enacted by one person alone, but is dependent on
the outcome of negotiated relationships with other parties.66 The ideas and aspirations of
individuals are realised through interactive processes of exchange with others within and
around the enterprise, including customers, investors and co-actors such as employees or
partners. This theme is illustrated by the case of Mike, founder of a group of independent
radio stations.
Participation and Joint Enterprise
Where Id grown up there was no commercial radio station. I was working for
another radio station and I was getting increasingly frustrated and agreed to leave
because I found there was too much contradiction to what I believed.
Along with one of the directors I put in an application for a licence when the Radio
Authority offered it. He came in as a backer, I found the shareholders and I
persuaded them that they wanted to invest 500,000 in the operation.
In radio you start big time, you have to win an audience, they dont pay you a penny
to listen and its only when you can say to advertisers all these people listen andthey will listen to you if you advertise.
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As illustrated here, the actors involved in creating the enterprise are joint participants,
in which the founder(s) could not achieve the outcome of creating the venture unaided.
A vital aspect of the learning process of entrepreneurship is the ability to engage others
constructively towards creating the venture. It is necessary for the entrepreneur to
convey a shared belief in the new reality of the venture, and for this to become ameans of realising personal dreams and aspirations through collective action. There is a
sublimation of individual identity to the collective identity of the enterprise as a project
of shared significance. This is accompanied by a social learning process in which
people learn to work together.67 Shared interest, for example wealth creation, economic
survival or the desire to enact a particular activity, is a necessary condition for joint
enterprise.
Negotiated Meaning, Structures and Practices
In this business, like so many, it is about people, you dont own them, but while
theyre working for you, you owe them something. They owe you something and
its getting that balance right, in everything we do. I think that if we dont enjoy
what were doing then its very much like hard work. Its the responsibility to the
staff, responsibility to the listeners, that drives me.
This sub-theme considers the emergence of a distinctive culture within the business. As
described, people develop practical theories. In the joint enterprise, these theories, prac-
tices and routines become a shared repertoire of what works within the business; as in
a community of practice, what is learned does not belong to any single person, but
rather is dispersed among the community.68
The enterprise is dependent on these negotiated ways of working that reflect both thefounders style, language, ambitions and ways of working, and those of the employees.
The lives, interests and aspirations of people within the business must be recognised by
the founders who hold formal power and ownership of the business, yet this requires
the participation of the employees. Conflict and disagreement are from time to time
inevitable and should be seen as an integral aspect of this negotiation.
In a successful enterprise, there is an emotional, affective engagement between the
people and the business, in which its distinctive culture is expressed through the style,
language, behaviours, and feeling between people. Terms such as passion, buzz,
excitement and fun are used to describe the emotional life and energy of the enterprise
that goes beyond rationality, for people are expressing themselves, their identities andtheir abilities, in the production of the business.
Changing Roles over Time
This station, right down to the last dot of the i in the prospectus was me. I was the
finance director, the company secretary, it really was me and to a certain extent it
still is but its grown a lot and that has necessitated changes.
I sit down with the senior managers once a week. At that meeting we review sales,
expenditure, we talk about the overall strategy. My role has become more ChiefExecutive than ever before and I have to resist getting involved too directly in the
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individual station operations, that was right at the launch but now Ive had to step
back from being involved in meetings with individual stations.
This sub-theme is a process of ongoing learning and negotiation while the business
evolves and, if successful, grows, becoming larger and more complex in operation andstructure, and employing more people. There is a transition or series of transitions from
informal to formal roles of the founder(s) and management team, their relationships and
structures that accompany this process, as in staged theories of business growth.69
Significant changes in the founders and other roles are inevitable over time for the
business to develop. Growth can be seen in terms of human and social behaviour and as
the outcome of productive interpersonal negotiations around the enterprise, rather than
simply as an economic process.
This negotiated change in roles can be viewed as a process of entrepreneurial man-
agement, in which enterprising skills are applied as normal practices in managing the
business, becoming self-sustaining management capabilities which are enacted through
people other than the founders progressively taking responsibility for managing the
business, as we see with the managers in the radio broadcaster.70 Developing man-
agers, teams and functional experts are mutual learning activities integral to the
growth process and depend on managing employee relationships effectively, changing
past expectations, sharing practices, and resolving the tensions and conflicts in relation-
ships. As people are employed by the business, they become socialised into it and
adopt its cultural norms of participation, behaviour and language. This is a learning
process of cultural integration and identification by individuals as employees in the
business.
Engagement in Networks of External Relationships
Enterprises such as the radio stations have to interact effectively with a diverse range of
different constituents, including regulators, investors and lenders, commercial adverti-
sers and listeners. This business has learned to be successful in playing the game
of applying for and gaining radio licences, while building up advertising and listening
figures, and selectively engaging with networks of businesses, customers and the
community:
We have a tried and tested way of contacting MPs, councillors, the great and good,people on the street, saying this is what were proposing to do, do you like it? and
getting people to say yes they like us because were different.
The enterprise exists reflexively within its environment, and relationships must be
developed and maintained with networks of people through whom resources can be
accessed, including customers, suppliers, investors, lenders, and others such as technology
experts and opinion formers.71 Social capital and the access to resources that it affords in
entrepreneurial working importance has an important role in this.72 Entrepreneurs seek to
influence certain groups while choosing not to participate in other groups. This selectivity
in developing the social network and perceptions around the business is an integral aspectof entrepreneurial learning.
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It is necessary to engage the customer as an active participant, not simply as a passive
consumer, and to recognise that symbolic as well as economic value is being generated in
the interchange; just as the producer is giving something of themselves, so the customer is,
by their participation, identifying themselves with the enterprise. Relationships and
rapport with certain customers and suppliers are more productive than with others. Theskills of listening, understanding the other partys position, negotiating and storytelling
are essential in maintaining effective relationships. The identity of the enterprise is
formed and enacted through the interactions between it and these external groups. The
enterprise depends on its identity, practices and the credibility of its messageits
storybeing accepted and understood within its chosen networks.
The implications of the negotiated enterprise for technology-based entrepreneurs are
to recognise their own distinctive skills, expertise and limitations, understanding the
need to interact with people who have complementary skills to optimise their contri-
bution to a venture by forming and working effectively within an entrepreneurial
team that has capabilities beyond those of the founder. If skills of interaction, team for-
mation and participation can be developed early, these can be used to advantage. The
lone wolf innovator is increasingly disadvantaged, as the ability to develop effective
relationships with investors, corporate partners, suppliers and major customers through
presentation, negotiation and trust building is essential. An essential activity for potential
technology-based entrepreneurs is to be an active member of industry, professional or tech-
nical networks, and to develop a wide range of contacts. They will need to participate
actively in selected external networks to represent the business and develop new
opportunities.
ConclusionsIt is proposed that entrepreneurial learning is a fundamental activity within the develop-
ment of the technology-based enterprise in its human and social context, and the frame-
work set out in this article may be helpful in understanding this. The framework builds
on Wengers social theory of learning,73 emphasising the creation, recognition and devel-
opment of opportunities and proposes a framework for entrepreneurial learning that is
based on social constructionist,74 narrative and antecedent theories such as pragmatism.75
Until now, no theory of entrepreneurial learning based on social constructionist thinking
has been proposed. Therefore this framework is proposed as an original and distinctive
concept that advances understanding of entrepreneurial learning, using the conceptual
tools of narrative and social construction.The framework includes three propositions. First, that the development of entrepreneur-
ial identity is the outcome of personal and social emergence, which generally includes the
narrative construction of identity; identity as practice; the entrepreneurs role in relation to
family; and tension between current and future identity. Second, that the recognition and
enaction of opportunities in specialised situations is an outcome of a process of contextual
learning, which includes learning through immersion within an industry, opportunity rec-
ognition and innovation through participation, and the formation of practical theories of
entrepreneurial action. Third, that the enaction and growth of a business venture is an
outcome of negotiated enterprise, which includes processes of participation and joint
enterprise; negotiated meaning, structures and practices; changing roles over time; andengagement in networks of external relationships.
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The methodology adopted in this study has featured the collection and interpretation of
entrepreneurial narratives. This has the advantage of gaining in-depth and authentic field
material that uses the voice of the entrepreneur, while having the disadvantages of limiting
the scale of the study through the need for in-depth treatment of a small number of
narratives; the requirement to analyse the narratives as stories and not as objectivetruths; and the subjective issues of selecting and managing relationships with subjects
in the research process. However the method adopted does permit the development of
in-depth inductive case studies that provide considerable insights into the learning
experiences of technology-based entrepreneurs.
Further research is envisaged in order to validate and apply the framework. One
important aspect is the relationship between entrepreneurial learning and career stages,
in particular the role of mid-career change and learning that has been observed during
this study. Second, it is appreciated that because the concept of technology-based enter-
prise is very broad, there may well be value in studying certain types of TBE in greater
depth, including those using specific technologies and those operating at particular
stages of the innovation process.
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Appendix I: Table of discursive categories used in narrative analysis
Theme Code Meaning
Personal & social emergence EL Early life
FB Family of birthED Educational
EC Early career
FR Familial relationshipown family
SC Self confidence
FG Future goals/directionPI Personal identity
EXC Excitement, emotion
FAIL Failing
PW Post working
(Table continued)
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Theme Code Meaning
Contextual learning SL Social learning
PT Personal theory/what worksOR Opportunity recognition
DM Decision making
CL Contextual learning
AL Associative learning/ creativityPS Problem solving
TL Technical learning
EM Emergent learning/sensemakingMR Managing relationships
INN Innovating
LE Learning episodeNegotiated enterprise BPS Business pre start
BS Business start
BR Business running/managingMR Managing relationships
ETH Ethical considerations
BE Business exiting
Table A1. Continued
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