How do entrepreneurs get ideas and recognize opportunities?

Mojca Svetek  |  10 January 2024

To be entrepreneurs people need to identify (and exploit) opportunities. However, not everyone has the same knack for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities. Luckily, researchers have nailed down a few factors that are tied to being good at opportunity recognition (and can be learnt).

In this episode we are exploring:

  • When business ideas are also business opportunities;
  • Why some people are better at identifying opportunities than others;
  • What entrepreneurial alertness is and why it matters;
  • Three evidence-based strategies to improve opportunity recognition.

Research articles:

  • Ardichvili, A., & Cardozo, R. N. (2000). A model of the entrepreneurial opportunity recognition process. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 8(02), 103-119.
  • Awwad, M. S., & Al-Aseer, R. M. N. (2021). Big five personality traits impact on entrepreneurial intention: the mediating role of entrepreneurial alertness. Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 15(1), 87-100.
  • Baron, R. A. (2006). Opportunity recognition as pattern recognition: How entrepreneurs “connect the dots” to identify new business opportunities. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(1), 104-119.
  • Chavoushi, Z. H., Zali, M. R., Valliere, D., Faghih, N., Hejazi, R., & Dehkordi, A. M. (2021). Entrepreneurial alertness: A systematic literature review. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 33(2), 123-152.
  • Dyer, J. H., Gregersen, H. B., & Christensen, C. (2008). Entrepreneur behaviors, opportunity recognition, and the origins of innovative ventures. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2(4), 317-338. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.59
  • Fiet, J. O. (2007). A prescriptive analysis of search and discovery. Journal of Management Studies, 44(4), 592-611.
  • Gabrielsson, J., & Politis, D. (2012). Work experience and the generation of new business ideas among entrepreneurs: An integrated learning framework. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 18(1), 48-74.
  • George, M. N., Parida, V., Lahti, T., & Wincent, J. (2016). A systematic literature review of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: insights on influencing factors. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 12, 309-350.
  • Hajizadeh, A., & Zali, M. (2016). Prior knowledge, cognitive characteristics and opportunity recognition. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 22(1), 63-83.
  • Hoyte, C. A., Noke, H., & Mosey, S. (2016). Translating ideas into opportunities: the role of sensemaking & sensegiving. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2016(1).
  • Makri, S., Blandford, A., Woods, M., Sharples, S., & Maxwell, D. (2014). “Making my own luck”: Serendipity strategies and how to support them in digital information environments. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2179-2194.
  • Nicolaou, N., Shane, S., Cherkas, L., & Spector, T. D. (2009). Opportunity recognition and the tendency to be an entrepreneur: A bivariate genetics perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(2), 108-117.
  • Plomin, R., & Deary, I. J. (2015). Genetics and intelligence differences: five special findings. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(1), 98-108.
  • Ramos-Rodriguez, A. R., Medina-Garrido, J. A., Lorenzo-Gómez, J. D., & Ruiz-Navarro, J. (2010). What you know or who you know? The role of intellectual and social capital in opportunity recognition. International Small Business Journal, 28(6), 566-582.
  • Samuelsson, M., & Davidsson, P. (2009). Does venture opportunity variation matter? Investigating systematic process differences between innovative and imitative new ventures. Small Business Economics, 33, 229-255.
  • Sarasvathy, S. D., Dew, N., Velamuri, S. R., & Venkataraman, S. (2010). Three views of entrepreneurial opportunity (pp. 77-96). In: Z. J. Acs & D. B. Audretsch, (Eds.), Handbook of entrepreneurship research: An interdisciplinary survey and introduction. Springer.
  • Slavec, A., Drnovšek, M., & Hisrich, R. D. (2017). Entrepreneurial openness: Concept development and measure validation. European Management Journal, 35(2), 211-223.
  • Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., Wright, M., & Binks, M. (2003). Does entrepreneurial experience influence opportunity identification? The Journal of Private Equity, 7-14.