Turning Lead into Gold: How do Entrepreneurs Mobilize Resources to Exploit Opportunities?

74 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2018

See all articles by David Clough

David Clough

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business

Tommy Pan Fang

Harvard University

Balagopal Vissa

INSEAD

Andy Wu

University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School; Harvard Business School (Strategy Unit)

Date Written: November 8, 2018

Abstract

The mobilization of resources is a central and defining feature of entrepreneurship. As the body of empirical research on entrepreneurial resource mobilization has grown, the literature has become increasingly fragmented. We review the literature on entrepreneurs’ mobilization of resources, spanning human, social, financial, and other forms of capital. We identify five critical issues that hold back progress in resource mobilization research. We then propose a path ahead for future research guided by two overarching goals. First, we advocate for a process perspective, focusing attention on how an individual actor’s disposition and situation shape her responses, how these responses interact with those of other actors, and how these individual and collective responses unfold over time to generate outcomes. Second, we call for stronger unification of theory within the entrepreneurial resource mobilization literature as well as across contiguous conversations in strategy and organization theory. Theoretical consilience will enable the accumulation of empirical research into a cohesive body of knowledge on entrepreneurial resource mobilization.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Resources, Resource mobilization, New Ventures, Start-ups, Process perspective, Consilience

Suggested Citation

Clough, David and Fang, Tommy Pan and Vissa, Balagopal and Wu, Andy and Wu, Andy, Turning Lead into Gold: How do Entrepreneurs Mobilize Resources to Exploit Opportunities? (November 8, 2018). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2018/51/EFE, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3280878 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3280878

David Clough

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

Tommy Pan Fang

Harvard University ( email )

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Balagopal Vissa (Contact Author)

INSEAD ( email )

F-77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

Andy Wu

University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Harvard Business School (Strategy Unit) ( email )

Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field Road
Boston, MA 02163
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=871877

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