The influence of prior experience on the pursuit of new opportunities

Abstract

This dissertation explores the influence of pre-entry technological and market experience on the identification and pursuit of opportunities in new technological and market domains. Building on qualitative interviews, as well as a hand-collected longitudinal database of product-level observations from the laser industry (1971-1994), it examines how previous market and technological trajectories influence the search paths of individuals and firms during the entrepreneurial opportunity elaboration and development process and the introduction of products into new domains. In the entrepreneurship, strategic management, marketing, and economics literature, diverse research streams have analyzed the effect of experience on the ability to recognize and pursue opportunities. This dissertation builds on these multiple perspectives using a multidisciplinary and multi-methodological approach to bring different conversations together, and contributes more particularly to the process orientation of entrepreneurial cognition at the individual level as well as the capabilities development literature at the firm level. At the two levels of analysis, the essays in this dissertation delve deeper into our understanding of how different types of experiences aid in developing the expertise required by firms and individuals to recognize and pursue opportunities to launch new products into new markets.