A Dynamic Model of Technology-based Opportunity Recognition

Abstract

Studies on the factors determining recognition of business opportunities are based on partial analyses of one or more of the variables that influence that process. But economic relationships between actors are conditioned by ongoing structures of social relationships. This work uses the cognitive approach and presents an integrated study of psychological and sociological variables, and of the interactions between these variables, both of which affect the opportunity recognition stage for technology businesses. The research makes use of a method based on a case study; the work provides a dynamic model in which the key interactions that explain the technology-based opportunity recognition are: (1) the interactions between entrepreneurs with complementary backgrounds, (2) the proactive management of involvement in networks, (3) the entrepreneurial-technological alertness and (4) learning and continuous evaluation.