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- Title
Matching Inventors with Surrogate Entrepreneurs: A Framework Informing the Entrepreneurial Team-Formation Process.
- Authors
Nikiforou, Argyro
- Abstract
A critical issue facing inventors is that they typically lack the knowledge required to start and run a new business. As a result, they must grapple with the question of whether to team up with a "surrogate entrepreneur" to provide the business-related competences that they lack. Yet, the answer to this question is not straightforward, as it often links to other critical questions, such as when in the entrepreneurship process a surrogate entrepreneur is needed, as well as who the "right" surrogate entrepreneur should be. Regrettably, extant theorizing on entrepreneurial team formation has not provided answers to these questions. To overcome this key practical and conceptual gap in knowledge, this study proposes a process model that offers several new theoretical insights for research on entrepreneurial team formation. First, it informs the process that underpins the decision to add a new team member—a decision-making process that precedes the search for a new team member and that, despite its importance, has been largely overlooked by prior research. Second, it challenges the comprehensiveness of existing theorized team formation strategies, and proposes a new strategy in this regard—the resource-exploring strategy—that can be employed when the market opportunity for an invention is not yet known. Finally, it contributes to human capital theory by illustrating that the value of a human capital endowment depends on when this endowment is added to the team, as well as who holds this endowment. Important implications for policy and practice are discussed.
- Subjects
BUSINESSPEOPLE; INVENTORS; ENDOWMENTS; TEAMS in the workplace; HUMAN capital
- Publication
Academy of Management Perspectives, 2023, Vol 37, Issue 2, p157
- ISSN
1558-9080
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5465/amp.2021.0106