Why (A theory of) opportunity matters: Refining the Austrian view of entrepreneurial discovery

Abstract

The concept of entrepreneurial opportunity has undergone a period of useful critique and refinement since Venkataraman (1997) and Shane and Venkataraman (2000) employed the term as one of the defining features of entrepreneurship studies. This paper presents a novel Austrian reinterpretation of this concept as an intersubjective phenomenon that emerges from the dual entrepreneurial process of discovery and judgment. Just as markets can be described as price discovery procedures for existing goods, services, and resources, entrepreneurship can be usefully described as a price discovery procedure for future goods, services, and resources. This view retains the essential elements of Kirzner’s (1973) approach while also refining the opportunity discovery concept within an evolutionary realist framework for understanding entrepreneurial motivation and action.