Forms and conversions of the economic capital of Croatian entrepreneurs in the computer programming industry with insights into variations of the company's development stages

Abstract

The paper examines traditional knowledge about the role of financial and physical resources in entrepreneurship. Based on Bourdieu's theory, we search for an answer to the question of which forms of economic capital are used by Croatian entrepreneurs in the computer programming industry and what their value in the context of accessing other forms of capital is. The study is based on a qualitative methodological approach. In-depth interview technique accompanied by unstructured observations was used in data collection. In addition to primary data, research includes the use of qualitative and quantitative secondary data. Research suggests that in the computer programming industry, economic capital is just one tool in the conversion game of entrepreneurial capital. Moreover, the interviewed entrepreneurs attach the least importance to it in business, favoring the value of intangible resources such as specialized knowledge, business connections and personal acquaintances. The company's start-up phase is characterized by the entrepreneur's reliance on personal savings, which is replaced by financing based on retained earnings in the later stages of business. Other forms of growth financing, such as bank loans and recapitalization of external investors, are used by a minority of larger companies, with a good base of symbolic capital. The results on capital conversions indicate relatively easy conversion of economic capital into cultural capital and symbolic capital, and less frequent use of economic capital to create social capital. Fresh insights into the entrepreneurs' perceptions provided by the study expand existing knowledge about entrepreneurship within the computer programming industry, suggesting that it is an industry with huge potential for young talents without a personal financial base that is commonly considered a precondition for entering entrepreneurship.