The economic school claims that opportunity is an “objective phenomena”, which means that it exists in time and space and waits for knowledgeable individuals to recognise it.
• The school beliefs, that identification of an opportunity is a thorough and systematic discovery, which includes testing, experimenting and learning. In this way, an entrepreneur may find new means of production and gain the competitive advantage in the future (Whetten, 1989).
• According to the school’s logic, the idea of creating a personal computer existed and no one, except Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, were able to identify this opportunity. Therefore, Steve Wozniak’s unique knowledge of programming (includes experiments and testing) and Steve Jobs’ marketing and business skills resulted in the creation of Apple 1. (Audia and Rider, 2005).
• The economic school represents innovations and creation of new industries as a result of entrepreneurial action (Companys and McMullen, 2007).
2. In contrast, the cultural-cognitive school suggests that opportunities are “subjective phenomena” and is entirely determined by the head of an entrepreneur. In other words, the social agents define obtained information as an opportunity. It exists once it was identified (Swidler, …show more content…
In 1985, Mr. Waring, a British entrepreneur, flew to the US for his brother’s wedding. In a conversation with bribes uncle, he found out that 24% of US are paying someone to have their lawns treated. When he got home, he had started mixing the chemical ingredients and, finally got the right formula for lawn treatment. Ultimately, he established and developed a successful nationwide business (Bridge, 2010).
On this stage it is reasonable to highlighting the difference between economic and cultural-cognitive school’s approaches:
The economic school would argue that exactly the mixture of chemical ingredients had led to a discovery of the opportunity, but it was not the case because Stephen Waring identified his opportunity through social interaction. In addition, Stephen Waring did not innovate, but implemented, or copied and applied the concept. In contrast, Apple 1 was, conceptually, unique of its kind.
3. The socio-political school is focused on “Why” and “Due to what events” entrepreneurs spot opportunities. (The arguments of the school will not be discussed in this essay due to its irrelevance to the question)
Neo-classical, Psychological, and Austrian