Who Becomes an Entrepreneur? How Changes In Activity Systems Affect Entrepreneurial Action

Entrepreneurs create and appropriate value by designing a system of interconnected and interdependent activities that determine how they do business. These activity systems span beyond the individual firm and compose complex interconnected ecosystems. Current research focuses on how entrepreneurs design new activity systems but do not focus on how these changes create new entrepreneurial opportunities and for whom. In this paper we ask why some people but not others pursue entrepreneurial opportunities following changes in an activity system. Based on Lachmann’s theory of capital we develop a theoretical framework for analyzing how changes in the structure of activities affect the knowledge required to pursue subsequent entrepreneurial opportunities. © 2015 Academy of Management. All rights reserved