Contextualizing the subjectivist-objectivist debate in entrepreneurship using engineering,art, craft,and bricolage

The debate regarding the degree to which opportunities and resources are social constructions risks stagnation because it is difficult to argue that opportunities are either entirely constructed or entirely objective. In this paper we seek to contribute to this debate by introducing some overlooked aspects of the work of Lévi-Strauss (1962) as they relate to the discussion of entrepreneurial opportunities and resources. A categorization scheme of entrepreneurs based on Lévi-Strauss’ categories of art, craft, engineering and bricolage can be used to help differentiate the ways in which entrepreneurs view opportunities and resource acquisition, and how those views impact entrepreneurial action and ultimately entrepreneurial success. This contrasts with the more traditional entrepreneurship literature, which views opportunities as objective phenomena and opportunity identification and exploitation as completely rational.