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.     

Systematic performance differences across the manufacturing-service continuum

It is becoming clear that management theories developed for manufacturing may not be wholly applicable to service firms. Evidence suggests that economic rents tend to occur at the business level in manufacturing, whereas they arise at the corporate level in services. We address this issue in terms of the characteristics of goods and services, and their effects on the drivers of firm performance across the manufacturing-service continuum. We deduce that the effects are non-linear and vary according to whether products are tangible standardized goods, customized goods and services, or standardized intangible services.