Title: On the relevance of the concept of entrepreneurial capabilities

Authors: Jean-Jacques Obrecht

Addresses: EM Strasbourg Business School, HuManiS (EA 1347), Humans and Management in Society, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Abstract: The essay builds the relevance of the concept of entrepreneurial capabilities on a corpus of theoretical inputs starting with the |effectual entrepreneur| model of S. Sarasvathy and appealing to scholarly work in various fields of interest. Two groups of capabilities are distinguished: individuals| anchored capabilities and context related capabilities. Identity and knowledge are presented as distinct capability components of the first group; networks, legitimacy and localness as the components of the second group. The presentation aims at bringing out the vision of a dynamic contextual set of interdependent distinct capabilities that underpin the entrepreneur|s proactivity. It also suggests new ways to approach the challenging issue of sustainable entrepreneurship.

Keywords: entrepreneurial capabilities; resource development views; effectual entrepreneurs; identity; knowledge; networks; legitimacy; localness; sustainable entrepreneurship; Saras Sarasvathy; individuals; anchored capabilities; context related capabilities; capability components; interdependent capabilities; distinct capabilities; proactivity; sustainability; sustainable development; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2011.040755

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2011 Vol.13 No.2, pp.107 - 125

Published online: 11 Oct 2014 *

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