De första på plats: En fallstudie av entreprenörers resonerande vid etablering på en ung marknad

Sammanfattning: One of the areas in which current theory on entrepreneurship is ambiguous is in the explanation of how entrepreneurs act when entering a new market. One author that has attempted to contribute in this area is Saras D. Sarasvathy who has tried to explain the entrepreneurs reasoning through the theory of causation and effectuation. The former refers to a reasoning that takes the effect of an entrepreneurial action as given, while the latter looks upon the effects as uncertain, while only the means are given. With a foundation in this theory, Sarasvathy claims that when entrepreneurs enters a new market the level of environmental uncertainty is so high that reasoning based on causal relationships is rendered useless. As an effect she proposes that an entrepreneur that successfully has entered a new industry is more likely to have used an effectual, rather than a causal reasoning process. The purpose of this thesis is to empirically test Saras D. Sarasvathy’s theoretical proposition concerning causal and effectual entrepreneurial reasoning when starting a business on a new market. To achieve this purpose we have conducted a qualitative study of entrepreneurs reasoning when establishing themselves on the second home market in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte. This has been done through semi-structured interviews with three entrepreneurs. The data has then been compiled and analysed with our theoretical framework as a base. The theoretical framework is first and foremost based on Sarasvathy’s effectuation and causation theory. However, to make the theoretical approach unambiguous the theories that are considered the base for Sarasvathy’s theory are given an account of and the objects of the study are theoretically defined. The findings show that Sarasvathy’s theory has some relevance in explaining the entrepreneurial reasoning when establishing themselves on new markets. In this case study the empirical findings indicate that the more institutionalized the market, the higher the probability for the existence of entrepreneurial causal reasoning. However, due to the relatively poor definition of key variables in Sarasvathys theory, we are unable to with certainty deduce whether or not this is adherent to the level of institutionalisation of the market.