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  • 1.  Case studies that follow an entrep from day 1 of biz?

    Posted 08-13-2009 13:19

    Hi all -- Does anyone happen to know of a case study that essentially tracks an entrepreneur from the early days of envisioning the business concept, through the various stages of business formation and growth?

    I've been asked by some colleagues to participate in a project where we would essentially meet with the entrepreneur on a regular basis to learn what key decisions he was making, what info/resources he used to aid in those decisions, future strategies, etc. with hopes of being able to better understand the entrepreneur's thought process without the limitation of having the entrepreneur 'reflect back'.

    Rather than try to re-invent the wheel, I was wondering if similar case studies had been done.....and if so, the methodology that was used?

    If anybody can point me toward some possible leads, I'd be most appreciative -- thanks!

    Susan

    ========================
    Susan M. Jensen, Ph.D.
    Department of Management
    College of Business & Technology
    University of Nebraska at Kearney
    West Center 255W
    Kearney NE 68849
    (308) 865-8189
     ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!


  • 2.  Case studies that follow an entrep from day 1 of biz?

    Posted 08-13-2009 14:53
    Susan,

    Almost all case studies are retrospective.

    Henry Mintzberg did a study somewhat similar to what you propose.
    He studied how several [3 to 5] entrepreneurs made several different
    types of specific "real world" decisions [e.g., introducing a new
    product or moving company location] by observing them over time.
    His paper was published in 1976, I believe.

    Also, Kevin Learned, under the supervision of Alex Stewart, did an
    anthropological analysis of the new venture launch & growth decision
    making of a single entrepreneur as his PhD dissertation in 1995. It
    was entitled “The Creation of Firm Resources: A Native Ethnography.”
    It won a Certificate of Distinction in the Third Annual National
    Federation of Independent Business Foundation (NFIB) PhD Dissertation
    Competition. Alex is at Texas Tech and I think that Kevin has left
    the world of academics.

    Sincerely,
    Chuck Hofer

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Susan M Jensen" <jensensm1@UNK.EDU>
    To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 1:18:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
    Subject: [ENTREP] Case studies that follow an entrep from day 1 of biz?


    Hi all -- Does anyone happen to know of a case study that essentially tracks an entrepreneur from the early days of envisioning the business concept, through the various stages of business formation and growth?

    I've been asked by some colleagues to participate in a project where we would essentially meet with the entrepreneur on a regular basis to learn what key decisions he was making, what info/resources he used to aid in those decisions, future strategies, etc. with hopes of being able to better understand the entrepreneur's thought process without the limitation of having the entrepreneur 'reflect back'.

    Rather than try to re-invent the wheel, I was wondering if similar case studies had been done.....and if so, the methodology that was used?

    If anybody can point me toward some possible leads, I'd be most appreciative -- thanks!

    Susan

    ========================
    Susan M. Jensen, Ph.D.
    Department of Management
    College of Business & Technology
    University of Nebraska at Kearney
    West Center 255W
    Kearney NE 68849
    (308) 865-8189
    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!

    **************************************
    This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management.

    Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list.

    You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
    http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1

    If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu.

    Ventures HO!


  • 3.  Case studies that follow an entrep from day 1 of biz?

    Posted 08-15-2009 19:27
    In addition to Chuck's answer, there is one multipart case I very much admire - the AgraQuest case found in Dorf & Byers Technology Ventures (McGraw-Hill - put its on their Science list, not the business one). I believe that Tom Byers from Stanford was the lead in developing the case. If not, he can put you in touch with its author.

    As to method, there is always the landmark Yin's Case study research (Sage). Also note that psychoanalytic organizational researchers were involved in long-term case studies, and got very much into the process of managing one's own relation and objectivity during these encounters. Harry Levinson operated using long-term case analyses based on the Menninger Clinic model (and many of his cases were small to medium sized family businesses). His text is Organizational Diagnosis (Harvard). He did an outstanding job of explaining the issues in keeping the case analyst as focused and objective as possible during the long process. Fromm and Maccoby had a long-term study of a Mexican village. Cultural anthropologists routinely deal with these issues too. Check with one on your campus to find out what they have students reading these days - it will give you someone to talk to about your own process as you go into the field.

    Hope this helps,
    Jerry

    --
    Jerome A. Katz
    Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship
    John Cook School of Business, Saint Louis University
    3674 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis MO 63108 USA
    314-977-3864w; -1484f; 314-275-8721h; -7513h/f
    katzja@slu.edu, http://eweb.slu.edu
    ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!