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Article
An Entrepreneurial Context for the Theory of the Firm: Exploring Assumptions and Consequences
New England Journal of Entrepreneurship
  • Arturo E Osorio, Rutgers University - Newark
  • Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, UMASS Boston
  • Paul F. Donnelly, Dublin Institute of Technology
Issue Season
Spring/Fall
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Document Type
Invited Article
Abstract
While entrepreneurship may be driven by personal interests and lifestyle choices, entrepreneurial actions are not only economically driven opportunity-searching processes but also enactments of social transformation that may or may not lead to socioeconomic benefits. We advance that exploring these entrepreneurial processes can inform a theory of the firm that may explain how socioeconomic processes shape the socioeconomic environment of communities while serving individuals. This article discusses several understandings of the firm, as theorized in extant literature. Guided by these different conceptualizations, we present a case study of an artist and artisan cluster in Western Massachusetts to demonstrate various understandings of entrepreneurial processes. By way of conclusion, we develop the idea of the firm as a geographically embedded relational understanding aiding entrepreneurs to achieve personal goals while coconstructing their local environment.
Citation Information
Arturo E Osorio, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan and Paul F. Donnelly. "An Entrepreneurial Context for the Theory of the Firm: Exploring Assumptions and Consequences" (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/banu_ozkazancpan/13/