The Entrepreneurial Group

by Karpik, Lucien

• ISBN13: 9780691138091
• ISBN10: 0691138095
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Recent surveys show that more than half of American entrepreneurs share ownership in their business startups rather than going it alone, and experts in international entrepreneurship have likewise noted the importance of groups in securing microcredit and advancing entrepreneurial initiatives in the developing world. Yet the media and many scholars continue to perpetuate the myth of the lone visionary who single-handedly revolutionizes the marketplace.The Entrepreneurial Groupshatters this myth, demonstrating that teams, not individuals, are the leading force behind entrepreneurial startups.This is the first book to provide an in-depth sociological analysis of entrepreneurial groups, and to put forward a theoretical framework--called relational demography--for understanding activities and outcomes within them. Martin Ruef looks at entrepreneurial teams in the United States during the boom years of the late 1990s and the recent recessionary bust. He identifies four mechanisms for explaining the dynamics of entrepreneurial groups: in-group biases on salient demographic dimensions; intimate relationships to spouses, cohabiting partners, and kin; a tendency to organize activities in residential or "virtual" spaces; and entrepreneurial goals that prioritize social and psychological fulfillment over material well-being. Ruef provides evidence showing when favorable outcomes--with respect to group formalization, equality, effort, innovation, and survival--follow from these mechanisms.The Entrepreneurial Groupreveals how studying the social structure of entrepreneurial action can shed light on the creation of new organizations.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
List of Tables	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Concepts, Theories, and Puzzles
Who Is an Entrepreneur?	p. 3
Images of Entrepreneurial Groups	p. 17
Empirical Puzzles	p. 38
Creating the Entrepreneurial Group
Group Formation	p. 57
Boundaries of the Startup Firm	p. 85
Collective Action within the Group
Allocation of Rewards and Control	p. 113
Effort and Opportunism	p. 138
Performance of the Group
Innovation	p. 163
Goals and Group Dynamics	p. 185
Implications and Extensions	p. 206
Appendixes
Data Sources	p. 227
Sampling of Groups	p. 233
Analysis of Groups	p. 236
Notes	p. 239
References	p. 259
Index	p. 281
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