Abstract
The start-up of new ventures is relevant for innovation and growth in the small firm sector. Empirical evidence has shown that new venture creation by established entrepreneurs is often carried out through the setting up of new firms to involve other people in the ownership and control of the new business. The aim of this chapter is to investigate the mechanisms through which established entrepreneurs build entrepreneurial teams to develop new businesses and how these teams evolve over time. The empirical analysis is based on a case study of a habitual entrepreneur who set up several firms during a 50-year period. In-depth interviews were conducted with the entrepreneur and the other people that were subsequently involved in the development of the new businesses. The interviews clarified the motives for such involvement and shed new insights on two issues: the one entrepreneur-one business principle and about the dynamic of entrepreneurial teams in knowledge-intensive businesses.
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Alvarez and Barney (2004) suggest another argument to explain this. If it was possible to write incentive contracts for managers, this means that knowledge about the new business opportunities and its potential results is ‘common’ knowledge. In this case, the salaried manager, hired to take advantage of this opportunity, will appropriate most of the economic rents associated with it.
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“An army of supervisors may be just as efficient (provided it consists of men of equal ability) as one supervisor alone” (Kaldor 1934, p. 68).
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Iacobucci, D., Rosa, P. (2019). Managing Portfolio Entrepreneurship: A Case Study. In: Rautiainen, M., Rosa, P., Pihkala, T., Parada, M.J., Cruz, A.D. (eds) The Family Business Group Phenomenon. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98542-8_5
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