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Propositions on Entrepreneurial Strategy-Making<br />

The four principal characteristics of the entrepreneurial mode of strategy making<br />

proposed by Mintzberg (1973) serve as propositions distinguishing this mode of strategy-making<br />

from others (e.g.. adaptive and planning modes). The following four propositions are based, in<br />

part, on Mintzberg's 1973 statements. (1) In the entrepreneurial mode, strategy-making is<br />

dominated by the active search for new opportunities; problems are secondary and receive less<br />

attention. (2) In the entrepreneurial organization, power is centralized in the hands of the chief<br />

executive who rules by fiat, not by committee or teams. (3) Strategy-making in the<br />

entrepreneurial mode is characterized by dramatic leaps forward in the face of uncertainty; the<br />

organization makes dramatic gains with high risk of failure. (4) Growth, not efficiency, is the<br />

dominant goal of the entrepreneurial organization; thus, the entrepreneur is focused on growth in<br />

sales volume, not cost control or profits.<br />

Stevenson, Roberts, and Grousbeck (1989) definition of entrepreneurship also may<br />

serve as a central proposition of entrepreneurial strategy-making: (5) the pursuit of opportunity<br />

without regard to resources currently controlled. An axiom of this proposition is that<br />

entrepreneurs search for specific opportunities, and the selection/formulation of new venture<br />

concept, to invest their energies into transforming into realities before searching for financial<br />

resources. Waiting to grow a nest-egg to invest and then searching for an investment<br />

opportunity is not representative of most entrepreneurial strategy-making.<br />

Results from Collins and Moore's (1970) study of 100 entrepreneurships suggest<br />

several additional propositions that distinguish entrepreneurial strategy making, for example,<br />

almost all successful entrepreneurs experience several failures before creating and<br />

implementing a successful enterprise. An axiom to this proposition is that several start-up<br />

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