A test of the Corridor Principle of entrepreneurial behaviour. A study of Colombian entrepreneurs

Abstract

The opportunity concept has increased its influence in the entrepreneurial field as it has been identified as crucial for the entrepreneurial process understanding. This concept has been a relevant object of discussion by entrepreneurship researchers, but there are still several points of disagreement regarding the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity and how it is recognised. For this reason, there is a debate among several scholars on how opportunities are identified, discovered or created and how the entrepreneurs do that. In the literature it is easy to find two major perspectives on the source of entrepreneurial opportunities, namely the Schumpeterian and Kirznerian approaches. In 1998, Rondstadt made an additional contribution to the opportunity identification research. He introduced a new concept called the Corridor Principle which states that the single act of setting up a business allows the entrepreneur to identify additional venture opportunities. The aim of this dissertation was to test the Corridor Principle in a sample of Colombian entrepreneurs but also to attempt understanding how this principle is related with the entrepreneurial recognition approaches. The major finding was that this principle is still valid for the Colombian entrepreneur’s sample. The principle has been ignored as a relevant opportunity recognition explanation by the entrepreneurship’s scholars.