Examining the Entrepreneurial Process: Social Networks and Business Startups

The topic of entrepreneurship has been the subject of a considerable amount of academic interest over the last twenty years. Despite a vast amount of published work there have been very few attempts to study the entrepreneurial process. In other words, we know little of the what happens as an entrepreneur moves from idea to the objective reality of a fully functioning business. A more recent phenomenon has been the shift from a focus on entrepreneurial traits to the study of entrepreneurial networks. This is recognition that even the most individualistic of entrepreneurs rely heavily on their social relationships during the creation of a new business. These two factors, networks and the entrepreneurial process, are brought together in this paper which utilises a first-hand account of activities associated with business startups. The paper also examines the way in which MBA education provides useful skills to even the most experienced entrepreneur.