Obstacles and Facilitators of Developments in Entrepreneur-driven Firms

Purpose: To identify facilitating and redundant components of core competence development during the growth phases in entrepreneur-driven SMEs. Methodology: Conducts a longitudinal empirical study based on large number of interviews. Findings: Describes how individual competences critical for a start-up firm (entrepreneurial, market and network) eventually are transformed into organisational routines and institutionalised. Highlights distinction between competence and organisational structure. The latter could emerge incrementally in a firm, yet also be a tool to manage organisational change. Research limitations/implications: Brings in-depth knowledge by qualitative analysis. Future studies should test our findings in large-scale study with quantitative analysis. Practical implications: A start-up built on technology competence needs t