Team Entrepreneurship : A Process Analysis of the Venture Team and the Venture Team Roles in relation to the Innovation Process

New ventures are rather often founded by more than one person. Still, we do not know much about how these venture teams are formed, develop and finally dissolve. The manner in which the venture team roles develop when there is more than one owner is also a neglected area in the entrepreneurship research. It is argued in this thesis that the most prolific way of studying the venture team process and the venture team roles process is in relation to the innovation process. The over-all aim of this thesis is to explore what kinds of theoretical, conceptual, empirical and methodological insights are achieved by studying innovation processes in new ventures in a transformative institutional context, from the team-level of analysis. The empirical materials are a pilot-case (Tetra Pak) and an in-depth extended case-study from the publishing sector in Poland (Proszynski i S-ka, from 1985 to 2003). The method used in the thesis is a retrospective process approach with a phasic analysis of the polyphonical narratives of the experiences of key persons as well as data from archives. In the final analysis, a number of propositions are presented that relate to how the venture team process and the venture team roles process develop over extended time periods and in relation to the innovation process. The conclusions are that the team as a level of analysis helps us to theoretically understand and explain phenomena such as periods of divergence in the innovation process; the process of social commitments in the venture team; and how a venture team develops over time to a balanced and experienced expert leadership team. Methodologically, it is claimed that the polyphonical data collection gives more comprehensive, valid and reliable measurements of the innovation process. Finally, this thesis contributes with a story of the transformation of the Polish society and economy described in an unusual way via employing the team as a level of analysis