Opportunities, environment and entrepreneur interaction: exploring the entrepreneurial process - insights from Germany and Japan -

This dissertation explores how entrepreneurial opportunities evolve into businesses through entrepreneur and environment interaction. It challenges the traditional view of opportunities, proposing that both discovery and creation are essential. With a multiple case-study design providing insights from German and Japanese start-ups, the research identifies four archetypical entrepreneurial processes based on the intensity and intention of interaction. The study contributes to entrepreneurship research by viewing the entrepreneurial process as an ongoing, iterative, and reciprocal relationship, with practical implications for policymakers and practitioners, especially in the context of demographic change.