Collective opportunity recognition
For many aspiring entrepreneurs, finding a « good » opportunity is a difficult step. Getting to recognize an opportunity requires, at the individual level, a number of knowledge and information, as well as a certain amount of creativity. To overcome these individual limits, an interesting approach is to involve groups or communities to identify opportunities, thereby increasing information and generate creativity. This is the bet that has been made in some territories, bringing together different groups of actors in structured approaches to recognize opportunities in their environment. Although interesting, these approaches pose the following question : Can we address the opportunity recognition as a collective process ? For Tremblay and Carrier (2006), it is not only relevant for practice, but also from a theoretical point of view. That being said, little is known about the factors influencing this process. In order to fill this gap, an exploratory study was conducted. Using grounded theory, five cases of collective process were analyzed. The study illustrates the collective opportunity recognition process and identifies some factors influencing the success and benefits of those processes. The results confirm the links between opportunity recognition and creativity, and provide benchmarks to guide the actions of practitioners and consequently, improve the impact of such practices.