The book opens with a preface by Mark Easterby‐Smith in which he suggests that a conversation between entrepreneurship and organizational learning is both timely and appropriate. The entrepreneur is, after all, rarely a heroic individual, but someone struggling to solve novel problems, to engage others in his or her venture, and to offer something attractive and appropriate in a competitive, ambiguous and challenging market. Underpinning all of these creative roles is the need to learn with, and from, others. The aim of this book, then, is to explore the relationship between learning and entrepreneurship since, as the editors state in their introduction, learning is not an option, but it is central to the entrepreneurial process. The editors set out an agenda for incorporating learning into discussions of entrepreneurship, lamenting that the field has not progressed its understanding of the entrepreneurial learning process much beyond an acknowledgement of its relative importance. In linking entrepreneurial learning to the field of organizational learning, they argue that such activity, or practices, in entrepreneurial firms cannot be divorced from their context. Entrepreneurship is a culturally, socially and economically sensitive process, and entrepreneurial learning is thus embedded in locales. In this regard, the editors call for a reconnection between the theory and practice of learning and the content and process of such activity.
After the introduction the book is organized into four sections: conceptual approaches; intra‐organizational learning; inter‐organizational learning; and learning, education and development. The first of these sections consists of three chapters in which ideas and concepts are proposed that might guide research in the field. These chapters vary in their approach to the problem of defining the entrepreneurial learning process. For example, Chia, in the first of these chapters, argues that rather than a rationalistic, scientific account of organizational endeavour, it might be more instructive to view the entrepreneur as artistic; someone who is able to view developments or opportunities at the periphery of current awareness, and to foreground or make meaning out such things as others might miss. This “peripheral vision” is about learning to attend to ambiguity and vagueness, out of which possibilities emerge, and to resist premature closure. He does not suggest a theoretical model but gives us a concept that might guide our understanding or inquiry into the context‐dependent and heterogeneous nature of entrepreneurial learning, one that he argues might also inform how we consider educating or developing such talent. On the other hand, Politis develops a conceptual model of the entrepreneurship process, its antecedents, outcomes and moderating activities. He develops a number of testable propositions to theorize and explore his experiential learning model. In doing so, he suggests a number of tensions exist between experiential learning – benefiting from such learning in terms of performance outcomes – and remaining open to, and exploring and exploiting future opportunities. Both authors alert us to the way entrepreneurial vision and activities are culturally, socially and experientially bound, with Politis arguing that his framework foregrounds a difference between the process of entrepreneurial learning and the outcomes, such as entrepreneurial knowledge and performance. In the remaining chapter in this section McHenry also foregrounds learning as an ongoing, emergent and sense‐making activity, but one which is shaped as much by the relationships as it is by the individual entrepreneur. Indeed, this chapter moves away from entrepreneurial learning as an individual process and foregrounds the relationships that mediate such activity. In drawing together these chapters there is a common desire within them to see entrepreneurial learning as an artistic and unfolding process, one in which prior experiences and existing relationships influence the ability of the entrepreneur to make sense of ambiguity and opportunity. They all call for attention to the context‐dependent process of learning.
In the second section attention generally turns to intra‐organizational learning, although this distinction in the chapters is not always clear. The first two chapters by Lichtenstein and Lumpkin and by Corbett propose theories and models to show how learning theory can enhance our understanding of the opportunity recognition process. Lichtenstein and Lumpkin concentrate on behavioural, cognitive and action learning theories which privilege learning by the entrepreneur. Corbett uses individual experiential learning theory to guide the development of his arguments, and to explore how an entrepreneur's learning style might support different phases of entrepreneurial activity in opportunity identification and exploitation. However, these chapters tell us little about the processes through which that learning is embedded and shared with others in such nascent ventures in order to create a viable an entrepreneurial firm, which would seem to be a fundamental premise underpinning this section. Chapters 7 and 9, on the other hand, are more specifically focused on knowledge management processes within the firm and in the top management team. The authors of these chapters, Sawyerr and Gilsdorf, and Rowe and Christie, respectively, turn their attention to processes and routines in organizations through which shared understanding is accomplished. The authors address more clearly the underlying context, routines and relationships that underpin intra‐organizational learning, albeit from two very different methodologies. The odd one out in this section is chapter 8 (Ekanem and Samllbone), which investigates the investment decisions of business owners from a learning perspective. This chapter bridges the context of learning within the firm (intra‐organizational learning) to learning from customers and other stakeholders (inter‐organizational learning) when managing investment decisions. This highlights the difficulties in drawing boundaries on learning activities when conceptualising the entrepreneurial learning process; nevertheless, they again foreground the role of experience, but also how that experience is stored in collective routines, or norms, that shape business decision making, such as investment. However, the chapter might also have been better placed at the end of this section as a link to the next section on inter‐organizational learning.
The four chapters in this section are generally underpinned by a resource‐based or knowledge‐based view of the firm, and attention is on how knowledge flows through external relationships to enhance the ability of the firm to respond to, and exploit, opportunities. Here then, in all these chapters, entrepreneurial learning is equated with stocks (from prior experience) and flows of knowledge (through inter‐organizational networks and relationships). Friga, in chapter 10, examines the assistance gained through entrepreneurship programmes and subsequent venture creation. Gonsalves and Gray in the next chapter suggest that strategy making and organizational learning are specific resource endowments from which the firm benefits in terms of performance. Waalkens et al. in chapter 12 use the concepts of absorptive capacity to explore knowledge creation and absorption in an architectural and engineering SME. Finally, Tell in his chapter looks at a specific university‐led project of network building and network support to analyse the relationships, structures and activities through which innovation is achieved in participating firms. Thus, duality of structure and agency is apparent in this section, and attention is given both to the contexts that define influence entrepreneurial learning as well as the activities and relationships through which learning is accomplished and exemplified. The final short section of two chapters addresses the thorny issue of entrepreneurial education. Chapter 14, by Smith, addresses the prior educational difficulties of entrepreneurs who are differently‐abled in terms of their learning. His argument is that entrepreneurs with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, may adopt, or learn, communication styles as a result of such difficulties. His suggestion is that those who think pictorially and can grasp an interconnected “big picture” out of complexity and ambiguity may be more suited to an entrepreneurial career. Fisher et al in the final chapter examine undergraduate entrepreneurship education. Adopting a theoretically‐grounded learning outcomes framework for their research, they argue that it is possible to teach the related knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship to students, and to enhance their interest in an entrepreneurial path. Thus, their conclusion is that by careful research and identification of appropriate skills and knowledge, entrepreneurship learning can be formalized to provide students with the foundations necessary to prepare them for, and encourage them to adopt, an entrepreneurial career.
There is much on which to reflect and enjoy in this book, and the contribution from this edited collection is to foreground, or at least present, the idea of entrepreneurship as an ongoing learning process – from before a nascent idea is identified, to establishing a successful firm. The intention is not to define the field, but to start to paint the landscape or background on which the field might develop. In that regard, many of the chapters provide useful indications of the many dimensions to this question and also to suggest how they can be explored, both theoretically and empirically. Indeed, it is the heterogeneity of approaches that is instantly obvious in comparing the chapters. This is perhaps inevitable (or even desirable) in an edited collection; even more so in a nascent field that is still grappling with some key questions. However, despite that heterogeneity, there are some key ideas underpinning and connecting each of the chapters. Throughout the book it is possible to discern significant themes of context, process, performance, relationships, actions and experiences, which are suggested to be central to entrepreneurial learning activities and outcomes by many of the authors. The book is defined as much by these themes as it is by the editors' desire to connect entrepreneurial learning to organizational learning, more of which later.
The most obvious of these themes is the need to explore the process of entrepreneurial learning, rather than to focus on outcomes. It is perhaps here that the editors could have contributed most by suggesting how the disparate contributions might be drawn together to provide a framework for further theoretical and practical development. The lack of a concluding chapter is disappointing, although it does allow the reader to draw out their own lessons from what they have read. In that regard, my own conclusion is that many of the authors elect to define individual learning by an entrepreneur as “entrepreneurial learning”. While this is fine, up to a point, it does beg the question, why frame the debate in the theories and concepts of organizational learning? Or perhaps the fact that most chapters take this approach highlights just how much work there is still to do in defining and understanding the process of entrepreneurial learning.
Organizational learning theory has, certainly more recently, been at pains to acknowledge the situated and context‐dependent nature of collective action. The general lack of engagement with this debate, apart from a few authors, means that overall the shape of the book is an engagement with a discussion of how individual learning theory can help us to understand entrepreneurial activities. However, more recent work in entrepreneurship theory acknowledges the role of the entrepreneur, not as a sole actor, but as someone able to create a narrative that is interesting enough to engage others in their venture, and also to make use of and encourage the learning of others to contribute to the development of their ideas, and the firm. In that regard, I certainly agree with the ambition of the editors to use organizational learning to frame the debate on entrepreneurial learning, but it is also clear there is much still to do. I would certainly recommend this text to other academics, and I hope it stimulates theory and empirical research in the field. It is definitely a very useful resource for any University library.
