Open Workshop: Knowledge and Imagination – Their Relation in the Entrepreneurial Process
The aim of the Open Workshop Series in Business and Management Studies is to promote top-quality academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences. This is a unique opportunity for sharing knowledge and networking with local and international community members.
Speaker: Assoc.prof. Rainer Harms, University Twente, the Netherlands
Entrepreneurs rely on knowledge and imagination in new venture ideation (the generation, evaluation, and development of ideas for new ventures). Domain-specific knowledge and imaginativeness skills (social, practical, or creative) can function either as complements or substitutes in new venture ideation. Extant research leaves us with a puzzle of possible combinations, as new venture ideation is a complex phenomenon. Yet, dominant linear approaches cannot capture these complexities. We embrace configurational theorizing and apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on data from 101 founder entrepreneurs.
This study challenges simplistic views, identifying three distinct configurations that facilitate the generation of high-quality venture ideas. The “engineer” compensates for missing knowledge about customer needs by combining solution knowledge with practical and creative imaginativeness. The “customer-oriented imaginator” compensates for missing solution knowledge by combining three imaginativeness skills with knowledge about customer needs. The “knowledge combinator” combines previously unconnected knowledge domains and compensates for absent practical imaginativeness.
Dr. Rainer Harms is an Associate Professor for Entrepreneurship at the University Twente, HighTech Business&Entrepreneurship cluster, Entrepreneurship and Technology Management group.
He is passionate about helping technology entrepreneurs to realize their ambitions. His topics are entrepreneurial learning, technology ventures, entrepreneurial education, and entrepreneurial orientation. His research spans more than 70 articles in journals such as SBE, JBR, JSBM, BJM, ORM, ERD, TFSC, Technovation, and others. Rainer is the associate editor of JSBM and on the editorial board of TFSC. Rainer worked at WWU Münster and AAU Klagenfurt, and was a Visiting Professor at the WU Vienna, UA Barcelona, SPbSTU St. Petersburg, Monash Uni, FAU Erlangen/Nürnberg, and HSE Moscow. He has been active in the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) since 2012, and has cooperated with firms such as KPMG, Ernst&Young, ABN, and others.
Discussion moderated by Prof. Arnis Sauka.
Attendance is free of charge.
Please sign up for the seminar, by writing to arnis.sauka@sseriga.edu by February 26, 2025.
The aim of the SSE Riga Open Workshop Series is to:
- Foster cooperation between business and management researchers, practitioners and policymakers, as well as
- Promote academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences, focusing on but not limited to entrepreneurship, marketing, management, public administration, and strategy.
Organised by Professor Arnis Sauka, the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga