Study on entrepreneurial opportunity co‐creation from an ecosystem perspective: the case of China hydrogen energy and fuel cell vehicles

  • Fang Felicia Yang

Abstract

Explaining how opportunities are formed is a key part of entrepreneurship research and it’s especially important in an emerging industry like hydrogen energy and fuel cell vehicles (HEFCV). The innovative nature of this industry calls for cultivation of innovative companies to fill the niche of the nascent ecosystem. At the same time, the early stage of industry development and the emergence of the ecosystems provide fertile ground that can be used as a foundation that we may build upon and investigate the formation of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Most of the previous research in the field of entrepreneurship has demonstrated little consensus regarding entrepreneurial opportunity and the related processes. The focus has been on the characteristics of the entrepreneur at the individual level, with respect to opportunity identification and realization. Even though some scholars introduced network and environmental factors into this field, the focus was still upon the entrepreneurs who used the network, or the environmental conditions through social capital. However, as contemporary economic activity has become interconnected with greater interdependence between firms, there has been a movement towards understanding both entrepreneurship in a broader context and a new level of opportunity analysis from an ecosystem perspective. There is a need for an integrated theoretical framework that explains the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities in specific context.

This doctoral research aims to understand how entrepreneurial opportunities are formed through a process of co-creation that involves the interaction of entrepreneurial firms with different businesses and institutional members, and the provision of resources within the emerging business ecosystems. To understand this complex process, a qualitative case study research method was adopted. The author placed focus upon the three leading regional ecosystems of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in China (Beijing, Shanghai, and Foshan) and selected four entrepreneurial firms in each of the three ecosystems. Primary data were secured through interviews with key respondents in the entrepreneurial firms and their business partners within each ecosystem’s value chain, as well as from supporting institutions. These data were complemented by secondary sources, such as policy documents and relevant statistics.

Different players were found to play distinctive roles in creating new entrepreneurial opportunities. These players included central government, local governments, universities, industry associations, funds, large companies, and the entrepreneurial firms themselves.

Each of these players has participated in the emergence of the entire ecosystem and contributed relevant resources that have enabled the creation and realization of new entrepreneurial opportunities. Analysis and comparison of the cases has permitted the author to elaborate on existing themes concerning the co-creation of entrepreneurial opportunities that have been contributed by the interaction of different members. Finally, an integrated framework is proposed for understanding entrepreneurial opportunity co-creation from an ecosystem perspective to both advance academic knowledge of this subject and suggest implications for public policy and business practices.
Date of Award23 May 2024
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Northumbria University
SupervisorRose Quan (Supervisor), Gendao Li (Supervisor), Yu Xiong (Supervisor) & Ziad Elsahn (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • entrepreneurship
  • opportunities
  • hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China
  • business ecosystem
  • entrepreneurial ecosystem

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