The exploitation of new business opportunities: the interaction between internal capabilities and external sources

Abstract

The success of young entrepreneurial firms has been taken under great consideration in recent years for several reasons: start-ups are young, innovative and with a high growth ambition and this condition represents an opportunity and a source for economic growth and promotion of innovation. Start-ups companies are connected with the concept of innovation because they are considered innovative by definition: they should possess internal specific assets, that make them unique compared to competitors, while at the same time they should obtain complementary external resources through the presence of external networks and contacts, useful for gaining “legitimation” and complete involvement in the business environment. The main message that can be so derived from the study of start-ups reality is that, in order to rise and to face market challenges, a new firm should focus both on the exploitation of its internal capabilities and on the exploration of potential external sources, utilizing as better as it can its absorptive capacity. The good quality of this types of networks represents a critical factor in order to gather more skills, resources and technical supports for a better exploitation of the existing ones. However, it is also important that each firm possess strong internal capabilities and strong absorptive capacity useful to assimilate in a better way the advantages derived from these contacts.