Serendipitous lightning: an entrepreneurial case study from Mongolia

Purpose How and why does serendipity plays an important role in a relatively small percentage of entrepreneurial successes? The concentration of entrepreneurs in the transition economy of Mongolia stimulated the authors’ desire to research these questions and to attempt to discover instances where serendipity played a major role in an entrepreneur’s success. This study does not pertain to the deliberate search for serendipitous innovation (those that are not a result of pure luck) or where mistakes play a prominent role in accounts of serendipity, e.g. Viagra, Teflon, Post it Notes and a plethora of others. This paper aims to relate to accounts of pure luck as in being in the right place at the right time. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted one intensive face-to-face interview (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) and two brief clarifying sessions conducted over Skype (Melbourne, Australia). During the face-to-face interview, open-ended questions were asked, copious notes were taken and electronic recordings were made. Recordings and notes were transcribed and used to develop this paper. During the Skype interviews, the authors took the opportunity to cross-check and verify responses from the face-to-face interview. This technique allowed the authors to accurately recount stories, points-of-view and to quote the respondent directly. Using qualitative data from the interviews enabled the authors to circumvent exaggeration and to preserve the probity of content within this study. Findings Serendipitous lightning is a rare phenomenon that has been acknowledged in scholarly papers but not fully researched. There are many samples of people finding something new and valuable, but are they attributable to serendipitous lightning? Little has been said about the phenomenon that begs the questions: Is it something that is too difficult to analyse and explain? Can you look for it? Can you plan for it? With no scientific basis, is it unexplainable and best left alone? Research limitations/implications Although Mongolia has experienced an upsurge in entrepreneurial activity since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its economic support, Mongolia may not have been a suitable location for this study. It was a matter of convenience as the authors were there on another project at that time. The scope of the study was limited by the lack of suitable respondents in a city of only 1.3 million inhabitants, which is over half of the total population of Mongolia. Time and costs were major considerations that limited this study. Examples of serendipitous lightning were extremely difficult to identify with the authors finding one suitable interviewee from a total of 55 scoping interviews. This equates to a 0.02% strike rate for the sample; however, there is no suggestion that further examples would not be forthcoming from a larger sample size. Originality/value Serendipitous lightning is a rare phenomenon that has been acknowledged in scholarly articles but has not been fully researched. The authors’ intention was to stimulate discussion of serendipitous lightning and to entice more people to become engaged and interested in researching the phenomenon. In addition, the authors contend that it is serendipitous lightning that ignites the fuse and whether the “flash of brilliance” is recognised and acted on depends heavily on the entrepreneur’s alertness and propensity to act swiftly. As such it is felt that there is evidence supporting the extension of existing theory on serendipity.