The role of serendipity in opportunity exploration
Authors: Mirvahedi Saeed , Morrish Sussie 
Published: November 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the distinctive role of serendipity in opportunity exploration. The study specifically explores how serendipity happens and the pattern of its occurrence. The paper attempts to break new ground in the study of serendipity within the entrepreneurship area. Serendipity is quite established in scientific literature and investigating this concept in the context of entrepreneurship contributes towards the discourse on why some firms are able to discover and realise opportunities that seem to present themselves sometimes out of nowhere.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses multiple case studies, cross-country approaches and the causal mapping method.

Findings

The findings suggest that serendipity is likely to take place at the early stages of firm formation. In addition to the three patterns of serendipity that are well-known in accidental scientific discoveries, the authors identify and introduce “entrepreneurial serendipity” as a distinctive pattern in entrepreneurship, whereby entrepreneurs look for any opportunity to start a business and explore an appropriate opportunity that comes along.

Research limitations/implications

This research has several limitations that offer new opportunities for future research. Further research can be undertaken to compare successful fast-growth firms with unsuccessful firms to determine how entrepreneurs were exposed to serendipity and to what extent they were able to exploit and realise opportunities. A comparative study would also enhance the authors’ interpretation of the role of serendipity in these two types of firms and demonstrate the different levels of serendipity they are potentially exposed to. The debate on serendipity could benefit from quantitative research and some tangible measures of serendipity can be developed.

Practical implications

The findings help entrepreneurs understand elements involved in opportunity exploration. The role of serendipity and its sources offer some suggestions on how entrepreneurs can potentially expose themselves to serendipity. The role of networks is crucial to doing business, and entrepreneurs should be aware of expanding their personal and business networks. Being engaged in friendly, professional and academic networks helps in finding new opportunities. Perseverance, being alert to changes in the environment and commitment to clients in terms of high-quality products and services are other elements that may open new windows of opportunity.

Originality/value

This paper provides empirical evidence that serendipity does play an important role in nearly every investigated business, regardless of their size and age. Serendipity potentially leads to new opportunities and entrepreneurs can explore them to achieve growth. By investigating grown firms in New Zealand and Iran, the authors identified a new pattern of serendipity in terms of opportunity discovery. This unique pattern, entrepreneurial serendipity, is characterised by finding an unspecified opportunity through an orderly or haphazard search, which could happen with either high or low levels of knowledge.