Opportunity Recognition as the Detection of Meaningful Patterns: Evidence from Comparisons of Novice and Experienced Entrepreneurs
提出机会识别涉及模式识别，即通过经验获得的认知框架（如原型）帮助创业者从复杂事件中察觉有意义的模式，进而产生新产品或服务想法。通过比较新手与经验创业者的商业机会原型，发现经验者的原型更清晰、更丰富，更关注创业实际条件，支持了模式识别是机会识别关键的观点。
It is suggested that the recognition of new business opportunities often involves pattern recognition—the cognitive process through which individuals identify meaningful patterns in complex arrays of events or trends. Basic research on pattern recognition indicates that cognitive frameworks acquired through experience (e.g., prototypes) play a central role in this process. Such frameworks provide individuals with a basis for noticing connections between seemingly independent events or trends (e.g., advances in technology, shifts in markets, changes in government policies, etc.), and for detecting meaningful patterns in these connections. We propose that ideas for new products or services often emerge from the perception of such patterns. New business opportunities are identified when entrepreneurs, using relevant cognitive frameworks, “connect the dots” between seemingly unrelated events or trends and then detect patterns in these connections suggestive of new products or services. To obtain evidence on these proposals, we compared the “business opportunity” prototypes of novice (first-time) and repeat (experienced) entrepreneurs—their cognitive representations of the essential nature of opportunities. As predicted, the prototypes of experienced entrepreneurs were more clearly defined, richer in content, and more concerned with factors and conditions related to actually starting and running a new venture (e.g., generation of positive cash flow) than the prototypes of novice entrepreneurs. These findings offer support for the view that pattern recognition is a key component of opportunity recognition.