Abstract
Most forms of economic actions involve uncertainty insofar as these actions are future-oriented. Ambiguities coming along with business formations result for example from unpredictably changing market demands or the changing of the competitive situation. Handling uncertainties is therefore part of the entrepreneurial process. Following Jens Beckert’s concept of “imagined futures”, we refer to fictionalisation as a conscious stylisation of an unknown entrepreneurial future as a market success. Simultaneously, there is a need for substantiating strategies during the entrepreneurial process, which means signalising the feasibility of the business idea through certificates, analysis and data. In our research we analysed counselling talks between case workers and recipients of social benefits who aim to end their dependency on social welfare by becoming self-employed. Referring to eight case studies on interaction, fictionalisation and substantiation are analysed as practices of dealing with economic uncertainties. We interpret our findings as a distinctive form of business planning, which allows a rather flexible form of business development.
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Notes
- 1.
In Germany the “GEM—Global Entrepreneurship Monitor” (Sternberg et al. 2013), the “Gründer-Panel” released by the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (Kranzusch & Kay 2011) and the “KFW-Gründungsmonitor” (Metzger & Ullrich 2013) document the developments of self-employment within various sectors and groups. In addition the “ALLBUS” (German General Social Survey), the “SOEP” (socioeconomic panel) or the “Mikrozensus” (published by the Federal Office of Statistics) deliver further data. Qualitative surveys analyse, for example, intentions to become self-employed and terms of business foundation (e.g. Bührmann et al. 2010).
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Abbenhardt, L., Pongratz, H.J., Bernhard, S. (2016). Fiction and Substance. Start-Up Support: An Analysis on Interaction. In: Bögenhold, D., Bonnet, J., Dejardin, M., Garcia Pérez de Lema, D. (eds) Contemporary Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28134-6_15
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