Pro-active market opportunity identification as a key element in the development of innovation strategy

Abstract

paper studies managerial and entrepreneurial aspects of pre-entry market opportunity identification and strategic market choice, with special reference to new frameworks available in this area and their relevance to innovation management. New and ground-breaking research discoveries in the theoretical background of this field have enabled the creation of new strategic tools which are developed for and aimed at entrepreneurs, strategy professionals, managers, venture capitalists and investment professionals. In doing so, the Market Opportunity Navigator (Gruber & Tal, 2017a) builds a bridge between the theory of and practice in the field. Analyzing and observing empirically how market opportunity identification is conducted presently, the paper further seeks potential factors that may hinder the adoption of such frameworks as part of the overall strategy development process. To this end, an interviewbased qualitative study of fifteen high-level strategy practitioners is conducted to add further insights of how such frameworks are adapted and employed in practice. A Swiss drone technology startup is used as a case study for the successful application of the mentioned pre-entry market opportunity identification tools. Further, looking at large enterprises, a second empirical study of ten of the largest automotive companies in the world is conducted, exploring whether market choice is regarded as part of their strategic outlook. Methodologically, both the interviews and the large company study are based on the principles of qualitative content analysis, according to Mayring (2011). The study aims to add a new perspective of practitioners use of the recent market opportunity identification frameworks to the growing body of knowledge and debate in this field.