TY - JOUR T1 - How Do Entrepreneurs View Opportunities JF - The Journal of Private Equity SP - 60 LP - 67 DO - 10.3905/jpe.2004.412337 VL - 7 IS - 3 AU - Frank Cave AU - Alan Minty Y1 - 2004/05/31 UR - https://pm-research.com/content/7/3/60.abstract N2 - This study addressed the extent of real option thinking in opportunity selection by entrepreneurs. Business founders were interviewed about their opportunity selection processes in the period close to making the decision. The group were subsequently categorized as entrepreneurs or administrators. The research explored whether the opportunity selection processes used can be mapped onto a real option thinking framework and whether the processes differ for entrepreneurs and administrators. Results suggest that the framework maps the process to a large extent but that entrepreneurs make little attempt to formally quantify the opportunity though administrators seem to do so. This would imply that opportunity selection in the former is not totally rationalized but is justified in some other, non-rational way. ER -