Sarasvathy (2001)

Question 1

Causation and effectuation

Answer 1

Causation: (managerial thinking)
- the causator takes a particular effect as a given and focuses on selecting between means to create that effect (you want to pass a course, how can you do that)

Effectuation: (entrepreneurial thinking)
- the effectuator takes a set of means as given and focuses on selecting between possible effects that can be created with that set of means (what do I have and what can I do with it)

Question 2

Effectuation is:

Answer 2

• Bird in hand (given means): what do I have and how do I exploit this resources best
• Affordable loss: What am I willing to lose i.o to gain. Value is hard to forecast, time, money and resource losses are easier. Dependend on the person
• Lemonade: Learn not to only deal with surprises, take advantage of them. In BP surprises are bad, entrepreneurs use surprises to create valuable opportunities
• Crazy quilt: focus on partnership rather than beating competitors. With a uncertain market, competitive analysis is not useful. More important to test idea in network.
• Pilot in the plane: Focus on the controllable aspects in your environment, Control the future i.o. predicting it. More useful to understand and work with people who are engaged in the actions that bring it into existence.