Baltic Journal of Management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the implications of different entrepreneurial orientations on business start-up and development challenges.

Design/methodology/approach – This research reflects surveys of 1,075 experienced entrepreneurs and business and entrepreneurship students in Estonia during the years 2005-2010. An additional method is action learning and reflections of training focused on recognising new business opportunities during the economic crises.

Findings – Combinations of co-creative and innovative entrepreneurial orientations are more popular than the imitative entrepreneurial orientation. There is, however, an essential contradiction between stressing the principles of co-creative orientation at the first stages of business opportunity identification and taking a more individualistic approach to innovation at later stages of the business development process and implementing the related changes. Potential entrepreneurs developing radically new innovative ideas in emerging economies should assess more realistically their existing core competences and search for opportunities to improve their competence base through cross-border networking.

Research limitations/implications – Surveys that apply the self-assessment tool do not comprise a representative sample of all Estonian entrepreneurs. These surveys have been conducted in training settings and support self-development of trainees. Research results can be used for differentiating entrepreneurship training and education. An important opportunity for entrepreneurship education in the context of organisational change is to support the cross-border exchange of entrepreneurial ideas between “blue ocean dreamers”, who sometimes lack entrepreneurship experience, and more experienced entrepreneurs, who may be trapped in some regionally-limited business in a highly competitive domestic market.

Originality/value – The results of the research explain why entrepreneurship training has to take into consideration differences between imitative, individually innovative and co-creative entrepreneurs.