RENT

Media, strategy gurus and management trainers are proclaiming readiness for the VUCA world, in which we better know how to differentiate between Volatility, Unpredictability, Complexity and Ambiguity. The acronym, stemming from the military sector, captures our lack of orientation at the beginning of the new millennium and challenges us to develop knowledge about tackling the uncertainty in our world.

Entrepreneurship offers unique insights for engaging with uncertainty. In entrepreneurship and innovation practice, we are now facing the constant beating of the digital transformation drum, while in entrepreneurship research more and more contributions are putting an emphasis on uncertainty. Several entrepreneurial approaches (e.g. effectuation, bricolage, improvisation, impulsive behavior) have recently been identified as ground-breaking models of our field, coupled with different tools (e.g. business modeling, lean startup, design thinking) and various empirical contexts (e.g. high-growth, sustainable, or newcomer entrepreneurship).

Some of these advances are triggering fierce debates, in the entrepreneurship community, but also in the broader management literature. With its empirical and conceptual advances, entrepreneurship research has created a momentum that allows developing from a mere phenomenon to a stand-alone field with its own theoretical backbone.

Join us for RENT 2019 at ESCP Europe Berlin in advancing the field of entrepreneurship by discussing and challenging uncertainty as a cornerstone of a proprietary entrepreneurship theory.