Opportunity recognition in inner-city markets: An exploratory study

We argue that inner-city markets pose a challenge for business managers and entrepreneurs because many do not understand how to address significant social and institutional factors that exist in these markets. These factors around inner-city business opportunities may lead entrepreneurs with limited knowledge and experience in these markets to overlook or undervalue viable business opportunities. We propose that the combination of entrepreneurs' inner-city experience and social and institutional factors around business opportunities will explain patterns of opportunity recognition. This paper describes a study of 146 subjects that experimentally tests this hypothesis along two dimensions: the evaluation of business opportunity and the entry decision.