LIFECYCLE MODEL FOR MANAGEMENT OF DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP : A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING THE PROGRESSION OF STARTUPS TO SCALEUP

Abstract

The Digital Entrepreneurship is changing the methods, mode, platform and artefacts of entrepreneurship. Researchers and policy makers are emphatic about the need of this new breed entrepreneurs, at the same time the process how a digital start-up becomes a scaleup is least understood. Though digital entrepreneurship is gathering momentum, but no clear guideline or framework is creating confusion and large-scale failure. Despite its significance, studies on Digital Entrepreneurship are limited and the concept is largely under-theorized. The novelty, complexity and invisibility of digital process and transformative potent of digital technology as well as commercial value of digital innovation have created digital entrepreneurship a secretive competitive landscape. Conversely incomplete understanding and absence of any formal model of digital entrepreneurship has intuited the necessity of one such model for systematic management of entrepreneurship. This paper is an attempt to develop a framework for understanding the complexities, unpredictability and probabilistic nature of the activities of various phases of digital entrepreneurship. Lifecycle model provides a guideline for the researchers to visualize the desirable outcomes of each phase and figure out what may go wrong in each phase. This lifecycle model will certainly help the researchers and practitioners not only to visualise the process, but also to monitor and manage the digital entrepreneurship process and develop befitting action plans. With clear understanding of Life Cycle model of digital entrepreneurship, start-ups will be able to organize their actions for accomplishment of their desired outcomes at each stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Researchers would be able to develop their research plans to find out why so many digital start-ups fail to be scaleup and who fails at what stage and why? Who succeeded, when, where and how?