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Summary Exam Companion | Strategic Entrepreneurship | Maastricht | 2026/27

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This is an exam companion guide for Strategic Entrepreneurship (EBC4041) at Maastricht University, designed to prepare students for the open-book exam on 23 October 2026. It covers all 10 modules from idea generation through exit and failure, including a running case study (Circula), article summaries with key takeaways, practice questions, and debate breakdowns on core entrepreneurship concepts. The guide is well-structured with toolkits for each section, an article finder cross-referencing all course readings, and model answers—making it an efficient study resource for mastering effectuation, opportunity validation, business model design, and scaling topics.

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EBC4041 · STRATEGIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP · OPEN-BOOK EXAM

Exam Companion
Exam Friday 23 October 2026, 15:00–17:00 · TestVision · 100 points, pass at 55 · Daan Alken
Search · M1–M6 Build · M7–M8 Grow and end · M9–M10



A. The exam (exam info email + syllabus marking 6 Module 4 – Decision logics: effectuation and 17
guide) causation
B. Section A toolkit 6 Module 5 – Validating the opportunity 19
C. Section B toolkit 7 Module 6 – Experimenting, pivoting, making do 21
D. The red thread 10 Module 7 – Designing the business model 23
The running case: Circula (fictional) 11 Module 8 – The team 25
Module 1 – Idea and opportunity 11 Module 9 – Scaling 27
Module 2 – Strategic frame and resources 13 Module 10 – Exit and failure 29
Module 3 – Entrepreneurship inside established firms 15 E. Debates: where the articles disagree 30

Colour key: Claim (phase colour) Limitations → Section B gaps Apply it → Section A
Practice question + model answer → Section A case fact to swap Video (general-knowledge summary)

Article finder · every article, what it is about, what to remember, where to use it
Article Remember Use for (Section A checklist · Page
Section B kit)
M1 Barach & Rider (2023) Buyer relationships → founding via discovery + Opportunity evaluation 11
How individuals found exploitation (≈3–4×), not discernment · 32,274
ventures: discovery, freelancers, 208 founders
discernment, exploitation
Rezazadeh et al. (2025) Product-/sales-/efficiency-led growth · AARRR · AI Kit AI 12
How startups use GenAI in Wheel · build → refine → reflect · 3 risk types · 20
growth hacking interviews
M2 Zahra (2021) 6-step resource management process · Opportunity evaluation · Kit 13
Why VRIO misfits startups; resourcefulness · time · Tables 1 and 3 · conceptual bricolage → scaling
how they manage resources
Helfat et al. (2023) VRIN · AI/digital, ecosystems, stakeholders · Opportunity evaluation 14
Renewing the RBV: new resource redeployment · market shaping · tautology
contexts, concepts, methods critique
Evers (2025) – Taylor Swift Blue ocean · stickiness · productive paranoia · Theory-in-practice 15
Strategy lessons from Taylor platform shifts · 52 tracks in 15 months
Swift (HBR)
M3 Girma Aragaw et al. (2024) Input → process → output · six contexts · 214 EO / intrapreneurship · Kit CE 15
Review: corporate articles, only 42 on context
entrepreneurship in context
Niemand et al. (2025) Shared EO predicts best (f² .17–.28 vs ≤ .04) · item 6 EO / intrapreneurship · Kit CE 16
Meta-analysis: is EO one = competitive aggressiveness
construct or several?
Rigtering et al. (2019) Opt-out 26 vs 9 participants, no quality loss · EO / intrapreneurship · Kit CE 16
Field experiment: framing an examples ↑ usefulness ↓ novelty · N = 647
intrapreneurship call
M4 Sarasvathy (2023) 3 uncertainties · PC space · types of ask · 5 Effectuation vs causation · Kit 17
Effectuation as a method for principles + 5 questions · testing ≠ market building decision logic
making futures



Strategic Entrepreneurship · Exam Companion

, Article Remember Use for (Section A checklist · Page
Section B kit)
Read et al. (2009) 48 studies · who I am .230 · partnership .169 · Effectuation vs causation · Kit 18
Meta-analysis: effectuation affordable loss n.s. · proxies only decision logic
and performance
Galkina et al. (2022) Juggling · cushioning · reconciling · camouflaging · Effectuation vs causation · Kit 18
Tensions between causation 41 diary episodes, Oulu/Aalborg decision logic
and effectuation
M5 Gruber et al. (2008) Only 28% consider > 1 market · serial founders more Opportunity evaluation · Kit 19
Look before you leap: · decreasing returns · 83 German VC-backed firms BM & internationalisation
choosing among markets
Camuffo et al. (2020) 116 startups · more pivots + revenue, no fewer exits · MOCK 1 · Customer- 20
RCT: a scientific approach to false positives · Inkdome 60%, n = 50 discovery design · Kits
decisions decision logic, AI
Giuggioli & Pellegrini (2023) Opportunity → decision → performance + education Kit AI 20
Review: AI as enabler for · 60 articles · pre-ChatGPT
entrepreneurs
M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) Search (discovery, validation) → execution (creation, Customer discovery · BM 21
Lean startup as an actionable building) · assumptions · vs effectuation critique
theory
Kirtley & O'Mahony (2023) Reallocation of activities, resources, attention · exits MOCK 2 · Pivot · Kit decision 22
What is a pivot? + additions · / 21 · Gauss logic
Steffens et al. (2023) Helps nascent ventures · hurts low-expectation Kit bricolage → scaling 22
When bricolage helps or hurts operational ones · tinkering traps · 155 firms
M7 Zott & Amit (2010) Content · structure · governance · NICE · BM ≠ Business-model critique 23
Business model as an activity revenue model · FriCSo
system
McDonald & Eisenhardt Borrow + substitutes → test, then commit → pause · MOCK 3 · Business-model 24
(2020) Zeus vs Icarus, Phaethon critique
Parallel play: BM design in
nascent markets
Hennart et al. (2021) Global niche BM → speed · only work abroad SEC B MOCK · Kits growth → 24
Born globals: business model matters · 222 Italian SMEs, 17% BGs exit, BM & intl.
vs founders
M8 Fox et al. (2023) Fluidity ↑ innovation (~4%/event) but dilutes Team and control · Kit teams 25
Team membership change and founders' experience, esp. departures · 440 firms → exit
innovation
Wasserman (2017) Each control level −17.1 to −22.0% valuation · rich vs Team and control · Kit teams 26
Founder control vs company king · Wily / Lew Cirne → exit
value
Soleimani & Stauffer (2024) Gender diversity OR 4.93 · education OR 1.253 · SEC B ANCHOR · Kits growth 26
Founding-team composition experience diversity OR .898 · 900 teams → exit, teams
and acquisition
M9 Jansen et al. (2023) Gazelle / scale-up / mature HGF / superstar · MOCK 4 · Scaling readiness 27
Scaling-up: building, leading, expansion, replication, synchronisation · 5
sustaining growth dimensions
Lee & Kim (2024) Scaling within 6–12 months → +20–40% failure · no MOCK 4 · SEC B ANCHOR · 28
When do startups scale? Job- IPO gain · A/B testing · platforms > 3× Kits growth → exit, AI
posting evidence
Piaskowska et al. (2021) Network growers 7% · organic innovators 23% · Scaling readiness · Kit 28
Scale-up modes of digital focused 24% · constricted ~46% · Penrose effect bricolage → scaling
unicorns
M10 Cefis et al. (2022) Exit ≠ failure · routes · micro / macro / individual SEC B MOCK · Exit options · 29
Review: firm exit is drivers · forms, meanings, motivations, contexts Kit growth → exit
heterogeneous
Shepherd (2003) Grief blocks learning · loss vs restoration orientation Exit options 29
Grief and learning from · oscillate · P1–P4
business failure


Strategic Entrepreneurship · Exam Companion

, Key terms (A–Z) · what it means · which article · page
A/B testing — Comparing two versions with real users; firms that Camouflaging — Looking like a planner to investors while
A/B test suffer less from early scaling improvising in practice M4 Galkina et al. (2022) · p. 18
M9 Lee & Kim (2024) · p. 28
Causation — Goal-driven, predictive logic: set a goal, analyse,
AARRR (pirate metrics) — Growth funnel: acquisition, activation, plan, execute M4 Galkina et al. (2022) · p. 18
retention, revenue, referral M1 Rezazadeh et al. (2025) · p. 12 Choice set — The alternative markets considered before first
Acceptability threshold — How much imperfection a venture (or market entry M5 Gruber et al. (2008) · p. 19
its customers) tolerates; high thresholds resist bad compromises Commitment risk — Risk of locking resources into an idea
M6 Steffens et al. (2023) · p. 22
without product–market fit by scaling early
Acquisition (as exit) — Being bought; often a positive 'harvest' M9 Lee & Kim (2024) · p. 28
for young firms M10 Cefis et al. (2022) · p. 29 Competing risks — Statistical view of exit routes (acquisition,
Activity system — A business model as linked activities, inside closure…) as rival outcomes M10 Cefis et al. (2022) · p. 29
and outside the firm, that create and capture value Competitive aggressiveness — Challenging rivals directly;
M7 Zott & Amit (2010) · p. 23
measured by item 6 of the common EO scale
Affordable loss — Invest only what you can afford to lose; focus M3 Niemand et al. (2025) · p. 16
on the downside, not expected returns Complementarities (NICE) — Activities worth more together than
M4 Sarasvathy (2023) · p. 17
apart M7 Zott & Amit (2010) · p. 23
AI capabilities framework — Stages of GenAI use: build Concierge MVP — Delivering the service by hand to test demand
knowledge → refine (combine tools) → reflect (human + AI) before building it M5 Camuffo et al. (2020) · p. 20
M1 Rezazadeh et al. (2025) · p. 12
AI Wheel — Maps five startup growth challenges to GenAI use Constricted scaler — Scale-up mode (~46%) low on all four
growth activities M9 Piaskowska et al. (2021) · p. 28
cases M1 Rezazadeh et al. (2025) · p. 12
Content / structure / governance — Which activities, how they
AI-enabled entrepreneurial process — AI supports opportunity are linked, and who performs them M7 Zott & Amit (2010) · p. 23
→ decision-making → performance, with education/research
M5 Giuggioli & Pellegrini (2023) · p. 20 Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) — Individuals in an existing
Ambidexterity — Exploring and exploiting at once (≈ effectuation firm creating new businesses or renewing the firm
M3 Girma Aragaw et al. (2024) · p. 15
+ causation) M4 Galkina et al. (2022) · p. 18
Apophenia (scientific) — Seeing false patterns in data from Corporate venturing — Creating businesses inside (internal) or
via CVC, acquisitions, JVs (external)
untheorised experiments M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) · p. 21 M3 Girma Aragaw et al. (2024) · p. 15
Ask (types of) — Visionary (pitch), adaptive (advice), causal Crazy quilt — Building the venture with self-selected partners
(predictive info), effectual (co-creation) who commit resources M4 Sarasvathy (2023) · p. 17
M4 Sarasvathy (2023) · p. 17
Attractiveness paradox — Long-lasting superior resources Customer creation / company building — Lean execution steps
after the search phase M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) · p. 21
attract more attacks, so may earn less
M2 Helfat et al. (2023) · p. 14 Customer discovery / validation — Lean search steps: test
Autonomy (EO) — Independent action by individuals/teams; problem and solution; prove a repeatable sales process
M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) · p. 21
maybe an enabler of EO rather than a part
M3 Niemand et al. (2025) · p. 16 Discernment — Better judgement of an opportunity's quality —
not supported M1 Barach & Rider (2023) · p. 11
Bird-in-hand — Start from your means: who you are, what you
know, whom you know M4 Sarasvathy (2023) · p. 17 Discovery (mechanism) — Seeing better opportunities thanks to
Blitzscaling — Prioritise speed over efficiency to win winner- information access (buyer ties) M1 Barach & Rider (2023) · p. 11
take-most markets (Hoffman); contested by Lee & Kim Discovery vs creation view — Opportunities exist to be found
M9 Lee & Kim (2024) · p. 28 (Kirzner) vs are created by action
M1 Barach & Rider (2023) · p. 11
Blue ocean — An untapped market of non-customers (Swift:
teenagers in country music) Dual process (grief) — Oscillating between loss and restoration
M2 Evers (2025) – Taylor Swift · p. 15 orientation to recover and learn M10 Shepherd (2003) · p. 29
Born global — Firm with ≥ 25% of sales abroad within 3 years of Dynamic capability — Higher-order routines to sense, seize and
founding M7 Hennart et al. (2021) · p. 24 transform; scaling is one M9 Jansen et al. (2023) · p. 27
Bricolage — Making do with combinations of resources at hand Earlyvangelists — First customers who feel the problem and buy
for new problems M6 Steffens et al. (2023) · p. 22 an early MVP M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) · p. 21
Business model (BM) — Content, structure and governance of Effectuation — Means-driven, non-predictive logic: control the
activities that create and capture value future rather than predict it M4 Sarasvathy (2023) · p. 17
M7 Zott & Amit (2010) · p. 23
Efficiency (NICE) — Lower transaction costs through the activity
Business Model Canvas (BMC) — Nine-block model of a system M7 Zott & Amit (2010) · p. 23
business; in lean/Camuffo treated as a set of hypotheses Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) — Firm-level posture:
M6 Blank & Eckhardt (2024) · p. 21 innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking (+ autonomy,
aggressiveness) M3 Niemand et al. (2025) · p. 16


Strategic Entrepreneurship · Exam Companion

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