Competitive Strategy in Everyday Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Self-determination Theory Perspective

Everyday ventures are important engines of economic and social development around the world. These types of ventures tend to be resource constrained, focused on regional service areas, and rely almost exclusively on replicative approaches to business. Despite their prevalence, these types of ventures receive far less attention in the literature than their innovative, growth-focused counterparts. Thus, there is still much we do not know about how the entrepreneurs behind these types of ventures approach strategy and measure their success. In this qualitative study, we utilize self-determination theory to interpret interview data and illustrate how venture launch and strategic choice allow everyday entrepreneurs to self-fulfill their psychological needs through their business. Doing so, our research answers questions related to: 1) everyday venture launch; 2) the strategies everyday entrepreneurs pursue to position their venture in the market; and, 3) the metrics by which everyday entrepreneurs measure the success of their venture. We find that everyday entrepreneurs self-fulfill their needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence by launching their ventures and making specific strategic choices regarding competition. More specifically, we find that everyday entrepreneurs primarily rely on differentiation strategies focused on high-quality offerings coupled with a premium customer service experience, while measuring success using an approach similar to the balanced scorecard. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for theory and practice.