Entrepreneurship by necessity and opportunity: an attempt to understand it in the Burkinabe context.

Summary Necessity/opportunity entrepreneurship has important scientific and practical implications, particularly in developing countries. This thesis investigates the motivational processes of necessity/opportunity entrepreneurs.The research aims to understand over time, the necessity/opportunity motivations of entrepreneurs during the start-up process. The analysis of content and process research on necessity/opportunity motivations highlights the value of adopting a processual perspective in studying the phenomenon. The empirical study is therefore based on an interpretative perspective and uses a longitudinal qualitative methodology. Eight entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso were followed through in-depth interviews over a 15-month period. The results first indicate that GEM-type measurement tools do not always adequately capture the phenomenon of necessity/opportunity motivations. They then show that during the start-up process, motivational phases of necessity/mixity/opportunity transition to phases of a different nature. Finally, they suggest that motivational transitions are underpinned by the appearance/disappearance of reasons relating to the environment, the individual, the results and the actions. These results call for a nuance in the dichotomy between the two types of entrepreneurship, as this dichotomy appears to be unstable for the entrepreneurs studied. They also call into question public support policies that exclude entrepreneurs out of necessity and suggest that flexible forms of support be provided so that they can adapt to the needs of entrepreneurs over time.