Cycles in causation and effectuation: a case study of four metal-music ventures

In this paper we apply the entrepreneurial effectuation theory (Sarasvathy 2001) and theories in expertise (Read & Sarasvathy 2005) in an empirical study in a particular context: musicianship as a form of entrepreneurship in the popular music industry. We apply the theories and empirical evidence in our framework by using a qualitative case study to analyze four ventures, four Finnish music groups. Based on the analysis we find extensions on Sarasvathy’s (2001) and Read and Sarasvathy’s (2005) work on three levels. First we find that the causation process is more typical in the “deliberate practice” (Read & Sarasvathy 2005) that forms the foundation for superior expert practice, which is a requirement for building novel and authentic cultural products. Secondly, we find that in the beginning of the business activities, these ventures are more effectual, when the situation tends to be resource-poor. We also find that even though the companies’ core teams are relatively small, once the business grows and the number of international partners increases the business processes and decisionmaking becomes inevitabely more causation driven.