Developing business knowledge and market knowledge through interaction with industry

A majority of those who had started their own firm already at the time of the first set of interviews were still in business. The years that had passed had given the informants increased business and market knowledge, and based on this also changes in view on how to take the firm forward. Though there were rare examples of ventures that had been shut down or put on hold for the time being, a majority of the informants belonging to this group were using the business and market knowledge that they had gained over the years that had passed to make alterations to their

operations as to be able to move forward in a desired direction. An interesting finding from my study was the view on how to develop and grow the ventures over time. While examples of clear business plans with a set growth strategy did occur, most informants who had started firms approached business development as something that should not be forced, but rather the main idea was a slow and organic growth, with the own creative control as a key aspect. This falls well in line with previous research on creative industries with regards to growth strategies and goals of such firms (cf., e.g., Bergamini et al. 2017; Kohn & Wewel, 2018). It can further explain results from previous research that has pointed out entrepreneurial ventures in creative industries as being smaller in scale (Kohn & Wewel, 2018). The findings from my research suggests that this in fact could be a conscious decision as to maintain creative control rather than a sign of not being successful in growing the business over time.

Looking more closely at the informants who at the time of the first round of interviews had made the decision of entering an already existing fashion firm as a first career step, a clear pattern could be observed in terms of changed attitudes and consequent intentions and behaviours over the two years that had passed. The industry experience on the one hand increased the informants’ business knowledge and market knowledge in that they, through their work, became an active part of the industry structure and thereby got to learn how the companies worked, as well as how established, and in general big, firms approached the market in everything from trend analyses to actual production chains. The increased business knowledge and market knowledge within this group of informants furthermore gave a partly unexpected result. Instead of playing out as a point of security that further decreased the desirability of becoming an entrepreneur, the increased knowledge base in fact triggered a higher perceived desirability for venture creation. The market knowledge and business knowledge also increased the perceived feasibility for venture creation, meaning that several individuals who at the point of time of the first set of interviews had expressed low entrepreneurial intention in fact were now actively discussing venture creation. The role of industry experience has been highlighted in previous research, not least in relation to KIE and the fact that most KIE entrepreneurs do have significant industry experience before aiming at venture creation (cf., e.g., Malerba & McKelvey 2019). My findings give further insights of what effect industry experience can have, apart from increasing business knowledge and market knowledge, in that it points at dissatisfaction with current industry structures as an important trigger for venture creation within fashion. This can further explain observations in earlier studies with regards to KIE entrepreneurs in creative industries having relatively little industry experience before attempting venture creation (Kohn & Wewel, 2018; Lassen et al., 2018).

9.4 Accessing resources

The informants report that in order to run their own ventures, it is also a necessity to have other jobs that financially helps them make ends meet. One specifically interesting case here is the view on academia and what role it can play. Lassen et al. (2018) showed that founders of KIE firms in creative industries have higher educational levels compared to other KIE founders, where in their comparison, these firms were active in manufacturing.

In interpreting my findings in relation their results, I find that, in my case study, a partial explanation to this in that informants who have chosen to continue down the academic path (either MA degree or PhD degree), as one of the reasons for doing so report the fact that it means stable funds for some additional time, as well as extended access to university premises, and therethrough also access to all necessary equipment and studio places. This finding may have to do with the specific nature of graduate education in Sweden, where students obtain loans as MA students and are often employed as PhD students. There are further other ways to interact with academia. Several also report employment in academia as a stable source of income from the perspective of taking on teaching responsibilities part time and combine this with running their own business.

Specifically, and as documented numerous times above, the informants give the impression of wanting to keep their businesses free from the pressure of making economic profit, at least during an initial phase. Their desire for not making economic returns goes hand in hand with them expressing that they want to be able to let the artistic vision govern the route forward. Many express the hopes of attracting a big enough following of customers and influential players in fashion over time as to make a breakthrough, which could lead to them only working on KIE venture, as their sole focus. This both confirms and gives more detailed insights to the view of entrepreneurship in creative industries as being governed by other types of value creation than the economic (cf., e.g., Bergamini et al., 2017; Kohn & Wewel, 2018).