New venture creation and opportunity structure constraints: Indigenous-controlled development through joint ventures in the Canadian potash industry

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the role that strategic alliances (SAs) play in the formation of new ventures within a specific context, namely that of a First Nations community engaged in the Canadian natural resources sector. Grounded theory and a single case study approach was utilized to provide a deep understanding of the processes involved in the creation of a distinct new Aboriginal organizational form. A guiding framework is used which includes the concept of mixed embeddedness, resource-based theory and agency theory. Insight into the process and alloyed motivations of Indigenous entrepreneurship is gained that extends our understanding of opportunity structures wrought by the legacies of colonialism. A theory of context is developed building upon the aspects of collective agency, resources and a view that extends the concept of social embeddedness to encompass SAs as entrepreneurial tools for social transformation.