Advancing Theory in Entrepreneurship from the Lens of Operations Management Phillip Phan, Chester Chambers The Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University, 100 International Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA pphan@jhu.edu, cchamber@jhu.edu E arly writings in economics describe the entrepreneur’s role in terms of bearing the uncertainty inherent in new under- takings. Much of the research published in the pages of Production and Operations Management deals with management under uncertainty. The shared concerns over the impacts of multiple types of uncertainty suggest that research on Opera- tions Management (OM) can play a role in the development of theory in entrepreneurship. We discuss aspects of such a role from two perspectives. First, we consider several topics in the OM literature that have clear applications or parallels in entrepreneurship. These topics include innovation, the management of technology, new product development, flexibil- ity, and hedging strategies. Understanding these topical connections should aid in the development of tools and applica- tions central to the practice of entrepreneurship. On another level, when we consider how the approaches to many of these topics in OM are grounded in theory adapted from Operations Research and Economics we argue that these same roots can be used as starting points for the development of theory in entrepreneurship. As examples, we will argue that the theoretical bases supporting robust optimization, stochastic dynamic programming, and even Total Quality Manage- ment can also serve as foundations of theories about the roles, practice, and behaviors of entrepreneurs. Key words: entrepreneurship; OM research History: Received: September 2010; Accepted: June 2011 1. Introduction Entrepreneurship research is primarily concerned with understanding why, when, and how the oppor- tunities for the creation of goods and services arise; characterizing the people and firms that exploit those opportunities; and gaining insights from the study of the way in which such opportunities are exploited (Shane and Venkataraman 2000, p. 218). Operations Management (OM) research is primarily concerned with the creation, management, and improvement of systems and processes that produce and/or deliver goods and services of economic or social value. The intersection of these two fields is immediately obvious. At its core, entrepreneurship focuses on creating new systems, processes, goods, and services in response to or in anticipation of emerging opportunities. It is also clear that fundamental differences exist in the underlying assumptions and approaches to the study of the two fields. By its nature entrepreneurship is always part strategy, part marketing, part finance, part decision theory, part OM, etc. Consequently, identifying concise theories in the field has proven to be challenging. This stands in sharp contrast to the more focused approaches in OM. In the latter, obvi- ous connections exist to a collection of mathematical tools at the heart of Operations Research and Econom- ics. The combination of overlapping concerns between the two fields and glaring differences in research approaches leads us to our central question—how can research in OM help to advance theory in entrepreneurship? To address this question, this note is split into two parts. In the first part, we argue that the link- ages between these two fields are numerous. Many “topical” connections can easily be identified. By this we mean that OM research deals with many specific problems that are particularly relevant to the entrepreneur. The notion that the two fields are completely distinct seems to stem from three issues; until fairly recently, there has been a lack of con- sensus about what entrepreneurship means; the demand for tractability and elegance in most OM journals makes it hard to identify overlaps between the fields of study; and the ways in which OM is commonly taught is not apparent to those inter- ested in entrepreneurship. In the second part of this note, we argue that some theory in entrepre- neurship can be grounded in the recognition of “philosophical” connections between the fields. By recognizing the parallel nature of important prob- lems under study, one can see how many approaches to OM problems can serve as excellent starting points to further the development of theory in entrepreneurship. 1423 Vol. 22, No. 6, November–December 2013, pp. 1423–1428 DOI 10.1111/j.1937-5956.2011.01306.x ISSN 1059-1478|EISSN 1937-5956|13|2206|1423 © 2012 Production and Operations Management Society