From Variables to Event Based Models of Business

Narrative Sequence Methods are an alternative to the more established, variables focused, variance based methods of developing theory of business development and change. We examine the assumptions of variance based approach and compare them to those of narrative methods, which leads to a discussion of the nature of causal mechanisms. We then illustrate the use Narrative Sequence Methods to identify some of the mechanisms underlying the internationalization of an intermediary in the electronic component industry, where internationalization can be interpreted as a form of innovation and entrepreneurship. We show how these methods, whose value is being increasingly recognized, allow us to introduce time, timing and temporal processes into the systematic analysis of business behaviour and evolution and to generate usable knowledge for managers and policy makers.