Pierre-Yves GOMEZ

In an article published in 2003, entitled "Entrepreneurial Behavior and Firm Organizing Process", Gartner and Carter highlight a crucial theoretical weakness in studies on the emergence of firms. According to the two authors, "most studies of firm organizing activities have been retrospective explorations of the start-up behaviors of individuals who are already in business" (p. 199). This type of scientific approach results in a distinct bias as only one aspect of the phenomena of emergence is taken into consideration, namely cases of success. The aim of this article is twofold: firstly to explain, and thus to confirm, the observations of Gartner and Carter by showing that it is the dominant theoretical models which themselves create the bias; and secondly to show that the explanation for the bias created by the theoretical models may be found in the concept of time which serves as a vehicle for these same models.