ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the contribution of the operations management field to entrepreneurship and startup practices. As examples of unique operational innovations in startup settings, readers may recall well-documented news stories about two unicorns: the transportation firm Uber with its yield management strategies and the hospitality firm Airbnb with its quality management practices. It defines business startup operations as a configuration of resources and activities at nascent organizations that are geared to create, organize, and grow businesses based on the manufacturing of a product or delivery of a service. The chapter's organization and resulting contribution follow a two-part setup: what we know about startups and what we observe as emerging trends. It explores the body of knowledge in the OM-entrepreneurship interface regarding venturing creation and technology commercialization throughout the entrepreneurial value chain. To establish what is already known about startup operations, the chapter summarizes published review covering the 2001–2011 period and then augment this summary with publications from the 2011–2015 period.
