Abstract

Empirical research on the nexus of entrepreneurship and design remains limited in Mexico, complicating its understanding and leading to assumptions about its application. This article investigates the entrepreneurship and design nexus and its contextual fit in a new-to-the-world Mexican technology-based enterprise within emerging technological industries with no organizational history in capitalizing on an entrepreneurial opportunity. Research highlights potential areas where the nexus could have an impact, such as how entrepreneurs design their ventures, the creation of opportunities, and the development of tools for managers and designers. We focus on the advantages of “opportunity design” and the opportunity design process in integrating the strengths of entrepreneurial drive for creation and innovation with the design process to ensure that opportunities are user-centric, effective, and marketable. We conducted a longitudinal case study to document the opportunity exploitation process over a span of seventeen years. Our methodology included participative observations, interviews, documentation, archival records, feedback, and physical artifacts to validate the use of design in the development of technological innovation and the organization’s operations, tactics, and strategies. The results exhibited that the individual and their entrepreneurial process for exploiting an opportunity differ from the “opportunity design process” theory regarding the role and application of entrepreneurship and design. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurship and design nexus demonstrated potential benefits in developing tools for individuals and designers, as well as in creating opportunities. The nexus may benefit the individual’s ability to construct a potential venture, unveiling emerging commercial value and exploiting opportunities.