Moving too fast? Addressing temporality and acceleration in Portuguese business ventures scaling

Abstract

In recent years, Portugal has been increasingly credited as an emergent European entrepreneurial and technological hub, a rising and promising start-up nation. An ethnographic study was developed in one of the most successful start-up ventures operating in Portugal, with the goal of scrutinizing policy effectiveness in an employment creation and relations perspective. Considering the effect temporality regimes and acceleration are increasingly considered to have as new business ventures socioeconomic base, the study focus was placed on speeding-up implications, namely on how actors experience speed as infrastructural base of employment relations.

In recent years, Portugal has been increasingly credited as an emergent European entrepreneurial and technological hub, a rising and promising start-up nation. An ethnographic study was developed in one of the most successful start-up ventures operating in Portugal, with the goal of scrutinizing policy effectiveness in an employment creation and relations perspective. Considering the effect temporality regimes and acceleration are increasingly considered to have as new business ventures socioeconomic base, the study focus was placed on speeding-up implications, namely on how actors experience speed as infrastructural base of employment relations.

Ces dernières années, le Portugal a été de plus en plus considéré comme un pôle technologique européen émergent, une nation start-up prometteuse. Afin d’analyser l’efficacité des politiques publiques de soutien à l’entrepreneuriat, une étude ethnographique a été réalisée dans l’une des start-up les plus performantes opérant au Portugal. Compte tenu du rôle qui a été attribué aux usages du temps, de la temporalité et de l’accélération comme base socio-économique des nouvelles entreprises économiques, l’étude s’est concentrée sur les implications de l’accélération, en termes de la façon dont les acteurs vivent la vitesse comme base l’infrastructure de (leurs) relations de travail.

En los últimos años, Portugal se ha visto cada vez más como un centro tecnológico europeo emergente, una nación emergente prometedora. Para analizar la eficacia de las políticas públicas de apoyo al emprendimiento, se llevó a cabo un estudio etnográfico en una de las empresas emergentes más exitosas que operan en Portugal. Dado el papel que se ha atribuido a los usos del tiempo, la temporalidad y la aceleración como base socioeconómica de los nuevos emprendimientos económicos, el estudio se centró en las implicaciones de la aceleración, en términos de cómo los actores experimentan la velocidad como base de la infraestructura de (sus) relaciones laborales.