AMRITA SAHA

Amrita Saha

⁠I am a 6th year PhD candidate in Strategy at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. I study how the social and relational foundations of markets shape who is able to act entrepreneurially and how, particularly in emerging or recently disrupted markets. My work develops a sociocultural perspective on entrepreneurship, showing how relationships between entrepreneurs, intermediaries, and community members shape what actors see as possible, what they can access, and what they are able to sustain.

My work primarily draws on qualitative methodologies—including in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations—complemented by granular surveys. This approach allows me to immerse myself in the social and economic worlds I study and develop a rich understanding of the mechanisms that underpin economic activity in these contexts.

My dissertation research is based on a field study of the recently deregulated cocoa industry in Trinidad and Tobago. In this setting, I examine how entrepreneurial action is shaped through relational processes—from how individuals interpret the prospect of engaging in new economic relationships after market reforms, to how intermediary organizations structure access to resources through informal interactions with entrepreneurs, to how community characteristics enable or constrain entrepreneurial action.

Amrita Saha

⁠I am a 6th year PhD candidate in Strategy at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. I study how the social and relational foundations of markets shape who is able to act entrepreneurially and how, particularly in emerging or recently disrupted markets. My work develops a sociocultural perspective on entrepreneurship, showing how relationships between entrepreneurs, intermediaries, and community members shape what actors see as possible, what they can access, and what they are able to sustain.

My work primarily draws on qualitative methodologies—including in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations—complemented by granular surveys. This approach allows me to immerse myself in the social and economic worlds I study and develop a rich understanding of the mechanisms that underpin economic activity in these contexts.

My dissertation research is based on a field study of the recently deregulated cocoa industry in Trinidad and Tobago. In this setting, I examine how entrepreneurial action is shaped through relational processes—from how individuals interpret the prospect of engaging in new economic relationships after market reforms, to how intermediary organizations structure access to resources through informal interactions with entrepreneurs, to how community characteristics enable or constrain entrepreneurial action.