Introduction
Both authors are elated that vigorous discussion and debate has now entered the discourse around entrepreneurship scholarship. This by itself stands as a highly significant outcome indicative of a maturing scholarly field, as indeed entrepreneurship is becoming. We should all congratulate the editors of this journal and associated scholars regarding this important milestone. Before rushing off to celebrate at the bar, however, we wish to engage the debate generously initiated by Professor Delmar in his most recent response to our article. In doing so, our intention is both to clear the air, so to speak, regarding our own scholarly objectives, and to address some of the weaknesses we encountered in previously published material. Our goal continues to be to examine issues pertinent to our scholarship, for example, questions regarding whether issues related to technical rigor trump or eclipse the importance of causality or replicability, or of underlying statistical and methodological assumptions. In doing so, our intentions are not to spotlight any particular piece of research, but rather to stimulate discussion on these important matters.
