meaning of entrepreneurship essay

Entrepreneurship Essay: Topics & Samples about Entrepreneurship

In the course of your studies for management, marketing, or finance degree, you can be asked to write an entrepreneurship essay. Those who tried it know how challenging it is to compose a convincing and fact-based paper about business.

An entrepreneurship essay requires you to carry out thorough research. You have to arrange the findings to substantiate your opinion wisely. It shall be engaging for the reader. Usually, your purpose is not to inform but to explain your view on an economic phenomenon.

Entrepreneurship is about calculating one’s chances for success. It aims to establish a business opportunity and avail of it. In most cases, it involves product or process innovation. Thus, the goal of an entrepreneurship essay is to train your business thinking. It develops a habit of using subject-specific terminology and theories.

This article is your way to a perfect essay about entrepreneurship. Our team has prepared a guide and a list of topics where you can find an excellent sample essay about entrepreneurship. Yet, we know that the most challenging thing for many students is to come up with specific questions.

You can rely on the following steps while working on your paper:

• Pick or create a topic. The best essays focus on a narrow problem. Pick an idea that offers solutions or specifies how the reader can relate. Convey it all in your topic.
• Research thoroughly. Good preliminary research will prevent you from discussing stale news. Look for currently topical issues that many people face.
• Write an introduction. It is the most “selling” part of your entrepreneurship essay. Provide background information about the problem you are going to explore. Why did it arise, and who was affected?
• Work out a thesis statement. This sentence contains the central message of your writing. Specify your position on the narrow topic. For example, “Employee turnover is not always a negative thing.”
• Develop an argumentation. Make a list of all arguments that support your position and a few counterarguments. You will refine it when writing the main body. Include only the vital ideas and examples in your essay on entrepreneurship.
• Think of a conclusion. Mind that your readers will remember this paragraph most of all. What were the central ideas of your work? Summarize your arguments and restate your thesis with a development.
• Come up with an engaging title. It should make the readers want to keep on reading your text. An entrepreneurship essay title should reveal the problem you are going to discuss.

15 Entrepreneurship Essay Topics

To write a successful essay, you’ll need engaging topics on entrepreneurship. A good idea inspires you and gives a substantial reason for discussion.

Here we have collected the best entrepreneurship topics for your essay:

• Is becoming a successful entrepreneur an inborn quality or a developed skill?
• Is it efficient to unite researchers and entrepreneurs into one organization?
• Is contemporary entrepreneurship possible without online marketing?
• How can creativity make your business more identifiable?
• Does a model of economic development help entrepreneurs to achieve their goals, or does it limit their imagination?
• What are the psychological causes that urge entrepreneurs to seek profit?
• What are the reasons that spur the growing expertise of individuals in business issues?
• Which factors can bring entrepreneurship to bankruptcy?
• How could governments incentivize individuals to become sole entrepreneurs?
• What are the leadership characteristics of successful entrepreneurial management?
• Does gender influence a person’s skills in entrepreneurship as a career?
• Is it better to have a small enterprise or work for a large corporation, provided that the salary is the same?
• Compare the approaches entrepreneurs who start only one business and those who invest in multiple enterprises.
• How can MBA help you to become an entrepreneur?
• Analyze the path of a successful entrepreneur and suggest what could be improved.

5 Entrepreneurship Essay Questions

Your college or school professors can give you detailed essay questions. They direct your thought to make sure you do not diverge from the central idea.

Here you can check a list of entrepreneurship essay questions:

• In your opinion, is there a moment when an entrepreneur should stop expanding their business? Small business is easier to manage, but it provides less revenue. Big enterprises earn more but bring their investors to more serious risks and more significant expenses. Substantiate your point of view.
• What makes a successful business plan? Is it more important to calculate the economic feasibility of the future enterprise or predict the reaction of the target audience? Give examples of both approaches.
• Explain the concept of entrepreneurship. The essay should synthesize different formulations of prominent economists and sociologists. Make up your explanation of the term based on your synthesis.
• What can be done to avoid cutting the expenses of an enterprise? Staff reduction, renting smaller premises, and cutting salaries usually have negative aftermath. Are there any universal ways to make your business survive a recession?
• Imagine you are looking for a business partner. Which questions would you ask the candidates during the interview? Are there any traits you would look for? What kind of behavior would immediately tell you it is the wrong person?

Thanks for reading the article! Below you can find sample essays about entrepreneurship illustrating the structure that we have described above.

428 Best Sample Essays about Entrepreneurship

The definition of entrepreneurship.

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Starting a Business: Advantages and Disadvantages

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A Clothing Boutique as a Business Idea

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Concept of an Entrepreneur in Business

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Entrepreneurship: Interview with Small Business Owner

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Business Failures: Reasons and Recommendations

Small business: features and development, case study analysis: opening a coffee shop.

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Entrepreneurship: Making a Business Plan

“drinkworks: home bar” by keurig, working for someone vs. owning a business, starting a business vs. working for an employer, 3m corporation’s innovation engine case, the concept of enterprise “push” and “pull” in a business.

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Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea

Entrepreneurship: history, reasons and roles, steve jobs as a successful entrepreneur, kirzner’s theory of opportunity.

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Entrepreneurs’ Strengths and Weaknesses

Chinese and japanese business systems comparison.

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Independent Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, and Social Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship vs. Working as an Employee

The definition of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial behavior.

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Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, and Formulated Marketing

Entrepreneurship journey case study.

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“Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson

Strategic entrepreneurship: creating values.

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Women Entrepreneurs

Trait (or personality characterisitcs) approach to explaining enterpreneurship.

• Words: 1972

Enterprise Computing Challenges and Enterprise Resource Planning

• Words: 1449

Apple Inc.’s Entrepreneurship: iPod and iPad

Entrepreneurship: business planning and characteristics.

• Words: 3246

UAE Governmental Programs for Small Businesses

• Words: 2367

International Franchising and Its Benefits

Owning & operating a family business, eco-friendly packaging for food and beverage industry.

• Words: 2749

Women in Entrepreneurship

• Words: 3172

The Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Factors in a Startup Café

Entrepreneurship: reducing unemployment.

• Words: 1410

Andy Keller’s Company “ChicoBag”

• Words: 2534

Entrepreneurial Leadership Characteristics and Types

Entrepreneurship development in the uae.

• Words: 3180

Phenomenon of Entrepreneurship

• Words: 1495

Entrepreneurs and Opportunity Recognition

• Words: 2804

Entrepreneurial Action Module for Modular Business Model

• Words: 11408

How a Business Idea Becomes an Innovative Product

Concepts of customer data dynamics and sub-concepts, amazon and tesco: corporate entrepreneurship, the doctrine of insurable interest.

• Words: 2412

Khemka Family and Their Beer Business in Russia

Governmental role for business, elon musk on start-ups and entrepreneurial duties, critical success factors for entrepreneurs.

• Words: 3872

Business Planning Process and Entrepreneurial Characteristics

• Words: 2825

The Entrepreneurial Journey of Foods Future Global

• Words: 1385

“How to Change the World” by D. Bornstein

• Words: 1389

Entrepreneurship: Amara Online Shoe Shop

• Words: 7379

Establishing a Food Truck Business in Dubai

Defining corporate entrepreneurship.

• Words: 3501

Maha Al-Ghunaim, a Kuwaiti Businesswoman

Katie’s custom engraving logos.

• Words: 1669

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change

The benefits of considering small businesses in government contract solicitations, sources of capital for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship: advantages and disadvantages.

• Words: 1297

Starting a Small Business and Planning

Franchise agreement: term definition, free enterprise systems.

• Words: 1434

Traditional and Modern Forms of Transacting Business

Profitability in the uk technology industry.

• Words: 4995

Entrepreneurship Amidst Economic Downturns

Isaac larian and maxine burton: entrepreneurial success stories.

• Words: 1681

Dubai’s Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

A new business idea for the rolls royce company, revolutionizing independent cinema streaming.

• Words: 1840

Application of Schumpeter’s Innovative Entrepreneurship Theory to Ooredoo

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Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Uber Technologies, Inc.

Discussion: being an entrepreneur, elizabeth hobbs keckley as a woman in american business, digital transformation for small businesses in indonesia.

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Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics

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Entrepreneurship and Leadership in Freelance and Real Estate

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Employee vs. Entrepreneur: Benefits and Drawbacks

New enterprise start-up plan: on-demand courier service to deliver medicine.

• Words: 15616

Frank Zamboni, an Entrepreneur and Inventor

Sole proprietorship and internal control.

• Words: 1285

The African American Entrepreneurship Development Program Evaluation

• Words: 1467

The African American Entrepreneurship Development Program

The dopeplus social entrepreneurship.

• Words: 1166

Luxury Linens: Review of an Interview With an Entrepreneur

• Words: 1104

Entrepreneurship by Young People

Sole proprietorship: advantages and disadvantages, capability: business model innovation in mergers, characteristics of writing a business plan, entrepreneurial activity: the key aspects, entrepreneurial personality and decision to start a business, the determinants of self-employment for artists, a study of ooredoo’s practices in the context of schumpeter’s theory, home depot’s entrepreneurship and value creation, discussion: female entrepreneurship in asian countries, types of business forms and their organisation, entrepreneurship and christian world view.

• Words: 1001

Entrepreneurship as a Powerful Practice

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Kier Group Plc: The Impacts of COVID-19

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The Minority Business Development Agency Program

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Supporting the Innovative Entrepreneurs in Turkish Universities

Starting a business: a restaurant of national cuisine, entrepreneurial education for university students.

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The Book “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike” by Phil Knight

Family business succession in asian countries.

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Commercialization and Innovation Best Practices

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Establishing a Small Business Tourist Agency in the UAE

Investing in an offshore wind power plant in greece.

• Words: 1214

Crowdfunding Project on Kickstarter

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What Is Business Intelligence?

“the art of the start” by guy kawasaki, the innovation process: successes and failures, elements and infrastructures for technology startups.

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The Milaha Express Firm’s Possibilities in Qatar

Social enterprise: asian paints.

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Essay on Entrepreneurship

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is a term that is widely applicable in the world of business. There are different definitions of the term entrepreneurship. The first definition identifies entrepreneurship as the process of creating a new business, with a view of making profits while bearing in mind all the risks that are involved. Different scholars have had their opinions about the description of the term entrepreneurship, including Stevenson, a renown expert in the topic. He defined entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled. His definition is still widely applied by many in the world of business (Venkataraman, 2019). The second definition is linked to one Frank Knight, who defined it as the bearing of uncertainty and responsibility for risks within the financial market. Joseph Schumpeter also contributed significantly by defining entrepreneurship as the creation of new things in search of profits. Schumpeter also asserts that the role of creating new things is not only left to companies and other businesses but also individuals who make efforts in the area. The researcher introduced the concept of creative destruction to mean creation and invention of a new idea in the market that calls for the demise of the existing competitor. For instance, the emergence of Smartphones killed use traditional means of communication, such as telephone boots and regular use of letters. As such, Joseph Schumpeter contributed significantly as the term creative destruction is universal in the marketing. Marketing is a lucrative field that requires creativity for one to make an impact in the market. Fourth is Israel Kirzner who defined entrepreneurship as the process that led to discovery. It is important to note that most of the definitions by various scholars share a familiar concept, risk-taking and opportunity exploration.

A venture is considered as a small business that is started by one individual or groups with a view of gaining financially. The profits from the investment benefit all the backers of that particular project or business. There are many different ventures that an individual can offer to invest in. An enterprise should aim to make a financial gain to the individual or group that invested. The risk-taking tendency by entrepreneurs and the idea of profit making coincides with the typology of entrepreneurship. Examples of entrepreneurship ventures that many can get into include gazelle, microenterprise, small/lifestyle and medium enterprises.

A gazelle enterprise is a business venture that experiences rapid growth annually for period of over four years. Revenues of such an enterprise increase yearly by over 20% and must have a base capital of at least $100,000. Such companies experience high sales growth rates regardless of their size. However, most of such business ventures operate on the lower end of the scale. Company growth can be measured by the turnover or the number of employees working for the enterprise.

The second entrepreneurial venture is a microenterprise that employs a small number of people, usually less than 10. Microenterprises are started by small amounts of capital and they specialize in providing goods and services within its locality. All microenterprises venture into simple product lines and operate on small scale. Microenterprises contribute largely to the economy as they create employment. Business owners in such ventures enjoy small profits, which they use to improve their standards of living. As such, microenterprises agree to the typology of entrepreneurship by making profits for those who invest.

Small or lifestyle enterprises are business ventures started with aim of sustaining or maintaining a certain level of income. Such enterprises aim at sustaining a certain level of lifestyle for the entrepreneur. They employ a small number of people and maintain certain level of assets for owners. Lifestyle enterprises play a key role in employing people at the same time maintains a particular lifestyle for the owner, thereby, complying with the typology of entrepreneurship.

Medium size enterprises employ between 50 and 500 employees depending on the legislation in that specific nation. Such enterprises have a specified value of assets and in the UK, they have less than 250 employees. In the year 2013, there were over 5.2 million medium sized businesses, which comprised of over 99% of enterprises in the country. The aim of medium business enterprises is to make profit like any other entrepreneurial venture. As such, medium sized business enterprises agree to the typology of entrepreneurship.

According to Wennekers and Thurik (1999), a Schumpeterian entrepreneur is one who aims at capitalizing on the existing entrepreneurial abilities to make profits. In other words, a Schumpeterian entrepreneur will assess the current businesses that are operating and think of better services to people. The Schumpeter concept is Austrian. Existing product and service lines in the market require improvements for better service delivery (Wennekers & Thurik, 1999). A Schumpeter entrepreneur is an individual who capitalizes on such opportunities with a view of providing better services while making profits. An intrepreneur is a person who works for a particular organization and identifies better ways to improve quality and service delivery to customers. Innovative product development and marketing is the role of a manager working for that specific organization. As such, the manager is referred to as an entrepreneur. Managerial business owner is an individual who invests in a venture and entirely owns the business. Administrative business owners are not responsible for innovation and creative destruction in the market as these remains the work of managerial entrepreneurs. The main difference between the three terms described is that an administrative business owner is responsible for financing the venture while the rest work for the owner to ensure innovation and product development. A similarity known among the three types of entrepreneurs is the fact that they all aim to make profits for the owner of the business.

Miles & Snow (2009) classified organizations into four types, including prospector, defender, analytical and follower businesses. A prospector implies an organization that has difficulties in locating and exploiting a new product in the market. Such ventures require constant examination of the continually changing business world to succeed. The element of unpredictability makes a continuous check-up of the market a necessity to establish strategic production. According to the two researchers, prospector organizations have comprehensive product and service lines. Production in such cases prefers to promote creativity to efficiency. Defender organizations are defined as those entities that cannot survive in unstable environments (Miles, Miles, Snow, Blomqvist & Rocha, 2009). Their worry is how to maintain their current market share hence the need for them to operate in a relatively stable business environment. Cost leadership and specialization in a specific product line can well help solve the problem. Analyzer organizations refer to those that have both prospector and defender organization characteristics. They face a challenge of establishing in new markets and at the same have a problem of maintaining their current market share. Follower organizations refer to organizations that do not make long-term plans for business but instead ensure that managers study the dynamic world fast enough to cope with the changes.

Steve Blank in 2010 asserts that there are four types of entrepreneurs, namely small business owners, scalable, large business owners and large entrepreneurs. Small business owners face known risks in the market as they venture into product lines and services that are already known. A scalable business idea digs into the existing opportunity and turns it into a larger business through the expansion of its business activities. The aim of setting up such business entities is to take over the existing market and turn it out to make huge profits. On the other hand, a large business is an entity that has over 5000 employees or has a high financial turnover of over 1.5 billion Euros in a year (Blank, 2010). Any venture that does not feature any of the two characteristics or both of them cannot be termed as a large business. Social entrepreneurship involves start-up companies raising funds to solve cultural, social and environmental problems.

The data presented is indicative of the importance of having small businesses and startups within the economy. The data is extracted from the office of national statistics in the United Kingdom. Moreover, the data presented include information regarding micro-businesses and small businesses contribution to the economy of the region that they operate. For instance, from the year 2010 to 2017, the country has been registering an increasing trend indicating that such businesses play a crucial role. On employment, micro-business ventures employed over 4,618,315 people in 2010, and by 2017 (“Employment – ONS”, 2019), the number of those depending on such businesses rose to 5,491,009. On the other hand, small businesses employed over 3,785, 801 people in the year 2010 to a whopping 4,450, 716 by 2017. As such, micro and small businesses within the economy play a key role in ensuring increased employment opportunities as indicated by statistics from the national office in the UK.

Another vital aspect presented in the data provided is the turnover involved annually in the event of operating such businesses. Like the data on employment, the turnover for both micro and small businesses has been fluctuating from the year 2010. It is also critical to note from the data that in some years, the turnover reduced instead of increasing. For instance, in 2010 the turnover for both micro and small businesses was 589,871,148 and 549,139,326 billions of Euros, respectively. In the following year 2011, the turnover reduced to 552,345,550 and 508,579,840, respectively. However, the figures have increased as of 2017 to 791,771,342 and 616,807,735 respectively. The growth in the turnover of micro and small businesses is a clear indication that they contribute positively to the growth of the economy in the United Kingdom.

In terms of inventory and general count, micro and other small businesses have significantly contributed and have seen an expansion. This is indicated by the data provided as the numbers have changed from 2010 to 2017. In the year 2010, micro-businesses had a count of 1,861,590, which increased to 2,386, 740 by 2017. Additionally, small businesses increased their count from 196, 520 in the year 2010 to a whopping 231, 715 in the year 2017. The graphs provided indicates the trend that has been experienced in the economy in regards to micro and other small businesses. Such ventures are contributing positively to the economy of the United Kingdom.

Small businesses and start-ups play a crucial role in the growth of the social economy. Social economy comprises a diversity of enterprises and organizations sharing common values and features. Such may include cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, paritarian institutions and social enterprises who value social objectives over capital. The first and most important role that the businesses play is the creation of employment (Burns, 2016). For instance, in the United States in the year 2015, small businesses and startups created over 1.9 million jobs. There are over 30.2 million small businesses in the United States who employ approximately 58 million people. As such, small businesses contribute primarily to the growth of the economy by creating jobs.

Second, small scale businesses and start-ups contribute by ensuring that the GDP of the country grows. Social economy contributes to the overall GDP sum and its growth projects more taxes to be paid. A small business thriving locally will have more to give as taxes to the local government and hence a contribution to the GDP. Such money can be used locally to develop infrastructure within the community. As such, small businesses play a vital role in ensuring that the well-being of the community improves in the long run.

Small businesses quickly adjust to changes in the economic environment and act as a cushion to the local economy in cases where large businesses have failed. This is because in cases of unpredictability in the market, small business owners are customer-oriented and can flex quickly to suit the needs of the market. Large businesses have few options in case of a similar predicament and may not help the local economy as anticipated. As such, all small businesses around the world contribute positively to the growth of the social economy as their interest is not capital-driven.

Blank, S. (2010). What’s A Startup? First Principles.  Steve Blank .

Burns, P. (2016).  Entrepreneurship and small business . Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Employment – ONS. (2019). Retrieved 23 July 2019, from https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105164129/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Employment

Miles, R. E., Miles, G., Snow, C. C., Blomqvist, K., & Rocha, H. (2009). The I-form organization.  California Management Review ,  51 (4), 61-76.

Venkataraman, S. (2019). The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research. In  Seminal Ideas for the Next Twenty-Five Years of Advances  (pp. 5-20). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Wennekers, S., & Thurik, R. (1999). Linking entrepreneurship and economic growth.  Small business economics ,  13 (1), 27-56.

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Essay Samples on Entrepreneurship

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Social Entrepreneurship: Harnessing Innovation

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Evolution of Entrepreneurship: Economic Progress

Evolution of entrepreneurship is a fascinating journey that mirrors the changes in society, economy, and technology throughout history. From humble beginnings as small-scale trade to the modern era of startups, innovation hubs, and global business networks, entrepreneurship has continuously adapted to the dynamic landscape. This...

Importance of Entrepreneurship: Economic Growth and Societal Transformation

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1. What is Entrepreneurship in Your Own Words

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Entrepreneurship Defined: What It Means to Be an Entrepreneur

Table of Contents

The road to entrepreneurship is often a treacherous one filled with unexpected detours, roadblocks and dead ends. There are lots of sleepless nights, plans that don’t work out, funding that doesn’t come through and customers that never materialize. It can be so challenging to launch a business that it may make you wonder why anyone willingly sets out on such a path.

Despite those hardships, every year thousands of people embark on an entrepreneurial journey, determined to bring their vision to fruition and fill a need they see in society. They open brick-and-mortar businesses, launch tech startups, or turn an idea into a new product or service. With the right motivation, inspiration and game plan, you can be a successful entrepreneur, too.

What entrepreneurs do

An entrepreneur identifies a need that no existing business addresses and determines a solution for that need. Entrepreneurial activity includes developing and starting a new business and implementing a business marketing plan , often with the end goal of selling the company to turn a profit.

An entrepreneur who regularly launches new businesses, sells them and then starts new companies is a serial entrepreneur. Whether a business owner should be considered an entrepreneur often depends on whether they created the business, and other legalities. That said, any founder of a successful household-name business began as an entrepreneur. 

If you want to become an entrepreneur yourself but you worry you don’t have the money for it, finances don’t have to stop you from achieving your career goals . Many entrepreneurs seek financing options that bypass traditional banks, like funding from angel investors that provide entrepreneurs with capital to cover startup costs (or, later, expansion costs). If you can demonstrate a high growth potential for your business, you can also turn to a venture capitalist, who offers capital in exchange for receiving equity in your company.

Examples of successful entrepreneurs

Many people whose names no one knew decades ago exemplify entrepreneurial success today. Here are just a few examples:

• Steve Jobs: The late tech leader started Apple in a garage and grew it into the dominant company it is today. Jobs even faltered partway through his career, leaving Apple for more than a decade before returning to the company and taking it to new heights
• Elon Musk: He founded SpaceX and has since become known for putting the billions of dollars his company has earned him toward some benevolent projects, including providing clean water to Flint, Michigan, and donating FDA-approved ventilators to hospitals fighting COVID-19.
• Bill Gates: The Microsoft co-founder has often been listed as the world’s wealthiest individual and has become an internationally renowned leader on pandemics and how to handle them. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shared with his former wife, focuses on combating poverty, inequity and disease globally.
• Jeff Bezos: The founder and creator of Amazon.com originally started the enterprise as an online book retailer. The internet marketplace has since become one of the most valued companies in the world, selling nearly every product imaginable.
• Mark Zuckerberg: As a college student, he helped shape the future of social media by co-founding the social networking platform Facebook. Initially launched for only select college campuses, the service quickly expanded to the broader public. Its success turned Zuckerberg into one of the youngest self-made billionaires in America.
• Sara Blakely: She took $5,000 and turned it into a $1 billion company with an invention known today as Spanx. The idea was born out of Blakely’s frustration with the pantyhose she had to wear for prior jobs. She had no fashion experience but researched everything from patents to fabrics. 

The motivations of successful entrepreneurs

What motivates entrepreneurs to venture forth when so many others would run in the opposite direction? Though each person’s inspiration is nuanced and unique, many entrepreneurs are spurred by one or more of the following motivators:

• Autonomy: Entrepreneurs are people who want to be their own bosses, set their own goals, control their own progress and run their businesses how they see fit. They recognize that their businesses’ success or failure rests with them, but they don’t view this responsibility as a burden. Instead, it’s a marker of their freedom.
• Purpose: Many entrepreneurs have a clear vision of what they want to accomplish and will work tirelessly to make that happen. They genuinely believe they have a product or service that fills a void and are compelled by a single-minded commitment to keep pushing ahead. They hate stagnation and would rather fail while moving forward than languish in inactivity. [Check out the major reasons entrepreneurs fail by their second year.]
• Flexibility: Not everyone fits into the rigidity of traditional corporate culture. Entrepreneurs are often looking to free themselves from these constraints, find a better work-life balance , or work at times and in ways that may be unconventional. This doesn’t mean they’re working fewer hours – often, especially in the early stages of growing a business , they work longer and harder – but, rather, they’re working in a way that is instinctual for them.
• Financial success: Most entrepreneurs realize they aren’t going to be overnight billionaires, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in the potential to make a ton of money from a hugely successful business over which they have full control. Some want to establish a financial safety net for themselves and their families, while others are looking to make a huge profit by creating the next big thing.
• Legacy: Entrepreneurs are often guided by a desire to create something that outlasts them. Others want to develop a brand that has longevity and becomes an institution. Some want to pass on a source of income and security to their heirs. There are also entrepreneurs who hope to make a lasting impression on the world and leave behind an innovation that improves people’s lives in some tangible way.

See more reasons entrepreneurs start businesses and the traits that lead to entrepreneurial success .

Advice from successful entrepreneurs

If you’re contemplating whether to become an entrepreneur, first identify which of the above motivators serve as your guiding forces. Then, consider if you have the specific character traits and attributes that will enable you to thrive as an entrepreneur.

To help you determine if you’ve got what it takes, here’s what 25 company founders and business leaders told us about what they think makes a truly successful entrepreneur: 

• “Entrepreneurship is at the core of the American dream. It’s about blazing new trails , about believing in yourself, your mission and inspiring others to join you in the journey. What sets [entrepreneurs] apart is the will, courage and sometimes recklessness to actually do it.” – Derek Hutson, managing partner at Morgan Creek Strategies
• “Entrepreneurship is a pursuit of a solution , a single relentless focus on solving a problem or doing something drastically different from the way it is done today. [It’s] aiming to do something better than it’s ever been done before and constantly chasing improvement.” – Blake Hutchison, CEO of Flippa
• “Entrepreneurship is … the constant hunger for making things better and the idea that you are never satisfied with how things are.” – Debbie Roxarzade, founder and CEO of Rachel’s Kitchen
• “At its core, [entrepreneurship] is a mindset – a way of thinking and acting. It is about imagining new ways to solve problems and create value . Fundamentally, entrepreneurship is about … the ability to recognize [and] methodically analyze [an] opportunity and, ultimately, to capture [its] value.” – Bruce Bachenheimer, clinical professor of management and executive director of the Entrepreneurship Lab at Pace University
• “The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who possess grit . Grit is made up of persistence, passion and resilience. It’s the passion to achieve long-term goals, the courage to try again in the face of rejection, and the will to do something better than it has been done before. The most successful entrepreneurs tend to be gritty ones … They do not give up until they exceed their goals. When the going gets tough and they get knocked down, gritty entrepreneurs bounce right back up and try again.” – Deborah Sweeney, vice president and general manager of Deluxe Corp.
• “ The ability to listen , whether it be to the opinions of customers or employees, is also integral to success. While … you must have the confidence to make your own choices, it is still incredibly important not to become detached from the people whose needs you are trying to meet.” – Tirath Kamdar, general manager of luxury at eBay
• “Being an entrepreneur is like heading into uncharted territory. It’s rarely obvious what to do next, and you have to rely on yourself a lot when you run into problems. There are many days when you feel like things will never work out and you’re operating at a loss for endless months. You have to be able to stomach the roller coaster of emotions that comes with striking out on your own .” – Amanda Austin, founder and president of Little Shop of Miniatures
• “To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have a passion for learning – from customers, employees and even competitors.” – James Bedal, president and CEO of Bare Metal Standard
• “Being a successful entrepreneur also means being a good leader . Leadership is the ability to bring people to a place where they want to follow you, not feel like they are forced to follow you. This takes investing in your team personally. They must know you’re not only going to hold them accountable and drive them to be better, but [you will] also look out for them when they are struggling. It’s not transactional; it’s a relationship.” – Steve Schwab, founder and CEO of Casago
• “Entrepreneurship is the ability to recognize the bigger picture, find where there’s an opportunity to make someone’s life better, design hypotheses around these opportunities and continually test your assumptions . It’s experimentation: Some experiments will work; many others will fail. It is not big exits, huge net worth or living a life of glamour. It’s hard work and persistence to leave the world a better place once your time here is done.” – Konrad Billetz, founding partner at Outliant
• “A key skill an entrepreneur must possess is self-awareness . An entrepreneur must know who they are and what they need. Self-awareness is the first step for an entrepreneur to build their team.” – Krystal Nelson, founder of I-Impakt Consulting
• “[Entrepreneurs] have to be people-oriented . Your business will die without a good team to back you up. Study management techniques, learn from great leaders, [and] review where you’re succeeding and failing so you can help others improve. An entrepreneur has to be able to build a team who cares about its work, and to do that, you have to care about how you create your team.” – Jonathan Barnett, president and CEO of Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning
• “To be a successful entrepreneur, you need perseverance . Most successful businesspeople or entrepreneurs have never given up on their idea. When challenges arise, they have found innovative ways of overcoming them. You must be able to adapt to changing economic conditions, and innovate and embrace technological advances to keep your customers engaged. These things take determination and a strong focus on the end goal.” – Stacey Kehoe, founder and director of communications at Brandlective Communications
• “Entrepreneurship is the mindset that allows you to see opportunity everywhere . It could be a business idea, but it could also be seeing the possibilities in the people who can help you grow that business. This ability to see many options in every situation is critically important; there will be unending challenges that will test your hustle.” – Preeti Sriratana, co-founder of Sweeten
• “Entrepreneurs and business owners definitely need to get used to taking risks . … You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Trying to grow a company or execute on an idea is difficult. It’s not always going to be roses and unicorns. At some point, you’re going to run into issues, lose customers and have financial constraints. It’s at this point you need to get back on the horse and take another risk, whether it’s in the form of a new product, new marketing campaign or a new customer recruitment strategy.” – Matthew Ross, co-founder and chief operating officer of Slumber Yard
• “Successful entrepreneurs look past [the] ‘quick buck’ and instead look at the bigger picture to ensure that each action made is going toward the overall goal of the business or concept, whether or not that means getting something in return at that moment.” – Allen Dikker, CEO of Galk Consulting
• “Being an entrepreneur is ingrained in one’s identity . [It] is the culmination of a certain set of characteristics: determination, creativity, the capacity to risk, leadership and enthusiasm.” – Eric Lupton, president of Life Saver Pool Fence Systems
• “Entrepreneurship is an unavoidable life calling pursued by those who are fortunate enough to take chances. [They are] optimistic enough to believe in themselves, aware enough to see problems around them, stubborn enough to keep going, and bold enough to act again and again. Entrepreneurship is not something you do because you have an idea. It’s about having the creativity to question, the strength to believe and the courage to move .” – Jordan Fliegel, managing director at Techstars
• “You may need to also be a bit of a contrarian. Sometimes it takes a person who thinks differently than the herd to start something new and defy the odds.” – Akshay Khanna, founder and CEO of CareClinic
• “Entrepreneurship is seeing an opportunity and gathering the resources to turn a possibility into a reality . It represents the freedom to envision something new and to make it happen. It includes risk, but it also includes the reward of creating a legacy.” – Maia Haag, co-founder and president of I See Me! Personalized Books and Gifts
• “An entrepreneur must be able to accept failure. Everyone thinks they can accept failure until they come face to face with failing at a major thing they have put their everything into. To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be someone who is able to risk failure at the deepest personal levels .” – Steven Benson, founder and CEO of Badger Maps
• “[Entrepreneurs] must be able to pivot. If something isn’t working, keeping at it won’t make you successful. But changing your approach, changing your business model, changing your plans to make it work is the power of the pivot . You’re adaptable regardless of what’s thrown at you.” – Michael Maher, chief idea officer of Cartology
• “Entrepreneurship is about always moving forward : never stopping, never allowing self-doubt or fear to take over and believing wholeheartedly that even a wrong decision is better than no decision.” – Adam Sherwin, founder of Viakix
• “Entrepreneurs are the dreamers and the visionaries . Without them, the world stagnates and progress stops. Society needs entrepreneurs the same way the body needs air.” – Cynthia Kirkeby, founder of Seasonally Fresh

How to become an entrepreneur

There’s no single path to becoming a successful entrepreneur. A lot of it can come down to having the right skills, mindset and ideas at the right time to resonate with the public. However, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of starting a thriving business.

• Find the right idea. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about finding a profitable idea; it’s about finding one you’re passionate about pursuing. Almost any industry has room for new entrepreneurs, and identifying the subject you care about most can motivate you to stay on course.
• Develop a plan for your business. It’s not enough to say you want to start a business; you also need a solid plan for how to do so. A business plan can help solidify the financial goals you’d like to reach. It can also tell you how to reach them while enticing potential investors to fund your venture.
• Determine your clientele. Not many businesses become successful without serving customers or clients. Most ventures won’t appeal to every member of the public equally, but you can gauge interest in your idea before opening your doors. The demographics of the people most interested in your business can help you make other decisions, like your store location and ad buys. 
• Sell your idea. Even if your product or service has garnered interest among friends, family or online forums, that’s a small sample size. You need to get a sense of what the public thinks. Marketing your idea in the right places and highlighting what sets it apart from competitors can help draw people to your business. [Related article: What Is a Unique Selling Proposition? ]
• Meet others in your field. There are most likely people in your industry whose expertise in certain areas can benefit your fledgling business. Proper networking can connect you to people from whom you can draw valuable knowledge or gain monetary support. It’s even worth following business Instagram accounts to learn from peers and experts.

The value of entrepreneurship

Being a successful entrepreneur isn’t an easy path. It can often take far more hard work, ingenuity and perseverance than the typical 9-to-5 job and yet still not pan out in the long run. However, succeeding as an entrepreneur can be one of the most rewarding experiences, because you’re doing so on your own terms and affecting society at the same time. For many, those rewards are invaluable. There’s never a guarantee that an idea will succeed, but you’ll still see many people starting their own businesses anyway. After all, failure is just as uncertain.

Isaiah Atkins and Paula Fernandes contributed to the writing and reporting in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. 

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1.1: Chapter 1 – Introduction to Entrepreneurship

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• Lee A. Swanson
• University of Saskatchewan

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Whilst there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship, it is fair to say that it is multi-dimensional. It involves analyzing people and their actions together with the ways in which they interact with their environments, be these social, economic, or political, and the institutional, policy, and legal frameworks that help define and legitimize human activities. – Blackburn (2011, p. xiii)

Entrepreneurship involves such a range of activities and levels of analysis that no single definition is definitive. – Lichtenstein (2011, p. 472)

It is complex, chaotic, and lacks any notion of linearity. As educators, we have the responsibility to develop our students’ discovery, reasoning, and implementation skills so they may excel in highly uncertain environments. – Neck and Greene (2011, p. 55)

Learning Objectives

• Examine the challenges associated with defining the concepts of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship
• Discuss how the evolution of entrepreneurship thought has influenced how we view the concept of entrepreneurship today
• Discuss how the list of basic questions in entrepreneurship research can be expanded to include research inquiries that are important in today’s world
• Discuss how the concepts of entrepreneurial uniqueness, entrepreneurial personality traits, and entrepreneurial cognitions can help society improve its support for entrepreneurship
• Apply the general venturing script to the study of entrepreneurship

This chapter provides you with an overview of entrepreneurship and of the language of entrepreneurship. The challenges associated with defining entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are explored, as is an overview of how entrepreneurship can be studied.

The objective is to enable you to apply current concepts in entrepreneurship to the evaluation of entrepreneurs, their ventures, and the venturing environment. You will develop skills, including the capability to add value in the new venture sector of the economy. You will acquire and practice evaluation skills useful in consulting, advising, and making new venture decisions.

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship

Considerations influencing definitions of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship.

It is necessary to be able to determine exactly who entrepreneurs are before we can, among other things, study them, count them, provide special loans for them, and calculate how and how much they contribute to our economy.

• Does someone need to start a business from scratch to be called an entrepreneur?
• Can we call someone an entrepreneur if they bought an ongoing business from someone else or took over the operations of a family business from their parents?
• If someone starts a small business and never needs to hire employees, can they be called an entrepreneur?
• If someone buys a business but hires professional managers to run it so they don’t have to be involved in the operations, are they an entrepreneur?
• Is someone an entrepreneur if they buy into a franchise so they can follow a well-established formula for running the operation?
• Is someone an entrepreneur because of what they do or because of how they think?
• Can someone be an entrepreneur without owning their own business?
• Can a person be an entrepreneur because of the nature of the work that they do within a large corporation?

It is also necessary to fully understand what we mean by entrepreneurship before we can study the concept.

Gartner (1990) identified 90 attributes that showed up in definitions of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship provided by entrepreneurs and other experts in the field. The following are a few of these attributes:

• Innovation – Does a person need to be innovative to be considered an entrepreneur? Can an activity be considered to be entrepreneurial if it is not innovative?
• Activities – What activities does a person need to do to be considered an entrepreneur?
• Creation of a new business – Does someone need to start a new business to be considered to be an entrepreneur, or can someone who buys a business, buys into a franchise, or takes over an existing family business be considered an entrepreneur?
• Starts an innovative venture within an established organization – Can someone who works within an existing organization that they don’t own be considered an entrepreneur if they start an innovative venture for their organization?
• Creation of a not-for-profit business – Can a venture be considered to be entrepreneurial if it is a not-for-profit, or should only for-profit businesses be considered entrepreneurial?

After identifying the 90 attributes, Gartner (1990) went back to the entrepreneurs and other experts for help in clustering the attributes into themes that would help summarize what people concerned with entrepreneurship thought about the concept. He ended up with the following eight entrepreneurship themes:

1. The Entrepreneur – The entrepreneur theme is the idea that entrepreneurship involves individuals with unique personality characteristics and abilities (e.g., risk-taking, locus of control, autonomy, perseverance, commitment, vision, creativity). Almost 50% of the respondents rated these characteristics as not important to a definition of entrepreneurship (Gartner, 1990, p. 21, 24).

• “The question that needs to be addressed is: Does entrepreneurship involve entrepreneurs (individuals with unique characteristics)?” (Gartner, 1990, p. 25).

2. Innovation – The innovation theme is characterized as doing something new as an idea, product, service, market, or technology in a new or established organization. The innovation theme suggests that innovation is not limited to new ventures, but recognized as something which older and/or larger organizations may undertake as well (Gartner, 1990, p. 25). Some of the experts Gartner questioned believed that it was important to include innovation in definitions of entrepreneurship and others did not think it was as important.

• “Does entrepreneurship involve innovation?” (Gartner, 1990, p. 25).

3. Organization Creation – The organization creation theme describes the behaviors involved in creating organizations. This theme described acquiring and integrating resource attributes (e.g., Brings resources to bear, integrates opportunities with resources, mobilizes resources, gathers resources) and attributes that described creating organizations (new venture development and the creation of a business that adds value). (Gartner, 1990, p. 25)

• “Does entrepreneurship involve resource acquisition and integration (new venture creation activities)?” (Gartner, 1990, p. 25)

4. Creating Value – This theme articulated the idea that entrepreneurship creates value. The attributes in this factor indicated that value creation might be represented by transforming a business, creating a new business growing a business, creating wealth, or destroying the status quo.

• “Does entrepreneurship involve creating value?” (Gartner, 1990, p. 25).

5. Profit or Nonprofit

• “Does entrepreneurship involve profit-making organizations only” (Gartner, 1990, p. 25)?
• Should a focus on growth be a characteristic of entrepreneurship?

7. Uniqueness – This theme suggested that entrepreneurship must involve uniqueness. Uniqueness was characterized by attributes such as a special way of thinking, a vision of accomplishment, ability to see situations in terms of unmet needs, and creates a unique combination.

• “Does entrepreneurship involve uniqueness?” (Gartner, 1990, p. 26).

8. The Owner-Manager – Some of the respondents questioned by Gartner (1990) did not believe that small mom-and-pop types of businesses should be considered to be entrepreneurial. Some respondents felt that an important element of a definition of entrepreneurship was that a venture be owner-managed.

• To be entrepreneurial, does a venture need to be owner-managed?

Examples of Definitions of Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur can be described as “one who creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying significant opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them” (Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2008, p. 5).

An entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise” (Entrepreneur, n.d.).

Examples of Definitions of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship can be defined as a field of business that

seeks to understand how opportunities to create something new (e.g., new products or services, new markets, new production processes or raw materials, new ways of organizing existing technologies) arise and are discovered or created by specific persons, who then use various means to exploit or develop them, thus producing a wide range of effects (Baron, Shane, & Reuber, 2008, p. 4)

A concise definition of entrepreneurship “is that it is the process of pursuing opportunities without limitation by resources currently in hand” (Brooks, 2009, p. 3) and “the process of doing something new and something different for the purpose of creating wealth for the individual and adding value to society” (Kao, 1993, p. 70)

The Evolution of Entrepreneurship Thought

This section includes an overview of how entrepreneurship has evolved to the present day.

The following timeline shows some of the most influential entrepreneurship scholars and the schools of thought (French, English, American, German, and Austrian) their perspectives helped influence and from which their ideas evolved. Schools of thought are essentially groups of people who might or might not have personally known each other, but who shared common beliefs or philosophies.

Figure 1 – Historical and Evolutionary Entrepreneurship Thought (Illustration by Lee A. Swanson)

The Earliest Entrepreneurship

The function, if not the name, of the entrepreneur is probably as old as the institutions of barter and exchange. But only after economic markets became an intrusive element of society did the concept take on pivotal importance. Many economists have recognized the pivotal role of the entrepreneur in a market economy. Yet despite his central importance in economic activity, the entrepreneur has been a shadowy and elusive figure in the history of economic theory (Hebert & Link, 2009, p. 1).

Historically those who acted similarly to the ways we associate with modern day entrepreneurs – namely those who strategically assume risks to seek economic (or other) gains – were military leaders, royalty, or merchants. Military leaders planned their campaigns and battles while assuming significant risks, but by doing so they also stood to gain economic benefits if their strategies were successful. Merchants, like Marco Polo who sailed out of Venice in the late 1200s to search for a trade route to the Orient, also assumed substantial risks in the hope of becoming wealthy (Hebert & Link, 2009).

The entrepreneur, who was also called adventurer , projector , and undertaker during the eighteenth century, was not always viewed in a positive light (Hebert & Link, 2009).

Development of Entrepreneurship as a Concept

Risk and uncertainty.

Richard Cantillon (1680-1734) was born in France and belonged to the French School of thought although he was an Irish economist. He appears to be the person who introduced the term entrepreneur to the world. “According to Cantillon, the entrepreneur is a specialist in taking on risk, ‘insuring’ workers by buying their output for resale before consumers have indicated how much they are willing to pay for it” (Casson & Godley, 2005p. 26). The workers’ incomes are mostly stable, but the entrepreneur risks a loss if market prices fluctuate.

Cantillon distinguished entrepreneurs from two other classes of economic agents; landowners, who were financially independent, and hirelings (employees) who did not partake in the decision-making in exchange for relatively stable incomes through employment contracts. He was the first writer to provide a relatively refined meaning for the term entrepreneurship . Cantillon described entrepreneurs as individuals who generated profits through exchanges. In the face of uncertainty, particularly over future prices, they exercise business judgment. They purchase resources at one price and sell their product at a price that is uncertain, with the difference representing their profit (Chell, 2008; Hebert & Link, 2009).

Farmers were the most prominent entrepreneurs during Cantillon’s lifetime, and they interacted with “arbitrageurs” – or middlemen between farmers and the end consumers – who also faced uncertain incomes, and who were also, therefore, entrepreneurs. These intermediaries facilitated the movement of products from the farms to the cities where more than half of the farm output was consumed. Cantillon observed that consumers were willing to pay a higher price per unit to be able to purchase products in the smaller quantities they wanted, which created the opportunities for the intermediaries to make profits. Profits were the rewards for assuming the risks arising from uncertain conditions. The markets in which profits were earned were characterized by incomplete information (Chell, 2008; Hebert & Link, 2009).

Adolph Reidel (1809-1872), form the German School of thought, picked up on Cantillon’s notion of uncertainty and extended it to theorize that entrepreneurs take on uncertainty so others, namely income earners, do not have to be subject to the same uncertainty. Entrepreneurs provide a service to risk-averse income earners by assuming risk on their behalf. In exchange, entrepreneurs are rewarded when they can foresee the impacts of the uncertainty and sell their products at a price that exceeds their input costs (including the fixed costs of the wages they commit to paying) (Hebert & Link, 2009).

Frank Knight (1885-1972) founded the Chicago School of Economics and belonged to the American School of thought. He refined Cantillon’s perspective on entrepreneurs and risk by distinguishing insurable risk as something that is separate from uncertainty, which is not insurable. Some risks can be insurable because they have occurred enough times in the past that the expected loss from such risks can be calculated. Uncertainty, on the other hand, is not subject to probability calculations. According to Knight, entrepreneurs can’t share the risk of loss by insuring themselves against uncertain events, so they bear these kinds of risks themselves, and profit is the reward that entrepreneurs get from assuming uninsurable risks (Casson & Godley, 2005).

Distinction Between Entrepreneur and Manager

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832), also from the French School, advanced Cantillon’s work, but added that entrepreneurship was essentially a form of management. Say “put the entrepreneur at the core of the entire process of production and distribution” (Hebert & Link, 2009, p. 17). Say’s work resulted in something similar to a general theory of entrepreneurship with three distinct functions; “scientific knowledge of the product; entrepreneurial industry – the application of knowledge to useful purpose; and productive industry – the manufacture of the item by manual labour” (Chell, 2008, p. 20).

Frank Knight made several contributions to entrepreneurship theory, but another of note is how he distinguished an entrepreneur from a manager. He suggested that a manager crosses the line to become an entrepreneur “when the exercise of his/her judgment is liable to error and s/he assumes the responsibility for its correctness” (Chell, 2008, p. 33). Knight said that entrepreneurs calculate the risks associated with uncertain business situations and make informed judgments and decisions with the expectation that – if they assessed the situation and made the correct decisions – they would be rewarded by earning a profit. Those who elect to avoid taking these risks choose the relative security of being employees (Chell, 2008).

Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), from the English School of thought, was one of the founders of neoclassical economics. His research involved distinguishing between the terms capitalist, entrepreneur, and manager. Marshall saw capitalists as individuals who “committed themselves to the capacity and honesty of others, when he by himself had incurred the risks for having contributed with the capital” (Zaratiegui & Rabade, 2005, p. 775). An entrepreneur took control of money provided by capitalists in an effort to leverage it to create more money; but would lose less if something went wrong then would the capitalists. An entrepreneur, however, risked his own reputation and the other gains he could have made by pursuing a different opportunity.

Let us suppose that two men are carrying on smaller businesses, the one working with his own, the other chiefly with borrowed capital. There is one set of risks which is common to both; which may be described as the trade risks of the particular business … But there is another set of risks, the burden of which has to be borne by the man working with borrowed capital, and not by the other; and we may call them personal risks (Marshall, 1961, p. 590; Zaratiegui & Rabade, 2005, p. 776).

Marshall recognized that the reward capitalists received for contributing capital was interest income and the reward entrepreneurs earned was profits. Managers received a salary and, according to Marshall, fulfilled a different function than either capitalists or entrepreneurs – although in some cases, particularly in smaller firms, one person might be both an entrepreneur and a manager. Managers “were more inclined to avoid challenges, innovations and what Schumpeter called the ‘perennial torment of creative destruction’ in favour of a more tranquil life” (Zaratiegui & Rabade, 2005, p. 781). The main risks they faced from firm failure were to their reputations or to their employment status. Managers had little incentive to strive to maximize profits (Zaratiegui & Rabade, 2005).

Amasa Walker (1799-1875) and his son Francis Walker (1840-1897) were from the American School of thought, and they helped shape an American perspective of entrepreneurship following the Civil War of 1861-1865. These scholars claimed that entrepreneurs created wealth, and thus played a different role than capitalists. They believed that entrepreneurs had the power of foresight and leadership qualities that enabled them to organize resources and inject energy into activities that create wealth (Chell, 2008).

Entrepreneurship versus Entrepreneur

Adam Smith (1723-1790), from the English School of thought, published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. In a departure from the previous thought into entrepreneurship and economics, Smith did not dwell on a particular class of individual. He was concerned with studying how all people fit into the economic system. Smith contended that the economy was driven by self-interest in the marketplace (Chell, 2008).

Also from the English School, David Ricardo (1772-1823) was influenced by Smith, Say, and others. His work focused on how the capitalist system worked. He explained how manufacturers must invest their capital in response to the demand for the products they produce. If demand decreases, manufacturers should borrow less and reduce their workforces. When demand is high, they should do the reverse (Chell, 2008).

Carl Menger (1840-1921), from the Austrian School of thought, ranked goods according to their causal connections to human satisfaction. Lower order goods include items like bread that directly satisfy a human want or need like hunger. Higher order goods are those more removed from satisfying a human need. A second order good is the flour that was used to make the bread. The grain used to make the flour is an even higher order good. Entrepreneurs coordinate these factors of production to turn higher order goods into lower order goods that more directly satisfy human wants and needs (Hebert & Link, 2009).

Menger (1950 [1871], p. 160) established that entrepreneurial activity includes: (a) obtaining information about the economic situation, (b) economic calculation – all the various computations that must be made if a production process is to be efficient, (c) the act of will by which goods of higher order are assigned to a particular production process, and (d) supervising the execution of the production plan so that it may be carried through as economically as possible (Hebert & Link, 2009, p. 43).

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), from the English School of thought, considered entrepreneurs to be innovators. They “depart from routine, discover new markets, find new sources of supply, improve existing products and lower the costs of production” (Chell, 2008).

Joseph Schumpeter’s (1883-1950) parents were Austrian, he studied at the University of Vienna, conducted research at the University of Graz, served as Austria’s Minister of Finance, and was the president of a bank in the country. Because of the rise of Hitler in Europe, he went to the United States and conducted research at Harvard until he retired in 1949. Because of this, he is sometimes associated with the American School of thought on entrepreneurship (Chell, 2008).

Whereas Menger saw entrepreneurship as occurring because of economic progress, Schumpeter took the opposite stance. Schumpeter saw economic activity as leading to economic development (Hebert & Link, 2009). Entrepreneurs play a central role in Schumpeter’s theory of economic development, and economic development can occur when the factors of production are assembled in new combinations .

Schumpeter (1934) viewed innovation as arising from new combinations of materials and forces. He provided the following five cases of new combinations.

• The introduction of a new good – that is one with which consumers are not yet familiar – or of a new quality of good.
• The introduction of a new method of production, that is one not yet tested by experience in the branch of manufacture concerned, which need by no means be founded upon a discovery scientifically new, and can also exist in a new way of handling a commodity commercially.
• The opening of a new market, that is a market into which the particular branch of manufacture of the country in question has not previously entered, whether or not this market has existed before.
• The conquest of a new source of supply of raw materials or half-manufactured goods, again irrespective of whether this source already exists or whether it has first to be created.
• The carrying out of the new organisation of any industry, like the creation of a monopoly position … or the breaking up of a monopoly position (Schumpeter, 1934, p. 66).

Another concept popularized by Schumpeter – in addition to the notion of new combinations – was creative destruction . This was meant to indicate that the existing ways of doing things need to be dismantled – to be destroyed – to enable a transformation through innovation to a new way of doing things. Entrepreneurs use innovation to disrupt how things are done and to establish a better way of doing those things.

Basic Questions in Entrepreneurship Research

According to Baron (2004a), there are three basic questions of interest in the field of entrepreneurship:

• Why do some persons but not others choose to become entrepreneurs?
• Why do some persons but not others recognize opportunities for new products or services that can be profitably exploited?
• Why are some entrepreneurs so much more successful than others (Baron, 2004a, p. 221)?

To understand where these foundational research questions came from and what their relevance is today, it is useful to study what entrepreneurship research has uncovered so far.

Entrepreneurial Uniqueness

Efforts to teach entrepreneurship have included descriptions of entrepreneurial uniqueness based on personality, behavioural, and cognitive traits (Chell, 2008; Duening, 2010).

• Need for achievement
• Internal locus of control (a belief by an individual that they are in control of their own destiny)
• Risk-taking propensity
• Behavioural traits
• Cognitive skills of successful entrepreneurs

Past studies of personality characteristics and behavioural traits have not been overly successful at identifying entrepreneurial uniqueness.

As it turned out, years of painstaking research along this line has not borne significant fruit. It appears that there are simply not any personality characteristics that are either essential to, or defining of, entrepreneurs that differ systematically from non-entrepreneurs…. Again, investigators proposed a number of behavioural candidates as emblematic of entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, this line of research also resulted in a series of dead ends as examples of successful entrepreneurial behaviours had equal counterparts among samples of non-entrepreneurs. As with the personality characteristic school of thought before it, the behavioural trait school of thought became increasingly difficult to support (Duening, 2010, p. 4-5).

This shed doubt on the value of trying to change personality characteristics or implant new entrepreneurial behaviours through educational programs in an effort to promote entrepreneurship.

New research, however, has resurrected the idea that there might be some value in revisiting personality traits as a topic of study. Additionally, Duening (2010) and has suggested that an important approach to teaching and learning about entrepreneurship is to focus on the “cognitive skills that successful entrepreneurs seem uniquely to possess and deploy” (p. 2). In the next sections we consider the new research on entrepreneurial personality traits and on entrepreneurial cognitions.

Entrepreneurial Personality Traits

While acknowledging that research had yet to validate the value of considering personality and behaviour traits as ways to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs or unsuccessful ones, Chell (2008) suggested that researchers turn their attention to new sets of traits including: “the proactive personality, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perseverance and intuitive decision-making style. Other traits that require further work include social competence and the need for independence” (p. 140).

In more recent years scholars have considered how the Big Five personality traits – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism (sometimes presented as emotional stability ), and openness to experience (sometimes referred to as intellect) – might be used to better understand entrepreneurs. It appears that the Big Five traits might be of some use in predicting entrepreneurial success. Research is ongoing in this area, but in one example, Caliendo, Fossen, and Kritikos (2014) studied whether personality constructs might “influence entrepreneurial decisions at different points in time” (p. 807), and found that “high values in three factors of the Big Five approach—openness to experience, extraversion, and emotional stability (the latter only when we do not control for further personality characteristics)—increase the probability of entry into self-employment” (p. 807). They also found “that some specific personality characteristics, namely risk tolerance, locus of control, and trust, have strong partial effects on the entry decision” (p. 807). They also found that people who scored higher on agreeableness were more likely to exit their businesses, possibly meaning that people with lower agreeableness scores might prevail longer as entrepreneurs. When it came to specific personality traits, their conclusions indicated that those with an external locus of control were more likely to stop being self-employed after they had run their businesses for a while. There are several implications for research like this, including the potential to better understand why some entrepreneurs behave as they do based upon their personality types and the chance to improve entrepreneurship education and support services.

Entrepreneurial Cognitions

It is only fairly recently that entrepreneurship scholars have focused on cognitive skills as a primary factor that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs and less successful entrepreneurs. This approach deals with how entrepreneurs think differently than non-entrepreneurs (Duening, 2010; Mitchell et al., 2007).

Entrepreneurial cognitions are the knowledge structures that people use to make assessments, judgments or decisions involving opportunity evaluation and venture creation and growth. In other words, research in entrepreneurial cognition is about understanding how entrepreneurs use simplifying mental models to piece together previously unconnected information that helps them to identify and invent new products or services, and to assemble the necessary resources to start and grow businesses (Mitchell, Busenitz, et al., 2002, p. 97).

Mitchell, Smith, et al. (2002) provided the example of how the decision to create a new venture (dependent variable) was influenced by three sets of cognitions (independent variables). They described these cognitions as follows:

Arrangements cognitions are the mental maps about the contacts, relationships, resources, and assets necessary to engage in entrepreneurial activity; willingness cognitions are the mental maps that support commitment to venturing and receptivity to the idea of starting a venture; ability cognitions consist of the knowledge structures or scripts (Glaser, 1984) that individuals have to support the capabilities, skills, norms, and attitudes required to create a venture (Mitchell et al., 2000). These variables draw on the idea that cognitions are structured in the minds of individuals (Read, 1987), and that these knowledge structures act as “scripts” that are the antecedents of decision making (Leddo & Abelson, 1986, p. 121; Mitchell, Smith, et al., 2002, p. 10)

Cognitive Perspective to Understanding Entrepreneurship

According to Baron (2004a), by taking a cognitive perspective, we might better understand entrepreneurs and the role they play in the entrepreneurial process.

The cognitive perspective emphasizes the fact that everything we think, say, or do is influenced by mental processes—the cognitive mechanisms through which we acquire store, transform, and use information. It is suggested here that this perspective can be highly useful to the field of entrepreneurship. Specifically, it can assist the field in answering three basic questions it has long addressed: (1) Why do some persons but not others choose to become entrepreneurs? (2) Why do some persons but not others recognize opportunities for new products or services that can be profitably exploited? And (3) Why are some entrepreneurs so much more successful than others (Baron, 2004a, p. 221-222)?

Baron (2004a), illustrated how cognitive differences between people might explain why some people end up pursuing entrepreneurial pursuits and others do not. For example, prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1977) and other decision-making or behavioural theories might be useful in this regard. Research into cognitive biases might also help explain why some people become entrepreneurs.

Baron (2004a) also revealed ways in which cognitive concepts like signal detection theory, regulation theory, and entrepreneurial might help explain why some people are better at entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. He also illustrated how some cognitive models and theories – like risk perception, counterfactual thinking, processing style, and susceptibility to cognitive errors – might help explain why some entrepreneurs are more successful than others.

Cognitive Perspective and the Three Questions

• Prospect Theory
• Cognitive Biases
• Signal Detection Theory
• Regulation Theory
• Entrepreneurial Alertness
• Risk Perception
• Counterfactual Thinking
• Processing Style
• Susceptibility to Cognitive Errors

Entrepreneurial Scripts

• “Cognition has emerged as an important theoretical perspective for understanding and explaining human behavior and action” (Dutta & Thornhill, 2008, p. 309).
• Cognitions are all processes by which sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used (Neisser, 1976).
• Cognitions lead to the acquisition of knowledge, and involve human information processing.
• Is a mental model, or information processing short-cut that can give information form and meaning, and enable subsequent interpretation and action.
• The subsequent interpretation and actions can result in expert performance … they can also result in thinking errors.
• the processes that transfer expertise, and
• the actual expertise itself.
• Scripts are generally framed as a linear sequence of steps, usually with feedback loops, that can explain how to achieve a particular task – perhaps like developing a business plan.
• Sometimes scripts can be embedded within other scripts. For example, within a general venturing script that outlines the sequences of activities that can lead to a successful business launch, there will probably be sub-scripts describing how entrepreneurs can search for ideas, screen those ideas until one is selected, plan how to launch a sustainable business based upon that idea and including securing the needed financial resources, setting up the business, starting it, effectively managing its ongoing operations, and managing the venture such that that entrepreneur can extract the value that they desire from the enterprise at the times and in the ways they want it.
• The most effective scripts include an indication of the norms that outline performance standards and indicate how to determine when any step in the sequence has been properly completed.

General Venturing Script

Generally, entrepreneurship is considered to consist of the following elements, or subscripts (Brooks, 2009; Mitchell, 2000).

• Idea Screening
• Planning and Financing
• Ongoing Operations

Searching (also called idea formulation or opportunity recognition)

• This script begins when a person decides they might be a potential entrepreneur (or when an existing entrepreneur decides they need more ideas in their idea pool ).
• This script ends when there are a sufficient number of ideas in the idea pool.
• overcome mental blockages to creativity which might hinder this person’s ability to identify viable ideas;
• implement steps to identify a sufficient number of ideas (most likely 5 or more) which the person is interested in investigating to determine whether they might be viable given general criteria such as this person’s personal interests and capabilities;

Idea Screening (also called concept development)

• This script begins when the person with the idea pool is no longer focusing on adding new ideas to it; but is instead taking steps to choose the best idea for them given a full range of specific criteria .
• This script ends when one idea is chosen from among those in the idea pool.
• Evaluate the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal climates
• Evaluate the degree of competitiveness in the industry, the threat of substitutes emerging, the threat of new entrants to the industry, the degree of bargaining power of buyers, and the degree of bargaining power of suppliers.
• Do a market profile analysis to assess the attractiveness of the position within the industry that the potential venture will occupy.
• Formulate and evaluate potential strategies to leverage organizational strengths, overcome/minimize weaknesses, take advantage of opportunities, and overcome/minimize threats;
• Complete financial projections and analyze them to evaluate financial attractiveness;
• Assess the founder fit with the ideas;
• Evaluate the core competencies of the organization relative to the idea;
• Assess advice solicited from trusted advisers

Planning and Financing (also called resource determination and acquisition)

• This script begins when the idea screening script ends and when the person begins making the plans to implement the single idea chosen from the idea pool, which is done in concert with securing financing to implement the venture idea.
• This script ends when sufficient business planning has been done and when adequate financing has been arranged.
• The scripting process involves a logical flow of steps to develop a business plan and secure adequate financing to start the business.

Set-Up (also called launch)

• This script begins when the planning and financing script ends and when the person begins implementing the plans needed to start the business.
• This script ends when the business is ready to start-up.
• The scripting process involves a logical flow of steps, including purchasing and installing equipment, securing the venture location and finishing all the needed renovations, recruiting and hiring any staff needed for start-up, and the many other steps needed to prepare for start-up.
• Start-Up (also called launch)
• This script begins when the set-up script ends and when the business opens and begins making sales.
• This script ends when the business has moved beyond the point where the entrepreneur must continually fight for the business’s survival and persistence. It ends when the entrepreneur can instead shift emphasis toward business growth or maintaining the venture’s stability.
• The scripting process involves a logical flow of steps needed to establish a new venture.

Ongoing Operations (also called venture growth)

• This script begins when the start-up script ends and when the business has established persistence and is implementing growth (or maintenance) strategies.
• This script ends when the entrepreneur chooses to harvest the value they generated with the venture.
• The scripting process involves a logical flow of steps needed to grow (or maintain) a venture.

Studying Entrepreneurship

The following quotations from two preeminent entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education researchers indicate the growing interest in studies in this field.

Entrepreneurship has emerged over the last two decades as arguably the most potent economic force the world has ever experienced. With that expansion has come a similar increase in the field of entrepreneurship education. The recent growth and development in the curricula and programs devoted to entrepreneurship and new-venture creation have been remarkable. The number of colleges and universities that offer courses related to entrepreneurship has grown from a handful in the 1970s to over 1,600 in 2005 (Kuratko, 2005, p. 577).

Interest in entrepreneurship has heightened in recent years, especially in business schools. Much of this interest is driven by student demand for courses in entrepreneurship, either because of genuine interest in the subject, or because students see entrepreneurship education as a useful hedge given uncertain corporate careers (Venkataraman, 1997, p. 119).

Approaches to Studying Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a discipline, which means an individual can learn about it, and about how to be an effective entrepreneur. It is a myth that people are born entrepreneurs and that others cannot learn to become entrepreneurs (Drucker, 1985). Kuratko (2005) asserted that the belief previously held by some that entrepreneurship cannot be taught has been debunked, and the focus has shifted to what topics should be taught and how they should be covered.

Solomon (2007) summarized some of the research on what should be covered in entrepreneurship courses, and how it should be taught. While the initial focus was on actions like developing business plans and being exposed to real entrepreneurs, more recently this approach has been supplemented by an emphasis on technical, industry, and personal experience. “It requires critical thinking and ethical assessment and is based on the premise that successful entrepreneurial activities are a function of human, venture and environmental conditions” (p. 172). Another approach “calls for courses to be structured around a series of strategic development challenges including opportunity identification and feasibility analysis; new venture planning, financing and operating; new market development and expansion strategies; and institutionalizing innovation” (p. 172). This involves having students interact with entrepreneurs by interviewing them, having them act as mentors, and learning about their experiences and approaches through class discussions.

Sources of Information for Studying Entrepreneurship

According to Kuratko (2005), “three major sources of information supply the data related to the entrepreneurial process or perspective” (p. 579).

• Academic journals like Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice , Journal of Business Venturing , and Journal of Small Business Management
• Proceedings of conferences like Proceedings of the Academy of Management and Proceedings of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada
• Textbooks on entrepreneurship
• Books about entrepreneurship
• Biographies or autobiographies of entrepreneurs
• News periodicals like Canadian Business and Profit
• Trade periodicals like Entrepreneur and Family Business
• Government publications available through sources like the Enterprise Saskatchewan and Canada-Saskatchewan Business Service Centre (CSBSC) websites and through various government resource centers
• Data might be collected from entrepreneurs and about entrepreneurs through surveys, interviews, or other methods applied by researchers.
• Speeches and presentations by practicing entrepreneurs

• Call to +1 844 889-9952

What Is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is the foundation of capitalism, and is generally known as the process of creating a business to bring a product or service to the market, managing, assuming risk, but also bearing the financial rewards. While business owners can be considered as entrepreneurs, the concept has various meanings attached to it including creation of value, innovation or creativity, and being an agent of change. Most commonly an entrepreneur creates a firm to bring their idea into fruition, aggregate capital and labor in order to produce goods or services (Hayes, 2021). Entrepreneurs are seen as innovators to their respective industries, bringing new ideas or goods, or potentially changing or reinventing the industry or business processes as whole.

The word ‘entrepreneur’ originates from 13th-century French verb entreprendre , meaning ‘to undertake.’ By the 16th century, it was used to describe someone who undertakes a business venture. It has been since defined as someone who takes on personal financial risk, creates value by moving resources, and a person who assumes risk and management of a business. In the 20th century, economists Joseph Schumpeter and Israel Kirzner redefined the understanding of an entrepreneur by emphasizing the individual’s role an innovator, a disruptive force in the economy (Sobel. n.d.). It can be done through various paths: by introducing completely new products or creating new industry (Netflix with online streaming), drastically improving existing products to push the industry further (Steve Jobs and Apple with both computers and smartphones) or changing management or production processes drastically (Ford with his motor vehicle assembly line).

Entrepreneurs seek to exploit a commercial opportunity through bringing a new product to the market or sustainably improving an existing good, service, method of product. It has been in recent years especially strongly associated with the American identity, as the country and its capitalistic society is based on entrepreneurial undertaking in the spirit of freedom, self-reliance, and commitment to values of fairness, innovation, and cooperation. That is why entrepreneurs, both currently and in the past, have played a strong role in driving the economy while also being a part of popular culture as the concept of ‘making it on your own’ has been highly respected in the nation’s social fabric.

Cunningham & Lischeron (1991) present six approaches for describing entrepreneurship. The first is the ‘Great Person’ approach which suggests entrepreneurs have inborn intuition and vital traits to succeed in the industry and be good businessmen. The ‘psychological characteristics’ approach argues that in order to be an entrepreneur one needs to have unique skills, values, and attitudes which drive one’s character and decision-making. The ‘classical perspective’ emphasises innovation, focusing on progress and doing rather than owning and attempting to money, which are secondary to discovery and creativity. The ‘management’ model presents entrepreneurs as great managers, organizers, and evaluators of risk, which can be trained in technical functions of management, planning, and budgeting. The ‘leadership’ model emphasises entrepreneurs as leaders which can easily adapt to the needs of the people and motivate others to support their ideas. Finally, there is the ‘intrapreneurship’ approach that suggests entrepreneurship can be used in complex organization and organizational building in to create markets and expand services (Cunningham & Lischeron, 1991).

While definitions of entrepreneurship can be broad, there are four key elements to each one which are innovation, organization, risk, and vision. Innovation describes how the entrepreneurship contributes to the economy in terms of variation and uniqueness and the extent that these ensure success of the business. Entrepreneurs implement innovative ideas based on available opportunities to bring something new such as product, service, technology, manufacturing process, or even marketing strategy (Lounsbury et al., 2018). Organization is absolutely vital in entrepreneurship, not just from the perspective of running a business, but the entrepreneur typically has to manage multiple channels of communication, employees and stakeholders, and supply chains simultaneously. Organization is necessary to achieve strong output and efficiency, validate one’s product, and develop a solid business model to set the firm up for success (Hjorth et al., 2015). The common adage is that entrepreneurs work 24/7 and based on the accounts of many, especially at starting stages of the business, it requires maximum output and organization.

Risk is also an expected element of entrepreneurship, as it consists of building something new. Opening a new business in itself is usually considered risky due to the many economic factors at play, but building firm around an idea which is inherently innovative, presents an even greater risk since nobody has done it before with that specific product (Antoncic et al., 2018). Finally, there is the prospect of vision, which is generally expected in all modern organizations, but takes on a different meaning in entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur and their firm must have a strong vision, with a direct purpose and objectives, with the foresight on how the business and industry will move forward. It is around this vision that the organizational culture is formed, and business decisions are made (Kreiser et al., 2019).

There are a range of factors both internal and external that can either contribute to or inhibit entrepreneurial success. Business sustainability is a critical aspect for society, so creation of new business ventures must consider the four key domains of environment, behavior, human relations, and business activity that can serve as drivers or barriers to sustainable entrepreneurship. The environmental and business factors typically cover the three eleemnts of economic prosperity, environmental integrity, and social sustainability. Economic prosperity focuses on financial strength and differentiation, as well as an environment that is beneficial for new businesses. Environmental integrity encompasses protections to safeguard the environment and protect needs of future generations while social sustainability focuses on ensuring social and organizational wellbeing (Tur-Porcar et al., 2018). These elements are regulated by external aspects such as policies, regulations, social awareness, business-friendly environment but also internal elements of profit, business management, sustainable practices, and CSR.

Furthermore, there are also behavioral and human relations factors of entrepreneurship. There are also three categories of cognitive and motivational factors, values and ethics, and emotional factors. Based on the social cognitive theory, entrepreneurs are active contributors to the development of circumstances surrounding their lives and business. Based on this belief, motivation and self-efficacy are formed which regulated cognitive, motivational, and decisional processes, it is what allows entrepreneurs to initiate and fulfill innovative actions. Another aspect to consider are value and ethics, particularly when it comes to sustainability, these are factors which contribute to the development of necessary behaviors in the entrepreneur, which is then reflected in the firm’s actions. Finally, there is the element of emotions, which can be both a powerful drive and inspiration for the entrepreneur, but also create instances of helplessness, anger and despair, emphasizing the need to cope with both types of emotions and failure, as entrepreneurship rarely succeeds immediately or on the first attempt (Tur-Porcar et al., 2018). Based on these human and emotional factors, the concepts of organizational motivation and leadership emerge. A business needs strong but transformative leadership with a congruence and dependable reputation to achieve business success.

Elon Musk is most likely the name that is synonymous with entrepreneur in the modern-day. He is an engineer, business magnate, and entrepreneur that has played a role in creating or growing several highly successful and innovative companies across a variety of industries, most associated with technology in some form. Elon Musk was born in South Africa and immigrated to the US to attend college. He was able to come up from being poor, to now being the richest individual on the planet by net worth. Musk is well-known not only as the creator and business genius of the various companies, but as a highly charismatic, intelligent, and eccentric individual that has a unique way of approaching problems and generating ideas.

In the early 2000s, Musk both started a company called SpaceX and joined one at the early stages called Tesla. SpaceX was inspired by the vision that Musk had for space exploration and Mars colonization, given how expensive space flight was, he wanted to develop affordable and reusable spacecraft. After years of failures, Musk and his team were able to develop and then perfect the technology, now being a primary partner for NASA, developing new spacecraft, pioneering space tourism, and being essentially at the forefront of human space exploration. Meanwhile, Tesla, perhaps Musk’s most famous entity, is known for the production of fully electric vehicles. Starting as a small company, with bare capital, hindered production, and underdeveloped technology, Tesla is now the most expensive car brand by valuation and has transformed the automotive market by pushing it towards fully electric vehicles, not only by making the technology viable and affordable, but also creating an infrastructure (charging network) to support it (Wong, 2021). Musk is also involved in a series of other ventures such as the Boring Company by attempting to create new transportation networks via underground tunnels, Starlink which is attempting to provide high-speed internet from space, and even highly improbable technologies such as Neuralink that is attempting to develop methods to control technology using just brain signals.

A combination of factors makes Elon Musk a successful entrepreneur, ranging from personality traits to the way that he creates and manages his companies. In itself, Musk is a strong and charismatic leader. His intelligence combined with a unique quirkiness is appealing to many, he is both self-confident but also demonstrates humanity. However, his most admired traits as an entrepreneur are his work ethic and perseverance (Garn, 2021). Musk has faced failure and denial many times, starting with his first ventures when he was attempting to become CEO, eventually achieved the position at PayPal but was quickly ousted due to difference of opinion and lack of strategy. While he did make significant amounts of money from those sales, the time at the companies brought many valuable lessons to Musk as a manager and leader, which he did not have before due to lack of experience (Lazatin, 2020).

Musk is highly focused, often driven by a specific vision for each of his companies, as key trait as emphasized earlier for entrepreneurs. This is what allowed him to succeed with Tesla and SpaceX, developing technologies that no one thought were remotely possible in the near future. To support his vision, Musk also puts in the work, known for working everyday of the week, at times 16 or more hours per day, especially in times of crisis. An example of this is when starting Zip2, he would sleep in the office, and code at night until the website was built. Similarly, as Tesla was facing multiple production issues, he would notoriously sleep in the factory offices, spending all his waking hours to manage the crisis, until Tesla reached a point of profitability (Matousek, 2018). Throughout his ventures, Musk and his entrepreneurship are not only innovative, but adaptable. Musk does seem to recognize niches in the market and create or improve innovative solutions to solve them, driven by humanitarian and sustainable vision as can be applied to virtually every one of his companies.

Musk is a highly admired entrepreneur because he is a visionary. He creates entrepreneurships when there is a need. Online systems need a payment system, he helped co-found PayPal. Space launches were extremely expensive, he created technologies to reduce the costs multiple times over and popularize commercial investment in the industry. Recognizing that climate change is a serious issue, but understanding that people need cars, he developed Tesla which not only produces electric cars but also invests heavily into developing various solar panel and renewable technology (i.e. his other ventures such as SolarCity and solar roof panels for private households). Musk is the example of the American dream, by coming from zero wealth, creating his own, and pushing the status quo to achieve the best potential outcomes based on his vision (Clifford, 2017. Some have succeeded, some failed, and others have only seen moderate progress, but entrepreneurship is at the core of Musk’s approach, and he is adamant that instead of settling down, one should push the boundaries of what is possible.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP: What is entrepreneurship

There is no universal consensus on defining entrepreneurship. Enormous number of definitions has been forwarded by the researchers in the recent academic studies on the area of entrepreneurship. Despite the fact that defining entrepreneurship has occupied the scholars for years, yet there is lack of consensus on its exact meaning. This lack of consistent definition of the term entrepreneurship has been a challenge to the researches in the field. This particular piece is intended to give a glimpse about the existing definitions and, by considering the various fields that entrepreneurship is being studied, to outline the similarities that these definitions pose in common.

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It is widely acknowledged that the field of entrepreneurship lacks a single unified and accepted definition for the term “entrepreneurship”. This article analyzes the different theoretical roots of entrepreneurship. Not surprisingly, different theories resulted in a conflicting array of definitions describing entrepreneurship in terms of dynamic change, new combinations, exploiting opportunities, innovation, price arbitrage, risk, uncertainty, ownership, new venture formation, non-control of resources, asymmetries of information, superior decision-making, personality traits, monopoly formation or something else. What were previously viewed as contradictory definitions in Table 1 can now be seen to describe complementary lexicon terms or “sub-domains” of entrepreneurship such as “corporate entrepreneurship”, “social entrepreneurship” or “opportunity entrepreneurship”. The sub-domains that arise from different theories are organized into a coherent lexicon using a simple classification taxonomy. A wide array of sub-domain terms are thus organized into a lexicon in Table 2 that can be used to describe the different aspects of entrepreneurship. This article started as the author’s own quest to make sense of the entrepreneurship literature. It is hoped that the proposed lexicon will contribute to a shared foundational terminology for the field of entrepreneurship that will make sense to both academics and practitioner entrepreneurs.

Small Business Economics

Robert Hebert

Nicolás Gámez

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Dieter Bogenhold

Trends in Banking, Accounting and Business

Dr. Ramachandran Manickam

Entrepreneurship refers to a person who has an idea and wants to implement that idea, usually with a new product or service Disrupting the market. With the right practices of research and development, entrepreneurs are new They bring innovation, which opens the door to new ventures, markets, products and technology Opens. Entrepreneurs need to play a role in solving problems are not yet solved by existing products and technology. Traditionally, entrepreneurship has been classified into four main categories: small businesses, scalable start-ups, large companies and social entrepreneurs. These models cover the basics of starting a business and focus more the company is more than the qualities of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur will usually start a new business and run it. At the same time, they are responsible for the risks involved. Entrepreneurship is the process of starting a new business that prepares one for both risks and opportunities. An entrepreneur integrates the essential ...

African Journal of Business Management

Patrick Kambewa

Damary Sikalieh

A journal article by Dr. Damary Sikalieh, a lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU-Africa

Jose C . Sánchez-García

Many investigators from diverse perspectives focus their studies on the area of entrepreneurship due to its important role as an engine of economic and social development. The aim of this monograph is to provide an overview of the state of entrepreneurship research. It presents the controversy about the domain of the study and whether entrepreneurship can be considered a legitimate field of knowledge. We study the aspects that differentiate people who are entrepreneurs from those who are not from the perspective of cognitive psychology and we discuss the role of entrepreneurial education. The work is also an attempt to understand the factors that determine the durability of a company such as resources, location, personality traits, strategies, organizational systems, etc. Lastly, we examine the reality of entrepreneurship research in Spain.

Aissatou Faye

The creation of a country's wealth and dynamism depends upon the competitiveness of its firms and this, in turn, relies fundamentally on the capabilities of its entrepreneurs and managers. The essence of the modern firm lies in the specialization of functions. " The businessmen " that manage economic activity are, in the strictest sense, both managers and entrepreneurs, the latter in a double sense: the individual businessman (independent) and the " corporate entrepreneur " who, without participating significantly in terms of capital, controls the firm. Studying offers of business capabilities requires the differentiation between the functions of entrepreneur, manager and capitalist, although in many cases, the same person may perform all three (table 1). The individual entrepreneur detects or creates business opportunities that he or she then exploits through small and medium-sized firms, normally participating in funding the capital for that firm, carries out the role of arbitrator or simply " sells the idea " of the business project. The " corporate entrepreneur " or the chief executive of large firms must also be considered. This figure is no longer limited to efficiently managing the firm's assets and coordinating and controlling its activities; in the current climate, he or she must anticipate, articulate and manage change. In other words, they must reinvent the firm on a daily basis, creating new enterprise (spin-offs) and develop company networks. When discussing the figure of the corporate businessman, one must also consider the key shareholders that take an active part in the firm, along with managers that share in making up the firm's basic competences.

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So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

• Emily Heyward

One founder’s advice on what you should know before you quit your day job.

Starting a business is not easy, and scaling it is even harder. You may think you’re sitting on a completely original idea, but chances are the same cultural forces that led you to your business plan are also influencing someone else. That doesn’t mean you should give up, or that you should rush to market before you’re ready. It’s not about who’s first, it’s about who does it best, and best these days is the business that delivers the most value to the consumer. Consumers have more power and choice than ever before, and they’re going to choose and stick with the companies who are clearly on their side. How will you make their lives easier, more pleasant, more meaningful? How will you go out of your way for them at every turn? When considering your competitive advantage, start with the needs of the people you’re ultimately there to serve. If you have a genuine connection to your idea, and you’re solving a real problem in a way that adds more value to people’s lives, you’re well on your way.

When I graduated from college in 2001, I didn’t have a single friend whose plan was to start his or her own business. Med school, law school, finance, consulting: these were the coveted jobs, the clear paths laid out before us. I took a job in advertising, which was seen as much more rebellious than the reality. I worked in advertising for a few years, and learned an incredible amount about how brands get built and communicated. But I grew restless and bored, tasked with coming up with new campaigns for old and broken products that lacked relevance, unable to influence the products themselves. During that time, I was lucky to have an amazing boss who explained a simple principle that fundamentally altered my path. What she told me was that stress is not about how much you have on your plate; it’s about how much control you have over the outcomes. Suddenly I realized why every Sunday night I was overcome with a feeling of dread. It wasn’t because I had too much going on at work. It was because I had too little power to effect change.

• EH Emily Heyward is the author of Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One (Portfolio; June 9, 2020). She is the co-founder and chief brand officer at Red Antler, a full-service brand company based in Brooklyn. Emily was named among the Most Important Entrepreneurs of the Decade by Inc.  magazine, and has also been recognized as a Top Female Founder by Inc. and one of Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Women of 2019.

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What Does It Take to Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

• 09 Jul 2020

The world is filled with aspiring entrepreneurs—people who believe they have what it takes to launch a company and build it into a profitable business. While anyone can start a business, not everyone will succeed.

Research by Harvard Business School Professor Shikhar Ghosh shows that up to 75 percent of startups fail. According to Zippia , 22 percent of small businesses fail within one year of being launched, half fail within five years, and approximately two-thirds fail within 10 years.

In light of these statistics, the question becomes: What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur ? What steps can aspiring entrepreneurs take to lay the groundwork for success?

Access your free e-book today.

What Is an Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is someone who launches a business venture, typically in the form of a company that manufactures and sells a product or provides a service. Entrepreneurs are often viewed as innovators who identify a problem or opportunity, then develop a solution no one else has recognized.

In the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials , it’s noted that “entrepreneurs—either individuals or teams—actively scan the environment for opportunities, or discover them as they live and work. They form hypotheses about what customers want or need and how they can deliver value to the customer.”

Successful entrepreneurs don’t just charge ahead with their ideas. First, they seek to validate there’s demand.

One way they do so is through testing. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials , entrepreneurs “recruit people and invest money to determine if customers will indeed value the product and they can produce and deliver it at an acceptable cost. They often find different, even better ideas once in the marketplace.”

Check out the video below to learn more about what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

Entrepreneurship Requirements

Do you have dreams of one day becoming an entrepreneur and launching your own company? In addition to a business idea, doing so will require you to possess certain skills and characteristics .

1. Key Entrepreneurship Qualities and Behaviors

Several researchers have tried to pinpoint a specific entrepreneurial personality or profile in an attempt to quantify what makes some more successful than others.

In Entrepreneurship Essentials , it’s explained that there’s no single personality profile that leads someone to success as an entrepreneur. However, there are a number of characteristics shared by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Some behaviors that are distinct from personality traits and associated with entrepreneurship include curiosity, pattern recognition, team building, structured experimentation, adaptation, decisiveness, and persistence.

While it can be argued that some people are more inclined to exhibit these behaviors than others, each of these qualities can be acquired through proper training and development .

2. Essential Entrepreneurial Skills

Especially in the earliest stages of launching a business, entrepreneurs are responsible for performing a variety of duties—it comes with the territory. Before you have an accounting department, marketing staff, and product development team, you'll likely need to perform some of these critical responsibilities.

Taking the time to develop certain skills before launching your business can drastically improve your chances of success. Here’s a list of some of the most critical skills all entrepreneurs should have:

• Communication skills , which you’ll leverage daily as you work with vendors, investors, customers, and various members of your growing team
• Organizational skills , which will empower you to work toward your goals efficiently
• Time management skills , which will be essential throughout your career, but especially early on, when you have multiple responsibilities
• Data-driven decision-making , which will enable you to make objective, measurable decisions about your products, services, business, and customers
• Strategic thinking , which will allow you to discover opportunities and threats that guide business decisions more easily
• Accounting basics , which will be especially important before you have a person or team dedicated to managing your business’s finances
• Resilience , because every entrepreneur faces challenges and struggles, and it takes resilience to bounce back

3. An Opportunity or Business Idea

For a new venture to succeed, the business plan must be centered around a solid opportunity. In Entrepreneurship Essentials , an opportunity is defined as a proposed venture to sell a product or service for which customers are willing to pay more than the required investments and operating costs.

An opportunity is more than a product idea, and it extends well beyond the initial act of getting into business. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials, “it’s a plan that shows how a venture will attract, retain, and reward all stakeholders, including customers, founders, employees, investors, distributors, and suppliers.”

That plan doesn’t end once you’ve identified an innovative business idea . Ideally, your concept should be validated before you commit resources, time, and effort to bring it to life. Once validated and pursued, you must constantly reevaluate your business to determine whether you need to adapt to new opportunities or threats.

4. Resources and Funding

Finally, to launch your business, you’ll need a source of funding to purchase equipment and materials, develop your product or service, iterate upon your offerings, and refine your processes. Exactly what funding looks like will vary depending on the type of business you’re launching and your industry.

For some entrepreneurs, self-funding is possible. In such cases, an entrepreneur might set aside enough money to pay for their living expenses while they get their business off the ground, in addition to the costs associated with the launch.

Self-funding isn’t the only option available. There are many other paths you might take, such as:

• Securing an SBA loan from the Small Business Administration
• Raising capital from investors
• Applying for grants (this may be especially suitable for nonprofit organizations)
• Crowdfunding from the public
• Relying on a line of credit

Every form of funding comes with benefits and risks. Self-funding, for example, allows you to retain complete control over your business and potential profits, but also requires you to carry the risk of failure. Raising capital from investors, on the other hand, allows you to spread your risk and, potentially, launch your business quicker—but it forces you to give up a portion of your control. Ultimately, you must decide what makes the most sense for your business.

Your Path to Becoming an Entrepreneur

Countless aspiring entrepreneurs have an interesting, innovative, and compelling business idea, but don’t have the skills or qualities to carry it through to fruition. Similarly, many others have the skills and qualities, but lack an idea to pursue. Even those with a brilliant idea and the necessary skills can fail to get their project off the ground if they don’t have access to funding. Successful entrepreneurship requires a blend of all these components.

The good news is: Successful entrepreneurs aren’t born—they’re made. With the right training , instruction, and development, everyone has the potential to become an entrepreneur.

Are you interested in learning the ins and outs of entrepreneurship? Explore our four-week online course Entrepreneurship Essentials and our other entrepreneurship and innovation courses to learn to speak the language of the startup world. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

About the Author

Essay on Entrepreneurship: Top 9 Essays | Business Management

Here is a compilation of essays on ‘Entrepreneurship’ for class 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Entrepreneurship’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Entrepreneurship

Essay Contents:

• Essay on the Benefits of Entrepreneurship

Essay # 1. Introduction to Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is the name given to the factor of production which performs the functions of Enterprise. In economics, Land, Labour, Capital, Organisation and Enterprise are the five factors which are thought to be the basis of all the production activities.

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Entrepreneurship in a broader sense can be considered as a process of action undertaken by an entrepreneur (Person) to establish his enterprise. It is a creative and innovative response to the environment.

Entrepreneurship can be described as a creative and innovative response to the environment. Such responses may take place in any field of social endeavour may be business, agriculture, social work and education etc.

For the entrepreneur it is important to have knowledge about the economic and political environment, more particularly about the economic policies of the government and the financial as well as commercial institutions.

Thus a simple definition of entrepreneurship is doing new things or doing things which are already being done in a new way.

According to Dr. J.E. Stepenek, “Entrepreneurship” is the capacity to take risk; ability to organise and desire to diversify and make innovations in the enterprise.

According to Higgins, Entrepreneurship is meant for the function of seeing investment and production opportunity, organising in enterprise to undertake a new production process, raising capital, hiring labour, arranging the supply of raw materials, finding site, introducing new techniques and commodities, discovering new sources of raw materials and selecting top managers for day to day operation of the enterprise.

It may be concluded that entrepreneurship is a composite skill, the resultant of many qualities and traits. These include, imagination ready to take risk, ability to bring together and utilize other factors of production such as capital, land and labour along with intangible factors such as capability to mobilise scientific and technological developments.

Entrepreneurship thus involves taking risk and making essential investments under conditions of uncertainty. At the same time it is connected with innovation, planning and taking decisions so as to increase productivity in industry, business and agriculture etc. It thus plays a key role in the process of economic development.

Essay # 2. Definition of Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurship is a pro­cess of action an entrepreneur undertakes to establish his enter­prise. Entrepreneurship is a re­sultant mix of many qualities and traits of an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship can be de­fined as a process undertaken by entrepreneur to augment his business interests. It is an exer­cise involving innovation and creativity that will go towards establishing his/her enterprise.

Entrepreneurship is the inclination of mind to take calculated risks with confidence to achieve a predetermined business or industrial objectives.

Essay # 3. Growth and Success of Entrepreneurship :

Entrepreneurship has opened avenues of great scope in the Indian economy. Our national economy is most suited to the growth of small business enterprise. Small business units offer a more convenient means of nurturing and developing entrepreneurship by providing the means of entry into business for new entrepreneurship talents. Small-scale industries are labour-in­tensive and can play an important role in solving the problem of unemployment.

Success of Entrepreneurship :

Following aspects are necessary for the successful entrepreneurship:

1. Regular inflow of information related to buyers, consumers, distributors, dealers, retailers, transporters etc., about raw material, quality aspects, government organisations, employees and competitors.

2. Satisfying the needs of customers.

3. Generation of adequate cash flow.

4. Regular objective assessment of the enterprise.

5. Improving productivity.

6. Maintenance of quality.

7. Use of technology of the time.

8. Be innovative.

9. Keep employees motivated.

10. Scrap or waste material be utilised properly.

11. Time management.

Essay # 4. Entrepreneurial v/s Managerial Styles :

An entrepreneur is a person who is motivated to satisfy a high need for achievement in innovative and creative activities. This creative behaviour and innovative spirit forms a process of an endless chain and is termed as entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is also required to manage his business. He has to perform both entrepreneurial and managerial func­tions. After the start of the business he becomes more as manager.

Manager is one who specialises in the work of planning, organising, leading and controlling the efforts of others. He does it through systematic use of his classified knowledge and principles. He should have an insight of job requirement, which he should continuously update.

An entrepreneur must adopt the style of professional management. He must organise mana­gerial functions by setting long term objectives, formulating strategic policies, developing man­agement information system, monitoring and evaluation systems. He is required to possess management knowledge related to technical, economical, financial, human and administrative aspects.

There is a vast difference between owner-manager and professional-manager. The owner- manager is identified with individuality, flair, strong motivation to achieve success and pros­per, while the professional-manager is concerned with the planning, organising, motivating and controlling. Owner-manager builds the organisation, assumes all business risks, and also loses his reputation and prestige in the event of failure of business, whereas professional-manager is not exposed to such risks.

Thus entrepreneurship is a process of combining resources to produce new goods or services and reappears to initiate another change. Entrepreneurs are also required to play other roles, especially those of capitalist and manager. Managerial function of an entrepreneur is a continu­ous process of combining the factors related to production.

Essay # 5. Entrepreneurial Development :

For the economic development, entrepreneurial development is necessary. For the purpose of entrepreneurial development, rapid growth of small scale sector is necessary. Entrepreneur­ial development programmes are designed to help a person in strengthening his entrepreneur­ial motive and in acquiring skills and capabilities necessary for playing his role effectively.

Main objective of the entrepreneurial development programme is to motivate and assist pro­spective and potential entrepreneurs to set up small scale units of their own and thus become self-employed and contribute significantly to production and employment in the country.

Entrepreneurial development programme must be designed properly and should incorpo­rate the following:

(i) Developing, achievement, motivation and sharpening entrepreneurial traits and behaviour.

(ii) Project planning and development, and guidance on industrial opportunities, incen­tives and facilities, rules and regulations.

(iii) Developing managerial and operational capabilities.

Keeping the target group and target area in view various strategies and approaches are adopted. The process of entrepreneurial development is designed very carefully and starts from identifying the potential and right candidates, linking suitable project with each one, and then training and developing the managerial and entrepreneurial capabilities, counseling and motivating them, and then providing the required follow-up support to help them in establishing their venture.

Objectives :

Objectives of entrepreneurial development programme are to help to:

(i) Develop and strengthen their entrepreneurial quality.

(ii) Analyse environment related to small business and small industry.

(iii) Select product and its project.

(iv) Formulate projects.

(v) Understand the procedure for setting up of small enterprise.

(vi) Support needed for launching the enterprise.

(vii) Acquire basic management skills.

(viii) Appreciate the social responsibilities.

(ix) Let him set the objectives of his business.

(x) Prepare him to accept risks.

(xi) Take strategic decisions.

(xii) Develop communicating skills.

Training for Entrepreneur :

Proper training is essential for the success of any industry in production techniques, man­agement, marketing and other aspects.

Small Industries Service Institutes and their Extension Centres are organising trainings:

(i) To improve technical skills of workers,

(ii) For acquainting the entrepreneurs with advanced production and management techniques.

The courses for workers are organised in the following areas:

(a) Shop practice courses such as machine shop practice, tool room practice, foundry, blacksmithy, electrical shop practice etc.

(b) Trade oriented courses, such as tool making, fitter, sheet metal, pattern making, carpentry etc.

(c) Process oriented courses, such as welding, heat treatment, electroplating, leather works etc.

(d) Product oriented courses, sport goods, foot wear, paint, varnish making etc.

Training programmes for entrepreneurs are of two types namely:

(i) For graduate and di­ploma holder engineers, physics and chemistry graduates and

(ii) For rural artisans, educated unemployed, ex-servicemen, weaker sections of the society, women entrepreneurs etc. with special courses for each of the categories of persons.

For providing training and upgradation of technology and managerial skills, specialised institutions have been set up.

For conducting entrepreneurship development programmes, the lead was given by Small Industries Development Organisation through its small industries service centres. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) was established in 1983 at Ahmedabad as a resource organisation at the national level for the purpose of creating the institutional infra­structure for entrepreneurship development.

National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIES BHD) was established by the central Government at New Delhi, with the objective of coordinating activities related to entrepreneurship and small business development.

In addition, institutions established by the Government are:

(i) Rural Entrepreneurship Development Institute (RED) at Ranchi.

(ii) Rural Management and Management Centres (RMEDC) at Maharashtra.

Other organisational actively conducting entrepreneurship development programmes are:

(i) State Bank of India

(iii) Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at Ahmedabad and Hubli.

(iv) State financial corporations.

(v) Industrial consultancy organisations in various states.

(vi) Small Industries Extension Training Institute, Hyderabad.

(vii) Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IEDs) in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa.

(viii) Management Development Institute (MDI) at Gurgaon (Haryana) near Delhi.

Some of the other institutions for entrepreneurial development are:

1. Central Institute of Tool Design, Hyderabad.

2. Central Tool Room and Training Centre, Calcutta.

3. NI SIET, Guwahati.

4. Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments, Bombay.

5. Electronic Service and Training Centre, Ramnagar.

6. Process-cum-Product Development Centre for Glass and Ceramic Industry, Ranchi.

7. Process and Product Development Centre, Agra.

8. Process and Product Development Centre, Meerut.

9. Central Institute of Hand Tools, Jalandhar.

10. Hand Tool Design Development and Training Centre, Nagpur.

11. New Indo-Danish Tool Rooms, Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar.

12. Ino-German Tool Rooms-Indore, Ahmedabad and Aurangabad.

13. National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development, New Delhi.

14. National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

15. Centre for the Improvement of Glass Industry, Firozabad.

16. National Council for Cement and Building Materials, Delhi, Ballabgarh, Hyderabad, Patna and Madras.

17. Indian Plywood Industries Research Institute, Bangalore.

18. Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute, Saharanpur.

19. National Federation of Industrial Cooperatives Limited, New Delhi.

20. Central Machine Tool Institute, Bangalore.

Essay # 6. Beliefs Regarding Entrepreneurship:

According to literature there are many myths about entrepreneurship:

But myths and realities about its are different as follows:

1. Myth about entrepreneurs is that they are born not made but “reality” is that entrepreneur characteristics and traits may be acquired through properly structured learning.

2. Myth regarding entrepreneurs is that all required is money but generally it is observed that excessive and surplus money reduces the risk taking opportunities, scarce for care resources and grasp for opportunities.

3. Myth regarding entrepreneurship is that it is profile of traits and characteristics but practically it is a combination of situational issues.

4. Myth about entrepreneurs is doer not thinkers whereas the reality is that frequent thinking in planning, creativity, innovation and risk taking is required.

5. As per myth “Business schools have no place in entrepreneurship” but in actual practice most of the successful entrepreneurs have come from engineering courses and business schools.

Essay # 7. Financing of Enterprise :

Finance is the main input of any enterprise. The entrepreneur needs capital to start with, and he also needs financial assistance at every stage of the project. Project finance is required for both short term and long term.

(a) Short-term Finance:

These usually refer to the funds required for a period of less than one year. These are usually required to meet variable, seasonal or temporary working capital requirements. Main sources for short term finance are borrowing from banks, trade credit, installment credit and customer advances.

(b) Medium-term Finance:

Period of one year to five years are regarded as a medium- term. These are generally required for permanent working capital, small expansions, replace­ments, modifications etc. These can be raised by issue of shares and debentures, borrowing from banks and other financial institutions, ploughing back of profits.

(c) Long-term Finance:

Periods more than 5 years are regarded as long-terms. These are required for procuring fixed assets, for substantial expansion, modernisation etc. Important sources of long-term finance are issue of shares and debentures, loans from financial institu­tions and ploughing back of profits.

Sources of Finance :

The sources from which the entrepreneurs can meet their financial needs for their projects are grouped as:

(a) Internal source, and

(b) External source.

In addition, the entrepreneur raises his finance by availing of available subsidies, state aid to industries etc. A judicious mix of funds from these sources should be given priority.

(a) Internal Sources of Finance:

(i) Personal and family savings.

(ii) Loans from L.I.C. and Provident Fund Account.

(iii) Loans against assets like land and property.

(iv) Loans against shares and debentures.

(v) Loans from relatives and friends.

(b) External Sources:

Substantial amount is required by an enterprise to buy machinery and equipment and to purchase land and buildings.

These finances are generally arranged from following sources:

(i) Borrowing from Banks.

(ii) Term-lending from institutions like IDBI; IFCI, Industrial Development Corpora­tions etc.

(iii) From Government and Semi-Government agencies.

(iv) Other sources.

Institutional Finance :

Institutional finance is available for large, medium, small and tiny industries by commer­cial banks. Commercial banks include the State Bank of India group, nationalised banks, pri­vate sector banks and development corporations which have been especially established to pro­vide industrial finance.

In addition, the Reserve Bank of India gives credit guarantees and the ECGC gives export guarantees to the small-scale sector. Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), by its refinance operations, plays a significant role in the promotion of the small scale- sector. The National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) offers financial assistance in the form of its hire-purchase schemes.

Besides, new institutions like mutual funds, lease companies, financial service institutions, investment companies, merchant banks etc. provide financial assistance and financial services to industries.

Essay # 8. Factors Essential for Successful Entrepreneurship:

The following aspects/factors are essential for successful entrepreneurship:

1. Regular inflow of information concerning consumers or buyers, distributors and dealers/retailers, transporters, etc., about raw materials, quality aspects, competitors, government organization and employees.

2. Aspects regarding satisfaction of consumer requirements.

5. Aspects concerning productivity improvement.

6. Quality maintenance.

7. Utilization of upto date technology.

8. To be innovative in view of competition.

10. Proper utilization of scrap or waste material.

11. Proper time management.

Essay # 9. Benefits of Entrepreneurship :

Entrepreneurship has following three benefits for society:

1. Economic Growth:

These provide economic upliftment of society and generate labour employment.

2. Productivity Improvement:

It helped in improving the productivity, which means the ability to produce more goods and services with less labour and other inputs.

3. New technologies, products and services:

It helps in promoting innovative tech­nologies, products and services.

Related Articles:

• Essay on Entrepreneurship | Management
• Essay on Entrepreneur: Top 8 Essays | Business Management
• Entrepreneurship: Compilation of Essays on Entrepreneurship
• 3 Special Challenges of Entrepreneurship | Business

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Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Startup Hubs

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Innovation and entrepreneurship (essay)

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What Does Entrepreneurship Mean to You?

Young entrepreneurs from around the world recently gathered in New York City to be honored during the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Global Showcase. KWHS checked in with several of them — from Maryland to Ireland -- to find out what they consider to be the true essence of entrepreneurship. … Read More

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Young entrepreneurs and teachers from around the world recently took part in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Global Showcase in New York City. KWHS thought it would be an ideal chance to check in with some of NFTE’s honored students to find out their answers to one important question: What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

Here are their thoughts:

“Entrepreneurship comes in two phases — connection and opportunities. When you are an entrepreneur , you get to connect with different people to help you and teach you, as well as give you ideas on improvement. I also believe that not all entrepreneurs will succeed their first time. Some will fail. No matter how good you are, there will be flaws. Therefore, I think the process is an opportunity for everyone to learn and grow.”

Xavier T., 17, Evergreen Secondary School , Woodlands, Singapore — f ounder of Caf é on Wheels, a mobile caf é that moves around Singapore on a double decker bus

“Entrepreneurship means creativity and the ability to use innovative ideas to make a difference in your community by addressing a need or creating a socially conscious business.”

Ambar R., 17 , Kolbe Cathedral High School , Bridgeport, Connecticut — founder of   Styles by Ambar, which recycles women ’ s clothing for organizations that help women

“Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking. The essential parts of the entrepreneurial mindset are collaboration , risk-taking and activation. First, you must be able to productively collaborate [tapping into the] strengths and weaknesses within a team. Entrepreneurs must be able to “think outside of the box,” which sometimes involves risks. You must be tolerant of unorthodox ideas. Lastly, there would be no such thing as entrepreneurship without activation, which is turning your thoughts and ideas into reality.”

Timothy P., 17 , San Leandro High School , San Leandro, California — founder of  TP Designs, a website design firm for educators, non-profits and businesses

“I have a learning difficulty, which means I find it hard to read and do math. I had no confidence in myself. I loved cooking, so I decided to make a cookbook using pictures and no words. By starting my own business … I have learned so many new skills, like communication with people and marketing . Entrepreneurship means being able to take my small idea and turn my passion for baking into a business. My advice for other teenagers is go for it — nothing worthwhile comes easy.”

Clara H., 15 , Saint Clare ’ s Comprehensive , Manorhamilton, Ireland — founder  of Look 2 Cook, cookbooks that help children use pictures to learn to cook

“Entrepreneurship means finding a problem you or others face everyday and thinking of ideas to solve it.”

Jordan H., 17 , McCluer South Berkeley High School, St. Louis, Missouri — founder of Neostring , a shoestring that eliminates the need to retie your shoes

“Entrepreneurship is a way of life, a revolutionary way of enhancing your manner of critical thinking. To me, it means the future. To be an entrepreneur, you have control over your own life, as well as everything in and around you. It is the ticket to economic, financial and personal freedom. And just like Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, [said at the showcase]: ‘The things you pay no attention to might make you a millionaire.’”

Cyprian E., 20 , Morgan State University , Baltimore, M aryland — creator of  Green Tech, a hovercraft toy built from recyclable materials

“I believe it is finding and taking advantage of hidden opportunities to result in positive outcomes.”

George D., 17 , Charleston Collegiate School , Charleston, South Carolina — creator of  Wimbees, small, beaded art pieces

“Entrepreneurship is new innovative ideas that can help improve society economically and socially. It helps [people] create and develop ideas that can solve societal problems and gives them the entrepreneurial spirit to search out success.”

Yeny P., 18, B ó gota, Colombia — founder of  Productos Org á nicos, which produces fertilizer from banana debris

“It means being able to do what you love the most without the fear of failing. All you have to do is enjoy the experience that it brings and everything will be OK.”

Uriel M., 18 , graduate of Santee High School , Los Angeles, California — founder of  Revlo, a photography business

“Entrepreneurship equals intellectual freedom and the ability to be self-reliant. This priceless feeling of dictating the direction of your work is what keeps me going every day. I’m passionate about technology, but I’m also passionate about our brand and the ability to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. What I would share with young high school entrepreneurs is that things may get hard along the way and doors may close in front of you. ‘ You must internalize it and you will be successful.” 

Carlos P., 25 , graduate of Sports & Medical Sciences , Hartford, Connecticut — founder of  Perez Technology Group, an IT consulting company

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Now it’s your turn. What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

Not one entrepreneur interviewed for this article mentioned the word “money,” and yet it definitely plays an important role in entrepreneurship. Why do you think that is not the first thing people think of when describing the meaning of entrepreneurship? How do you connect money with entrepreneurship? Do you agree with Cyprian E., who says entrepreneurship is the ticket to “financial freedom?”

Pull out five concepts from the quotes above that help people define entrepreneurship. Expand on each of these a bit. What do these terms mean to you, particularly in the context of thinking and acting like an entrepreneur?

One comment on “ What Does Entrepreneurship Mean to You? ”

To undertake is to make my business idea a life project, to be successful in the long term and to contribute to the development and growth of my country, and to be an example of new generations. Saludos Kilber Garcia del Aguila

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Investor in action: 5 questions for andrew dudum of hims & hers, internship insider: josh hornthal’s summers at apple.

1.3 The Entrepreneurial Mindset

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset
• Describe what is meant by entrepreneurial spirit or passion

Entrepreneurship takes many forms (see Table 1.1 ), but entrepreneurs share a major trait in common: An entrepreneur is someone who identifies an opportunity and chooses to act on that opportunity. Most business ventures are innovative variations of an existing idea that has spread across communities, regions, and countries, such as starting a restaurant or opening a retail store. These business ventures are, in some ways, a lower-risk approach but nonetheless are entrepreneurial in some way. For example, Warby Parker , a profitable startup founded by four graduate students at Wharton, disrupted a major incumbent ( Luxottica ) by providing a more convenient (online initially), affordable, and stylish product line for a large segment of consumers. In this sense, their innovation is about creating something new, unique, or different from the mainstream. Yet they attracted an existing, and in some ways mature, sector of an established industry. In a different way, McDonalds , which is 90 percent owned by franchisees, introduced an “all day breakfast” menu in 2017 that was hugely successful; it also targeted a larger segment (in part younger consumers) and brought back consumers who had chosen other options. In summary, many entrepreneurs start a new venture by solving a problem that is significant, offering some value that other people would appreciate if the product or service were available to them. Other entrepreneurs, in contrast, start a venture by offering a “better mousetrap” in terms of a product, service, or both. In any case, it is vital that the entrepreneur understand the market and target segment well, articulate a key unmet need (“pain point”), and develop and deliver a solution that is both viable and feasible. In that aspect, many entrepreneurs mitigate risks before they launch the venture.

Being aware of your surroundings and the encounters in your life can reveal multiple opportunities for entrepreneurship. In our daily lives, we constantly find areas where improvements could be made. For example, you might ask, “What if we didn’t have to commute to work?” “What if we didn’t have to own a vehicle but still had access to one?” “What if we could relax while driving to work instead of being stressed out by traffic?” These types of questions inspired entrepreneurial ventures such as ride-sharing services like Uber , the self-driving vehicle industry, 21 and short-term bicycle access in the free bike-sharing program in Pella, Iowa ( Figure 1.10 ). 22

These ideas resulted from having an entrepreneurial mindset , an awareness and focus on identifying an opportunity through solving a problem, and a willingness to move forward to advance that idea. The entrepreneurial mindset is the lens through which the entrepreneur views the world, where everything is considered in light of the entrepreneurial business. The business is always a consideration when the entrepreneur makes a decision. In most cases, the action that the entrepreneur takes is for the benefit of the business, but sometimes, it helps the entrepreneur get ready to adopt the appropriate mindset. The mindset becomes a way of life for the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs often are predisposed to action to achieve their goals and objectives. They are forward thinking, always planning ahead, and they are engaged in “what if” analyses. They frequently ask themselves, “What if we did this?” “What if a competitor did that?”—and consider what the business implications would be.

Most people follow habits and traditions without being aware of their surroundings or noticing the opportunities to become entrepreneurs. Because anyone can change their perspective from following established patterns to noticing the opportunities around them, anyone can become an entrepreneur. There is no restriction on age, gender, race, country of origin, or personal income. To become an entrepreneur, you need to recognize that an opportunity exists and be willing to act on it. Note, however, that the execution of the entrepreneurial mindset varies in different parts of the world. For example, in many Asian cultures, group decision-making is more common and valued as a character trait. In these regions, an entrepreneur would likely ask the advice of family members or other business associates before taking action. In contrast, individualism is highly valued in the United States and so many US entrepreneurs will decide to implement a plan for the business without consulting others.

Entrepreneurial Spirit and Passion

An entrepreneurial spirit allows entrepreneurs to carry a manner of thinking with them each day that allows them to overcome obstacles and to meet challenges with a can-do attitude. What does it mean to have an entrepreneurial spirit? For the purposes of this discussion, it could mean being passionate, purposeful, positive, bold, curious, or persistent.

The founders of Airbnb have a passion for supporting individual rights to rent out unused space. Why should the established model of hotels prevail? Why shouldn’t an individual homeowner have the freedom to rent out unused space and leverage that space into an income? Airbnb has succeeded in creating more flexible and affordable options in the space of the rapidly growing "sharing" economy. At the same time, some states and municipalities have raised issues about the regulations monitoring ventures like this. While entrepreneurial spirit is partly about fighting for individual rights and freedoms, there should be a balance between economic freedom and consumer protection. The entrepreneurial spirit involves a passion for presenting an idea that is worthwhile and valuable, and a willingness to think beyond established patterns and processes, while still keeping in mind local laws and regulations, in the quest to change those established patterns, or at least to offer alternatives to those established patterns.

Passion is a critical component of the entrepreneurial process. Without it, an entrepreneur can lose the drive to run the business. Passion can keep an entrepreneur going when the outside world sends negative messages or less-than-positive feedback. For example, if you are truly passionate about starting an animal shelter because of your love of animals, you will find a way to make it happen. Your internal drive to help animals in need will spur you on to do whatever it takes to make the shelter become a reality. The same is true of other types of startups and owners with similar passions. However, passion needs to be informed by the entrepreneur’s vision and mission—passion of the sake of passion is not enough. A clear mission statement —which details why the business exists and the entrepreneur’s objectives for achieving that mission—will guide an entrepreneur’s passion and keep the business on track. Passion, vision, and mission can reinforce each other and keep the entrepreneur on the right track with next steps for the business.

Some ideas might seem small or insignificant, but in the field of entrepreneurship, it’s important to recognize that for every new startup, someone else may recognize a spin-off idea that expands upon the original idea. The opportunities for identifying new possibilities are endless. Review your work in creating spinoff ideas for Angad Darvani’s projects, or Kevin F. Adler’s Miracle Messages venture. Or consider possible spin-off ideas around the technology used in agriculture. Creating spin-off ideas fits well with our discussion of divergent thinking and brainstorming. Through these processes, we can discover new uses for existing technology, just as Ring did by using video technology to add security by allowing customers to see who is at the door without opening it.

An Entrepreneurial Mindset in Your Discipline or Field

Within your industry of interest or area of study, what are the challenges that create frustration? How can these be turned into opportunities? Earlier in this chapter, we discussed Evernote , a company that focuses on expanding our memories by storing and organizing information. Let’s look at some other examples of entrepreneurial endeavors in specific industries to help you plan your own venture in your own industry.

In the agriculture industry, insects, weeds, weather conditions, and the challenges of harvesting crops are all ripe for entrepreneurial activities. The move toward organic produce has also affected this industry. From an entrepreneurial perspective, what products could you invent to support both organic farming and the problems of insects that damage or destroy crops? The old method was to use chemical sprays to kill the insects, but today, the growing demand for organic foods and increased awareness of the impact of chemical sprays on our environment are changing this scenario. One new idea to solve this problem combines a vacuum cleaner with an agriculture product.

Link to Learning

Watch this video on the creation of a crop vacuum that sucks up insects and bugs to learn more.

A bug vacuum is an example of how using divergent thinking contributed to the solution of removing bugs from crops without using chemicals. In the group activity of creating divergent ideas, this idea may not have been received well. However, in the incubation stage, the idea must have come forward as a viable solution. Entrepreneurs frequently face the challenge of pressure to conform to established habits and patterns within industries.

Often, the entrepreneurial mindset includes futuristic ideas that shake up the normal, conventional processes that are grounded in experience over time. Tried-and-tested processes and products that have a proven history of success can be a formidable obstacle to new ideas. A new idea may even appear as impossible or outlandish, perhaps even an embarrassment to the steady and predictable practices established within an industry. This can create a dilemma: Do we try something new and unproven that lacks documented research? Sometimes, we must disregard our past successes and research to be open to new possibilities for success and failure. An entrepreneurial mindset includes creativity, problem-solving skills, and a propensity to innovation. 23 Open-mindedness is one characteristic that supports creativity, problem solving, and innovation. Taking the time to explore new ideas, dream, reflect, and view situations from a new perspective contribute to the entrepreneurial mindset. Some innovations can lead to disruptions within the industry, or even create a new industry.

The innovator’s dilemma was presented by Clayton Christensen to explain disruptive technology , which are technologies that, once introduced, displace established patterns, processes, and systems previously accepted as normal or accepted. One example of a disruptive technology is Airbnb , a company that threatens the established hotel industry by connecting personal resources to people who desire those resources. If you have a spare bedroom that you aren’t using, why not sell that space to someone who wants and needs the space?

Airbnb has become a significant threat to the established hotel industry’s business model of building large hotels and renting rooms within those hotels to their customers. Airbnb has reconfigured that model, and since its 2008 launch, 150 million travelers have taken advantage of 3 million Airbnb listings in more than 191 countries. Airbnb has raised more than $3 billion (plus a $1 billion credit line) and is considering selling stocks to support significant expansion. The value of Airbnb is approximately $30 billion. Compare this market value to Hilton ’s market capitalization of $19 billion and Marriott ’s of $35 billion. If you were the CEO of Hilton or Marriott, would you be worried? The hotel industry recognized Airbnb as a threat, and in 2016, began a campaign to create legislation to rein in Airbnb’s growth and popularity. From the hotel industry’s perspective, Airbnb is not playing by the same rules. This is the definition of disruptive technology, the focus on creating a new idea or process that negates or challenges established process or products. 24

Sometimes disruptive technologies result from not listening to customers. Customers don’t always know what they want. Customer groups might need to be redefined by the entrepreneurial team on the basis of better models, knowing when to invest in developing lower-performance products that promise lower margins while still satisfying the need, and knowing when to pursue small markets at the expense of larger or established markets. Basically, disruptive technologies occur through identifying new and valuable processes and products.

The founders of Airbnb recognized that some people have unused resources, bedrooms, that other people need. We can apply this idea to other unused resources such as vehicles and motor homes. We see this model reproduced in short-term car rental and bike-sharing programs.

• 21 Matthew DeBord. “Waymo Could Be Worth as Much as $75 Billion—Here’s a Brief History of the Google Car Project.” Business Insider . September 9, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/google-car-project-history-2018-8
• 22 Ethan Goetz. “Bike Share Program Launched Monday.” The Chronicle . July 2, 2018. https://www.pellachronicle.com/gallery/bike-share-program-launched-monday/article_950cebac-7e49-11e8-97a0-8fd615410188.html
• 23 Emma Fleck. “Needed: Entrepreneurial Mindset.”  Central Penn Business Journal ,  34 (12), 10. http://pageturnpro2.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Publications/201803/15/83956/PDF/131668002208352000_CPBJ033018WEB.pdf
• 24 Katie Benner. “Inside the Hotel Industry’s Plan to Combat Airbnb.” New York Times . April 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/technology/inside-the-hotel-industrys-plan-to-combat-airbnb.html

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the Essence of Entrepreneurship: who is a True Entrepreneur?

This essay about the defining characteristics of an entrepreneur outlines several key attributes that distinguish true entrepreneurs. It highlights that entrepreneurs are visionaries who not only see opportunities where others see obstacles, but also act passionately to turn these visions into reality. They are characterized by their willingness to take significant risks and their ability to recover and learn from setbacks. Innovation plays a central role in their endeavors, aimed at solving real-world problems and enhancing efficiency. The essay also notes that successful entrepreneurship involves strong leadership and collaboration skills, as entrepreneurs must inspire and lead teams towards shared goals. Additionally, adaptability is emphasized as crucial for navigating the ever-changing business landscape. Lastly, the essay describes entrepreneurs as socially responsible leaders whose ventures often aim to make a positive impact on society, underlining their importance in driving economic and social progress.

How it works

There has never been a more important role for businesses in a world that is continuously changing due to new technologies and altered market dynamics. However, precisely what makes a business owner? A business owner is fundamentally a person who develops solutions, spurs innovation, and spots chances. However, what it really means to be a businessperson is beyond the scope of this description.

First and foremost, an entrepreneur is a visionary. They possess the unique ability to see potential where others see obstacles.

This vision might involve inventing a new product, improving an existing service, or finding a gap in the market that others have overlooked. Vision alone, however, isn’t enough; it must be coupled with a robust passion for bringing that vision to life. Entrepreneurs are not just dreamers; they are doers. Their day-to-day lives are consumed with the pursuit of making their vision a reality, driven by an intrinsic motivation that often surpasses the allure of financial gain.

A key characteristic of an entrepreneur is their willingness to take risks. Starting any business involves a significant amount of uncertainty, and the path of entrepreneurship is fraught with challenges that can discourage even the most ardent optimist. Financial risks, market competition, and the sheer amount of time and effort required can be daunting. Yet, entrepreneurs are those who step into the arena despite these risks. They are prepared to pivot their strategies, adapt to new data, and persevere through failures. Resilience, therefore, is a hallmark of successful entrepreneurs. They learn from setbacks and use these lessons to forge ahead with an improved approach.

Entrepreneurs are also innovators at their core. They thrive on innovation not just for the sake of novelty, but to solve real-world problems. This can mean developing new products that revolutionize how we live, or it can mean implementing new processes that enhance efficiency and productivity within existing frameworks. Innovation for entrepreneurs is a means to an end—a tool used to overcome barriers and achieve objectives that seemed impossible.

Moreover, entrepreneurship is not a solo journey. A true entrepreneur understands the value of collaboration. They are adept at building teams, inspiring staff, and attracting stakeholders who share their vision and commitment. Leadership skills are indispensable in this aspect, as motivating a group of individuals towards a common goal is no small feat. Entrepreneurs must be communicative and persuasive, capable of negotiating deals and selling their vision to a wide array of audiences.

Importantly, entrepreneurship is also about adaptability. In a fast-paced world, the only constant is change. Entrepreneurs excel in adapting to new trends and shifting business environments. They are always learning, always evolving, and always ready to adjust their sails to navigate the winds of change. This agility allows them to stay ahead of the curve and maintain relevance in a competitive market.

Lastly, a defining trait of entrepreneurs is their contribution to society. While the primary motive may be to build a profitable business, many entrepreneurs are driven by a desire to make a positive impact on the world. Whether it’s through innovative products that improve quality of life, services that address specific societal needs, or business models that prioritize sustainability, entrepreneurs often embed a social mission into the DNA of their business ventures.

In conclusion, an entrepreneur is more than just a business owner or a manager. They are pioneers on the frontier of innovation, captains of industry who steer the ship against formidable waves, and visionaries who transform faint glimmers of possibility into beacons of reality. Their path is one of courage, creativity, and relentless pursuit of a dream. This blend of vision, risk-taking, innovation, leadership, adaptability, and societal impact is what truly encapsulates the spirit of entrepreneurship. Such individuals are indispensable to economic progress and social evolution, marking their journey not just in profits, but in the broader strokes of change they paint across the canvas of society.

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