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{{Short description|Taking financial risks in the hope of profit}}
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'''Entrepreneurship''' is the creation or extraction of [[economic value]] in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.

An '''entrepreneur''' ({{IPA|fr|ɑ̃tʁəpʁənœʁ|lang}}) is an [[businessperson|individual]] who creates and/or invests in one or more businesses, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entrepreneur: What It Means to Be One and How to Get Started |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/entrepreneur.asp |access-date=2022-12-25 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref> The process of setting up a business is known as "entrepreneurship". The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an [[innovator]], a source of new ideas, [[goods]], services, and business/or procedures.

More narrow definitions have described entrepreneurship as the process of designing, launching and running a new business, often similar to a [[small business]], or (per ''Business Dictionary'') as the "capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks to make a [[Profit (accounting)|profit]]".<ref name="businessdictionary.com">{{cite web |title=What is entrepreneurship? definition and meaning |url=http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/entrepreneurship.html#ixzz3xv9ci0nt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116084818/http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/entrepreneurship.html#ixzz3xv9ci0nt |archive-date=16 November 2018 |access-date=21 January 2016 |publisher=Business Dictionary}}</ref> The people who create these businesses are often referred to as "entrepreneurs".<ref>{{cite journal|author1=AK Yetisen|author2=LR Bob Volpatti|author3=AF Coskun|author4=S Cho|author5=E Kamrani|author6=H Butt|author7=A Khademhos\\seini|author8=SH Yun|title=Entrepreneurship|journal=Lab Chip|volume=15|issue=18|pages=3638–3660|doi=10.1039/c5lc00577a|pmid=26245815|year=2015|url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150918-154718642 | issn=1473-0189}}</ref><ref name="moves">{{cite journal|first1=Riitta|last1=Katila|first2=Eric L.|last2=Chen|first3=Henning|last3=Piezunka|title=All the right moves: How entrepreneurial firms compete effectively|journal=Strategic Entrepreneurship JNL|date=7 June 2012|volume=6|issue=2|doi=10.1002/sej.1130|url=https://web.stanford.edu/~rkatila/new/pdf/KatilaSEJ12.pdf|access-date=18 May 2017|pages=116–132}}</ref> 

In the field of economics, the term ''entrepreneur'' is used for an entity that has the ability to translate [[invention]]s or [[technologies]] into products and services.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Economics of Science and Technology|journal=The Journal of Technology Transfer|volume=27|issue=2|page=157|doi=10.1023/A:1014382532639|year=2002|last1=Audretsch|first1=David B.|last2=Bozeman|first2=Barry|last3=Combs|first3=Kathryn L.|last4=Feldman|first4=Maryann|last5=Link|first5=Albert N.|last6=Siegel|first6=Donald S.|last7=Stephan|first7=Paula|last8=Tassey|first8=Gregory|last9=Wessner|first9=Charles|s2cid=143820412}}</ref> In this sense, entrepreneurship describes activities on the part of both established firms and new businesses.

== Perspectives on entrepreneurship ==
In the 21st century the governments of [[nation state]]s have tried to promote entrepreneurship, as well as [[Business|enterprise culture]], in the hope that it would improve or stimulate economic growth and [[competition (economics)|competition]]. After the end of [[supply-side economics]], entrepreneurship was supposed to boost the economy.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Competitiveness and Economic Development in Europe: Prospects and Challenges | editor1=Alina Hyz | editor2= Marzanna B. Lament | editor3= Sławomir I. Bukowski |publisher= Taylor & Francis |year=2021 |isbn=9781000373288 | pages=}}</ref>

As an academic field, entrepreneurship accommodates different schools of thought. It has been studied within disciplines such as [[management]], [[economics]], [[sociology]], and [[economic history]].<ref>{{Cite journal| author1= Monica Lindgren | author2= Johann Packendorff |date=1 January 2009|title=Social constructionism and entrepreneurship: Basic assumptions and consequences for theory and research| journal=International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research |volume=15|issue=1 |pages=25–47| doi=10.1108/13552550910934440|issn=1355-2554}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| author1= Helle Neergaard| author2= John P. Ulhøi | title=Handbook of Qualitative R Methods in Entrepreneurship| date=2007| publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing| isbn=9781847204387}}</ref> Some view entrepreneurship as allocated to ''the entrepreneur''. These scholars tend to focus on [[#Elements|what the entrepreneur does]] and what traits an entrepreneur has. This is sometimes referred to as the functionalistic approach to entrepreneurship.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book| author1=Lena Olaison |title=Entrepreneurship at the limits| date=2014| publisher=Frederiksberg: Copenhagen Business School (CBS) |isbn=9788793155251}}</ref> Others deviate from the individualistic perspective to turn the spotlight on ''the entrepreneurial process'' and immerse in the interplay between agency and context. This approach is sometimes referred to as the processual approach,<ref name="auto"/> or the contextual turn/approach to entrepreneurship.<ref>{{Cite journal| author1= Friederike Welter |date=1 January 2011| title=Contextualizing Entrepreneurship: Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward| journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice| volume=35| issue=1| pages=165–184|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6520.2010.00427.x| s2cid=153467294| issn=1042-2587}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal |last1=Gaddefors |first1=Johan |last2=Anderson |first2=Alistair R. |date=1 January 2017 |title=Entrepreneurship and context: when entrepreneurship is greater than entrepreneurs |journal=International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=267–278 |doi=10.1108/IJEBR-01-2016-0040 |issn=1355-2554 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10059/2299}}</ref>

== Elements ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2021}}
Entrepreneurship includes the creation or extraction of [[economic value]].<ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Diochon |first1=Monica |last2=Anderson |first2=Alistair R. |date=1 March 2011 |title=Ambivalence and ambiguity in social enterprise; narratives about values in reconciling purpose and practices |journal=International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=93–109 |doi=10.1007/s11365-010-0161-0 |issn=1555-1938 |s2cid=144081539 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10059/613|url=https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/file/248071/1/DIOCHON%202011%20Ambivalence%20and%20ambiguity }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alvarez |first1=Sharon A. |last2=Busenitz |first2=Lowell W. |date=1 December 2001 |title=The entrepreneurship of resource-based theory |journal=Journal of Management |language=en |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=755–775 |doi=10.1177/014920630102700609 |issn=0149-2063 |s2cid=220587830 |doi-access=free}}</ref> It is the act of being an entrepreneur, or the owner or manager of a business enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits.{{citation needed||date=August 2023}} Entrepreneurs act as managers and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is the process by which either an individual or a team identifies a [[business opportunity]] and acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation.

In the early 19th century, the French economist [[Jean-Baptiste Say]] provided a broad definition of entrepreneurship, saying that it "shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield". Entrepreneurs create something new and unique—they change or transmute value.

Regardless of the firm size, big or small, it can take part in entrepreneurship opportunities. There are four criteria for becoming an entrepreneur. First, there must be opportunities or situations to recombine resources to generate profit. Second, entrepreneurship requires differences between people, such as preferential access to certain individuals or the ability to recognize information about opportunities. Third, taking on a level of risk is a necessity. Fourth, the entrepreneurial process requires the organization of people and resources.<ref name="Shane">Shane, S. A. (2003). ''A general theory of entrepreneurship: the individual-opportunity nexus''. Northampton, Massachusetts: E. Elgar.</ref>

An entrepreneur uses their time, energy, and resources to create value for others. They are rewarded for this effort monetarily and therefore both the consumer of the value created and the entrepreneur benefit.

The entrepreneur is a factor in and the study of entrepreneurship reaches back to the work of [[Richard Cantillon]] and [[Adam Smith]] in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. However, entrepreneurship was largely ignored theoretically until the late 19th and early 20th centuries and empirically until a profound resurgence in business and economics since the late 1970s.

In the 20th century, the understanding of entrepreneurship owes much to the work of economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]] in the 1930s and other Austrian economists such as [[Carl Menger]], [[Ludwig von Mises]] and [[Friedrich von Hayek]]. According to Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful [[innovation]]. Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called "the gale of creative destruction" to replace in whole or in part inferior innovations across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products, including new [[business model]]s.

Extensions of Schumpeter's thesis about entrepreneurship have sought to describe the traits of an entrepreneur using various data sets and techniques. Looking at data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), entrepreneurial traits specific to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are: experience in managing or owning a business, pursuit of an opportunity while being employed, and self-employment. In the decision to establish a new business, the ASEAN entrepreneur depends especially on their own long-term mental model of their enterprise, while scanning for new opportunities in the short-term. These driving characteristics allude to the presence of serial entrepreneurship in the region.<ref>Tan, J. J., & Arceo, V. R. (2024). The regional entrepreneurial lens: An ASEAN 5 developing country perspective. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Resesearch, 14(36). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40497-024-00408-1. https://rdcu.be/dWrVA</ref>

It has been argued, that [[creative destruction]] is largely responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth. The supposition that entrepreneurship leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in endogenous growth theory and as such is debated in academic economics. An alternative description posited by [[Israel Kirzner]] suggests that the majority of innovations may be much more incremental improvements such as the replacement of paper with plastic in the making of [[drinking straw]]s.

==Entrepreneurical opportunities==
The exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities may include:<ref>{{cite book| author1=Robert D. Hisrich| title=Entrepreneurship| year=2011 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education| isbn=9780070620179}}</ref>
* Developing a [[business plan]]
* Hiring [[human resources]]
* Acquiring financial and material resources
* Providing [[leadership]]
* Being responsible for both the venture's success or failure
* [[Risk aversion]]

The economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]] (1883–1950) saw the role of the entrepreneur in the economy as "[[creative destruction]]", Which he defined as launching innovations that simultaneously destroy old industries while ushering in new industries and approaches. For Schumpeter, the changes and "dynamic [[economic equilibrium]] brought on by the innovating entrepreneur [were] the norm of a healthy economy".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.conferenceboard.ca/(X(1)S(0jpcvewkdqettdqjlap0vmtd))/hcp/provincial/innovation/ambition.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1|title=Entrepreneurial Ambition – Innovation Provincial Rankings – How Canada Performs|publisher=Conference Board Canada|access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419115820/https://www.conferenceboard.ca/(X(1)S(0jpcvewkdqettdqjlap0vmtd))/hcp/provincial/innovation/ambition.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> While entrepreneurship is often associated with new, small, for-profit start-ups, entrepreneurial behavior can be seen in small-, medium- and large-sized firms, new and established firms and in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, including voluntary-sector groups, charitable organizations and [[Civil service|government]].<ref>{{cite web| author1= Catherine Clifford |title= Why everyone will have to become an entrepreneur| url= https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228176| website= entrepreneur.com| access-date= 8 May 2016|date= 3 September 2013}}</ref>

Entrepreneurship may operate within an [[entrepreneurship ecosystem]] which often includes:
* Government programs and services that promote entrepreneurship and support entrepreneurs and start-ups
* Non-governmental organizations such as small-business associations and organizations that offer advice and mentoring to entrepreneurs (e.g. through entrepreneurship centers or websites)
* Small-business [[advocacy organization]]s that lobby governments for increased support for entrepreneurship programs and more small business-friendly laws and regulations
* Entrepreneurship resources and facilities (e.g. [[business incubator]]s and [[seed accelerator]]s)
* Entrepreneurship education and training programs offered by schools, colleges and universities
* Financing (e.g. bank loans, [[venture capital financing]], [[angel investing]] and government and private foundation grants)<ref name=VentureCapitalNY1>{{cite web|url=http://nvca.org/research/venture-investment/| title=Venture Investment – Regional Aggregate Data| publisher=National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers|access-date=23 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408104240/http://nvca.org/research/venture-investment/|archive-date=8 April 2016| url-status=dead}}</ref>{{qn|date=July 2017}}

In the 2000s, usage of the term "entrepreneurship" expanded to include how and why some individuals (or teams) identify opportunities, evaluate them as viable, and then decide to exploit them.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=S.|last2=Venkatraman|first2=S.|date=2000|title=The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research|journal=Academy of Management Review|volume=25| pages=217–226| doi=10.5465/amr.2000.2791611}}</ref> The term has also been used to discuss how people might use these opportunities to develop new products or services, launch new firms or industries, and create wealth.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brush|first1=C.|display-authors=etal|year=2003|title=Doctoral education in the field of entrepreneurship|journal=Journal of Management| volume=29|issue=3| pages=309–331| doi=10.1016/s0149-2063(03)00014-x}}</ref> The entrepreneurial process is uncertain because opportunities can only be identified after they have been exploited.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Ramoglou| first1=S.| last2=Tsang| first2=E.W.K.| s2cid=146376795 | year=2016| title=A realist perspective of entrepreneurship: Opportunities as propensities|journal=Academy of Management Review| volume=41| issue=3| pages=409–434| doi=10.5465/amr.2014.0281}}</ref>

Entrepreneurs exhibit positive [[biases]] towards finding new possibilities and seeing unmet market needs, and a tendency towards risk-taking that makes them more likely to exploit [[Business opportunity|business opportunities]].<ref name="onlinelibrary.wiley.com">{{cite journal |author1=S.X. Zhang |author2=J. Cueto |year=2015 |title=The Study of Bias in Entrepreneurship|journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=419–454 |doi=10.1111/etap.12212 |s2cid=146617323 |url=http://psyarxiv.com/76rkv/|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last1=Black |first1=Ervin L. |last2=Burton |first2=F. Greg |last3=Wood |first3=David A. |last4=Zimbelman |first4=Aaron F. |date=August 2010 |title=Entrepreneurial success: differing perceptions of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists |journal=The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=189–198 |doi=10.5367/000000010792217272 |s2cid=167492528 }}</ref>

== History ==
=== Historical usage ===
[[File:Wimbit-Jellinek-Phoenix8hp.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Emil Jellinek|Emil Jellinek-Mercedes]] (1853–1918), here at the steering wheel of his Phoenix Double-Phaeton]]

"Entrepreneur" ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-entrepreneur.ogg|ˌ|ɒ̃|t|r|ə|p|r|ə|ˈ|n|ɜːr|,_|-|ˈ|nj|ʊər}}, {{small|UK also}} {{IPAc-en|-|p|r|ɛ|-}}) is a [[loanword]] from French. The word first appeared in the French dictionary entitled {{Lang|fr|Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce}} compiled by Jacques des Bruslons and published in 1723.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://researchdirection.org/UploadArticle/48.pdf|first=Ashok Bhanudas|last=Navale|title=Developing Entrepreneur Skills for Corporate Work|journal=Research Directions|date=October 2013|volume=1|issue=4|issn=2321-5488|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329060112/http://researchdirection.org/UploadArticle/48.pdf|archive-date=29 March 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=22 October 2013}}</ref> Especially in Britain, the term "adventurer" was often used to denote the same meaning.<ref>{{Cite book|title= A Brief History of Entrepreneurship: The Pioneers, Profiteers, and Racketeers Who Shaped Our World|last=Carlen|first=Joe|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|location=New York|pages=1|isbn=978-0231542814|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tkbDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|language=en}}</ref> The study of entrepreneurship reaches back to the work in the late 17th and early 18th centuries of Irish-French economist [[Richard Cantillon]], which was foundational to [[classical economics]]. Cantillon defined the term first in his {{Lang|fr|Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général}}, or ''Essay on the Nature of Trade in General'', a book [[William Stanley Jevons]] considered the "cradle of political economy".<ref>{{cite book|first=Anthony |last=Brewer|title=Richard Cantillon: Pioneer of Economic Theory|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=2yD9NWJ8_mwC}}|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-07577-0}}</ref><ref>{{citation |author=William Stanley Jevons |date=January 1881 |title=Richard Cantillon and the Nationality of Political Economy |work=Contemporary Review |publisher=The Contemporary Review Company |pages=333–360}}</ref> Cantillon defined the term as a person who pays a certain price for a product and resells it at an uncertain price, "making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise". Cantillon considered the entrepreneur to be a risk taker who deliberately allocates resources to exploit opportunities to maximize the financial return.<ref name="Cantillon, R. 1931">{{cite book|last=Cantillon |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Cantillon |year=1755 |title=Essai sur la nature du commerce en général |location=London |publisher=MacMillan}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Stevenson |first1=H. |last2=Jarillo |first2=J. |title=A Paradigm of Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Management, in |editor1-first=Álvaro |editor1-last=Cuervo|editor2-first=Domingo |editor2-last=Ribeiro|editor3-first=Salvador |editor3-last=Roig|work=Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Theory and Perspective|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=2v-aWpdgoPQC |pg=5}}|year= 2007|publisher=Springer Science Business Media|isbn=978-3-540-48543-8|pages=5–}}</ref> Cantillon emphasized the willingness of the entrepreneur to assume the risk and to deal with uncertainty, thus he drew attention to the function of the entrepreneur and distinguished between the function of the entrepreneur and the owner who provided the money.<ref name="Cantillon, R. 1931"/><ref name="Landström, H. 2005">• Landström, H. & SpringerLink 2005, Pioneers in entrepreneurship and small business research, Springer Science+Business Media, New York, N.Y.</ref>

Jean-Baptiste Say also identified entrepreneurs as a driver for economic development, emphasizing their role as one of the collecting factors of production allocating resources from less to fields that are more productive. Both Say and Cantillon belonged to French school of thought and known as the physiocrats.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Innovation|url=https://archive.org/details/enterpriseentrep00lowe_046|url-access=limited|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7506-6920-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/enterpriseentrep00lowe_046/page/n31 5]|last1=Lowe|first1=Robin|last2=Marriott|first2=Sue|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

Dating back to the time of the medieval [[guilds]] in Germany, a [[craftspeople|craftsperson]] required special permission to operate as an entrepreneur, the small proof of competence ({{Lang|de|Kleiner Befähigungsnachweis}}), which restricted training of apprentices to craftspeople who held a [[Meister]] certificate. This institution was introduced in 1908 after a period of so-called freedom of trade ({{Lang|de|Gewerbefreiheit}}, introduced in 1871) in the [[German Reich]]. However, proof of competence was not required to start a business. In 1935 and in 1953, greater proof of competence was reintroduced ({{Lang|de|Großer Befähigungsnachweis Kuhlenbeck}}), which required craftspeople to obtain a Meister apprentice-training certificate before being permitted to set up a new business.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1007/s00181-013-0773-7|title = Entry regulation and entrepreneurship: A natural experiment in German craftsmanship| journal=Empirical Economics| volume=47| issue=3| pages=1067–1101|year = 2013|last1 = Rostam-Afschar|first1 = Davud|s2cid = 154355298}}</ref>

In the [[Ashanti Empire]], successful entrepreneurs who accumulated large wealth and men as well as distinguished themselves through heroic deeds were awarded social and political recognition by being called "Abirempon" which means big men. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries AD, the appellation "Abirempon" had formalized and politicized to embrace those who conducted trade from which the whole state benefited. The state rewarded entrepreneurs who attained such accomplishments with Mena(elephant tail) which was the "heraldic badge"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Obeng|first=J.Pashington|date= 1996|title=Asante Catholicism; Religious and Cultural Reproduction among the Akan of Ghana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh9jIVu2CyEC&pg=PA23|language=en|volume=1|publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10631-4}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
In the 20th century, entrepreneurship was studied by [[Joseph Schumpeter]] in the 1930s and by other [[Austrian school|Austrian economists]] such as [[Carl Menger]] (1840–1921), [[Ludwig von Mises]] (1881–1973) and [[Friedrich von Hayek]] (1899–1992). While the loan from French of the English-language word "entrepreneur" dates to 1762,<ref>{{oed | entrepreneur}}</ref> the word "entrepreneurism" dates from 1902<ref>{{oed | entrepreneurism}}</ref> and the term "entrepreneurship" also first appeared in 1902.<ref>{{oed | entrepreneurship }}</ref> According to Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is willing and able to convert a new idea or [[invention]] into a successful [[innovation]].<ref name="Schumpeter1976">{{cite book|first= Joseph Alois |last= Schumpeter|title= Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id=6eM6YrMj46sC}}|year= 1976|publisher= Routledge|isbn= 978-0-415-10762-4}}</ref> Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called the "gale of [[creative destruction]]"<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Jones
 | first1 = Campbell
 | last2 = Murtola
 | first2 = Anna-Maria
 | chapter = Entrepreneurship, crisis, critique
 | editor1-last = Hjorth
 | editor1-first = Daniel
 | title = Handbook on Organisational Entrepreneurship
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZZEuGZu0hsC
 | series = Elgar Original Reference Series
 | location = Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
 | publisher = Edward Elgar Publishing
 | date = 2012
 | page = 123
 | isbn = 978-1781009055
 | access-date = 9 September 2020
| quote = [...] Schumpeter famously evokes the image of the 'perennial gale of creative destruction' (1950: 84).
}}
</ref>
to replace in whole or in part inferior offerings across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products and new [[business model]]s,{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} thus creative destruction is largely{{quantify|date=September 2020}} responsible for long-term economic growth. The idea that entrepreneurship leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in [[endogenous growth theory]]{{clarify|date= October 2013}} and as such continues to be debated in academic economics. An alternative description by [[Israel Kirzner]] (born 1930) suggests that the majority of innovations may be [[Incrementalism|incremental]] improvements – such as the replacement of paper with plastic in the construction of a drinking straw – that require no special qualities.

For Schumpeter, entrepreneurship resulted in new industries and in new combinations of currently existing inputs. Schumpeter's initial example of this was the combination of a steam engine and then current wagon-making technologies to produce the [[horseless carriage]]. In this case, the innovation (i.e. the car) was [[transformation (disambiguation)|transformational]] but did not require the development of dramatic new technology. It did not immediately replace the horse-drawn carriage, but in time incremental improvements reduced the cost and improved the technology, leading to the modern [[automotive industry|auto industry]]. Despite Schumpeter's early 20th-century contributions, traditional [[microeconomic]] theory did not formally consider the entrepreneur in its theoretical frameworks (instead of assuming that resources would find each other through a price system). In this treatment, the entrepreneur was an implied but unspecified actor, consistent with the concept of the entrepreneur being the agent of [[x-efficiency]].

For Schumpeter, the entrepreneur did not bear [[risk]]: the capitalist did. Schumpeter believed that the equilibrium was imperfect. Schumpeter (1934) demonstrated that the changing environment continuously provides new information about the optimum allocation of resources to enhance profitability. Some individuals acquire the new information before others and recombine the resources to gain an entrepreneurial [[Profit (economics)|profit]]. Schumpeter was of the opinion that entrepreneurs shift the [[Production–possibility frontier|production-possibility curve]] to a higher level using innovations.<ref name="Schumpeter1934">{{cite book|first= Joseph Alois |last= Schumpeter |author-link= Joseph Schumpeter |title= The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry Into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id= -OZwWcOGeOwC}}|year= 1934|publisher= Transaction Publishers|isbn= 978-0-87855-698-4}}</ref>

Initially, [[economists]] made the first attempt{{when|date=September 2020}} to study the entrepreneurship concept in depth.<ref name="Landstrom2007">{{cite book|first= H.|last= Landstrom|title= Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research|url= {{google books|plainurl= y|id= oSjccQt5zTsC}}|year= 2007|publisher= Springer|isbn= 978-0-387-23633-9}}</ref> Alfred Marshall viewed the entrepreneur as a multi-tasking capitalist and observed that in the equilibrium of a completely competitive market there was no spot for "entrepreneurs" as economic-activity creators.<ref>{{cite book|first1= Alfred|last1= Marshall|author1-link= Alfred Marshall|first2= C. W.|last2= Guillebaud|title= Principles of Economics. 9th (variorum) Ed|url= {{google books|plainurl= y|id= 97iZXwAACAAJ}}|year= 1961|publisher= Macmillan}}
</ref>

Changes in politics and society in Russia and China in the late 20th century saw a flowering of entrepreneurial activity, producing [[Russian oligarch]]s<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Henderson
 | first1 = James
 | last2 = Ferguson
 | first2 = Alastair
 | year = 2014
 | title = International Partnership in Russia: Conclusions from the Oil and Gas Industry
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QYUBAwAAQBAJ
 | edition = reprint
 | publisher = SpringerPalgrave Macmillan
 | page = 86
 | isbn = 978-1137352279
 | access-date = 9 September 2020
| quote = [...] successful oligarchs/entrepreneurs in Russia were 'crooks, who transferred their skimming talents to the enterprises they acquired, and used their wealth to further corrupt the government and block reforms'.
}}
</ref>
and [[Chinese millionaires]].<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Malik
 | first1 = Rashid
 | title = Chinese Entrepreneurs in the Economic Development of China
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dc8UNlGkDZsC
 | location = Westport, Connecticut
 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group
 | date = 1997
 | page = 7
 | isbn = 978-0275958480
 | access-date = 9 September 2020
| quote = [...] the rise to power of the CCP in 1949 signaled the end of entrepreneurship in China until 1978.
}}
</ref>

=== 21st century ===
[[File:Ambassador Verveer Greets African Womens Entrepreneurship Program Participants.jpg|thumb|In 2012, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues [[Melanne Verveer]] greets participants in an African Women's Entrepreneurship Program at the [[State Department]] in Washington, D.C.]]

In the 2000s, entrepreneurship was extended from its origins in for-profit businesses to include [[social entrepreneurship]], in which business goals are sought alongside social, environmental or humanitarian goals and even the concept of the [[political entrepreneur]].{{according to whom|date=August 2013}} Entrepreneurship within an existing firm or large organization has been referred to as [[intrapreneurship]] and may include corporate ventures where large entities "spin-off" subsidiary organizations.<ref>{{cite book |first=Scott Andrew |last=Shane |title=A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-opportunity Nexus|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=0FxO_Wsh30kC}}|year=2000|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-78100-799-0}}</ref>

Entrepreneurs are leaders willing to take risk and exercise initiative, taking advantage of market opportunities by planning, organizing and deploying resources,{{sfn|Deakins|Freel|2009}} often by innovating to create new or improving existing products or services.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Johnson, D. P. M. |title=A Glossary of Political Economy Terms, 2005 |year=2005 |publisher=Auburn University |url=https://libraries.ucsd.edu/info/resources/glossary-political-economy-terms |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720225149/https://libraries.ucsd.edu/info/resources/glossary-political-economy-terms |archive-date=20 July 2014  }}</ref> In the 2000s, the term "entrepreneurship" has been extended to include a specific [[mindset]] resulting in entrepreneurial initiatives, e.g. in the form of [[social entrepreneurship]], [[political entrepreneur]]ship or [[knowledge entrepreneurship]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=G. E. M. |title=Record-Breaking Entrepreneurial Growth in U.S. according to Latest GEM National Report |url=https://www.gemconsortium.org/news/record-breaking-entrepreneurial-growth-in-u.s.-according-to-latest-gem-national-report |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor |language=en}}</ref> 

According to Paul Reynolds, founder of the [[Global Entrepreneurship Monitor]], "by the time they reach their retirement years, half of all working men in the United States probably have a period of self-employment of one or more years; one in four may have engaged in self-employment for six or more years. Participating in a new business creation is a common activity among U.S. workers over the course of their careers".<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul D. Reynolds |title=Entrepreneurship in the United States: The Future Is Now |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=gPBP7oP9-p4C}}|year= 2007|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-45671-3}}</ref> In recent years, entrepreneurship has been claimed as a major driver of economic growth in both the United States and Western Europe.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Entrepreneurial activities differ substantially depending on the type of organization and creativity involved. Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo, part-time projects to large-scale undertakings that involve a team and which may create many jobs. Many "high value" entrepreneurial ventures seek [[venture capital]] or [[angel investor|angel funding]] ([[seed money]]) to raise [[capital (economics)|capital]] for building and expanding the business.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Mark Van Osnabrugge |author2=Robert J. Robinson |title=Angel Investing |url=https://archive.org/details/angelinvestingma0000vano |year=2000 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-7879-5202-0 }}</ref> Many organizations exist to support would-be entrepreneurs, including specialized government agencies, [[business incubator]]s (which may be for-profit, non-profit, or operated by a college or university), [[science park]]s and non-governmental organizations, which include a range of organizations including not-for-profits, charities, foundations and business advocacy groups (e.g. [[Chamber of commerce|Chambers of commerce]]). Beginning in 2008, an annual "Global Entrepreneurship Week" event aimed at "exposing people to the benefits of entrepreneurship" and getting them to "participate in entrepreneurial-related activities" was launched.{{who|date=October 2013}}

=== Relationship between small business and entrepreneurship ===
The term "entrepreneur" is often conflated with the term "[[small business]]" or used interchangeably with this term. While most entrepreneurial ventures start out as a small business, not all small businesses are entrepreneurial in the strict sense of the term. Many small businesses are sole proprietor operations consisting solely of the owner—or they have a small number of employees—and many of these small businesses offer an existing product, process or service and they do not aim at growth. In contrast, entrepreneurial ventures offer an innovative product, process or service and the entrepreneur typically aims to scale up the company by adding employees, seeking international sales and so on, a process which is financed by [[venture capital]] and [[Angel investor|angel investment]]s. In this way, the term "entrepreneur" may be more closely associated with the term "startup". [[Success (concept)|Successful]] entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a business in a positive direction by proper planning, to adapt to changing environments and understand their own strengths and weaknesses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ondernemerstest.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ICSBv5.pdf|first1=Martyn P. |last1=Driessen |first2=Peter S. |last2=Zwart|title=The role of the entrepreneur in small business success: the Entrepreneurship Scan|year= 2010 }}</ref>

===Historians' assessment and ranking===
Meeting the demands of the consumer revolution that helped drive the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, [[Josiah Wedgwood]], the 18th-century potter and entrepreneur and pioneer of modern marketing, which includes devising [[direct marketing|direct mail]], [[money back guarantee]]s, [[Door-to-door|travelling salesmen]] and [[Buy one, get one free|"buy one get one free"]], was named by the historian [[Judith Flanders]] as "among the greatest and most innovative retailers the world has ever seen".<ref>{{cite news|first=Judith|last=Flanders|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/opinion/10flanders.html?_r=2|title=They Broke It|newspaper=The New York Times|date= 9 January 2009|access-date=8 June 2024}}</ref> Another historian [[Tristram Hunt]] called Wedgwood a "difficult, brilliant, creative entrepreneur whose personal drive and extraordinary gifts changed the way we work and live."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Tristram |title=The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood |date=2021 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company}}</ref> Victorian-era Welsh entrepreneur [[Pryce Pryce-Jones]], who would capitalise on the railway network created during the Industrial Revolution and the modern postal system that also developed in the UK, formed the first [[mail order]] business, with the [[BBC]] summing up his legacy as "The mail order pioneer who started a billion-pound industry".<ref>{{cite news |title=Christmas: The mail order pioneer who started a billion-pound industry |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55244397 |access-date=19 June 2024 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

A 2002 survey of 58 business history professors gave the top spots in American business history to [[Henry Ford]], followed by [[Bill Gates]]; [[John D. Rockefeller]]; [[Andrew Carnegie]], and [[Thomas Edison]]. They were followed by [[Sam Walton]]; [[J. P. Morgan]]; [[Alfred P. Sloan]]; [[Walt Disney]]; [[Ray Kroc]]; [[Thomas J. Watson]]; [[Alexander Graham Bell]]; [[Eli Whitney]]; [[James J. Hill]]; [[Jack Welch]]; [[Cyrus McCormick]]; [[David Packard]]; [[Bill Hewlett]]; [[Cornelius Vanderbilt]]; and [[George Westinghouse]].<ref>Blaine McCormick, and Burton W. Folsom. "A survey of business historians on America's greatest entrepreneurs." ''Business History Review'' 2003; 77(4): 703–716. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30041235 online]</ref> A 1977 survey of management scholars reported the top five pioneers in management ideas were: [[Frederick Winslow Taylor]]; [[Chester Barnard]]; [[Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr.]]; [[Elton Mayo]]; and [[Lillian Moller Gilbreth]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Thompson Heames | first1 = Joyce | last2 = Breland | first2 = Jacob W. | year = 2010 | title = Management pioneer contributors: 30-year review | url = https://www.sites.google.com/site/merycitrasondari/in-the-news/personsnamesnewwebsitewinswobbyaward/Kel5_Management_pioneer.pdf | journal = Journal of Management History | volume = 16 | issue = 4 | pages = 427–436 | doi = 10.1108/17511341011073915 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Types of entrepreneurship==

=== Cultural ===
According to Christopher Rea and Nicolai Volland, cultural entrepreneurship is "practices of individual and collective agency characterized by mobility between cultural professions and modes of cultural production", which refers to creative industry activities and sectors. In their book ''The Business of Culture'' (2015), Rea and Volland identify three types of [[Culture|cultural]] entrepreneur: "cultural personalities", defined as "individuals who buil[d] their own personal brand of creativity as a cultural authority and leverage it to create and sustain various cultural enterprises"; "tycoons", defined as "entrepreneurs who buil[d] substantial clout in the cultural sphere by forging synergies between their industrial, cultural, political, and philanthropic interests"; and "collective enterprises", organizations which may engage in cultural production for profit or not-for-profit purposes.<ref>Christopher Rea and Nicolai Volland, "The Business of Culture" (UBC Press, 2015), pp. 4–7. (See also pp. 9–31: "Enter the Cultural Entrepreneur")</ref>

In the 2000s, story-telling has emerged as a field of study in cultural entrepreneurship. Some have argued that entrepreneurs should be considered "skilled cultural operators"<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Lounsbury, M|author2=Glynn, M.A|date=2001|title=Cultural Entrepreneurship: Stories, Legitimacy, and the Acquisition of Resources|journal=Strategic Management Journal|volume=22, no. 6/7|issue=6–7|pages=545–564|doi=10.1002/smj.188|s2cid=14577423}}</ref> that use stories to build legitimacy, and seize market opportunities and new capital.<ref>{{Cite book|author1=Hjorth, D|author2=Steyaert, C|title=Narrative and Discursive Approaches in Entrepreneurship: A Second Movements in Entrepreneurship Book.|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1843765899|location=Cheltenham and Northampton, MA|doi=10.4337/9781845421472}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Gartner, W.B.|date=2007|title=Entrepreneurial narrative and a science of the imagination|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=22|issue=5|pages=613–627|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2006.10.003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Patriotta, G|author2=Siegel, D|date=2019|title=The Context of Entrepreneurship|journal=Journal of Management Studies|volume=56|issue=6|pages=1194–1196|doi=10.1111/joms.12440 |s2cid=159302926 |url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/115167/1/WRAP-context-entreprenuership-Patriotta-2019.pdf }}</ref> Others have concluded that we need to speak of a 'narrative turn' in cultural entrepreneurship research.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Hjorth, D|date=2007|title=Lessons from Iago: narrating the event of entrepreneurship|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=22|issue=5|pages=712–732|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2006.10.002}}</ref>

=== Ethnic ===
[[File:Sir JACK COHEN 1898-1979 Entrepreneur Founder of Tesco Stores lived here as a child.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Plaque in London commemorating Jewish entrepreneur Sir [[Jack Cohen (businessman)|Jack Cohen]] who in 1919 founded [[Tesco]], the largest supermarket chain in the UK.]]
The term "ethnic entrepreneurship" refers to [[Self-employment|self-employed]] business owners who belong to racial or [[ethnic minority]] groups in Europe and North America.<ref name="Ethnic">{{cite journal |title=Explaining ethnic entrepreneurship: An evolutionary economics approach |date=2011 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969593111000345 |access-date=17 May 2024 |doi=10.1016/j.ibusrev.2011.02.010 |last1=Ibrahim |first1=Gamal |last2=Galt |first2=Vaughan |journal=International Business Review |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=607–613 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> A long tradition of academic research explores the experiences and strategies of ethnic entrepreneurs as they strive to integrate economically into mainstream U.S. or European society. Classic cases include 
Jewish merchants and tradespeople in both regions, South Asians in the UK, Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese in the U.S. and the Turks and North Africans in France.<ref name="Ethnic"/><ref>{{Cite web|title = Out Of Print : Ethnic Enterprise in America: Business and Welfare Among Chinese, Japanese, and Blacks : Ivan Light – University of California Press|url = http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=978-0520024854|website = www.ucpress.edu|access-date = 16 January 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161020162025/http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=978-0520024854|archive-date = 20 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[fish and chip]] industry in the UK was initiated by Jewish entrepreneurs, with Joseph Malin opening the first fish and chip shop in London in the 1860s, while Samuel Isaacs opened the first sit-down fish restaurant in 1896 which he expanded into a chain comprising 22 restaurants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jolles |first1=Michael A. |last2=Rubinstein |first2=W. |title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=457}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fish & chips: Drinks & dishes you might not have realised were invented in London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/galleries/drinks-and-dishes-invented-in-london/fish-and-chips/ |access-date=19 May 2024 |work=The Telegraph|quote=It was, the Federation declared, one Joseph Malin, a Jewish émigré of Cleveland Way, Whitechapel, who opened the first chippie around 1860.}}</ref> In 1882, Jewish brothers Ralph and Albert Slazenger founded [[Slazenger]], one of the world's oldest sport brands, which has the longest-running sporting sponsorship in providing tennis balls to [[Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon]] since 1902.<ref>J. R. Lowerson, 'Slazenger, Ralph (1845–1910)’, ''[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39048 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]'', Oxford University Press, 2004</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Wimbledon: Official Partners |url=https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/atoz/official_partners.html |access-date=6 June 2024 |website=Wimbledon.com}}</ref>

In the 2010s, ethnic entrepreneurship has been studied in the case of Cuban business owners in Miami, Indian motel owners of the U.S. and Chinese business owners in [[Chinatown]]s across the U.S. While entrepreneurship offers these groups many opportunities for economic advancement, self-employment and business ownership in the U.S. remain unevenly distributed along racial/ethnic lines.<ref name="Chaudhary 318–354">{{Cite journal|title = Racialized Incorporation: The Effects of Race and Generational Status on Self-Employment and Industry-Sector Prestige in the United States|journal = International Migration Review|date = 1 June 2015|issn = 1747-7379|pages = 318–354|volume = 49|issue = 2|doi = 10.1111/imre.12087|first = Ali R.|last = Chaudhary|s2cid = 145352741}}</ref> Despite numerous success stories of Asian entrepreneurs, a recent statistical analysis of U.S. census data shows that whites are more likely than Asians, African-Americans and Latinos to be self-employed in high prestige, lucrative industries.<ref name="Chaudhary 318–354" />

=== Religious ===
Religious entrepreneurship refers to both the use of entrepreneurship to pursue religious ends as well as how religion impacts entrepreneurial pursuits. While religion is a central topic in society, it is largely overlooked in entrepreneurship research.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Brett R. |last2=Conger |first2=Michael J. |last3=McMullen |first3=Jeffery S. |last4=Neubert |first4=Mitchell J. |date=2019-06-01 |title=Why believe? The promise of research on the role of religion in entrepreneurial action |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673418301653 |journal=Journal of Business Venturing Insights |language=en |volume=11 |pages=e00119 |doi=10.1016/j.jbvi.2019.e00119 |s2cid=150959740 |issn=2352-6734|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The inclusion of religion may transform entrepreneurship including a focus on opportunities other than profit as well as practices, processes and purpose of entrepreneurship.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Brett R. |last2=McMullen |first2=Jeffery S. |last3=Cardon |first3=Melissa S. |date=2021-09-01 |title=Toward a theological turn in entrepreneurship: How religion could enable transformative research in our field |journal=Journal of Business Venturing |language=en |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=106139 |doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2021.106139 |issn=0883-9026|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gümüsay |first=Ali Aslan |date=2018-07-03 |title=Unpacking entrepreneurial opportunities: an institutional logics perspective |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14479338.2017.1404430 |journal=Innovation |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=209–222 |doi=10.1080/14479338.2017.1404430 |s2cid=149355402 |issn=1447-9338|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Gümüsay suggests a three pillars model to explain religious entrepreneurship: The pillars are the entrepreneurial, socio-economic/ethical, and religio-spiritual in the pursuit of value, values, and the [[metaphysical]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gümüsay |first=Ali Aslan |date=2015-08-01 |title=Entrepreneurship from an Islamic Perspective |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2223-7 |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |language=en |volume=130 |issue=1 |pages=199–208 |doi=10.1007/s10551-014-2223-7 |s2cid=140869670 |issn=1573-0697|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Feminist===
A [[feminist]] entrepreneur is an individual who applies feminist values and approaches through entrepreneurship, with the goal of improving the quality of life and well-being of girls and women.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Orser|first1=Barbara|url=http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22349|title=Feminine Capital: Unlocking the Power of Women Entrepreneurs|last2=Elliott|first2=Catherine|year=2015|publisher=Stanford Business Books|isbn=978-0804783798|pages=214|language=en}}</ref> Many are doing so by creating "for women, by women" enterprises. Feminist entrepreneurs are motivated to enter commercial markets by desire to create wealth and social change, based on the ethics of cooperation, equality and mutual respect.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Barbara J. Orser|last2=Catherine Elliott|last3=Joanne Leck|date=8 November 2011|title=Feminist attributes and entrepreneurial identity|journal=Gender in Management|volume=26|issue=8|pages=561–589|doi=10.1108/17542411111183884|issn=1754-2413}}</ref><ref>Orser, Barbara, and Joanne Leck. "Physician as feminist entrepreneur: The gendered nature of venture creation and the Shirley E. Greenberg Women's Health Centre." Women entrepreneurs and the global environment for growth (2010): 284–302.</ref> These endeavours can have the effect of both empowerment and emancipation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Roos|first=Annie|date=15 March 2019|title=Embeddedness in context: understanding gender in a female entrepreneurship network|journal=Entrepreneurship & Regional Development|volume=31|issue=3–4|pages=279–292|doi=10.1080/08985626.2018.1551793|issn=0898-5626|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Institutional ===
The American-born British economist [[Edith Penrose]] has highlighted the collective nature of entrepreneurship. She mentions that in modern organizations, human resources need to be combined to better capture and create business opportunities.<ref>Penrose, Edith T. (1959). The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. New York: John Wiley.</ref> The sociologist [[Paul DiMaggio]] (1988:14) has expanded this view to say that "new institutions arise when organized actors with sufficient resources [institutional entrepreneurs] see in them an opportunity to realize interests that they value highly".<ref>DiMaggio, P. 1988 'Interest and agency in institutional theory'. In Institutional patterns and culture, L. Zucker (ed.), Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company: 3–22.</ref> The notion has been widely applied.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Levy | first1 = D. | last2 = Scully | first2 = M. | year = 2007 | title = The institutional entrepreneur as modern prince: The strategic face of power in contested fields | journal = Organization Studies | volume = 28 | issue = 7| pages = 971–991 | doi=10.1177/0170840607078109| s2cid = 10917386 }}</ref><ref>Khan, F., K. Munir, and H. Willmott 2007 "A Dark Side of Institutional Entrepreneurship: Soccer Balls, Child Labour and Postcolonial Impoverishment". ''Organization Studies'' 28/7: 1055–1077.</ref><ref>Hardy, C., and S. Maguire: "Entrepreneurship" in Handbook of organizational institutionalism. R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin-Andersson and R. Suddaby (eds).</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1108/BFJ-02-2012-0028|title = Institutional entrepreneurship in building the Brazilian market of functional yogurts| journal=British Food Journal| volume=116| pages=2–15|year = 2014|last1 = Almeida|first1 = Felipe| last2=De Paula| first2=Nilson| last3=Pessali| first3=Huascar|url = https://zenodo.org/record/895469}}</ref>

===Millennial===
The term "millennial entrepreneur" refers to a business owner who is affiliated with [[millennials]] (also known as Generation Y), those people born from approximately 1981 to 1996.<ref name="Rauch">{{cite news|last1=Rauch|first1=Jonathan|date=November 2018|title=Generation next, Millennials will outnumber baby-boomers in 2019|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://worldin2019.economist.com/millennialsvboomers|access-date=13 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313195431/http://te.tbr.fun/generation-next/|archive-date=13 March 2019}}</ref> The offspring of [[baby boomers]] and early [[Generation X|Gen Xers]],<ref name="Strauss 2000 54">{{cite book|last1=Strauss|first1=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To_Eu9HCNqIC|title=Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation|last2=Howe|first2=Neil|publisher=Vintage Original|others=Cartoons by R.J. Matson|year=2000|isbn=978-0375707193|location=New York|page=54|access-date=17 October 2013}}</ref> this generation was brought up using digital technology and mass media. Millennial business owners are well-equipped with knowledge of new technology and new business models and have a strong grasp of its business applications. There have been many breakthrough businesses that have come from millennial entrepreneurs, such as [[Mark Zuckerberg]], who created Facebook.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 December 2016|title=The 10 Richest Millennial Entrepreneurs in America|language=en|work=Inc.com|url=https://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/the-richest-millennial-entrepreneurs-in-america.htm.html|access-date=6 June 2017}}</ref> However, millennials are less likely to engage in entrepreneurship than prior generations. Some of the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs are the economy, debt from schooling, and the challenges of regulatory compliance.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilmouth|first=Daniel|title=The Missing Millennial Entrepreneurs|url=https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/Millenial_IB.pdf|access-date=2 June 2017|website=U.S. Small Business Administration|date=4 February 2016|archive-date=22 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522070425/https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/advocacy/Millenial_IB.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Nascent===
A nascent entrepreneur is someone in the process of establishing a business venture.<ref>Reynolds, P. D. and White, S. (1997). The Entrepreneurial Process. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.</ref> In this observation, the nascent entrepreneur can be seen as pursuing an [[Business opportunity|opportunity]], i.e. a possibility to introduce new services or products, serve new markets, or develop more efficient production methods in a profitable manner.<ref>Casson, M., 1982. The entrepreneur: An economic theory. Rowman & Littlefield.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Shane|first1=S.|last2=Venkataraman|first2=S.|year=2000|title=The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_academy-of-management-review_2000-01_25_1/page/217|journal=Academy of Management Review|volume=25|pages=217–226|doi=10.5465/amr.2000.2791611}}</ref> But before such a venture is actually established, the opportunity is just a venture idea.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Davidsson|first1=P|year=2006|title=Nascent entrepreneurship: empirical studies and developments|journal=Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship|volume=2|pages=1–76|doi=10.1561/0300000005|doi-access=free}}</ref> In other words, the pursued opportunity is perceptual in nature, propped by the nascent entrepreneur's personal beliefs about the feasibility of the venturing outcomes the nascent entrepreneur seeks to achieve.<ref>Dimov, D. (2007b). 'Beyond the single-person, single-insight attribution in understanding entrepreneurial opportunities' ''Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice'' 31, 713–731. 'From opportunity insight to opportunity intention: the importance of person-situation learning match'</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Dimov|first=Dimo|date=July 2007|title=From Opportunity Insight to Opportunity Intention: The Importance of Person-Situation Learning Match|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_entrepreneurship-theory-and-practice_2007-07_31_4/page/561|journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice|volume=31|issue=4|pages=561–583|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6520.2007.00188.x|ssrn=999462|s2cid=143353586}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Shepherd|first1=D. A.|last2=McMullen|first2=J. S.|last3=Jennings|first3=P. D.|year=2007|title=The formation of opportunity beliefs: overcoming ignorance and reducing doubt|journal=Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal|volume=1|issue=1–2|pages=75–95|doi=10.1002/sej.3|s2cid=145411658|doi-access=free}}</ref> Its prescience and value cannot be confirmed ex ante but only gradually, in the context of the actions that the nascent entrepreneur undertakes towards establishing the venture as described in [[Saras Sarasvathy]]'s theory of [[Effectuation]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sarasvathy|first1=S. D.|year=2001|title=Causation and effectuation: toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_academy-of-management-review_2001-04_26_2/page/243|journal=Academy of Management Review|volume=26|issue=2|pages=243–263|doi=10.2307/259121|jstor=259121}}</ref> Ultimately, these actions can lead to a path that the nascent entrepreneur deems no longer attractive or feasible, or result in the emergence of a (viable) business. In this sense, over time, the nascent venture can move towards being discontinued or towards emerging successfully as an operating entity.

The distinction between the novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs is an example of behavior-based categorization.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ucbasaran|first1=D.|last2=Westhead|first2=P.|last3=Wright|first3=M.|year=2009|title=The extent and nature of opportunity identification by experienced entrepreneurs|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=24|issue=2|pages=99–115|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.01.008|url=https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1506642 }}</ref> Other examples are the (related) studies by,<ref>Bozward D. and Rogers-Draycott, M., (2017) Developing a Staged Competency Based Approach to Enterprise Creation. Proceedings of the International Conference for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development. ISSN 2411-5320</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Alsos|first1=G.A.|last2=Kolvereid|first2=L.|year=1998|title=The business gestation process of novice, serial, and parallel business founders|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_entrepreneurship-theory-and-practice_summer-1998_22_4/page/101|journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice|volume=22|issue=4|pages=101–102|doi=10.1177/104225879802200405|s2cid=151263063}}</ref> on start-up event sequences.  Nascent entrepreneurship that emphasizes the series of activities involved in new venture emergence,<ref name="Delmar, F 2004">{{cite journal|last1=Delmar|first1=F.|last2=Shane|first2=S.|year=2004|title=Legitimizing first: organizing activities and the survival of new ventures|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-business-venturing_2004-05_19_3/page/385|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=19|issue=3|pages=385–410|doi=10.1016/s0883-9026(03)00037-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gartner|first1=W.B.|year=1985|title=A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation|journal=Academy of Management Review|volume=10|issue=4|pages=696–706|doi=10.5465/amr.1985.4279094}}</ref><ref name="Lichtenstein, B. B. 2007">{{cite journal|last1=Lichtenstein|first1=B. B.|last2=Carter|first2=N. M.|last3=Dooley|first3=K. J.|last4=Gartner|first4=W. B.|year=2007|title=Complexity dynamics of nascent entrepreneurship|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-business-venturing_2007-03_22_2/page/236|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=22|issue=2|pages=236–261|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2006.06.001}}</ref> rather than the solitary act of exploiting an opportunity. Such research will help separate entrepreneurial action into its basic sub-activities and elucidate the inter-relationships between activities, between an activity (or sequence of activities) and an individual's motivation to form an opportunity belief, and between an activity (or sequence of activities) and the knowledge needed to form an opportunity belief. With this research, scholars will be able to begin constructing a theory of the micro-foundations of entrepreneurial action.

Scholars interested in nascent entrepreneurship tend to focus less on the single act of opportunity exploitation and more on the series of actions in new venture emergence,<ref name="Delmar, F 2004" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kim|first1=P.H.|last2=Longest|first2=K.C.|last3=Lippmann|first3=S.|year=2015|title=The tortoise versus the hare: Progress and business viability differences between conventional and leisure-based founders|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=30|issue=2|pages=185–204|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.02.005}}</ref><ref name="Lichtenstein, B. B. 2007" /> Indeed, nascent entrepreneurs undertake numerous [[entrepreneurial]] activities, including actions that make their businesses more concrete to themselves and others. For instance, nascent entrepreneurs often look for and purchase facilities and equipment; seek and obtain financial backing, form [[legal entities]], organize teams; and dedicate all their time and energy to their business<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carter|first1=N.M.|last2=Gartner|first2=W.B.|last3=Reynolds|first3=P.D.|year=1996|title=Exploring start-up event sequences|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|volume=11|issue=3|pages=151–166|doi=10.1016/0883-9026(95)00129-8}}</ref>

=== Project-based ===
Project entrepreneurs are individuals who are engaged in the repeated assembly or creation of temporary organizations.<ref name="Ferriani2009">{{cite journal|last1=Ferriani|first1=S.|last2=Cattani|first2=G.|last3=Baden-Fuller|first3=C.|year=2009|title=The Relational Antecedents of Project-Entrepreneurship: Network Centrality, Team Composition, and Project Performance|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByE7rCUuloTlM1NabFZra1RiUDg/edit?usp=sharing|journal=Research Policy|volume=38|issue=10|pages=1545–1558|doi=10.1016/j.respol.2009.09.001|s2cid=1071710}}</ref> These are organizations that have limited lifespans which are devoted to producing a singular objective or goal and get disbanded rapidly when the project ends. Industries where project-based enterprises are widespread include: [[sound recording]], film production, [[software development]], television production, [[new media]] and construction.<ref name="Faulkner1987">{{cite journal|last1=Faulkner|first1=R. R.|last2=Anderson|first2=A. B.|year=1987|title=Short-term projects and emergent careers: evidence from Hollywood|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-journal-of-sociology_1987-01_92_4/page/879|journal=American Journal of Sociology|volume=92|issue=4|pages=879–909|doi=10.1086/228586|s2cid=144195668}}</ref> What makes project-entrepreneurs distinctive from a theoretical standpoint is that they have to "rewire" these temporary ventures and modify them to suit the needs of new project opportunities that emerge. A project entrepreneur who used a certain approach and team for one project may have to modify the business model or team for a subsequent project.

Project entrepreneurs are exposed repeatedly to problems and tasks typical of the entrepreneurial process.<ref name="DeFillippi2004">{{cite journal|last1=DeFillippi|first1=R.|last2=Spring|first2=S.|year=2004|title=Project entrepreneurs for project-based enterprises: Extension or complement to project management competencies?|journal=Projects and Profits|volume=4|issue=2|pages=50–57}}</ref> Indeed, project-based entrepreneurs face two critical challenges that invariably characterize the creation of a new venture: locating the right opportunity to launch the project venture and assembling the most appropriate team to exploit that opportunity. Resolving the first challenge requires project-entrepreneurs to access an extensive range of information needed to seize new investment opportunities. Resolving the second challenge requires assembling a collaborative team that has to fit well with the particular challenges of the project and has to function almost immediately to reduce the risk that performance might be adversely affected. Another type of project entrepreneurship involves entrepreneurs working with business students to get analytical work done on their ideas.

===Social===
[[File:Tulane University Environmental Action League, New Orleans, February 2011.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Student organizers from the Green Club at Newcomb College Institute formed a social entrepreneurship organization in 2010.]]
{{Main|Social entrepreneurship}}Social entrepreneurship is the use of business techniques by [[Startup company|start-up companies]] and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund, and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150811030258/https://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/ ''The New Heroes''], What is Social Entrepreneurship, Oregon Public Broadcasting, 2005</ref> This concept may be applied to a variety of organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs.<ref>"The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship," J. Gregory Dees, 1998, rev 2001 {{cite web | publisher=caseatduke.org | title=The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship | url=http://caseatduke.org/ | access-date=3 May 2013}}</ref> For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like [[Profit (economics)|profit]], [[revenues]] and increases in expected future dividends, but social entrepreneurs are either [[non-profit organization|non-profits]] or blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society" and therefore must use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and environmental goals often associated with the [[voluntary sector]]<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Thompson | first1 = J.L. | year = 2002 | title = The World of the Social Entrepreneur | journal = The International Journal of Public Sector Management | volume = 15 | issue = 4/5| page = 413 | doi = 10.1108/09513550210435746 }}</ref> in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care<ref>Wilden, R., Garbuio, M., Angeli, F. and Mascia, D. (2018) ''Entrepreneurship in Healthcare''. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-1138068407}}.</ref> and [[community development]]. At times, profit-making [[social enterprise]]s may be established to support the social or cultural goals of the organization but not as an end in itself. For example, an organization that aims to provide housing and employment to the [[homelessness|homeless]] may operate a restaurant, both to raise money and to provide employment for the homeless people.

===Biosphere===
[[Biosphere]] entrepreneurship is "entrepreneurial activity that generates value for the biosphere and [[ecosystem services]]."<ref>{{cite journal| first1=Howard H.| last1=Frederick | publisher=Inderscience Publishers | title=The emergence of biosphere entrepreneurship: are social and business entrepreneurship obsolete? |journal=International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business |volume=34 |year=2018 |issue=3 |pages=381–419 |doi=10.1504/IJESB.2018.092785 | url=http://www.inderscience.com/storage/f712106428511193.pdf | access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref> It is part of a larger trend of business schools seeking to incorporate environmental topics more actively into their curricula.<ref>{{cite news| first1=Andrew | last1= Jack |title=European business schools join forces to offer free climate training, November 11 2021 | url=https://www.ft.com/content/731bf2bd-4345-4fbc-933e-4c68648494c6 | work=Financial Times | date= 11 November 2021 |access-date=13 November 2021}}</ref>

== Entrepreneurial behaviours ==
=== Uncertainty perception and risk-taking ===

Theorists [[Frank Knight]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Frank Hyneman |last=Knight |author-link=Frank H. Knight |title=Risk, Uncertainty and Profit|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=-alYLsfnCXUC}}|year=2005|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|isbn=978-1-59605-242-0}}</ref> and [[Peter Drucker]] defined entrepreneurship in terms of risk-taking. The entrepreneur is willing to put his or her career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending time as well as capital on an uncertain venture. However, entrepreneurs often do not believe that they have taken an enormous amount of risks because they do not perceive the level of uncertainty to be as high as other people do. Knight classified three types of uncertainty:
* [[Risk]], which is measurable statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red color ball from a jar containing five red balls and five white balls)
* [[Ambiguity]], which is hard to measure statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red ball from a jar containing five red balls but an unknown number of white balls)
* [[Uncertainty|True uncertainty]] or Knightian uncertainty, which is impossible to estimate or predict statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red ball from a jar whose contents, in terms of numbers of coloured balls, are entirely unknown)

Entrepreneurship is often associated with true uncertainty, particularly when it involves the creation of a novel good or service, for a market that did not previously exist, rather than when a venture creates an incremental improvement to an existing product or service. A 2014 study at ETH Zürich found that compared with typical managers, entrepreneurs showed higher decision-making efficiency and a stronger activation in regions of frontopolar cortex (FPC) previously associated with explorative choice.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Laureiro-Martínez|first1=Daniella|last2=Canessa|first2=Nicola|last3=Brusoni|first3=Stefano|last4=Zollo|first4=Maurizio|last5=Hare|first5=Todd|last6=Alemanno|first6=Federica|last7=Cappa|first7=Stefano F.|title=Frontopolar cortex and decision-making efficiency: comparing brain activity of experts with different professional background during an exploration-exploitation task|journal=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience|date=22 January 2014|volume=7|page=927|doi=10.3389/fnhum.2013.00927|pmid=24478664|pmc=3897871|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Designing individual/opportunity nexus ===
According to Shane and Venkataraman, entrepreneurship comprises both "enterprising individuals" and "entrepreneurial opportunities", so researchers should study the nature of the individuals who identify opportunities when others do not, the opportunities themselves and the nexus between individuals and opportunities.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.5465/AMR.2000.2791611 | journal=Academy of Management Review | date=2000 | volume=25 | issue=1 | pages=217–226 | first=S. | last=Shane| title=The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_academy-of-management-review_2000-01_25_1/page/217 }}</ref> On the other hand, Reynolds et al.<ref>Reynolds PD, Hay M, Bygrave WD et al. (2002) ''Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2002 Global Executive Report''. Kansas City, MO: Kauffman Foundation.{{ISBN?}}</ref> argue that individuals are motivated to engage in entrepreneurial endeavours driven mainly by necessity or opportunity, that is individuals pursue entrepreneurship primarily owing to survival needs, or because they identify business opportunities that satisfy their need for achievement. For example, higher [[economic inequality]] tends to increase necessity-based entrepreneurship rates at the individual level.<ref>Xavier-Oliveira et al. (1 July 2015). "[http://hum.sagepub.com/content/68/7/1183.abstract What motivates entrepreneurial entry under economic inequality? The role of human and financial capital] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018161250/http://hum.sagepub.com/content/68/7/1183.abstract |date=18 October 2015 }}." ''Human Relations'' 68(7): 1183–1207, Sage.</ref>

===Opportunity perception and biases===
One study has found that certain genes affecting personality may influence the income of self-employed people.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Shane | first1=S. | last2=Nicolaou | first2=N. | year=2013 | title=The genetics of entrepreneurial performance | journal=International Small Business Journal | volume=31 | issue=5 | pages=473–495 | doi=10.1177/0266242613485767| s2cid=145370748 }}</ref> Some people may be able to use{{weasel inline|date=February 2015}} "an innate ability" or [[Spiral of silence#Quasi-statistical organ|quasi-statistical sense]] to gauge [[public opinion]]<ref name= "Miller 2005:278">{{Harvard citation no brackets| Miller | 2005 | p = 278}}.</ref> and market demand for new products or services. Entrepreneurs tend to have the ability to see unmet market needs and underserved markets. While some entrepreneurs assume they can sense and figure out what others are thinking, the mass media plays a crucial role in shaping views and demand.{{sfn|Scheufele|Moy|2000}} Ramoglou argues that entrepreneurs are not that distinctive and that it is essentially poor conceptualizations of "non-entrepreneurs" that maintain laudatory portraits of "entrepreneurs" as exceptional innovators or leaders<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ramoglou | first1=S. | year=2013 | title=Who is a 'non-entrepreneur'? Taking the 'others' of entrepreneurship seriously | journal=International Small Business Journal | volume=31 | issue=4 | pages=432–453 | doi=10.1177/0266242611425838| s2cid=153471645 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gartner |first1=William B. |year=2001 |url=https://www.uv.es/bcjauveg/docs/LibroCuervoRibeiroRoigENG.pdf#page=235|title=Is There an Elephant in Entrepreneurship? Blind Assumptions in Theory Development; Business research |journal=Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=27–39 |doi=10.1177/104225870102500403 |s2cid=220124642 }}</ref> Entrepreneurs are often overconfident, exhibit illusion of control, when they are opening/expanding business or new products/services.<ref name="onlinelibrary.wiley.com"/>

===Styles===
Differences in entrepreneurial organizations often partially reflect their founders' [[heterogenous]] identities. Fauchart and Gruber have classified entrepreneurs into three main types: [[Charles Darwin|Darwinians]], [[Communitarianism|communitarians]] and [[Missionary|missionaries]]. These types of entrepreneurs diverge in fundamental ways in their self-views, social motivations and patterns of new firm creation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Fauchart | first1=E | last2=Gruber | first2=M. | s2cid=167415395 | year=2011 | title=Darwinians, Communitarians, and Missionaries: The Role of Founder Identify in Entrepreneurship | url=https://archive.org/details/sim_academy-of-management-journal_2011-10_54_5/page/935 | journal=Academy of Management Journal | volume=54 | issue=5 | pages=935–957 | doi=10.5465/amj.2009.0211}}</ref>

=== Communication ===
Entrepreneurs must practice effective communication both within their firm and with external partners and investors to launch and grow a venture and enable it to survive. An entrepreneur needs a communication system that links the staff of their firm and connects the firm to outside firms and clients. Entrepreneurs should be [[charismatic leader]]s, so they can communicate a [[vision statement|vision]] effectively to their team and help to [[team building|create a strong team]]. Communicating a vision to followers may be the most important act of the transformational leader.<ref name="HackmanJohnson">{{cite book|last=Hackman|first=M.Z.|title=Leadership: A communication perspective|year=2009|publisher=Waveland|location=Long Grove, IL|edition=5th|author2=Johnson, C.E.}}</ref> Compelling visions provide employees with a sense of purpose and encourage commitment. According to Baum et al.<ref name="Baum et al.">{{cite journal|last=Baum|first=Robert J.|author2=Locke, Edwin A. |author3=Kirkpatrick, Shelley A. |title=A longitudinal study of the relation of vision and vision communication to venture growth in entrepreneurial firms.|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-applied-psychology_1998-02_83_1/page/43|journal=Journal of Applied Psychology|year=1998|volume=83|issue=1|pages=43–54|doi=10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.43}}</ref> and Kouzes and Posner,<ref name=Kouzes>{{cite book|last=Kouzes|first=J.M|title=The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations|url=https://archive.org/details/leadershipchalle00kouz_1|url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=Jossey-Bass|location=San Francisco|author2=Posner, B.Z.|bibcode=1987lcht.book.....K|isbn=978-1555422110}}</ref> the vision must be communicated through written statements and through in-person communication. Entrepreneurial leaders must speak and listen to articulate their vision to others.<ref name="Locke et al.">{{cite book|last=Locke|first=E.A.|title=The essence of leadership|year=1991|publisher=Lexington Books|location=New York|author2=Kirkpatrick, S. |author3=Wheeler, J.K |author4=Schneider, J |author5=Niles, K. |author6=Goldstein, H |author7=Welsh, K |author8=Chah, D.O. }}</ref>

Communication is pivotal in the role of entrepreneurship because it enables leaders to convince potential investors, partners and employees about the feasibility of a venture.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Clarke|first=J.|author2=Cornelissen, J|title=Language, communication, and socially situated cognition in entrepreneurship. Academy Of Management Review|journal=Academy of Management Review|year=2011|volume=36|issue=4|pages=776–778|doi=10.5465/AMR.2011.65554783|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02276729/file/264638-AMR_Clarke_201110.pdf}}</ref> Entrepreneurs need to communicate effectively to shareholders.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Euler|first=M|author2=Vollmar, B. H. |author3=Kraus, S. |title=Communication matters—Network constellations in entrepreneurship.|journal=International Journal of Economics and Business Research|year=2011|volume=3|issue=3|pages=283–301|doi=10.1504/ijebr.2011.040021}}</ref> [[Nonverbal]] elements in speech such as the tone of voice, the look in the sender's eyes, body language, hand gestures and state of emotions are also important communication tools. The [[Communication Accommodation Theory]] posits that throughout communication people will attempt to accommodate or adjust their method of speaking to others.<ref>{{cite book|last=Giles|first=H|title=Language, social comparison and power. The handbook of communication science|year=1987|pages=350–384|author2=Wiemann, J.M}}</ref> [[Face Negotiation Theory]] describes how people from different cultures manage conflict negotiation to maintain "[[face (sociological concept)|face]]".<ref name="Ting Toomey">{{cite book|last=Ting-Toomey|first=S|title=Toward a theory of conflict and culture in communication. Culture & Organizational processes|year=1985|pages=71–86}}</ref> Hugh Rank's "intensify and downplay" communications model can be used by entrepreneurs who are developing a new product or service. Rank argues that entrepreneurs need to be able to intensify the advantages of their new product or service and downplay the disadvantages to persuade others to support their venture.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rank|first=H|title=Teaching about public persuasion|year=1976|publisher=National Council of Teachers of English}}</ref>

==== Links to sea piracy ====
Research from 2014 found links between entrepreneurship and historical sea [[piracy]]. In this context, the claim is made for a non-moral approach to looking at the history of piracy as a source of inspiration for entrepreneurship education<ref>Lawrence, D. (2014) Disruptors are just pirates on the high seas of capitalism. ''The Globe and Mail Special on Business Education'', 5 November 2014. Available at https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/business-education/disruptors-are-just-pirates-on-the-high-seas-of-capitalism/article21443149/</ref> as well as for research in entrepreneurship<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Roth | first1 = S | year = 2014 | title = Booties, bounties, business models: a map to the next red oceans | url = http://works.bepress.com/roth/9/ | journal = International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business | volume = 22 | issue = 4 | pages = 439–448 | doi = 10.1504/ijesb.2014.064272 | s2cid = 53140269 | access-date = 26 August 2014 | archive-date = 26 August 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115200/http://works.bepress.com/roth/9/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> and business model generation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Roth | first1 = S | year = 2014 | title = The eye-patch of the beholder | url = http://works.bepress.com/roth/8/ | journal = International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business | volume = 22 | issue = 4 | pages = 399–407 | doi = 10.1504/ijesb.2014.064271 | s2cid = 53131826 | access-date = 26 August 2014 | archive-date = 26 August 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114118/http://works.bepress.com/roth/8/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>

== Psychological makeup ==
Ross Levine, an economist at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and Yona Rubinstein, a professor at the [[London School of Economics]] released a study which suggests entrepreneurs are disproportionately white, male, from wealthy and highly educated backgrounds, and prone to "aggressive, illicit, risk-taking activities" as teenagers and young adults. Entrepreneurs also performed above average on aptitude tests.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weissmann |first1=Jordan |title=Entrepreneurship: The Ultimate White Privilege? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/08/entrepreneurship-the-ultimate-white-privilege/278727/ |access-date=15 December 2020 |work=The Atlantic |date=16 August 2013}}</ref> This masculine image is also found when studying how male entrepreneurs are represented in media. A supporting but invisible family are one of the success factors when being portrayed as a male entrepreneur in media.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jernberg |first1=Frida |last2=Lindbäck |first2=Anna |last3=Roos |first3=Annie |date=2020-01-01 |title=A new male entrepreneur? Media representation of male entrepreneurs before and after #metoo |url=https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-01-2019-0004 |journal=Gender in Management|volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=211–224 |doi=10.1108/GM-01-2019-0004 |s2cid=216384140 |issn=1754-2413|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A study conducted by the Census Bureau and two MIT professors, after compiling a list of 2.7&nbsp;million company founders who hired at least one employee between 2007 and 2014, found the average age of a successful start-up founder when he or she founded it is 45. They consistently found chances of entrepreneurial success rises with age.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Average Age of Successful Entrepreneurs Is Actually 45 |url=https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/age-of-successful-entrepreneurs/ |website=Knowledge@Wharton |access-date=14 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Haden |first1=Jeff |title=A Study of 2.7 Million Startups Found the Ideal Age to Start a Business (and It's Much Older Than You Think) |url=https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/a-study-of-27-million-startups-found-ideal-age-to-start-a-business-and-its-much-older-than-you-think.html |access-date=14 June 2021 |publisher=Inc |date=16 July 2018}}</ref>

[[Stanford University]] economist [[Edward Lazear]] found in a 2005 study that variety in education and in [[work experience]] was the most important trait that distinguished entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs<ref>{{cite journal |last = Lazear | first = Edward | title = Entrepreneurship | journal = Journal of Labor Economics |volume = 23 | issue = 4 |pages=649–680 | date = 2005 |doi=10.1086/491605 }}</ref> A 2013 study by Uschi Backes-Gellner of the [[University of Zurich]] and Petra Moog of the [[University of Siegen]] in Germany found that a diverse social network was also an important characteristic of students that would go on to become entrepreneurs.<ref>{{cite journal|last1= Backes-Ge1llner |first1= Uschi |last2= Moog |first2 = Petra |title= The disposition to become an entrepreneur and the jacks-of-all-trades in social and human capital |volume= 47 |date= December 2013 | pages = 55–72 | doi= 10.1016/j.socec.2013.08.008 | journal= The Journal of Socio-Economics}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last= Baer |first= Drake | date= 19 February 2015 | access-date= 25 February 2015|url= http://www.businessinsider.com/personality-difference-between-entrepreneurs-and-employees-2015-2#ixzz3SklQUxLd-2 |title= Scientists have discovered a personality difference between entrepreneurs and employees|website= [[Business Insider]] }}</ref>

Studies show that the psychological propensities for male and [[female entrepreneur]]s are more similar than different. [[Empirical studies]] suggest that female entrepreneurs possess strong negotiating skills and consensus-forming abilities.<ref name= Entrepreneurship>{{cite book |editor-first= Paul |editor-last= Muljadi|title= Entrepreneurship|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id= eNy7hA-rvOUC}} |publisher= Paul Muljadi|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131231164003/https://books.google.com/books?id=eNy7hA-rvOUC|archive-date= 31 December 2013}}</ref> Åsa Hansson, who looked at empirical evidence from Sweden, found that the probability of becoming self-employed decreases with age for women, but increases with age for men.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last= Hansson|first= Åsa|date= 2012|title= Tax policy and entrepreneurship: empirical evidence from Sweden|journal= Small Business Economics|volume= 38|issue= 4|pages= 495–513|doi= 10.1007/s11187-010-9282-7|s2cid= 153414747}}</ref> She also found that marriage increased the probability of a person's becoming an entrepreneur.<ref name=":0" />

Jesper Sørensen wrote in 2010 that significant influences on the decision to become an entrepreneur include workplace peers and social composition. Sørensen discovered a correlation between working with former entrepreneurs and how often these individuals become entrepreneurs themselves, compared to those who did not work with entrepreneurs.<ref name="Sorensen">{{cite journal | last1= Sørensen | first1= J. | last2= Nanda | first2= R.
| url= http://www.edegan.com/pdfs/Nanda%20Sorensen%20(2010)%20-%20Workplace%20peers%20and%20entrepreneurship.pdf | title= Workplace Peers and Entrepreneurship | journal= Management Science | volume= 56 | issue= 7 | pages= 1116–1126 | date= July 2010 | access-date= 30 June 2013 | doi = 10.1287/mnsc.1100.1179 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171010062717/http://www.edegan.com/pdfs/Nanda%20Sorensen%20(2010)%20-%20Workplace%20peers%20and%20entrepreneurship.pdf | archive-date = 10 October 2017 | url-status = dead}}</ref> Social composition can influence entrepreneurialism in peers by demonstrating the possibility for success, stimulating a "He can do it, why can't I?" attitude. As Sørensen stated: "When you meet others who have gone out on their own, it doesn't seem that crazy."<ref name="sorensen_interview">{{cite news | url= http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/sorensen_peers.html | title= Peers Influence Decision to Become an Entrepreneur | publisher= Stanford Graduate School of Business; News | date= 1 September 2009 | access-date= 30 June 2013}}</ref>

Entrepreneurs may also be driven to entrepreneurship by past experiences. If someone has faced multiple work stoppages or has been unemployed in the past, the probability of becoming an entrepreneur increases<ref name=":0" /> Per Cattell's personality framework, both personality traits and attitudes are thoroughly investigated by psychologists. However, in case of entrepreneurship research these notions are employed by academics{{which|date=March 2020}} too, but vaguely. Cattell states that personality is a system that is related to the environment and further adds that the system seeks explanation to the complex transactions conducted by both—traits and attitudes. This is because both of them bring about change and growth in a person. Personality is that which informs what an individual will do when faced with a given situation. A person's response is triggered by his/her personality and the situation that is faced.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150723210058/http://www.nyenrode.com/FacultyResearch/research/Documents/Research%20Paper%20Series/2007/07-04.pdf Entrepreneurial Behavior], Retrieved 17 December 2014</ref>

Innovative entrepreneurs may be more likely to experience what psychologist [[Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi]] calls [[flow (psychology)|"flow"]]. "Flow" occurs when an individual forgets about the outside world due to being thoroughly engaged in a process or activity. Csikszentmihalyi suggested that breakthrough innovations tend to occur at the hands of individuals in that state.<ref>{{cite book|first= Mihaly |last= Csikszentmihalyi|title= Flow|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id= epmhVuaaoK0C}}|year= 2009|publisher= HarperCollins|isbn= 978-0-06-187672-1}}</ref> Other research has concluded that a strong internal motivation is a vital ingredient for breakthrough innovation.<ref name="ChristensenJohnson2008">{{cite book|first1= Clayton |last1= Christensen|first2= Curtis W. |last2= Johnson|first3= Michael B. |last3= Horn|title= Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns|url= {{google books |plainurl= y |id= wiBcUl44FEcC}}|year=2008|publisher= McGraw Hill Professional|isbn= 978-0-07-164174-6}}</ref> Flow can be compared to [[Maria Montessori]]'s concept of normalization, a state that includes a child's capacity for joyful and lengthy periods of intense concentration.<ref>{{cite book|last= Montessori|first= Maria|title= The Absorbent Mind|year= 1967|publisher= Holt, Rinehart and Winston|location= New York}}</ref> Csikszentmihalyi acknowledged that Montessori's prepared environment offers children opportunities to achieve flow.<ref>{{cite journal|last1= Rathunde|first1= Kevin|first2= Mihaly |last2= Csikszentmihalyi|title= Middle School Students' Motivation and Quality of Experience: A Comparison of Montessori and Traditional School Environments|journal= American Journal of Education|date= May 2005|volume= 111|issue= 3|pages= 341–371|doi= 10.1086/428885|s2cid= 146766889}}</ref> Thus quality and type of early education may influence entrepreneurial capability.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

Research on high-risk settings such as oil platforms, [[investment banking]], medical surgery, aircraft piloting and nuclear-power plants has related distrust to failure avoidance.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Conchie | first1 = S. M. | last2 = Donald | first2 = I. J. | year = 2007 | title = The functions and development of safety-specific trust and distrust | journal = Safety Science | volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 92–103 | doi= 10.1016/j.ssci.2007.03.004}}</ref> When non-routine strategies are needed, distrusting persons perform better, while when routine strategies are needed trusting persons perform better. Gudmundsson and Lechner extended this research to entrepreneurial firms.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gudmundsson | first1 = S.V. | last2 = Lechner | first2 = C. | year = 2013 | title = Cognitive Biases, Organization, and Entrepreneurial Firm Survival | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_european-management-journal_2013-06_31_3/page/278 | journal = European Management Journal | volume = 31 | issue = 3| pages = 278–294 | doi= 10.1016/j.emj.2013.01.001}}</ref> They argued that in entrepreneurial firms the threat of failure is ever-present, resembling non-routine situations in high-risk settings. They found that the firms of distrusting entrepreneurs were more likely to survive than the firms of optimistic or overconfident entrepreneurs. The reasons were that distrusting entrepreneurs would emphasize failure-avoidance through sensible task selection and more analysis. Kets de Vries has pointed out that distrusting entrepreneurs are more alert about their external environment.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kets de Vries | first1 = M. | year = 2003 | title = The entrepreneur on the couch | journal = INSEAD Quarterly | volume = 5 | pages = 17–19 }}</ref> He concluded that distrusting entrepreneurs are less likely to discount negative events and are more likely to engage control mechanisms. Similarly, Gudmundsson and Lechner found that distrust leads to higher precaution and therefore increases chances of entrepreneurial-firm survival.

In recent decades, researchers have examined the social and psychological traits that characterize entrepreneurs, which could potentially help identify those who may become entrepreneurs in the future. Entrepreneurial personality is associated with high self-efficacy, autonomy, innovativeness, internal locus of control, achievement motivation, optimism, and stress tolerance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gielnik |first1=Michael |last2=Bledow |first2=Ronald |last3=Stark |first3=Miriam |title=A Dynamic Account of Self-Efficacy in Entrepreneurship |journal=Journal of Applied Psychology |date=2020 |volume=105 |issue=105–5 |pages=487–505 |doi=10.1037/apl0000451|pmid=31535872 |url=https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6503 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cuesta |first1=Marcelino |last2=Suárez-Álvarez |first2=Javier |last3=Lozano |first3=Luis Manuel |last4=García-Cueto |first4=Eduardo |last5=Muñiz |first5=José |title=Assessment of Eight Entrepreneurial Personality Dimensions: Validity Evidence of the BEPE Battery |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=2018 |volume=29 |page=2352 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02352|doi-access=free |pmid=30555379 |pmc=6281960 }}</ref> Research published in 2022 revealed that enterprising tendency is negatively associated with trait victimhood (a persistent tendency to see oneself as a victim) and that among people with lower self-efficacy, having lower trait victimhood predicted more behavioral entrepreneurship (founding at least one business initiative).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maaravi |first1=Yossi |last2=Hameiri |first2=Boaz |last3=Tamar |first3=Gur |title=Perceptions of Victimhood and Entrepreneurial Tendencies |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=2022 |volume=13 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797787|doi-access=free |pmid=35237209 |pmc=8882629 }}</ref>
Researchers Schoon and Duckworth completed a study in 2012 that could potentially help identify who may become an entrepreneur at an early age. They determined that the best measures to identify a young entrepreneur are family and social status, parental role-modelling, entrepreneurial competencies at age 10, academic attainment at age 10, generalized [[self-efficacy]], social skills, entrepreneurial intention and experience of unemployment.<ref>{{cite journal|last1= Schoon|first1= Ingrid|last2= Duckworth|first2= Kathryn|title= Who becomes an entrepreneur? Early life experiences as predictors of entrepreneurship |url= https://archive.org/details/sim_developmental-psychology_2012-11_48_6/page/1719|journal= Developmental Psychology|date= 2012|volume= 48|issue= 6|pages= 1719–1726|doi= 10.1037/a0029168|pmid= 22746220}}</ref>

===Strategic entrepreneurship===
Some scholars have constructed an operational definition of a more specific subcategory called "Strategic Entrepreneurship". Closely tied with principles of [[strategic management]], this form of entrepreneurship is "concerned about growth, creating value for customers and subsequently creating wealth for owners".<ref name="Hitt, M. A. 2011">{{cite journal | last1 = Hitt | first1 = M. A. | last2 = Ireland | first2 = R. | last3 = Sirmon | first3 = D. G. | last4 = Trahms | first4 = C. A. | year = 2011 | title = Strategic Entrepreneurship: Creating Value for Individuals, Organizations, and Society | journal = Academy of Management Perspectives | volume = 25 | issue = 2| pages = 57–75 | doi = 10.5465/AMP.2011.61020802 | doi-broken-date = 1 November 2024 }}</ref> A 2011 article for the Academy of Management provided a three-step, "Input-Process-Output" model of strategic entrepreneurship. The model's three steps entail the collection of different resources, the process of orchestrating them in the necessary manner and the subsequent creation of competitive advantage, value for customers, wealth and other benefits. Through the proper use of strategic management/[[Strategic leadership|leadership]] techniques and the implementation of risk-bearing entrepreneurial thinking, the strategic entrepreneur is, therefore, able to align resources to create value and wealth.<ref name="Hitt, M. A. 2011"/>

=== Leadership ===
Leadership in entrepreneurship can be defined as "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task"<ref>Martin Chemers tentatively suggests a generic definition of leadership: {{cite book|last= Chemers|first= Martin |title= An integrative theory of leadership|publisher= Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers|isbn= 978-1317778400 | edition = reprint |orig-year = 1997 | year = 2014 | page = 1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hAbsAgAAQBAJ |chapter = The Functions of Leadership in Organization | quote = A definition of leadership that would be widely accepted by the majority of theorists and researchers might say that 'leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.'}}</ref> in "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods".<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Shane
 | first1 = Scott Andrew
 | author-link1 = Scott Andrew Shane
 | title = A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: The Individual-opportunity Nexus
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0FxO_Wsh30kC
 | series = New horizons in entrepreneurship
 | location = Cheltenham
 | publisher = Edward Elgar Publishing
 | date = 2003
 | isbn = 978-1781007990
 | access-date = 2 March 2020
}}
</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2020}}

This refers to not only the act of entrepreneurship as managing or starting a business, but how one manages to do so by these social processes, or leadership skills. (Entrepreneurship in itself can be defined somewhat circularly as "the process by which individuals, teams, or organizations identify and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities without being immediately constrained by the resources they currently control".<ref name="ReferenceA">Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E.. (2011). ''Strategic Management''. (9th ed.). Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.</ref>) An entrepreneur typically has a mindset that seeks out potential opportunities during uncertain times.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

With the growing global market and increasing technology use throughout all industries, the core of entrepreneurship and the decision-making has become an ongoing process rather than isolated incidents.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} This becomes [[knowledge management]],{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} which is "identifying and harnessing intellectual assets" for organizations to "build on past experiences and create new mechanisms for exchanging and creating knowledge".<ref>Heaton, L. H. (2008) Knowledge Management. ''International Encyclopedia of Communication.'' Boston: Blackledge.</ref> This belief{{which|date=March 2020}} draws upon a leader's past experiences that may prove useful. It is a common mantra for one to learn from their past mistakes, so leaders should take advantage of their failures for their benefit.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} This is how one may take their experiences as a leader for the use in the core of entrepreneurship decision-making.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

=== Global leadership ===
The majority of scholarly research done on these topics has taken place in North America.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Boyacigiller | first1 = N. | last2 = Adler | first2 = N. J. | year = 1991 | title = The Parochial Dinosaur: The Organizational Sciences in Global Context | journal = Academy of Management Review | doi = 10.5465/amr.1991.4278936 }}</ref> Words like "leadership" and "entrepreneurship" do not always translate well into other cultures and languages. For example, in North America a leader is often thought of as charismatic, but German culture frowns on such charisma due to the charisma of [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] leader [[Adolf Hitler]] (1889–1945). Other cultures, as in some European countries, view the term "leader" negatively, like the French.<ref>
{{cite book
 | editor1-last = Graumann
 | editor1-first = Carl F.
 | editor2-last = Moscovici
 | editor2-first = Serge
 | editor2-link = Serge Moscovici
 | title = Changing Conceptions of Leadership
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5lFDBAAAQBAJ
 | series = Springer Series in Social Psychology
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Springer Science & Business Media
 | date = 2012
 | isbn = 978-1461248767
 | access-date = 2 March 2020
}}
</ref>{{qn|date=March 2020}}
The participative leadership style that is prevalent in the United States is considered disrespectful in many other parts of the world due to the differences in power distance.<ref>Hofestede, G. (1991). ''Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.''</ref> Many Asian and Middle Eastern countries do not have "open door" policies for subordinates, who would never informally approach their managers/bosses. For countries like that, an authoritarian approach to management and leadership is more customary.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Despite cultural differences, the successes and failures of entrepreneurs can be traced to how leaders adapt to local conditions.<ref>Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, Leadership and Organization: Do American Theories Apply Abroad? ''Organizational Dynamics.''</ref> Within the increasingly global business environment a successful leader must be able to adapt and have insight into other cultures. To respond to the environment, corporate visions are becoming transnational in nature, to enable the organization to operate in or provide services/goods for other cultures.<ref>
Adler, N. J. % Gundersen, A. (2008). ''International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior''.
</ref>

== Entrepreneurship training and education ==
Michelacci and Schivardi are a pair of researchers who believe that identifying and comparing the relationships between an entrepreneur's earnings and education level would determine the rate and level of success. Their study focused on two education levels, college degree and post-graduate degree. While Michelacci and Schivardi do not specifically determine characteristics or traits for successful entrepreneurs, they do believe that there is a direct relationship between education and success, noting that having a college knowledge does contribute to advancement in the workforce.<ref name="Michelacci and Schivardi" />

Michelacci and Schivardi state there has been a rise in the number of self-employed people with a baccalaureate degree. However, their findings also show that those who are self-employed and possess a graduate degree has remained consistent throughout time at about 33 percent. They briefly mention those famous entrepreneurs like [[Steve Jobs]] and [[Mark Zuckerberg]] who were college dropouts, but they don't consider these cases to be exceptional as many entrepreneurs view formal education as costly due to the [[Opportunity cost|time that needs to be spent on it]].  Michelacci and Schivardi believe that for an individual to reach the full success they need to have education beyond high school. Their research shows that the higher the education level the greater the success. The reason is that college gives people additional skills that can be used within their business and to operate on a higher level than someone who only "runs" it.<ref name="Michelacci and Schivardi">{{Cite journal|url = http://www.sciencespo.fr/liepp/sites/sciencespo.fr.liepp/files/paper_Are_They_All_Like_Bill_Michelacci.pdf|title = Are They All Like Bill, Mark, and Steve? The Education Premium for Entrepreneurs|last = Michelacci|first = Claudio|date = 24 June 2015|journal = EIEF|access-date = 27 November 2015|archive-date = 8 December 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208202510/http://www.sciencespo.fr/liepp/sites/sciencespo.fr.liepp/files/paper_Are_They_All_Like_Bill_Michelacci.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref>

== Resources and financing ==

=== Entrepreneurial resources ===
An entrepreneurial resource is any company-owned [[asset]] that has [[economic value]] creating capabilities. Economic value creating both tangible and intangible sources are considered as entrepreneurial resources. Their economic value is generating activities or services through mobilization by entrepreneurs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Organizing Entrepreneurship|author1=Anna Grandori |author2=Laura Gaillard Giordani |publisher=Routledge|year=2011|isbn=978-0-415-57037-4}}</ref> Entrepreneurial resources can be divided into two fundamental categories: tangible and intangible resources.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach|author1=Charles W. L. Hill |author2=Gareth R. Jones |publisher=South-Western College Pub|isbn=978-0-538-75107-0|year= 2009}}</ref>

Tangible resources are material sources such as equipment, building, furniture, land, vehicle, machinery, stock, cash, bond and inventory that has a physical form and can be quantified. On the contrary, intangible resources are nonphysical or more challenging to identify and evaluate, and they possess more value creating capacity such as human resources including skills and experience in a particular field, organizational structure of the company, brand name, reputation, entrepreneurial networks that contribute to promotion and financial support, [[know-how]], intellectual property including both [[copyright]]s, trademarks and patents.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases (Strategic Management)|author1=R. Duane Ireland |author2=Robert E. Hoskisson |author3=Michael A. Hitt |publisher=South-Western College Pub|isbn=978-0-324-57899-7|date=8 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Essentials of Strategic Management|author1=Charles W. L. Hill |author2=Gareth R. Jones |publisher=South-Western College Pub|isbn=978-0-547-19432-5|year= 2008}}</ref>

=== Bootstrapping ===

==== Contextual background ====
At least early on, entrepreneurs often "bootstrap-finance" their start-up rather than seeking external investors from the start. One of the reasons that some entrepreneurs prefer to "bootstrap" is that obtaining [[equity financing]] requires the entrepreneur to provide ownership shares to the investors. If the start-up becomes successful later on, these early equity financing deals could provide a windfall for the investors and a huge loss for the entrepreneur. If investors have a significant stake in the company, they may as well be able to exert influence on company strategy, chief executive officer (CEO) choice and other important decisions. This is often problematic since the investor and the founder might have different incentives regarding the long-term goal of the company. An investor will generally aim for a profitable exit and therefore promotes a high-valuation sale of the company or IPO to sell their shares. Whereas the entrepreneur might have philanthropic intentions as their main driving force. Soft values like this might not go well with the short-term pressure on yearly and quarterly profits that publicly traded companies often experience from their owners.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses|last=Bhide|first=Amar|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0195170313|url=http://www.bhide.net/books/Origin%20and%20Evolution/part1.pdf|pages=40}}</ref>

==== Common definition ====
One consensus definition of bootstrapping sees it as "a collection of methods used to minimize the amount of outside debt and equity financing needed from banks and investors".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ebbena|first1=Jay|last2=Johnson|first2=Alec|title=Bootstrapping in small firms: An empirical analysis of change over time|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-business-venturing_2006-11_21_6/page/851|journal=Journal of Business Venturing|publication-date=November 2006|volume=21|issue=6|pages=851–865|doi=10.1016/j.jbusvent.2005.06.007|quote=Bootstrapping has taken on many definitions in the literature, but there has been some recent consensus that it is a collection of methods used to minimize the amount of outside debt and equity financing needed from banks and investors (Winborg and Landstrom, 2001 and Harrison and Mason, 1997).|year=2006}}</ref> 

==== Related methodologies ====
Bootstrapping methods include:<ref name="NarayananO'Connor2010">{{cite book|first1=V. K.|last1=Narayanan|first2=Gina|last2=Colarelli O'Connor|title=Encyclopedia of Technology and Innovation Management|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=duIY77a2WRYC|p=60}}|year= 2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-6049-0 |page=60}}</ref>
* Owner financing, including savings, personal loans and credit card debt
* [[Working capital]] management that minimizes [[accounts receivable]]
* Joint use, such as reducing [[Overhead (business)|overhead]] by [[coworking]] or using [[independent contractor]]s
* Increasing [[accounts payable]] by delaying payment, or leasing rather than buying equipment
* [[Lean manufacturing]] strategies such as minimizing inventory and [[lean startup]] to reduce product development costs
* [[Government subsidy|Subsidy finance]]

=== Additional financing ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2021}}
Many businesses need more capital than can be provided by the owners themselves. In this case, a range of options is available including a wide variety of [[Private equity|private]] and public equity, [[debt]] and [[Grant (money)|grants]]. Private equity options include:
* [[Startup accelerator|Start-up accelerator]]s
* [[Angel investor]]s
* [[Venture capital]] investors
* [[Equity crowdfunding]]
* [[Hedge fund]]s
Debt options open to entrepreneurs include:
* Loans from banks, specialized financial companies (such as [[payment card industry|credit card companies]]) and [[economic development]] organizations
* [[Line of credit]] also from banks and specialized financial companies
* [[Microcredit]] also known as microloans
* [[Merchant cash advance]]
* [[Revenue-based financing]]

Grant options open to entrepreneurs include:
* Equity-free accelerators
* Business plan/business pitch competitions for college entrepreneurs and others
* [[Small Business Innovation Research]] grants from the U.S. government

=== Effect of taxes ===
Entrepreneurs are faced with [[liquidity constraint]]s and often lack the necessary [[credit (finance)|credit]] needed to borrow large amounts of money to finance their venture.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal|last=Meh|first=Cesaire Assah|date=2002|title=Entrepreneurial Risk, Credit Constraints, and the Corporate Income Tax: A Quantitative Exploration|journal=Bank of Canada, Working Papers 2002–21}}</ref> Because of this, many studies have been done on the effects of taxes on entrepreneurs. The studies fall into two camps: the first camp finds that taxes help and the second argues that taxes hurt entrepreneurship.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Cesaire Assah Meh found that corporate taxes create an incentive to become an entrepreneur to avoid double taxation.<ref name=":2"/> Donald Bruce and John Deskins found literature suggesting that a higher corporate tax rate may reduce a state's share of entrepreneurs.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal|last=Bruce|first=Donald and John Deskins|date=2012|title=Can state tax policies be used to promote entrepreneurial activity?|journal=Small Business Economics|volume=38|issue=4|pages=375–397|doi=10.1007/s11187-010-9262-y|s2cid=14117173}}</ref> They also found that states with an inheritance or [[estate tax]] tend to have lower entrepreneurship rates when using a tax-based measure.<ref name=":3"/> However, another study found that states with a more [[Progressive taxation|progressive personal income tax]] have a higher percentage of sole proprietors in their workforce.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43574687|title = Taxation and the quality of entrepreneurship|journal = Journal of Economics|volume = 113|issue = 2|pages = 101–123|last1 = Asoni|first1 = Andrea|last2 = Sanandaji|first2 = Tino|year = 2014|doi = 10.1007/s00712-013-0375-z|s2cid = 154956413}}</ref> Ultimately, many studies find that the effect of taxes on the probability of becoming an entrepreneur is small. Donald Bruce and Mohammed Mohsin found that it would take a 50 percentage point drop in the top tax rate to produce a one percent change in entrepreneurial activity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bruce|first=Donald and Mohammed Mohsin|date=2006|title=Tax Policy and Entrepreneurship: New Time Series Evidence|journal=Small Business Economics|volume=26|issue=5|pages=409–425|doi=10.1007/s11187-005-5602-8|s2cid=154429897}}</ref>

== Predictors of success ==
[[File:Computer industry entrepreneur workshop.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[Dell]] Women's Entrepreneur [[Business networking|Network]] event in New York City]]
Factors that may predict entrepreneurial success include the following:<ref>D.S Adegbenro I.C.T Poytechnic Lecture on EED 126, 2015">Entrepreneurship Lecture( EED 126) in D.S adegbenro Polytechnic, on 1 July 2015. Nigeria</ref>
; Methods
* Establishing strategies for the firm, including growth and survival strategies
* Maintaining the human resources (recruiting and retaining talented employees and executives)
* Ensuring the availability of required materials (e.g. raw resources used in manufacturing, computer chips, etc.)
* Ensuring that the firm has one or more unique [[competitive advantage]]s
* Ensuring good organizational design, sound [[governance]] and organizational coordination
* Congruency with the culture of the society<ref name="Shane2008">{{cite book|author=Scott A. Shane|title=The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=clePgiDAoGQC|year= 2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15006-3|chapter=7}}</ref>
; Market
* [[Business-to-business]] (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) models can be used
* High growth market
* Target customers or markets that are untapped or missed by others
; Industry
* Growing industry
* High technology impact on the industry
* High capital intensity
* Small average incumbent firm size
; Team
* Large, gender-diverse and racially diverse team with a range of talents, rather than an individual entrepreneur
* Graduate degrees
* Management experience prior to start-up
* Work experience in the start-up industry
* Employed full-time prior to new venture as opposed to unemployed
* Prior entrepreneurial experience
* Full-time involvement in the new venture
* Motivated by a range of goals, not just profit
* Number and diversity of team members' social ties and breadth of their [[business network]]s
; Company
* Written [[business plan]]
* Focus on a unified, connected product line or service line
* Competition based on a dimension other than price (e.g. quality or service)
* Early, frequent intense and well-targeted marketing
* Tight financial controls
* Sufficient start-up and growth capital
* Corporation model, not sole proprietorship
; Status
* Wealth can enable an entrepreneur to cover start-up costs and deal with [[cash flow]] challenges
* Dominant race, ethnicity or gender in a socially stratified culture<ref>{{cite journal|author=Perry-Rivers, P.|date=October 2014|title=Stratification, Economic Adversity, and Entrepreneurial Launch: The Converse Effect of Resource Position on Entrepreneurial Strategy|journal=Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice|volume=40|issue=3|pages=685–712|doi=10.1111/etap.12137|s2cid=153562537}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Economics}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[List of entrepreneurs]]
* [[Business administration]]
* [[Business opportunity]]
* [[Corporate social entrepreneurship]]
* [[Entrepreneur visa]]
* [[Entrepreneurship ecosystem]]
* [[Extrapreneur]]
* [[Innovation]]
* [[Small Business Administration]]
* [[Socially optimal firm size]]
* [[Stewardship]] 
* [[University spin-off]]
}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Deakins |first1=D. |last2=Freel |first2=M. S. |title=Entrepreneurship and small firms |chapter=Entrepreneurial activity, the economy and the importance of small firms |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-07-712162-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Miller |first=K. |year=2005 |title=Communication theories: perspectives, processes, and contexts |edition=2nd |place=New York, NY |publisher=McGraw-Hill}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Scheufele |first1=D. |author1-link=Dietram Scheufele |last2=Moy |first2=P. |year=2000 |title=Twenty-five years of the spiral of silence: A conceptual review and empirical outlook |journal=[[International Journal of Public Opinion Research]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=3–28 |doi=10.1093/ijpor/12.1.3 |issn=0954-2892}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}

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