Entrepreneurship: Paragraph on Entrepreneurship!
Although there have been a number of generally acceptable definitions, most of which vary a lot in focus and scope, there is no official definition of entrepreneurship.
On the other hand, increased academic interest in the entrepreneurship is bringing a sharper focus on the subject.
The word entrepreneur is derived from the French word entreprende, which means ‘to undertake.’ The Webster Dictionary explains that the term entrepreneur is applicable to ‘one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.’ The general perception of the entrepreneur as a starter of businesses is reflected by the definition in the BBC English Dictionary, which refers to an entrepreneur as ‘a person who sets up a business.’
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The Irish economist Richard Cantillion (1680-1734) defined an entrepreneur as ‘someone who takes the risk of running an enterprise by paying a certain price for securing and using resources to make a product and reselling the product for an uncertain price.’
Perhaps one of the most important definitions of an entrepreneur was given by the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) in his work The Theory of Economic Development. The Schumpeterian view of an entrepreneur is that of ‘an innovator playing the role of a dynamic businessman adding material growth to economic development.’
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The following definition has evolved from work done at Harvard Business School and is now generally accepted by authors: ‘Entrepreneurship is the process of creating or seizing an opportunity and pursuing it regardless of the resources currently controlled’ (Timmons 1994).