Entrepreneur

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For the computer game by Peter Molyneux, see The Entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is a person who operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks. The term is a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon. A female entrepreneur is sometimes known as an entrepreneuse.

The newly and modern view on entrepreneurial talent is a person who takes the risks involved to undertake a business venture. In doing so, they are said to efficiently and effectively use the factors of production. That is land (natural resources), labor (human input into production using available resources) and capital (any type of equipment used in production i.e. machinery). A business that can efficiently manage this and in the long-run hopefully expand (future prospects of larger firms and businesses), will become successful.

Entrepreneurship is often difficult and tricky, as many new ventures fail. In the context of the creation of for-profit enterprises, entrepreneur is often synonymous with founder. Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who creates value by offering a product or service in order to obtain certain profit. While there is social entrepreneurship in most markets, business entrepreneurs often have strong beliefs about a market opportunity and are willing to accept a high level of personal, professional or financial risk to pursue that opportunity. Business entrepreneurs are viewed as fundamentally important in the capitalistic society. Some distinguish business entrepreneurs as either "political entrepreneurs" or "market entrepreneurs." There is also the concept of social entrepreneurship.

Contents

[edit] Definition and terminology

An entrepreneur is someone who seeks to capitalize on new and profitable endeavors or business; usually with considerable initiative and risk.

[edit] Etymology

The word "entrepreneur" is a loanword from French. In French the verb "entreprendre" means "to undertake", with "entre" coming from the Latin word meaning "between". In French a person who performs a verb, has the ending of the verb changed to "eur", comparable to the "er" ending in English.

Enterprise is similar to and has roots in, the French word "entreprise", which is the past particple of "entreprendre".

Entrepreneuse is simply the French feminine word for "entrepreneur".

According to Miller, it is one who is able to begin, sustain, and when necessary, effectively and efficiently dissolve a business entity.

[edit] Entrepreneur as a leader

Scholar R. B. Reich considers leadership, management ability, and team-building as essential qualities of an entrepreneur. This concept has its origins in the work of Richard Cantillon in his Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général (1755) and Jean-Baptiste Say (1803) in his Treatise on Political Economy.

A more generally held theory is that entrepreneurs emerge from the population on demand, from the combination of opportunities and people well-positioned to take advantage of them. The entrepreneur may perceive that they are among the few to recognize or be able to solve a problem. In this view, one studies on one side the distribution of information available to would-be entrepreneurs (see Austrian School economics) and on the other, how environmental factors (access to capital, competition, etc.) change the rate of a society's production of entrepreneurs.

A prominent theorist of the Austrian School in this regard is Joseph Schumpeter who sees the entrepreneur as innovator.

[edit] See also

General
Independent contractor, Internet Entrepreneur, Consultant, E-Myth
Entrepreneurship education
Master of Enterprise, Junior Enterprise, Young Enterprise, Business and Enterprise College

[edit] References and external articles

Look up entrepreneur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

[edit] General information

  • Baumol, W.J., Litan, R.E., Schramm, C.J. (2007). Good capitalism, bad capitalism, and the economics of growth and prosperity. Yale University Press.
  • Binks, M. and Vale, P. (1990). Entrepreneurship and Economic Change. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
  • Brouwer, M.T. (2002). 'Weber, Schumpeter and Knight on entrepreneurship and economic development'. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, vol. 12(1-2), p. 83.
  • Cantillon, R. (1755). Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général
  • Casson, M. (2005). 'Entrepreneurship and the theory of the firm'. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 58 (2) , 327-348
  • Hebert, R.F. and Link, A.N. (1988). The Entrepreneur: Mainstream Views and Radical Critiques. New York: Praeger, 2nd edition.
  • Kirzner, I. (1973). Competition and Entrepreneurship.
  • Knight, F.H. (1921/61). Risk uncertainty and profit. Kelley, 2nd edition.
  • Schumpeter, J.A. (1934). The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle
  • Spengler, J.J. (1954).
  • Schramm, Carl (2006). The Entrepreneurial Imperative. Harper Collins

[edit] Theories of the Firm

  • Long, W. (1983). The meaning of entrepreneurship. American Journal of Small Business, 8(2), 47-59. (c971086)
  • Outcalt, Charles, (2000). 'The Notion of Entrepreneurship: Historical and Emerging Issues'. Cellcee digest. Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
  • Reich, R. B. (1987, May/June). Entrepreneurship reconsidered: The team as hero. Harvard Business Review. (c96187)

[edit] Popular Literature

[edit] External links

da:Iværksætter de:Unternehmer es:Emprendedor fr:Entrepreneur hr:Poduzetnik id:Wirausahawan it:Imprenditore ja:起業家 he:יזם lv:Komersants lt:Verslininkas nl:Ondernemer no:Gründer pl:Przedsiębiorca ru:Антрепренёр sr:Предузетник sv:Entreprenör uk:Інтрепренер

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