Entrepreneurship: What It Really Is, and Why It Must Be Integrated into Management of the Firm

Book chapter, 2016

This chapter examines what entrepreneurship consists of, describes what entrepreneurs actually do, and shows that their function is essential to companies of all ages and sizes. (Indeed, whole companies must become “entrepreneurs.”) A new definition of entrepreneurship is developed here, drawing on insights contributed by writers from Cantillon and Say to Joseph Schumpeter, Peter Drucker, and others. The chapter shows that entrepreneurship is definitely more than the act of starting new companies; it encompasses the process of creating and exploiting new business opportunities, wherever that process may occur. Also the chapter explores why our modern notion of “entrepreneurship” has become separated from “management,” and calls for a re-integration of the two—not just conceptually but in everyday practice.