Entrepreneurship Theories Essay

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Current Theories of Entrepreneurship The theory of the Entrepreneur focuses on the heterogeneity of beliefs about the value of resources (Alvarez and Busenitz, 2001: 756). Contemporary writers in management and business have presented a wide range of theories of entrepreneurship. Many of the leading thinkers remain true to the Say-Schumpeter tradition while offering variations on the theme. For instance, in his attempt to get at what is special about entrepreneurs, Peter Drucker starts with Say’s definition, but amplifies it to focus on opportunity. Drucker does not require entrepreneurs to cause change, but sees them as exploiting the opportunities that change (in technology, consumer preferences, social norms, etc.) creates. He says, “this …show more content…

How a venture begins and whether others are recruited to join the effort can have lasting consequences for its performance and survival. Enterprises can be formed as a result of teams. Three principles underlying team formation may be distinguished: choice on the basis of homophily, purposive choice, and choice constrained by context or opportunity structure (Ruef 2001). Homophily refers to the tendency of people to associate with others similar to themselves, such as choosing others on the basis of gender or ethnicity. Purposive choice reflects people‟s tendencies to choose others who possess valuable skills, such as education or experience. Finally, opportunity structures set a context within which the first two principles operate. Founders cannot choose someone whom they have not met or have no way to reach, such as a person who works in another organization or lives in another city (Ruef et al. 2002). Entrepreneurship has a psychological contract involving a give and take transactionary relationship in form of teamwork involving two or more individuals who jointly establish a business in which they have an equity (financial) interest. These individuals are present during the pre-start-up phase of the firm, before it actually begins making its goods or services available to the market.” By this definition, a person must be involved from the beginning and also must have an equity stake in the venture to be considered a member of the team. Much of the literature is based on the assumption that teams are a deliberate choice of a lead entrepreneur or set of founders (Kamm et al. 1990: 7). Bird (1989) postulate that there are psychological benefits derived from relationships between team members Unlike a solo entrepreneur, who must bear the burden of making decisions and facing

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