entrepreneurship is important essay

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Importance of Entrepreneurship: Types, Benefits, and Styles

February 12, 2021

Economies are powered by innovation. Much of that innovation derives from forward-thinking individuals who possess the drive, skills, and background to turn a business vision into reality. The importance of entrepreneurs extends beyond the effect those individuals have on their own companies, however. They impact their broader communities, and, in some cases, even the world.

Entrepreneurs have played a pivotal role in the growth of the U.S. economy since the 19th century. They spur industry transformations, create entirely new markets, and help to build resilient communities. Investopedia describes four ways entrepreneurs benefit society:

Economic growth : The success of the products and services created and sold by entrepreneurs cascades to other businesses and markets.
Wealth generation : Entrepreneurs frequently target new markets and tap audiences outside the focus of established firms. This creates new sources of revenue and profits.
Social change : The innovative goods and services entrepreneurs offer reduce dependence on outdated processes and technologies. One example is the way smartphones have affected how businesses communicate with customers, employees, and partners.
Community development : Entrepreneurs foster a sense of community among people with common goals and interests, whether in a single neighborhood or across continents. Their products and services contribute to the communities’ social and economic well-being.

A smiling entrepreneur stands in an office hall

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The companies that entrepreneurs found tend to mirror their founders’ personalities. Entrepreneurs come from every economic and social background. To prepare for the challenges of translating innovation into rewarding business ventures, entrepreneurs rely on the training and experience they receive from programs such as the Master of Arts in Management and Leadership degree.

Successful entrepreneurs make their dreams and the dreams of others come true. They are able to match their personality, skills, and creativity with customer needs and market opportunities. This guide explains the importance of entrepreneurship, presents the various types and styles of entrepreneurship, and describes the skills that are most essential for reaching your entrepreneurial goals.

Types of Entrepreneurship

Most people think of an entrepreneur as someone with dreams of becoming a titan of industry. While many would-be entrepreneurs have lofty goals, most hope only to create a successful business, whether that success spans the globe or reaches no farther than their local community. Types of entrepreneurship range from hometown storefront businesses to technological innovations that can change the world.

These snapshot profiles of various entrepreneur types demonstrate the range of opportunities available to people who dream of starting their own business.

Small-Business Entrepreneurs

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that small businesses generate 44% of all business activity in the country. Small-business entrepreneurs differ from other small-business owners in their company’s legal status: Entrepreneurs generally incorporate their businesses, while owners operate as sole proprietors, partnerships, or other nonincorporated entities.

Small-business entrepreneurs take greater risks than the typical small-business owner, and they tend to rely on a broader set of skills that encompass high-level thinking, analytical reasoning, and complex interpersonal communication.

Investor Entrepreneurs

The roles of investors and entrepreneurs are typically seen as complementary but distinct: Entrepreneurs seek investors to bankroll their new companies. However, some entrepreneurs focus solely on providing financial backing to new business entities. Investor entrepreneurs may start their careers in one of the two roles and segue into a hybrid of both to tap the strengths of each.

For example, entrepreneurs may feel the need to continually tweak their operations, which can prevent business processes from being firmly established. By taking an investor role and purchasing an ownership share in a business, entrepreneurs are likely to address business opportunities more strategically to capitalize on short-term performance as well as long-term goals.

Technology Entrepreneurs

As new technologies permeate industries of all types, it could be said that all entrepreneurs are technology entrepreneurs in some regard. However, over the past 40 years the image of technology entrepreneurs has been dominated by billionaires such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. What distinguishes this type of entrepreneur is their practical application of scientific innovations to solve business problems.

Technology entrepreneurs are characterized by their passion and unshakeable belief in the inherent value of the products or services they create. Becoming a tech entrepreneur typically entails working long hours and making financial sacrifices in the short term for the prospects of long-term gain. Tech entrepreneurs must also possess the ability to sell their ideas, persevere through hard times, and make others feel as enthusiastic about their ideas as they do.

Internal Entrepreneurs

Internal entrepreneurs, or “intrapreneurs,” apply the principles of entrepreneurship to projects within an existing company or organization. One important distinction between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs is the latter’s lack of personal investment, which reduces the impact of potential failure on any individual.

Intrapreneurs tend to be self-motivated, proactive, and innovative employees who create an entrepreneurial spirit within their team. When companies give employees the freedom to experiment and grow within an organization, they can benefit from the success of their employees’ internal projects. However, firms that fail to personally recognize the work of intrapreneurs risk seeing them leave to become true independent entrepreneurs.

Online Entrepreneurs

Internet-based businesses offer many advantages to entrepreneurs, including low startup costs and the ability to establish an online presence quickly to take advantage of the fast pace of changing markets. However, the low barrier to entry can be a dangerous illusion for online entrepreneurs who fail to realize the hard work and perseverance required to achieve their business goals.

Online enterprises require the same time and effort commitment as other forms of entrepreneurship, and they are subject to their own challenges, many related to technology. For example, an online business will likely rely on partnerships with many different service providers, an outage at any of which could knock the business offline.

Entrepreneurship Styles

Just as no two companies are identical, each entrepreneurial endeavor is as unique as the person behind it. Entrepreneurship styles are as varied as the ideas that spur entrepreneurs to action. One key for entrepreneurial success is to create a company whose strengths match the prominent characteristics of its founder.

Matching Entrepreneurship Approach to Personality

An entrepreneur’s personality, background, and experience influence their approach to starting a business. These are among the most common entrepreneurship styles:

Innovators have the potential to transform entire industries with novel ideas. Inventor Thomas Edison was the prototype for the modern innovative entrepreneur. These entrepreneurs possess extensive knowledge of their industry, including its customers’ needs. They also know how to develop and market their innovative products.
Managers are often considered the antithesis of entrepreneurs, but management skills are paramount in bringing a great idea to fruition as a commercial product or service. Manager entrepreneurs understand the importance of choosing and nurturing a good team of workers, and ensuring that they have the tools and resources to succeed.
Opportunists identify an important business or technical problem, devise a winning solution to the problem, and plot a course to bring that solution to market in the form of a commercial product. Opportunity entrepreneurs tend to have a business background rather than a technical one, so they may focus too much on short-term goals and lose sight of the larger picture.
Revolutionaries are in many ways the antithesis of manager and opportunity entrepreneurs because they typically have technical backgrounds and may show disdain for established business practices. While revolutionary entrepreneurs such as Apple founder Steve Jobs leave a legacy that is both broad and deep, they often need the help of nontechnical business people to realize their world-changing vision.

Entrepreneurs Whose Businesses Match Their Personalities

Just as Steve Jobs’ larger-than-life personality was the perfect fit for his dream of making computers “for the rest of us,” as Apple’s marketing slogan proclaimed, other important entrepreneurs succeed by applying their unique, inimitable style to the task of devising brand-new solutions to real-world problems.

John D. Rockefeller was “the richest man in history,” according to Investopedia, after founding Standard Oil in the late 19th century. Rockefeller’s fortune was due in large part to his focus on running the company as efficiently as possible by creating vertical and horizontal integrations for its operations. However, Rockefeller’s ruthless quest for efficiency bordered on unethical business practices. The social backlash to the Standard Oil monopoly ultimately led to the company’s breakup.
Walt Disney is famous as a pioneering animator and entertainment mogul, but his greatest innovation may have been in recognizing the potential of merchandising his creations in the form of toys, clothing, and other items. The Disney Company remains one of the largest and most successful entertainment enterprises in the world.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon out of a garage in Seattle in the 1990s. Less than 25 years later, the company is one of the most valuable in the world, and Bezos is a billionaire many times over. Since his school days, Bezos has had a vision that extends beyond our planet, but he also has a practical side that realized the potential of the internet long before the rest of the world did. As Amazon achieved record-breaking growth early this century, Bezos simultaneously invested in a variety of endeavors outside online retail, including the commercial space project Blue Origin.

Entrepreneurs Arise from Diverse Backgrounds

Any field can serve as a springboard for a successful new business enterprise. Entrepreneurs arise from a range of educational, technical, and business experiences that include management, technology, sales and marketing, and scientific research. In addition to an abiding passion to see their innovations realized, entrepreneurs share certain characteristics:

They are independent thinkers.
They are optimistic and confident about their chances for success.
They are creative problem solvers.
They are tenacious, visionary, and focused.
They are more likely to act than to wait, and they attack challenges rather than avoid them.

Entrepreneurship Skills

Growing a business requires a diverse set of skills, but the one trait that ties them all together is leadership. Entrepreneurs transform an idea into a product or service that has value to customers. Each step in the process from creating the business plan to achieving profitability calls for a range of organizational and interpersonal skills, all of which depend on leadership.

Important entrepreneurship skills run the gamut from understanding the risks versus rewards of the business venture, to having a plan in place for responding as circumstances change. These are the capabilities that entrepreneurs need to make their businesses thrive:

Leadership : Entrepreneurs demonstrate their zeal for the enterprise in all of their interactions with investors, employees, and outside parties. They are confident in themselves and in the business, and they are decisive yet adaptable. They listen to and respect the opinions of others, and are always taking advantage of opportunities to study and learn.
Interpersonal communication : Entrepreneurs understand that the lines of communication in an organization must run both ways. Communication is particularly important to entrepreneurs because it makes all their other skills more effective. Communication skills are used to close sales, boost employee morale, resolve conflicts, and negotiate contracts.
Organizational behavior : Technology is a vital part of any new business venture, but the ability to manage people will ultimately determine a company’s success. People management takes many forms, but the key is to match the organizational approach with the characteristics of the business and its employees.
Business strategy : The importance of having a clear business focus and being optimistic and driven to achieve the company’s goals is balanced by the need to be adaptable and acknowledge when industries, markets, and customer preferences change. Entrepreneurs are decisive and passionate, but they are also ready and willing to make changes when necessary to keep the company on a path forward.
Collaboration and project management : Entrepreneurs understand the importance of being a good team member as well as serving as a team leader. They establish relationships with managers, investors, partners, and stakeholders as peers who all have important roles to play rather than as a hierarchy.

Benefits of Entrepreneurship

The benefits of entrepreneurship extend beyond the businesses they establish. Entrepreneurs improve the lives of individuals and communities, as well as the overall economy. Entrepreneurs have been instrumental in spurring social change and improving the way people live and work. They help raise the standard of living for everyone by creating jobs and making products safer, less expensive, and more functional.

Entrepreneurs ’ rewards for taking on the risks entailed in transforming an idea into a business include the earnings their investment generates, as well as the ability to set their own schedule. However, entrepreneurs also gain the satisfaction of seeing their idea transformed into a thriving enterprise, and of knowing their skills and leadership helped to make it happen.
Communities reap the benefit of entrepreneurship because businesses help to foster innovation, promote economic development, and create jobs. A successful company is likely to expand, which generates taxes, jobs, and other benefits for the area. Thriving businesses tend to attract other ventures in the same or related fields, and they often invest in community projects and support local charities.
Entrepreneurs play an important role in growing and sustaining the U.S. economy . The technologies pioneered by entrepreneurs have created entire industries, including smartphones, wireless products, online retail, social media, and streaming entertainment.

Despite the many benefits of entrepreneurship, it has inherent risks. Lack of appropriate government oversight can result in unfair labor practices, corruption, and criminal activity. Also, new business ventures have a high rate of failure: According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) cited by Fundera, 20% of small businesses fail in the first year, 50% fail within five years, and 70% fail within 10 years of opening. The benefits of entrepreneurship are realized only after much preparation, planning, and hard work.

An Education Geared to the Needs of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs need the right foundation in business and management. A program such as Maryville University’s online Master of Arts in Management and Leadership can offer the crucial training and skills innovators need to succeed. Courses such as Interpersonal Management Skills, Enterprise Planning and Control, Leadership, and Organizational Behavior and Development prepare tomorrow’s important entrepreneurs for the challenges they will face as they pursue their career goals.

Discover more about how the Master of Arts in Management and Leadership program helps people planning a career in business gain the entrepreneurial skills they’ll need.

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Essay on Entrepreneurship

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is a term that is widely applicable in the world of business. There are different definitions of the term entrepreneurship. The first definition identifies entrepreneurship as the process of creating a new business, with a view of making profits while bearing in mind all the risks that are involved. Different scholars have had their opinions about the description of the term entrepreneurship, including Stevenson, a renown expert in the topic. He defined entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled. His definition is still widely applied by many in the world of business (Venkataraman, 2019). The second definition is linked to one Frank Knight, who defined it as the bearing of uncertainty and responsibility for risks within the financial market. Joseph Schumpeter also contributed significantly by defining entrepreneurship as the creation of new things in search of profits. Schumpeter also asserts that the role of creating new things is not only left to companies and other businesses but also individuals who make efforts in the area. The researcher introduced the concept of creative destruction to mean creation and invention of a new idea in the market that calls for the demise of the existing competitor. For instance, the emergence of Smartphones killed use traditional means of communication, such as telephone boots and regular use of letters. As such, Joseph Schumpeter contributed significantly as the term creative destruction is universal in the marketing. Marketing is a lucrative field that requires creativity for one to make an impact in the market. Fourth is Israel Kirzner who defined entrepreneurship as the process that led to discovery. It is important to note that most of the definitions by various scholars share a familiar concept, risk-taking and opportunity exploration.

A venture is considered as a small business that is started by one individual or groups with a view of gaining financially. The profits from the investment benefit all the backers of that particular project or business. There are many different ventures that an individual can offer to invest in. An enterprise should aim to make a financial gain to the individual or group that invested. The risk-taking tendency by entrepreneurs and the idea of profit making coincides with the typology of entrepreneurship. Examples of entrepreneurship ventures that many can get into include gazelle, microenterprise, small/lifestyle and medium enterprises.

A gazelle enterprise is a business venture that experiences rapid growth annually for period of over four years. Revenues of such an enterprise increase yearly by over 20% and must have a base capital of at least $100,000. Such companies experience high sales growth rates regardless of their size. However, most of such business ventures operate on the lower end of the scale. Company growth can be measured by the turnover or the number of employees working for the enterprise.

The second entrepreneurial venture is a microenterprise that employs a small number of people, usually less than 10. Microenterprises are started by small amounts of capital and they specialize in providing goods and services within its locality. All microenterprises venture into simple product lines and operate on small scale. Microenterprises contribute largely to the economy as they create employment. Business owners in such ventures enjoy small profits, which they use to improve their standards of living. As such, microenterprises agree to the typology of entrepreneurship by making profits for those who invest.

Small or lifestyle enterprises are business ventures started with aim of sustaining or maintaining a certain level of income. Such enterprises aim at sustaining a certain level of lifestyle for the entrepreneur. They employ a small number of people and maintain certain level of assets for owners. Lifestyle enterprises play a key role in employing people at the same time maintains a particular lifestyle for the owner, thereby, complying with the typology of entrepreneurship.

Medium size enterprises employ between 50 and 500 employees depending on the legislation in that specific nation. Such enterprises have a specified value of assets and in the UK, they have less than 250 employees. In the year 2013, there were over 5.2 million medium sized businesses, which comprised of over 99% of enterprises in the country. The aim of medium business enterprises is to make profit like any other entrepreneurial venture. As such, medium sized business enterprises agree to the typology of entrepreneurship.

According to Wennekers and Thurik (1999), a Schumpeterian entrepreneur is one who aims at capitalizing on the existing entrepreneurial abilities to make profits. In other words, a Schumpeterian entrepreneur will assess the current businesses that are operating and think of better services to people. The Schumpeter concept is Austrian. Existing product and service lines in the market require improvements for better service delivery (Wennekers & Thurik, 1999). A Schumpeter entrepreneur is an individual who capitalizes on such opportunities with a view of providing better services while making profits. An intrepreneur is a person who works for a particular organization and identifies better ways to improve quality and service delivery to customers. Innovative product development and marketing is the role of a manager working for that specific organization. As such, the manager is referred to as an entrepreneur. Managerial business owner is an individual who invests in a venture and entirely owns the business. Administrative business owners are not responsible for innovation and creative destruction in the market as these remains the work of managerial entrepreneurs. The main difference between the three terms described is that an administrative business owner is responsible for financing the venture while the rest work for the owner to ensure innovation and product development. A similarity known among the three types of entrepreneurs is the fact that they all aim to make profits for the owner of the business.

Miles & Snow (2009) classified organizations into four types, including prospector, defender, analytical and follower businesses. A prospector implies an organization that has difficulties in locating and exploiting a new product in the market. Such ventures require constant examination of the continually changing business world to succeed. The element of unpredictability makes a continuous check-up of the market a necessity to establish strategic production. According to the two researchers, prospector organizations have comprehensive product and service lines. Production in such cases prefers to promote creativity to efficiency. Defender organizations are defined as those entities that cannot survive in unstable environments (Miles, Miles, Snow, Blomqvist & Rocha, 2009). Their worry is how to maintain their current market share hence the need for them to operate in a relatively stable business environment. Cost leadership and specialization in a specific product line can well help solve the problem. Analyzer organizations refer to those that have both prospector and defender organization characteristics. They face a challenge of establishing in new markets and at the same have a problem of maintaining their current market share. Follower organizations refer to organizations that do not make long-term plans for business but instead ensure that managers study the dynamic world fast enough to cope with the changes.

Steve Blank in 2010 asserts that there are four types of entrepreneurs, namely small business owners, scalable, large business owners and large entrepreneurs. Small business owners face known risks in the market as they venture into product lines and services that are already known. A scalable business idea digs into the existing opportunity and turns it into a larger business through the expansion of its business activities. The aim of setting up such business entities is to take over the existing market and turn it out to make huge profits. On the other hand, a large business is an entity that has over 5000 employees or has a high financial turnover of over 1.5 billion Euros in a year (Blank, 2010). Any venture that does not feature any of the two characteristics or both of them cannot be termed as a large business. Social entrepreneurship involves start-up companies raising funds to solve cultural, social and environmental problems.

The data presented is indicative of the importance of having small businesses and startups within the economy. The data is extracted from the office of national statistics in the United Kingdom. Moreover, the data presented include information regarding micro-businesses and small businesses contribution to the economy of the region that they operate. For instance, from the year 2010 to 2017, the country has been registering an increasing trend indicating that such businesses play a crucial role. On employment, micro-business ventures employed over 4,618,315 people in 2010, and by 2017 (“Employment – ONS”, 2019), the number of those depending on such businesses rose to 5,491,009. On the other hand, small businesses employed over 3,785, 801 people in the year 2010 to a whopping 4,450, 716 by 2017. As such, micro and small businesses within the economy play a key role in ensuring increased employment opportunities as indicated by statistics from the national office in the UK.

Another vital aspect presented in the data provided is the turnover involved annually in the event of operating such businesses. Like the data on employment, the turnover for both micro and small businesses has been fluctuating from the year 2010. It is also critical to note from the data that in some years, the turnover reduced instead of increasing. For instance, in 2010 the turnover for both micro and small businesses was 589,871,148 and 549,139,326 billions of Euros, respectively. In the following year 2011, the turnover reduced to 552,345,550 and 508,579,840, respectively. However, the figures have increased as of 2017 to 791,771,342 and 616,807,735 respectively. The growth in the turnover of micro and small businesses is a clear indication that they contribute positively to the growth of the economy in the United Kingdom.

In terms of inventory and general count, micro and other small businesses have significantly contributed and have seen an expansion. This is indicated by the data provided as the numbers have changed from 2010 to 2017. In the year 2010, micro-businesses had a count of 1,861,590, which increased to 2,386, 740 by 2017. Additionally, small businesses increased their count from 196, 520 in the year 2010 to a whopping 231, 715 in the year 2017. The graphs provided indicates the trend that has been experienced in the economy in regards to micro and other small businesses. Such ventures are contributing positively to the economy of the United Kingdom.

Small businesses and start-ups play a crucial role in the growth of the social economy. Social economy comprises a diversity of enterprises and organizations sharing common values and features. Such may include cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, paritarian institutions and social enterprises who value social objectives over capital. The first and most important role that the businesses play is the creation of employment (Burns, 2016). For instance, in the United States in the year 2015, small businesses and startups created over 1.9 million jobs. There are over 30.2 million small businesses in the United States who employ approximately 58 million people. As such, small businesses contribute primarily to the growth of the economy by creating jobs.

Second, small scale businesses and start-ups contribute by ensuring that the GDP of the country grows. Social economy contributes to the overall GDP sum and its growth projects more taxes to be paid. A small business thriving locally will have more to give as taxes to the local government and hence a contribution to the GDP. Such money can be used locally to develop infrastructure within the community. As such, small businesses play a vital role in ensuring that the well-being of the community improves in the long run.

Small businesses quickly adjust to changes in the economic environment and act as a cushion to the local economy in cases where large businesses have failed. This is because in cases of unpredictability in the market, small business owners are customer-oriented and can flex quickly to suit the needs of the market. Large businesses have few options in case of a similar predicament and may not help the local economy as anticipated. As such, all small businesses around the world contribute positively to the growth of the social economy as their interest is not capital-driven.

Blank, S. (2010). What’s A Startup? First Principles. Steve Blank .

Burns, P. (2016). Entrepreneurship and small business . Palgrave Macmillan Limited.

Employment – ONS. (2019). Retrieved 23 July 2019, from https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105164129/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Employment

Miles, R. E., Miles, G., Snow, C. C., Blomqvist, K., & Rocha, H. (2009). The I-form organization. California Management Review , 51 (4), 61-76.

Venkataraman, S. (2019). The distinctive domain of entrepreneurship research. In Seminal Ideas for the Next Twenty-Five Years of Advances (pp. 5-20). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Wennekers, S., & Thurik, R. (1999). Linking entrepreneurship and economic growth. Small business economics , 13 (1), 27-56.

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What Is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurs & Economic Growth
"Necessity" Entrepreneurs vs. "Opportunity" Entrepreneurs
Where Entrepreneurship Aids Growth—and Where It Doesn't
Entrepreneurs & Social Progress
Entrepreneurship FAQs

The Bottom Line

Business Leaders
Entrepreneurs

Why Entrepreneurship Is Important to the Economy

Entrepreneurship can promote economic growth, even if its benefits are sometimes overhyped

Diane Costagliola is a researcher, librarian, instructor, and writer who has published articles on personal finance, home buying, and foreclosure.

Entrepreneurship is often cited as a major engine of economic growth, particularly in the United States. But the actual picture is more complicated. Here's what leading scholars have to say about the importance of entrepreneurship around the world.

Key Takeaways

Entrepreneurship can fuel economic growth under the right conditions and when people become entrepreneurs for the right reasons.
It is not, however, a magic bullet for growth, particularly in less-developed economies.
Social entrepreneurship can attempt to deliver both profits and societal good, though often with mixed results.

Entrepreneurship is a general, blanket term related to starting a business. But its precise definition has long been a matter of debate among scholars and policymakers.

"Despite widespread interest in the topic and a broad recognition of its importance to the economy, there remains a lack of consensus about how to specifically define entrepreneurship," the nonpartisan Center for American Entrepreneurship notes. "'Entrepreneur' is an English derivation of the French word 'entreprendre' (to undertake), leaving wide latitude for interpretation and application."

Howard Stevenson, known as "the godfather of entrepreneurship studies" at Harvard Business School (HBS), has defined it as the "pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled." As fellow HBS professor Tom Eisenmann elaborates, "'beyond resources controlled' implies resource constraints. At a new venture's outset, its founders control only their own human, social, and financial capital. Many entrepreneurs bootstrap: they keep expenditures to a bare minimum while investing only their own time and, as necessary, their personal funds."

The Stanford Center for Professional Development at Stanford University offers a somewhat simpler definition: "At its most basic level, entrepreneurship refers to an individual or a small group of partners who strike out on an original path to create a new business. An aspiring entrepreneur actively seeks a particular business venture and it is the entrepreneur who assumes the greatest amount of risk associated with the project. As such, this person also stands to benefit most if the project is a success."

How Entrepreneurs Fuel Economic Growth

Innovation and entrepreneurship undeniably contribute to economic growth, making them a particular area of interest for economists and policymakers worldwide. However, some scholars say that the growth created by entrepreneurship can be exaggerated.

For one thing, growth from entrepreneurial activity doesn't occur evenly across an economy. Studies of economic growth have pointed toward an apparent paradox in which the growth in productivity overall in the U.S. has been only modest in recent years, despite the pervasiveness of entrepreneurship, innovation, and innovation ideology. According to studies by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) , this is because innovation affects industries very differently, having a large impact in some sectors of the economy but little impact in others.

While generally positive, the link between entrepreneurship and improving societal welfare is also complicated, influenced by factors such as regional population, entrepreneurship density, and the specific industry in which the entrepreneurial activity is taking place, according to the scholarly literature.

What's more, some studies have suggested that economic growth may be correlated to an increase in overall inequality in certain circumstances. Scholars say that in the U.S. income inequality and economic growth have been linked since the 1970s.

"Necessity" Entrepreneurs vs. "Opportunity" Entrepreneurs

One interesting way to look at entrepreneurship is to divide it into two broad categories. "Necessity entrepreneurship" is the launching of a business by people who lack other opportunities. "Opportunity entrepreneurship" is the creation of an enterprise in response to a new or previously overlooked opportunity.

In countries where entrepreneurial activity is largely in the form of necessity entrepreneurship, it can be a signal that the economy isn't creating enough jobs or wage opportunities for workers. It may be connected to slow economic growth or lagging economic development overall, scholars say.

Necessity entrepreneurship can be a side hustle for someone who is trying to make ends meet or a way to meet their non-economic needs and goals.

Where Entrepreneurship Aids Growth—and Where It Doesn't

The level of economic development of a country can also affect whether entrepreneurship will lead to greater economic growth there.

In the 20th century, driven by the decline in manufacturing and the shift toward service businesses, industrialized market economies in later stages of economic development—like the United States and parts of western Europe, such as Germany and Sweden—were able to benefit greatly from entrepreneurship, the economist and management professor Zoltan Acs has noted. Starting in the 1970s, those countries saw a rise in entrepreneurship, which reversed the previous trend in their economies, when workers favored high-paying jobs with big companies over self-employment.

Other factors may be relevant as well. Scholars point out that the U.S., in particular, has benefited from a large and competitive domestic market, a highly developed financial system, and a high level of long-term government support for basic science.

For developing countries, on the other hand, entrepreneurship isn't a panacea for growth. A study of 74 economies across a six-year period concluded that less developed countries should not base their economic policy on "generic entrepreneurship" if they desire to stimulate economic growth. The authors argue that focusing on programs that develop human capital, take advantage of economies of scale, and entice foreign capital are more effective in spurring economic growth.

Italy may provide an additional example of a country where high levels of self-employment have proved to be inefficient for economic development. Research has shown that Italy has experienced large negative impacts on the growth of its economy because of self-employment.

Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress

With concerns over sustainability, inequality, and other issues gaining attention, some entrepreneurs have become more interested in the social consequences of their economic activity. In particular, the rise of social awareness among certain entrepreneurs has led to many attempts to use the principles of entrepreneurship to create a more just and sustainable world.

Social entrepreneurship , which has been around as a concept since the 1950s, has become increasingly common. It describes a category of entrepreneurship that can, in some cases, attempt to both make a profit and solve societal problems. It differs from the typical nonprofit model when it pursues both of those ends simultaneously.

From the perspective of social justice, which prizes a world with equal rights and access to opportunity, the reliance of an economic system on entrepreneurship presents both upsides and downsides.

Theoretically, socially conscious entrepreneurship offers the opportunity to generate solutions for marginalized communities, and the motivations for social entrepreneurs around the world tend to come from a genuine desire to fix serious problems. However, it's important to note that sometimes attempts to solve the underlying structural problems lead to murky results. The dual motives of profit and social good can sometimes clash, as the example of microfinancing in India and Bangladesh revealed.

Once popular in international circles, microfinancing is now seen as having a more limited impact on eradicating poverty and sometimes even increasing indebtedness. The practice may have also led to a series of suicides among farmers in Andhra Pradesh in the 2000s.

What Is the Difference Between a Small Business Owner and an Entrepreneur?

In general, small businesses focus on existing products and services, while entrepreneurs look to introduce new ones. However, small business owners can be entrepreneurial in their own way and entrepreneurs may end up as small business owners if their idea catches on.

What Is an Intrapreneur?

An intrapreneur is someone who works within a larger company, typically one they don't own, to foster entrepreneurial ideas and innovation. Intrapreneurship can be another source of economic growth, and intrapreneurs often have access to greater resources than independent entrepreneurs without a company behind them.

What Is a Social Entrepreneur?

A social entrepreneur is someone who launches an innovative enterprise to address a larger social issue. They may or may not also hope to turn a profit from their efforts.

The relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth is complicated and can vary from one country to another based on their level of economic development. In highly developed economies, entrepreneurs can accelerate growth, while in less-developed ones they may have less of a positive effect.

Some entrepreneurial efforts, often referred to as social entrepreneurship, hold out the promise for new innovations that will address problems such as climate change and structural racism, possibly while making a profit at the same time.

Center for American Entrepreneurship. " What Is Entrepreneurship? "

Harvard Business Review. " Entrepreneurship: A Working Definition ."

Stanford Center for Professional Development. " What Is Entrepreneurship? "

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Home » Home » Essay » Essay on entrepreneurship (100, 200, 300, & 500 Words)

Essay on entrepreneurship (100, 200, 300, & 500 Words)

Essay on entrepreneurship (100 words), essay on entrepreneurship (200 words), essay on entrepreneurship (300 words), the importance of entrepreneurship.

Economic Growth : Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in driving economic growth by creating new businesses, products, and services. It fosters competition and encourages innovation, leading to increased productivity and efficiency in the economy.
Job Creation : Entrepreneurs are job creators. They not only create jobs for themselves but also generate employment opportunities for others. Startups and small businesses are known to be significant contributors to job creation, especially in developing economies.
Innovation and Technology : Entrepreneurs are at the forefront of innovation and technological advancements. They constantly challenge the status quo and introduce new ideas, products, and processes, driving progress in various industries.
Societal Development : Entrepreneurship has a positive impact on society by addressing social problems and meeting unmet needs. Social entrepreneurs focus on creating ventures that tackle issues like poverty, education, healthcare, and environmental sustainability.

Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs

Passion and Motivation : Successful entrepreneurs are driven by a strong passion for their ideas, products, or services. They are motivated to overcome challenges and persevere through setbacks, fueling their determination to succeed.
Creativity and Innovation : Entrepreneurs possess a high degree of creativity and are constantly seeking new and innovative solutions. They think outside the box, challenge conventions, and find unique ways to add value to the market.
Risk-taking and Resilience : Entrepreneurs are willing to take calculated risks and step out of their comfort zones. They understand that failure is a part of the journey and are resilient enough to bounce back from setbacks and learn from their mistakes.
Adaptability and Flexibility : The business landscape is ever-evolving, and successful entrepreneurs are adaptable and flexible. They embrace change, pivot when necessary, and stay ahead of market trends and customer demands.
Leadership and Vision : Entrepreneurs are visionaries who can inspire and lead their teams. They have a clear vision of what they want to achieve and possess the ability to communicate and align their goals with others, turning their vision into reality.

Key Steps in the Entrepreneurial Journey

Identifying Opportunities : Successful entrepreneurs have a keen eye for identifying market gaps, unsolved problems, and emerging trends. They conduct thorough market research to understand customer needs and assess the viability of their ideas.
Business Planning : Once an opportunity is identified, entrepreneurs develop a comprehensive business plan. This includes defining their target market, analyzing competitors, outlining their value proposition, and formulating a strategic roadmap.
Securing Funding : Entrepreneurs often require financial resources to launch and grow their ventures. They explore different funding options such as bootstrapping, seeking loans, attracting investors, or crowdfunding to secure the necessary capital.
Building a Team : Entrepreneurship is rarely a solo journey. Successful entrepreneurs build a team of skilled individuals who complement their strengths and contribute towards achieving the company’s goals. They understand the importance of delegation and collaboration.
Execution and Iteration : Entrepreneurs turn their ideas into action by executing their plans and continuously iterating their products or services based on customer feedback. They are agile and adaptable, making changes and improvements as they learn from the market.
Scaling and Growth : As the venture gains traction, entrepreneurs focus on scaling their operations. They explore opportunities for expansion, enter new markets, and invest in resources to support growth while maintaining a strong customer-centric approach.

Why entrepreneurship is important

Entrepreneurship is frequently credited as a major driver of economic growth, spurring transformation, the creation of new markets, innovation, and building wealth. Entrepreneurs are often key to developing ideas and solutions to problems while creating new products.

Starting a business can bring additional resources and money to a region, helping to increase wealth and prosperity. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs often contribute to social and cultural evolution, bringing fresh perspectives and inspiration.

Definition of entrepreneurship and its importance in the hospitality industry

Entrepreneurship is developing and managing a new business venture to make a profit or achieve another aim, such as making an environmental or social impact. Entrepreneurship involves identifying a market opportunity or gap in the market, developing a business plan, securing funding, finding the right staff, launching the business, and then managing its operations.

Entrepreneurship can take many forms. For instance, in hotel management , it can focus on improving hotel operations, services, and guest experiences to give the business a competitive edge. Alternatively, it can be starting a new hotel or restaurant, developing a new type of hospitality experience, or launching a new technology platform for the industry.

Entrepreneurship can also enhance the guest experience by providing innovative products and services to meet their needs and preferences. It drives economic growth and job creation with innovative ways of developing exciting new products and services that meet customers’ changing needs.

The benefits of pursuing a Master’s in entrepreneurship and innovation

A masters in entrepreneurship and innovation gives aspiring entrepreneurs an essential foundation in hospitality and entrepreneurship, combined with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the hospitality industry as an entrepreneur. This hospitality degree provides the fundamentals of innovation as you develop your soft skills, and gives you hands-on experience.

You’ll learn about hospitality operations, finance, marketing, and leadership while developing an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills you need to launch or grow your own business. Thanks to industry projects and internships, you’ll gain invaluable practical experience where you can apply your knowledge and skills in real-world settings and develop a priceless network of industry contacts. The hospitality industry is constantly changing, and you’ll learn how to create products and services to meet the market’s evolving needs.

Key skills and knowledge required for successful entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry

The entrepreneurship skills necessary for a successful career in hospitality luxury management are diverse and require a combination of the following.

Business acumen

Successful entrepreneurs need strong business skills, including strategic planning and financial management.

Leadership skills

Entrepreneurs must successfully lead and motivate teams and build strong relationships with partners, investors, and customers.

Effective entrepreneurs have a strong network of contacts in the industry and can leverage these relationships to grow businesses and access new opportunities.

Entrepreneurs must be able to think of ideas and develop innovative and achievable solutions.

Hospitality industry knowledge

Entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry require a solid understanding of the market, including trends, regulations, and customer needs.

Entrepreneurship can be challenging, and entrepreneurs need to be able to handle setbacks. They must stay motivated, learn from their mistakes, and persevere through difficult times.

Master the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and hospitality

This innovative masters provides everything you need to know about entrepreneurship from expert industry leaders.

Examples of successful entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry

The hospitality industry has long been the home of successful entrepreneurs. For instance, Marriott was originally a root beer stand run by husband and wife J.Willard Marriott and Alice Sheets Marriott until they saw the potential in turning into a restaurant chain and then the Marriott International hotel chain we know today. Meanwhile, the global Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand came about by chance, when Conrad Hilton decided to take a chance on purchasing a hotel after taking advantage of being in the right place at the right time.

More recently, some of the successful entrepreneurs building tomorrow’s hospitality industry include:

Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia created Airbnb which has since enabled people across 191 countries to rent their properties to travelers
Leo Grifka, a hotelier and entrepreneur saw the potential in a disused 49-room motel and began a project to turn it into a boutique hotel
Anne-Sophie Pic is a Michelin-starred chef and owner of several restaurants
Giuliano Gasparini founded Fratelli Fresh, a group of Italian restaurants in Australia
Eric Favre founded a luxury tea and coffee brand, sold in more than 50 countries

Studying at a luxury hospitality school for entrepreneurship

With the luxury hospitality sector growing faster than any other area, studying at a luxury hospitality school for entrepreneurship can help you launch your career in this highly competitive and lucrative market. You’ll gain the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to become a successful entrepreneur in the luxury hospitality industry. You’ll be able to access industry professionals, state-of-the-art facilities, innovations, technologies, and the latest trends while gaining valuable hands-on practical experience through internships and networking events.

Luxury hospitality schools like Glion offer programs that provide a comprehensive understanding of the hospitality industry and the skills necessary to launch and grow a successful business. It will prepare you for the challenges of a competitive marketplace and enable you to create innovative solutions to delight today’s luxury consumers.

Benefits of studying at a luxury hospitality school for entrepreneurship

Studying at a luxury hospitality school for entrepreneurship offers huge advantages for aspiring entrepreneurs to succeed in the luxury hospitality industry. Some of the many benefits you can look forward to include these:

Specialized education delivered by industry experts
Excellent networking opportunities through the school’s connections with industry leaders
Access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources that inspire aspiring entrepreneurs
Exposure to real-world experiences through internships and practical projects
Studying at a world-class luxury hospitality school for entrepreneurship like Glion gives students instant credibility

Overcoming common challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry

Many of the hospitality industry’s most successful entrepreneurs have faced significant obstacles. Entrepreneurs face unpredictable challenges, but overcoming them can be key to long-term results. Here are a few examples.

Competition

Hospitality is a highly competitive industry. Entrepreneurs must find ways to differentiate their businesses, by creating distinctive brands, offering unique services or amenities, or catering to a niche market.

Seasonality

Many sectors within hospitality are seasonal, and businesses will experience periods of high and low demand. Entrepreneurs need to plan accordingly and effectively manage cash flow during slow periods.

High fixed costs

Many hospitality businesses have high fixed costs, from staff to infrastructure, which means entrepreneurs must manage their outgoings carefully and look for ways to reduce costs without sacrificing quality. This can mean negotiating with suppliers, using technology to streamline operations, and implementing energy-saving measures.

Regulations

Becoming an entrepreneur in the hospitality industry can mean navigating red tape and complying with regulations. This means staying current with regulatory requirements, investing in staff training, regularly reviewing policies, and getting legal advice when required.

Customer expectations

Hospitality customers, especially those in the luxury sector, have high expectations. Entrepreneurs must strive to exceed expectations to build a loyal customer base. This can mean responding to customer feedback promptly, offering personalized experiences, and being seen to go above and beyond for customers.

Changing industry trends

The hospitality industry is continuously evolving, and new trends are always emerging, making it challenging to keep up with customer demand and market competition. Studying at a luxury hospitality school such as Glion helps entrepreneurs learn how to identify trends and adjust their businesses accordingly.

Developing innovative products and services in the hospitality industry

Glion offers programs that teach students to develop entrepreneurial skills and think creatively within hospitality. Students learn to identify problems and challenges, develop new products and services, and implement successful business models. They’ll also learn about developing marketing and branding strategies to promote their innovations.

Glion has a network of industry professionals and entrepreneurial alumni to provide valuable insights and connections for aspiring entrepreneurs. They also have access to industry experts through internships, industry events, and guest lectures, providing a broad understanding of the industry and current trends.

Securing funding for a new business venture in the hospitality industry

Studying at a luxury hospitality school provides students with practical knowledge of financial management, business planning, and fundraising techniques through its entrepreneurship curriculum. Students have access to experienced faculty members, industry professionals, and alumni who can offer advice on securing funding for business ventures.

The role of entrepreneurship in economic growth and job creation in the hospitality industry

Entrepreneurship is hugely important for both economic growth and job creation within the hospitality industry. Entrepreneurship leads to the launch of new businesses and innovative products and services that encourage economic growth and create new jobs that support local communities.

Statistics on the economic impact of entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry

Entrepreneurship helps the hospitality industry grow, and contributes over $1.9 trillion to the US economy , including $46.71 billion in local and state taxation , on average, each year. Entrepreneurship in the hospitality industry also accounts for more than 8.3 million jobs and 44% of economic activity in the US.

Benefits of entrepreneurship for aspiring entrepreneurs studying at a luxury hospitality school

Studying at a luxury hospitality school allows aspiring entrepreneurs to apply the knowledge and skills they’ve developed in a practical setting. They can develop a unique business idea or concept, gain hands-on experience in managing a business and have the flexibility to work on an idea they’re passionate about.

Skills and traits gained through entrepreneurship

A person can gain many valuable skills and qualities through entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship enhances problem-solving skills and the ability to use creativity to develop innovative and effective solutions.

Entrepreneurship also fosters resilience, as entrepreneurs must be prepared to take calculated risks and overcome obstacles to succeed. Entrepreneurship is also valuable in helping to improve communication and interpersonal skills, time management, and organizational skills while cultivating a strong work ethic and growth mindset.

Factors leading to entrepreneurial success

Alongside hard work, determination, and adaptability, entrepreneurial success depends on attributes such as resilience, innovative thinking, networking, customer focus, and team building. Successful entrepreneurs are typically passionate about their work and can adapt and innovate to market challenges. They successfully build strong relationships with partners, investors, and customers and can manage their business finances effectively.

Entrepreneurship is an exciting and rewarding path that’s also an important driver of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. While entrepreneurs will inevitably face various challenges, it’s important to be resilient and focus on your business or concept. With a strong work ethic, determination, creativity, and a willingness to learn and adapt, you can become a successful entrepreneur who makes a significant impact.

Photo credits Main image: LukaTDB/E+ via Getty Images

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So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?

Emily Heyward

One founder’s advice on what you should know before you quit your day job.

Starting a business is not easy, and scaling it is even harder. You may think you’re sitting on a completely original idea, but chances are the same cultural forces that led you to your business plan are also influencing someone else. That doesn’t mean you should give up, or that you should rush to market before you’re ready. It’s not about who’s first, it’s about who does it best, and best these days is the business that delivers the most value to the consumer. Consumers have more power and choice than ever before, and they’re going to choose and stick with the companies who are clearly on their side. How will you make their lives easier, more pleasant, more meaningful? How will you go out of your way for them at every turn? When considering your competitive advantage, start with the needs of the people you’re ultimately there to serve. If you have a genuine connection to your idea, and you’re solving a real problem in a way that adds more value to people’s lives, you’re well on your way.

When I graduated from college in 2001, I didn’t have a single friend whose plan was to start his or her own business. Med school, law school, finance, consulting: these were the coveted jobs, the clear paths laid out before us. I took a job in advertising, which was seen as much more rebellious than the reality. I worked in advertising for a few years, and learned an incredible amount about how brands get built and communicated. But I grew restless and bored, tasked with coming up with new campaigns for old and broken products that lacked relevance, unable to influence the products themselves. During that time, I was lucky to have an amazing boss who explained a simple principle that fundamentally altered my path. What she told me was that stress is not about how much you have on your plate; it’s about how much control you have over the outcomes. Suddenly I realized why every Sunday night I was overcome with a feeling of dread. It wasn’t because I had too much going on at work. It was because I had too little power to effect change.

EH Emily Heyward is the author of Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One (Portfolio; June 9, 2020). She is the co-founder and chief brand officer at Red Antler, a full-service brand company based in Brooklyn. Emily was named among the Most Important Entrepreneurs of the Decade by Inc. magazine, and has also been recognized as a Top Female Founder by Inc. and one of Entrepreneur’s Most Powerful Women of 2019.

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What Does It Take to Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

Female entrepreneur using laptop in workspace

09 Jul 2020

The world is filled with aspiring entrepreneurs—people who believe they have what it takes to launch a company and build it into a profitable business. While anyone can start a business, not everyone will succeed.

Research by Harvard Business School Professor Shikhar Ghosh shows that up to 75 percent of startups fail. According to Zippia , 22 percent of small businesses fail within one year of being launched, half fail within five years, and approximately two-thirds fail within 10 years.

In light of these statistics, the question becomes: What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur ? What steps can aspiring entrepreneurs take to lay the groundwork for success?

Access your free e-book today.

What Is an Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is someone who launches a business venture, typically in the form of a company that manufactures and sells a product or provides a service. Entrepreneurs are often viewed as innovators who identify a problem or opportunity, then develop a solution no one else has recognized.

In the online course Entrepreneurship Essentials , it’s noted that “entrepreneurs—either individuals or teams—actively scan the environment for opportunities, or discover them as they live and work. They form hypotheses about what customers want or need and how they can deliver value to the customer.”

Successful entrepreneurs don’t just charge ahead with their ideas. First, they seek to validate there’s demand.

One way they do so is through testing. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials , entrepreneurs “recruit people and invest money to determine if customers will indeed value the product and they can produce and deliver it at an acceptable cost. They often find different, even better ideas once in the marketplace.”

Check out the video below to learn more about what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

Entrepreneurship Requirements

Do you have dreams of one day becoming an entrepreneur and launching your own company? In addition to a business idea, doing so will require you to possess certain skills and characteristics .

1. Key Entrepreneurship Qualities and Behaviors

Several researchers have tried to pinpoint a specific entrepreneurial personality or profile in an attempt to quantify what makes some more successful than others.

In Entrepreneurship Essentials , it’s explained that there’s no single personality profile that leads someone to success as an entrepreneur. However, there are a number of characteristics shared by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.

Some behaviors that are distinct from personality traits and associated with entrepreneurship include curiosity, pattern recognition, team building, structured experimentation, adaptation, decisiveness, and persistence.

While it can be argued that some people are more inclined to exhibit these behaviors than others, each of these qualities can be acquired through proper training and development .

2. Essential Entrepreneurial Skills

Especially in the earliest stages of launching a business, entrepreneurs are responsible for performing a variety of duties—it comes with the territory. Before you have an accounting department, marketing staff, and product development team, you'll likely need to perform some of these critical responsibilities.

Taking the time to develop certain skills before launching your business can drastically improve your chances of success. Here’s a list of some of the most critical skills all entrepreneurs should have:

Communication skills , which you’ll leverage daily as you work with vendors, investors, customers, and various members of your growing team
Organizational skills , which will empower you to work toward your goals efficiently
Time management skills , which will be essential throughout your career, but especially early on, when you have multiple responsibilities
Data-driven decision-making , which will enable you to make objective, measurable decisions about your products, services, business, and customers
Strategic thinking , which will allow you to discover opportunities and threats that guide business decisions more easily
Accounting basics , which will be especially important before you have a person or team dedicated to managing your business’s finances
Resilience , because every entrepreneur faces challenges and struggles, and it takes resilience to bounce back

Entrepreneurship Essentials | Succeed in the startup world | Learn More

3. An Opportunity or Business Idea

For a new venture to succeed, the business plan must be centered around a solid opportunity. In Entrepreneurship Essentials , an opportunity is defined as a proposed venture to sell a product or service for which customers are willing to pay more than the required investments and operating costs.

An opportunity is more than a product idea, and it extends well beyond the initial act of getting into business. According to Entrepreneurship Essentials, “it’s a plan that shows how a venture will attract, retain, and reward all stakeholders, including customers, founders, employees, investors, distributors, and suppliers.”

That plan doesn’t end once you’ve identified an innovative business idea . Ideally, your concept should be validated before you commit resources, time, and effort to bring it to life. Once validated and pursued, you must constantly reevaluate your business to determine whether you need to adapt to new opportunities or threats.

4. Resources and Funding

Finally, to launch your business, you’ll need a source of funding to purchase equipment and materials, develop your product or service, iterate upon your offerings, and refine your processes. Exactly what funding looks like will vary depending on the type of business you’re launching and your industry.

For some entrepreneurs, self-funding is possible. In such cases, an entrepreneur might set aside enough money to pay for their living expenses while they get their business off the ground, in addition to the costs associated with the launch.

Self-funding isn’t the only option available. There are many other paths you might take, such as:

Securing an SBA loan from the Small Business Administration
Raising capital from investors
Applying for grants (this may be especially suitable for nonprofit organizations)
Crowdfunding from the public
Relying on a line of credit

Every form of funding comes with benefits and risks. Self-funding, for example, allows you to retain complete control over your business and potential profits, but also requires you to carry the risk of failure. Raising capital from investors, on the other hand, allows you to spread your risk and, potentially, launch your business quicker—but it forces you to give up a portion of your control. Ultimately, you must decide what makes the most sense for your business.

Which HBS Online Entrepreneurship and Innovation Course is Right for You? | Download Your Free Flowchart

Your Path to Becoming an Entrepreneur

Countless aspiring entrepreneurs have an interesting, innovative, and compelling business idea, but don’t have the skills or qualities to carry it through to fruition. Similarly, many others have the skills and qualities, but lack an idea to pursue. Even those with a brilliant idea and the necessary skills can fail to get their project off the ground if they don’t have access to funding. Successful entrepreneurship requires a blend of all these components.

The good news is: Successful entrepreneurs aren’t born—they’re made. With the right training , instruction, and development, everyone has the potential to become an entrepreneur.

Are you interested in learning the ins and outs of entrepreneurship? Explore our four-week online course Entrepreneurship Essentials and our other entrepreneurship and innovation courses to learn to speak the language of the startup world. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

About the Author

1.3 The Entrepreneurial Mindset

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset
Describe what is meant by entrepreneurial spirit or passion

Entrepreneurship takes many forms (see Table 1.1 ), but entrepreneurs share a major trait in common: An entrepreneur is someone who identifies an opportunity and chooses to act on that opportunity. Most business ventures are innovative variations of an existing idea that has spread across communities, regions, and countries, such as starting a restaurant or opening a retail store. These business ventures are, in some ways, a lower-risk approach but nonetheless are entrepreneurial in some way. For example, Warby Parker , a profitable startup founded by four graduate students at Wharton, disrupted a major incumbent ( Luxottica ) by providing a more convenient (online initially), affordable, and stylish product line for a large segment of consumers. In this sense, their innovation is about creating something new, unique, or different from the mainstream. Yet they attracted an existing, and in some ways mature, sector of an established industry. In a different way, McDonalds , which is 90 percent owned by franchisees, introduced an “all day breakfast” menu in 2017 that was hugely successful; it also targeted a larger segment (in part younger consumers) and brought back consumers who had chosen other options. In summary, many entrepreneurs start a new venture by solving a problem that is significant, offering some value that other people would appreciate if the product or service were available to them. Other entrepreneurs, in contrast, start a venture by offering a “better mousetrap” in terms of a product, service, or both. In any case, it is vital that the entrepreneur understand the market and target segment well, articulate a key unmet need (“pain point”), and develop and deliver a solution that is both viable and feasible. In that aspect, many entrepreneurs mitigate risks before they launch the venture.

Being aware of your surroundings and the encounters in your life can reveal multiple opportunities for entrepreneurship. In our daily lives, we constantly find areas where improvements could be made. For example, you might ask, “What if we didn’t have to commute to work?” “What if we didn’t have to own a vehicle but still had access to one?” “What if we could relax while driving to work instead of being stressed out by traffic?” These types of questions inspired entrepreneurial ventures such as ride-sharing services like Uber , the self-driving vehicle industry, 21 and short-term bicycle access in the free bike-sharing program in Pella, Iowa ( Figure 1.10 ). 22

These ideas resulted from having an entrepreneurial mindset , an awareness and focus on identifying an opportunity through solving a problem, and a willingness to move forward to advance that idea. The entrepreneurial mindset is the lens through which the entrepreneur views the world, where everything is considered in light of the entrepreneurial business. The business is always a consideration when the entrepreneur makes a decision. In most cases, the action that the entrepreneur takes is for the benefit of the business, but sometimes, it helps the entrepreneur get ready to adopt the appropriate mindset. The mindset becomes a way of life for the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs often are predisposed to action to achieve their goals and objectives. They are forward thinking, always planning ahead, and they are engaged in “what if” analyses. They frequently ask themselves, “What if we did this?” “What if a competitor did that?”—and consider what the business implications would be.

Most people follow habits and traditions without being aware of their surroundings or noticing the opportunities to become entrepreneurs. Because anyone can change their perspective from following established patterns to noticing the opportunities around them, anyone can become an entrepreneur. There is no restriction on age, gender, race, country of origin, or personal income. To become an entrepreneur, you need to recognize that an opportunity exists and be willing to act on it. Note, however, that the execution of the entrepreneurial mindset varies in different parts of the world. For example, in many Asian cultures, group decision-making is more common and valued as a character trait. In these regions, an entrepreneur would likely ask the advice of family members or other business associates before taking action. In contrast, individualism is highly valued in the United States and so many US entrepreneurs will decide to implement a plan for the business without consulting others.

Entrepreneurial Spirit and Passion

An entrepreneurial spirit allows entrepreneurs to carry a manner of thinking with them each day that allows them to overcome obstacles and to meet challenges with a can-do attitude. What does it mean to have an entrepreneurial spirit? For the purposes of this discussion, it could mean being passionate, purposeful, positive, bold, curious, or persistent.

The founders of Airbnb have a passion for supporting individual rights to rent out unused space. Why should the established model of hotels prevail? Why shouldn’t an individual homeowner have the freedom to rent out unused space and leverage that space into an income? Airbnb has succeeded in creating more flexible and affordable options in the space of the rapidly growing "sharing" economy. At the same time, some states and municipalities have raised issues about the regulations monitoring ventures like this. While entrepreneurial spirit is partly about fighting for individual rights and freedoms, there should be a balance between economic freedom and consumer protection. The entrepreneurial spirit involves a passion for presenting an idea that is worthwhile and valuable, and a willingness to think beyond established patterns and processes, while still keeping in mind local laws and regulations, in the quest to change those established patterns, or at least to offer alternatives to those established patterns.

Passion is a critical component of the entrepreneurial process. Without it, an entrepreneur can lose the drive to run the business. Passion can keep an entrepreneur going when the outside world sends negative messages or less-than-positive feedback. For example, if you are truly passionate about starting an animal shelter because of your love of animals, you will find a way to make it happen. Your internal drive to help animals in need will spur you on to do whatever it takes to make the shelter become a reality. The same is true of other types of startups and owners with similar passions. However, passion needs to be informed by the entrepreneur’s vision and mission—passion of the sake of passion is not enough. A clear mission statement —which details why the business exists and the entrepreneur’s objectives for achieving that mission—will guide an entrepreneur’s passion and keep the business on track. Passion, vision, and mission can reinforce each other and keep the entrepreneur on the right track with next steps for the business.

Some ideas might seem small or insignificant, but in the field of entrepreneurship, it’s important to recognize that for every new startup, someone else may recognize a spin-off idea that expands upon the original idea. The opportunities for identifying new possibilities are endless. Review your work in creating spinoff ideas for Angad Darvani’s projects, or Kevin F. Adler’s Miracle Messages venture. Or consider possible spin-off ideas around the technology used in agriculture. Creating spin-off ideas fits well with our discussion of divergent thinking and brainstorming. Through these processes, we can discover new uses for existing technology, just as Ring did by using video technology to add security by allowing customers to see who is at the door without opening it.

An Entrepreneurial Mindset in Your Discipline or Field

Within your industry of interest or area of study, what are the challenges that create frustration? How can these be turned into opportunities? Earlier in this chapter, we discussed Evernote , a company that focuses on expanding our memories by storing and organizing information. Let’s look at some other examples of entrepreneurial endeavors in specific industries to help you plan your own venture in your own industry.

In the agriculture industry, insects, weeds, weather conditions, and the challenges of harvesting crops are all ripe for entrepreneurial activities. The move toward organic produce has also affected this industry. From an entrepreneurial perspective, what products could you invent to support both organic farming and the problems of insects that damage or destroy crops? The old method was to use chemical sprays to kill the insects, but today, the growing demand for organic foods and increased awareness of the impact of chemical sprays on our environment are changing this scenario. One new idea to solve this problem combines a vacuum cleaner with an agriculture product.

Link to Learning

Watch this video on the creation of a crop vacuum that sucks up insects and bugs to learn more.

A bug vacuum is an example of how using divergent thinking contributed to the solution of removing bugs from crops without using chemicals. In the group activity of creating divergent ideas, this idea may not have been received well. However, in the incubation stage, the idea must have come forward as a viable solution. Entrepreneurs frequently face the challenge of pressure to conform to established habits and patterns within industries.

Often, the entrepreneurial mindset includes futuristic ideas that shake up the normal, conventional processes that are grounded in experience over time. Tried-and-tested processes and products that have a proven history of success can be a formidable obstacle to new ideas. A new idea may even appear as impossible or outlandish, perhaps even an embarrassment to the steady and predictable practices established within an industry. This can create a dilemma: Do we try something new and unproven that lacks documented research? Sometimes, we must disregard our past successes and research to be open to new possibilities for success and failure. An entrepreneurial mindset includes creativity, problem-solving skills, and a propensity to innovation. 23 Open-mindedness is one characteristic that supports creativity, problem solving, and innovation. Taking the time to explore new ideas, dream, reflect, and view situations from a new perspective contribute to the entrepreneurial mindset. Some innovations can lead to disruptions within the industry, or even create a new industry.

The innovator’s dilemma was presented by Clayton Christensen to explain disruptive technology , which are technologies that, once introduced, displace established patterns, processes, and systems previously accepted as normal or accepted. One example of a disruptive technology is Airbnb , a company that threatens the established hotel industry by connecting personal resources to people who desire those resources. If you have a spare bedroom that you aren’t using, why not sell that space to someone who wants and needs the space?

Airbnb has become a significant threat to the established hotel industry’s business model of building large hotels and renting rooms within those hotels to their customers. Airbnb has reconfigured that model, and since its 2008 launch, 150 million travelers have taken advantage of 3 million Airbnb listings in more than 191 countries. Airbnb has raised more than $3 billion (plus a $1 billion credit line) and is considering selling stocks to support significant expansion. The value of Airbnb is approximately $30 billion. Compare this market value to Hilton ’s market capitalization of $19 billion and Marriott ’s of $35 billion. If you were the CEO of Hilton or Marriott, would you be worried? The hotel industry recognized Airbnb as a threat, and in 2016, began a campaign to create legislation to rein in Airbnb’s growth and popularity. From the hotel industry’s perspective, Airbnb is not playing by the same rules. This is the definition of disruptive technology, the focus on creating a new idea or process that negates or challenges established process or products. 24

Sometimes disruptive technologies result from not listening to customers. Customers don’t always know what they want. Customer groups might need to be redefined by the entrepreneurial team on the basis of better models, knowing when to invest in developing lower-performance products that promise lower margins while still satisfying the need, and knowing when to pursue small markets at the expense of larger or established markets. Basically, disruptive technologies occur through identifying new and valuable processes and products.

The founders of Airbnb recognized that some people have unused resources, bedrooms, that other people need. We can apply this idea to other unused resources such as vehicles and motor homes. We see this model reproduced in short-term car rental and bike-sharing programs.

21 Matthew DeBord. “Waymo Could Be Worth as Much as $75 Billion—Here’s a Brief History of the Google Car Project.” Business Insider . September 9, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/google-car-project-history-2018-8
22 Ethan Goetz. “Bike Share Program Launched Monday.” The Chronicle . July 2, 2018. https://www.pellachronicle.com/gallery/bike-share-program-launched-monday/article_950cebac-7e49-11e8-97a0-8fd615410188.html
23 Emma Fleck. “Needed: Entrepreneurial Mindset.” Central Penn Business Journal , 34 (12), 10. http://pageturnpro2.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Publications/201803/15/83956/PDF/131668002208352000_CPBJ033018WEB.pdf
24 Katie Benner. “Inside the Hotel Industry’s Plan to Combat Airbnb.” New York Times . April 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/technology/inside-the-hotel-industrys-plan-to-combat-airbnb.html

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Entrepreneurship and Leadership Essay

Introduction, profit oriented entrepreneurship, social based entrepreneurship, preferable leadership approach, small business administration and score.

Entrepreneurship can best be described as transforming finances, being innovative and ability to harness business acumens into economic progress. It encompasses the identification of unexploited or underexploited areas and transforming them into profitable ventures. In most cases, entrepreneurship has been used for the sole purpose of empowering individuals and societies. Hence, entrepreneurship is not for the selected few (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2008). In essence, it is not based on the genes of persons, is not a mysterious discipline and neither is it magical.

There are two major categories of entrepreneurship namely profit-oriented entrepreneurship and socially based entrepreneurship. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of the two forms of entrepreneurship. Besides, leading personalities in the field of entrepreneurship have been used to shed light in the paper.

To begin with, it is vital to mention that Thomas Edison was born in 1847 and throughout his life, he was a keen inventor. He was regarded as a prolific inventor and a person who saw opportunities where others failed. He was also credited with revolutionizing the field of telecommunications. This sector has now become one of the huge determinants in global economic growth.

In terms of leadership style, he was generally a transformational leader who was full of appealing personality. He used this to create a balance between his work and personal life. Specifically, he developed and embraced a working life. One notable aspect was his devotion to the research and development of his inventions. Even though his inventions were meant to change the world at large, Thomas Edison was equally profit-oriented.

This kind of leadership was highly beneficial since most of his inventions were credited with being unique. For example, he came up with a stock sticker, an electric car battery, a mechanical vote recorder, motion pictures, and recorded music. There were also electric power generators and a power station in New York that were set up courtesy of his innovative skills. By 1890, his products and business empire had cumulated about $14.2 billion globally. Out of this mammoth figure, some $5 billion had been accrued from the United States of America alone.

The basic principle of Thomas Edison was first to develop a strong vision before embarking on any endeavor. However, as Viardot (2011) observes, Thomas Edison did not believe in having a vision if one could not execute it. He equated this to being hallucinated or filled with blank imaginations. However, he was known for adopting and advocating for military business principles. This is where a chain of command is followed in moving up the ladder.

As the founder of The Body Shop , Anita Roddick is perceived to be one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs. Born in the year 1942, Dame Anita Roddick was a campaigner in matters related to the environment and human rights in addition to quite a several social issues. Later on, she founded the Body Shop Company involved in producing and retailing cosmetic products.

Roddick could be classified as a visionary type of leader. For example, she would always first outline her vision before embarking on a project. That is why she was recognized as an integral leader or as a person who set a course that can be followed by others. This leadership style benefitted clients, employees, social communities as well as investors. Another important aspect of her leadership quality was her inquisitive nature.

Through her visionary leadership, she was successful in highlighting issues affecting environmental conservation as well as the need for social integration and upholding human rights. She had a vision of developing environmentally friendly cosmetic products. In social activism, her visionary leadership saw the care for the underprivileged rise to good levels. She devoted some $1.8 million for social activism to Amnesty International School. She was also in the front line in fighting for the rights and privileges of the less fortunate in society alongside caring for the environment.

In terms of business principles, Anita had a strong belief in entrepreneurship and visionary leadership. She considered dialogue as an important aspect in business survival in addition to believing that work ought to be embraced with fun. She believed in being aggressive which she equated to bringing new ideas into the business. She had a belief in the power of intuition and aesthetics. Publicity should not be made a business priority and it is irrelevant to package anything in business.

Therefore, the most preferable leadership approach would be transformational leadership largely because visionary leadership is usually the first step before major milestones can be triumphed (Borkowski, 2010). There is a need to transform vision into reality otherwise it would remain vague if not acted upon. This is corroborated by the principles of Thomas Edison Jefferson that without execution, vision is similar to hallucination. Therefore, to be an entrepreneur, it is important for a person strives to make a change of sort. It is important to think of areas that have not been exploited and then utilize them to make changes. On this basis, therefore, visionary leadership comes in the identification of areas to utilize while transformational leadership comes in the execution part.

As for Small Business Administration and SCORE, Business counseling is an important tool to progress. In essence, all entrepreneurs should always seek business counseling before embarking on the identified opportunity. Counseling helps shape the thinking of business operators in the most effective. Hence, and as provided by SCORE and SBA, a tool like business counseling would form a basis for transformational leadership. SCORE also provides business interaction with experienced members. These members provide essential insights into how to transform a business opportunity into a recognizable one in the competitive market. SCORE and SBA provide information on how best to sustain a business. After identification and exploitation of an entrepreneurial opportunity, it is important to get insights on how to sustain it. Lack of this information may make the business lapse in the middle of its operation, and it would mean putting it to the brink of total collapse (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2011).

In summing up, it is vital to reiterate that entrepreneurship is integral for economic empowerment. Renowned persons such as Thomas Edison and Anita Roddick are indeed typical examples of persons who utilized voids to create business empires for themselves and their communities. What is most important in entrepreneurship is the type of leadership used. As deliberated in this paper, both visionary and transformational types of leadership styles are crucial in the field of entrepreneurship.

As such, business management skills would indeed rely heavily on the adequate application of appropriate leadership etiquette such as those discussed in this paper. Entrepreneurship in the void of sufficient leadership skills may as well be futile.

Borkowski, N. (2010). Organizational behavior in health care. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. M. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Masoa: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Lamb, C. W., Hair, F.J., & McDaniel, C. (2011). Essentials of Marketing. Belmont: CengageBrain Learning.
Viardot, E. (2011). The Timeless principles of successful business strategy . Berlin: Sage Publications.
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IvyPanda. (2022, May 14). Entrepreneurship and Leadership. https://ivypanda.com/essays/entrepreneurial-leadership/

"Entrepreneurship and Leadership." IvyPanda , 14 May 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/entrepreneurial-leadership/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Entrepreneurship and Leadership'. 14 May.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Entrepreneurship and Leadership." May 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/entrepreneurial-leadership/.

1. IvyPanda . "Entrepreneurship and Leadership." May 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/entrepreneurial-leadership/.

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IvyPanda . "Entrepreneurship and Leadership." May 14, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/entrepreneurial-leadership/.

Mary Kay Ash and Anita Roddick as Entrepreneurs
“This Woman Has Changed Business Forever” by Bo Burlinghyam: The Roddick Case
Leadership Motivation: Anita Roddick, Founder of Body Shop
Dame Anita Roddick
The Body Shop International PLC
Dilemma of layoffs at Santa Anita State University
Social Performance of “The Body Shop”
Thomas Edison's Study of Electricity
The Body Shop: Consumer Behavior
The Body Shop: Financial Strategies
Small Business in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa
Successful Entrepreneur: Main Characteristics
Melbourne Coffee: Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation
Innovation and Creativity in Entrepreneurship
Manu Chandaria - Famous Enterpreneur Across Africa

Women’s entrepreneurship and culture: gender role expectations and identities, societal culture, and the entrepreneurial environment

Published: 09 January 2021
Volume 58 , pages 985–996, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

Amanda Bullough ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4842-5254 1 ,
Ulrike Guelich ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2649-0648 2 ,
Tatiana S. Manolova 3 &
Leon Schjoedt ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0721-6344 4

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Women’s entrepreneurship is increasingly important for creating new jobs and contributing to the social and economic growth of their societies, yet the interplay and nuances of women’s entrepreneurship and culture are currently understudied. In this special issue, we present eight empirical papers that delve into different aspects of the dynamic interaction between gender and culture in shaping women’s entrepreneurship. We provide framework for women’s entrepreneurship and culture research to organize the empirical research herein into three interconnected themes: gender role expectations and identities, societal cultural dimensions, and the entrepreneurial environment. This collection is an important step in integrating research on women’s entrepreneurship and culture and further exploring these dynamic and complex interactions, in different economic and societal systems and across geographies.

Effects of Culture on Women Entrepreneurs’ Success: A Cross-Country Study

The salient role of institutions in women’s entrepreneurship: a critical review and agenda for future research.

Practice rather than preach: cultural practices and female social entrepreneurship

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Women entrepreneurs create jobs and contribute to economic growth and social progress worldwide. From the initial idea, throughout the gestation process, and to business operations and venture growth, their entrepreneurial initiatives are embedded in a complex and multilayered cultural environment. Thus, gender and culture dynamically interact, shaping gender role expectations and identities, and the economic and social environment in which women’s entrepreneurship is embedded.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), 231 million women launched or operated businesses in the 59 economies around the world that were studied in the latest 2018/2019 report on women’s entrepreneurship (Elam et al. 2019 ). Many organizations and governmental institutions (ILO 2020 ; UN Women 2020 ) have long recognized the importance of women in the process of economic development, individual health, and societal advancement (Bullough et al. 2019 ). Although women entrepreneurs are important for creating new jobs and contributing to the social and economic growth of their societies, the interplay and nuances of women’s entrepreneurship, growth, and culture are understudied (Brush et al. 2018 ; Hechavarria et al. 2019 ).

Prior research has identified social, cultural, infrastructural, educational, occupational, and role-related obstacles and facilitators to women’s entrepreneurship (Baughn et al. 2006 ; Bullough et al. 2017 ; Jennings and Brush 2013 ; Welter and Smallbone 2011 ). Culture is a multi-layer construct comprising an external, global layer penetrating a society’s indigenous layers, and ultimately becoming a set of shared values within groups (Leung et al. 2005 ; Steel and Taras 2010 ). Understanding cultural systems is critical for advancing leadership research in varying contexts (Kirkman et al. 2006 ). Cultural indicators relate to specific beliefs, norms, and expectations within a society that affect societal culture (Fu et al. 2004 ; Leung et al. 2005 ). This and the entrepreneurial environment within which businesses are founded and operate together affect women’s entrepreneurship.

Culture represents multifaceted explanations for differences in women’s entrepreneurship across societies and in the success or failure of business activities. Many barriers and constraints that women entrepreneurs experience are gender specific and stem from cultural values, norms, and customs (Anambane and Adom 2018 ; Baughn et al. 2006 ; Khandelwal and Sehgal 2018 ). Gender egalitarianism, gender role expectations, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem are under-researched cultural factors in women’s entrepreneurship (Bullough and Sully de Luque 2015 ; Eagly and Wood 2016 ; Hechavarría and Ingram 2019 ; Manolova et al. 2017 ). Social customs and expectations are strongly embedded in any culture (Berry et al. 2002 ; de Bruin et al. 2007 ; Erez and Gati 2004 ), and attitudes toward entrepreneurship at least partly reflect subjective perceptions that are prone to bias (Kemp et al. 2015 ; Marlow et al. 2019 ; Robinson and Stubberud 2011 ). Traditionally defined gender roles within the home put household and family responsibilities largely on women, while men provide economically for the family by working outside (Milkie and Peltola 1999 ; Vinnicombe and Singh 2002 ). These gender role expectations have traditionally limited women’s access to income-earning opportunities (Eagly and Karau 2002 ; Eagly and Mitchell 2004 ).

Other research presents more positive notions about culture and women’s entrepreneurship (Ahl 2006 ; Bullough 2013 ), which to some extent counterbalances the important scholarship done on male and female stereotypes and biases (van Emmerik et al. 2008 ). While work–life imbalance creates barriers for women starting and running businesses, women have found ways to merge their personal and work lives (Ruderman et al. 2002 ). Women’s capabilities are increasingly recognized as complementary to business goals (Newburry et al. 2008 )—skills developed particularly well from the very house responsibilities that can so unevenly impact women, such as multitasking, interpersonal skills, and emotional empathy (Ruderman et al. 2002 ). Other research from Lucas ( 2003 ) shows that as more women are seen leading business, the notion becomes institutionalized and less foreign. This phenomenon helps to shift cultures in a way that reduces barriers to women by adding legitimacy, so that the notion of women in leadership becomes increasingly engrained in a culture’s social and economic fabric (Newburry et al. 2008 ).

This special issue of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal sought papers that fit within the overarching theme of women’s entrepreneurship and culture. We invited contributors to investigate female entrepreneurship in a variety of cultural and societal settings, with a particular focus on women’s entrepreneurship and culture, interactions between and among cultures and societies, cross-cultural similarities and differences, and the impact of culture and the impact on culture. Emphasis was placed on studies that consider the opportunities, strategies, and business models, as well as the challenges faced in today’s increasingly digitized and networked world, emphasizing how women start and grow their businesses. Despite the multifaceted complexities encompassed by a topic as broad as women’s entrepreneurship and culture, the eight articles in this special issue fall into three dominating themes that we organized into a framework for women’s entrepreneurship and culture research: gender role expectations, societal cultural dimensions, and the entrepreneurial environment (see Fig. 1 ). In this article, we first review the literature in these three overarching streams, with gender role expectations and identities as the dominating theme. We then distill and organize the various types of primary and secondary data gathered for the work done in these eight articles. Next, we introduce each of the articles with brief summaries of the authors’ work. We conclude by suggesting some directions for future research based on the contributions in this special issue.

Framework for women’s entrepreneurship and culture research

2 Gender role expectations and identities

Research has shown that women often experience bias stemming from expectations of female leadership styles and perceptions of how they lead in practice (Oakley 2000 ; Prime et al. 2008 ). Role incongruity theory holds that individuals often find incongruities between their ideas of leadership and their female gender role expectations. This leads to discrimination when women are viewed less favorably than men as potential leaders because expected behaviors for their gender roles are inconsistent with attributions of leadership (Eagly and Karau 2002 ). Prejudice also happens when prescribed behaviors filled by a leader are viewed less favorably when they are enacted by a woman. The result is that attitudes toward female leaders are less positive, which in turn creates barriers for women becoming leaders and achieving leadership success.

When a specific type of person is repeatedly seen engaging in a particular activity—like men in leadership positions—individuals tend to associate the abilities and attributes needed for that activity as typical of that specific type of person (Osborn and Vicars 1976 ). A phenomenon referred to as a “think-leader, think-male” mindset has created obstacles for women owning and running their own business (Jackson et al. 2007 ; Schein 2001 ). Sex-role stereotyping happens when men are respected more in business leadership roles because they are believed to possess the masculine traits that are deemed necessary for leadership (Eagly and Mitchell 2004 ) and are associated with high-growth entrepreneurial ventures, whereas women are associated with low-growth ventures. This particularly occurs and is reinforced in contexts where men are far often than women to be found in leadership positions and in entrepreneurship (Elam et al. 2019 ; Markussen and Røed 2017 ; Shahriar 2018 ). To compensate for some of these challenges, women have developed keen skills for switching between different gender and leadership identities and styles, depending on different contexts (Hytti et al. 2016 ), which in turn helps them to further develop their relationship building and diplomacy skills.

Research has shown that because women are often associated with being feminine, communal, and compassionate (Ferriman et al. 2009 ) as opposed to assertive, dominating, and independent, which are characteristics associated more often with men, an incongruity between roles occurs when women’s gender roles—caregiving and nurturing—are at odds with perceived leadership characteristics—assertive and competitive (Eagly and Mitchell 2004 ; Gupta et al. 2019 ; Powell et al. 2002 ). These male–female stereotypes, biases, and gender role expectations make entrepreneurial success and growth harder for women than for men, leading to the lacking of funding capital for their businesses (Gupta et al. 2019 ; Prasad 2009 ) and smaller professional networks (Kalafatoglu and Mendoza 2017 ; Mitra and Basit 2019 ).

Gender roles for women can be viewed in a more positive light as well. Women more than men have been associated with being nurturing, collaborative, cooperative, affectionate, and concerned for others (Yoder 2001 ), which are qualities that are particularly important leadership characteristics (Dorfman et al. 2004 ). Prior research has suggested that women particularly excel at empathy and judging emotions (Kirkland et al. 2013 ; Macaskill et al. 2002 ; Mandell and Pherwani 2003 ), building friendships and community (Ferriman et al. 2009 ), or managing sensitive relationships (Korac-Kakabadse et al. 1998 ). Women have also been found to excel at certain global leadership competencies like having a passion for diversity, and intercultural empathy and diplomacy (Javidan et al. 2016 ). Women would therefore succeed in many of the skills that are needed for building an entrepreneurial team and running a successful business (Eagly and Carli 2003 ; Ruderman et al. 2002 ; Vecchio 2002 ).

Through vicarious learning and social persuasion, aspiring and nascent female entrepreneurs look to other women business owners as direct and indirect role models (Bloemen-Bekx et al. 2019 ). Role models often come from within the family as daughters learn from and are encouraged by entrepreneurial mothers and fathers, with entrepreneur mothers having a particularly powerful influence on their daughters’ aspirations and self-efficacies (Greene et al. 2013 ; Hoffmann et al. 2015 ). In this way, women have come to rely on their gender role benefits that stem from family support of their businesses and other female role models. The in-group—defined differently in different cultures, as family only, or a combination of family and close friends—has been found to be particularly important for encouraging a woman’s individual goals as an entrepreneur and supporting her business by helping her access networks and resources (Bullough et al. 2017 ). Because women are influenced by family members and other close relationships, role models also come from peers that other women can relate to, be inspired by, and emulate (Markussen and Røed 2017 ). Role models have a strong influence on a woman’s belief in her entrepreneurial abilities, and therefore influence her intentions to become an entrepreneur (BarNir et al. 2011 ) and identify as a female business leader (Hytti et al. 2016 ).

3 Societal cultural dimensions

The factors that influence women’s entrepreneurship vary depending on circumstance and the dynamic nature of their complex and interconnected lives—in other words, cultural influences. Culture has been defined as “values, beliefs, norms, and behavioral patterns of a national group (Leung et al. 2005 , p. 357),” and has been conceptualized as levels that range from the deeply embedded, unconscious, basic assumptions that define the essence of a particular culture, to the external manifestations that are tangible and overt and can be seen and felt by outsiders (E. H. Schein 1992 ). The middle layers that fall within these two extremes are the beliefs, values, norms, and rules of behavior that dictate the basic principles by which the members of a society operate.

The reciprocal top-down, bottom-up nature of culture makes it a dynamic force, rather than static, where lower levels of culture are nested within higher levels, and change at any level can affect other levels (Erez and Gati 2004 ; Leung et al. 2005 ; E. H. Schein 1992 ). However, because the basic assumptions that guide behavior are shared, culture is powerful because the assumptions are mutually reinforced. Unless they are challenged or debated, it is nearly impossible to change culture without high levels of anxiety among constituents (E. H. Schein 1992 ), and yet, this is what is needed for women to violate the expected behavioral norms for their gender. Outside influences, like programs, policies, and practices that are designed to encourage women’s entrepreneurship (Bullough et al. 2019 ; Frešer et al. 2019 ), can offer a scenario where seemingly opposing sets of assumptions can find some common ground. Culture in the ecosystem can be viewed as the “rich complex of meanings, beliefs, practices, symbols, norms, and values prevalent among people in a society (Schwartz 2006 , p.138)” and as the “underlying system of values peculiar to a specific group or society (Pinillos and Reyes 2011 , p.25).”

Prominent and plentiful research over the last 20 years has used data developed by the GLOBE (The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program) Project (House et al. 2004 ), which is a study of societal-level culture and organizational and leadership effectiveness in 62 country-societies based on surveys from 17,000 middle managers in 951 organizations conducted over a 10-year period. The foundation for the GLOBE measures was Hofstede’s original work (Hofstede 1980 ) and culminated into nine societal-level culture dimensions: future orientation, in-group collectivism, institutional collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, gender egalitarianism, performance orientation, assertiveness, and humane orientation. GLOBE scholars defined culture as “shared motives, values, beliefs, identities, and interpretations or meanings of significant events that result from common experiences of members of collectives that are transmitted across generations (House et al. 2004 , p. 15).” This work is particularly relevant for this article because three of the articles in this issue use GLOBE data.

Previous research with GLOBE data on women’s entrepreneurship and leadership has been light, but lays a foundation for future work. One study showed that despite high gender egalitarianism—the level of gender equality in society—in some societies, the relative proportion of women to men remains unequal (Chow 2005 ). Other work found that organizations with more women in management had cultures that were high on humane orientation (fairness, generosity, caregiving, kindness), gender equity, and performance orientation (innovation, improvement, excellence), and low on power distance (authority, power distinction, and status privileges) (Bajdo and Dickson 2001 ). Another study demonstrated that in lower gender egalitarian cultures, women were rated by their supervisors lower in work–life balance than men, and this mattered for women, not men, in their performance appraisals; this was not found in high gender egalitarian cultures (Lyness and Judiesch 2014 ). More recent work on collectivism and women’s entrepreneurship found that autonomy to pursue individual goals (in-group individualism), combined with support from the in-group (collectivism), creates the best conditions for women to develop businesses, especially in cultures with extreme levels of institutionalism collectivism (highly collectivistic or highly individualistic and the macro-societal level) (Bullough et al. 2017 ).

4 The entrepreneurial environment

A supportive environment for women’s entrepreneurship requires unified systems with reciprocal features and a entrepreneurially constructive culture. This includes investments and human and financial capital, opportunities for growth, and a mixture of innovative and progressive institutional and infrastructural provisions (Bullough et al. 2019 ). Gendered aspects of policies, laws, and cultural expectations are often opaque and subtle, but are deeply rooted in rules, practices, and norms (Brush et al. 2018 ). Impartial legal and commercial systems that ensure equitable access to financial capital, and promote cultural expectations and practices that support women’s businesses, encompass a productive and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem for women entrepreneurs (Brush et al. 2018 ; Hechavarría and Ingram 2019 ).

The attractiveness of entrepreneurship to women can be altered by rules and policies that influence the regulations and costs associated with owning a business (Manolova et al. 2017 ). Therefore, the professional networks that women assemble and an encouraging ecosystem are critical. Networking helps women overcome gender-based limitations to entrepreneurship by helping them access resources, financial information, and capital, and identify new business opportunities. Women’s personal networks are often comprised of private spheres (Bertelsen et al. 2017 ) that include kinship, friendship, and business or professional ties and influenced by religion, mistrust (Mitra and Basit 2019 ), and culture and societal expectations (Surangi Hapugoda Achchi Kankanammge Nadee 2018 ).

Because women have been found to face more gender-based barriers to securing capital for their businesses, such as inherent gender bias capital funding practices, they secure smaller amounts of investment capital and fewer bank loans (Balachandra et al. 2019 ; Kanze et al. 2017 ; Wilson 2016 ). To help women surmount these obstacles, a supportive entrepreneurial environment includes policies that encourage financial institutions to market investment funds and loan products to women directly, and create and assign specific financial products explicitly for women entrepreneurs (Bullough et al. 2019 ). Attracting more female investors and establishing funds that are led by women and invested in businesses founded and owned by women, should help to create more gender equity in funding practices that are particularly fruitful for women entrepreneurs (Frešer et al. 2019 ).

5 Samples and datasets

As expected for a special issue on women’s entrepreneurship and culture, our contributors used primary and secondary data from all over the world and from large and well-respected data sources. Primary data come from large, global databases. Three articles in this issue used data from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project (House et al. 2004 ). It is an extension of Hofstede’s earlier work on culture’s consequences (Hofstede 2006 ; Tung and Verbeke 2010 ). Gimenez-Jimenez, Edelman, Dawson, and Calabrò (ms#126 insert citation in this special issue) use GLOBE’s humane orientation and assertiveness measures as an overall measure of socially supportive cultures, developed by Stephan and Uhlaner ( 2010 ). Santos and Neumeyer (ms#137 insert citation in this special issue) used GLOBE’s gender egalitarianism measure. Hechavarría and Brieger (ms#138 insert citation in this special issue) utilize GLOBE’s differentiation between espoused societal values (how people believe society “should be”) and society’s actual practices (as society actually is) for all nine culture dimensions: gender egalitarianism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, future orientation, humane orientation, performance orientation, assertiveness, institutional collectivism, and in-group collectivism.

Two studies use data from the World Bank’s publicly available World Development Indicators (WDI) database (World Bank 2020 ). Santos and Neumeyer (ms#137 insert citation in this special issue) utilized total unemployment and the percentage of female self-employed data. Hechavarría and Brieger (ms#138 insert citation in this special issue) use WDI data on GDP, unemployment, and population growth.

Two articles use data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (Reynolds et al. 2005 ). The GEM project represents the largest and widely recognized dataset on global entrepreneurial activity (Bergmann et al. 2014 ). Hechavarría and Brieger (ms#138 insert citation in this special issue) included data from business owners, ages 18–64, from 2009 and 2015, and classified their status as a nascent entrepreneur, baby business owner, or an established business owner. Santos and Neumeyer (ms#137 insert citation in this special issue) used the GEM National Experts with questions answered by a sample of a minimum of 36 experts per country in their study.

Three other studies in this issue utilized data from three different secondary sources. One study in this issue by Gimenez-Jimenez, Edelman, Dawson, and Calabrò (ms#126 insert citation in this special issue) used data from the Global University Entrepreneurial Student Spirit Study (GUESSS) survey (Sieger et al. 2014 ) to measure risk-taking behavior. The GUESSS project is an ongoing study of the founding intentions and startup activities of university students in 34 countries. Another study by Vershinina, Markman, Rodgers, Han, Kitching, Hashimzade, and Barrett (ms#135 insert citation in this special issue) utilized firm-level survey data from 27 European countries collected by the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), through a partnership between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank (EBRD 2020 ). The third study by Feldmann, Lukes, and Uhlaner (ms#158 insert citation in this special issue) used family business data from the Cultural Pathways of Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship (CUPESSE) project in 11 counties (Tosun 2016 ).

Four of our eight articles in this issue collected their own primary data. In addition to their use of secondary data sources, Santos and Neumeyer (ms#137 insert citation in this special issue) also collected their own primary data from 64 entrepreneurial teams in a technology startup accelerator that snaps 20 countries. Martiarena (ms#104 insert citation in this special issue) created a new, primary dataset with a survey of 710 business owners to create a representative sample in terms of age and gender in 10 countries. Gupta, Batra, and Gupta (ms#124 insert citation in this special issue) collected primary survey data of working adults and business students in the USA and India. And, finally, Liñán, Jaén, and Martín (ms#146 insert citation in this special issue) collected their own survey data from 1195 Spanish women to understand the cultural interplay between gender role expectations and entrepreneurially supportive cultures. Theirs is the only single-country study of culture in the issue.

6 The articles in this issue

By applying a family embeddedness perspective and a multi-level view of culture, Feldmann, Lukes, and Uhlaner (ms#158 insert citation in this special issue) analyze gender norms at the family and society levels in their article “Disentangling Succession and Entrepreneurship Gender Gaps: Gender Norms, Culture, and Family.” With a sample of 2897 young adults in 11 European countries who have at least one self-employed parent, their results show a significant relationship between gender identity and career status. Women were found to be more likely than men to be an employee in a family firm than a successor, but no significant differences were found in the likelihood of women being founders. The authors found nuances that explain these relationships further. Women with childcare responsibilities who live by traditional gender norms and have a self-employed mother are more likely to be a successor than being either an employee or a founder—a finding that reverses gender identity main effects. The authors theorize the explanation of these findings by employing an understanding of culture in occupational choice and a family embeddedness perspective (Aldrich and Cliff 2003 ), which explains that entrepreneurship is inextricably intertwined with family-related roles and caregiving responsibilities. Feldmann, Lukes, and Uhlaner propose that caregiving may lead women to become self-employed, and primarily into succession as opposed to founding, because family businesses can help daughters balance childcare and career.

In the article “How gender stereotypes shape venture growth expectations,” Martiarena (ms#104 insert citation in this special issue) draws on gender role theories to study how masculine stereotyping of entrepreneurs influences expectations of firm’s growth on the part of the business owner. She explores the relationships among gender traits that business owners attribute to other entrepreneurs along with their own gender identity, within the industrial context in which the businesses operate. This study of individual-level psychological constructs within an industrial context is based on primary data from a survey of 710 business owners in 10 countries. Martiarena’s findings reveal that women entrepreneurs expect a lower growth rate for their businesses when they identify themselves with feminine traits and attribute masculine characteristics to entrepreneurship. However, these stereotypes are only relevant in industries with a low participation from women in entrepreneurship. The author believes the explanation for this finding to stem from the visibility of gender as an issue because of the rarity of women business owners, which in turn triggers stereotype threats.

“Culture and Gender in Entrepreneurial Teams: The Effect on Team Processes and Outcomes” by Santos and Neumeyer (ms#137 insert citation in this special issue) is a study that examines survey data of 64 entrepreneurial teams from 20 countries in an international technology startup accelerator, and secondary data from Project GLOBE (House et al. 2004 ), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (Reynolds et al. 2005 ), and the World Development Indicators (WDI) database (World Bank 2020 ) to understand the participation of women in entrepreneurial team processes. They specifically study the mediating role of team reflexivity, which involves intentionally reconsidering—reflecting—strategies and processes in order to identify gaps between current and desired circumstances and adapt as needed (Schippers et al. 2008 ; West 1996 ). They find that team reflexivity mediates the relationship between the proportion of women in a team and a team’s access to resources. Santos and Neumeyer theorize that the explanation for this mediating relationship is women’s collaborative and nurturing abilities (Eagly and Karau 2002 ) to facilitate shared goal clarity and include others’ input and minimize power differences. They explain that these behaviors are consistent with women’s gender identity and the conditions that make team reflexivity possible. The authors also find this mediation to be strongest in—or moderated by—countries with predominately positive cultural attitudes toward women’s entrepreneurship. They posit that such positive perceptions about women entrepreneurs (Yousafzai et al. 2015 ) influence the quality of team processes and therefore increase its access to resources.

In the article “Does entrepreneurship fit her? Women entrepreneurs, gender role orientation and entrepreneurial culture,” Liñán, Jaén, and Martín (ms#146 insert citation in this special issue) examine how gender role orientation and perceived entrepreneurial culture are related to women’s progression through the process of venture creation. By employing Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (Bem 1981 ) to collect survey data from 1195 Spanish women, the authors identify that masculine and androgynous gender role orientations are more likely to lead to entrepreneurial activity than women who identify more with femininity. They also find that the positive relationship between masculinity and entrepreneurial activity is strongest in community cultures that are perceived to be supportive of entrepreneurship (Reynolds et al. 2005 ). The results confirm that women with a masculine or androgynous orientation are more likely to develop entrepreneurial careers.

“Gender, Culture, and Implicit Theories about Entrepreneurs: A Cross-National Investigation,” by Gupta, Batra, and Gupta (ms#124 insert citation in this special issue), provides an examination of implicit theories of entrepreneurship, an important aspect of which is gender, based on survey data of working adults and business students in the USA and India. The authors find that in the USA, masculine (e.g., dominating, competitive) as opposed to feminine characteristics (e.g., nurturing, caring for others) are predominately attributed to entrepreneurs, and these masculine characteristics are also consistent with social role expectations for men and inconsistent with expected characteristics of women. This means that American men, not women, are seen as entrepreneurs because this career choice is consistent with men’s masculine characteristic. Furthermore, high-growth and commercial businesses were associated with men in the USA, while low-growth and social businesses were associated with women. In India, on the other hand, both masculine and feminine characteristics—more androgynous—are ascribed to entrepreneurs. Because the characteristics expected of entrepreneurs are consistent with the qualities expected of both women and men in India, this means that both genders are recognized as entrepreneurs. When examining the relationship between gender and growth orientation in India, neither high- nor low-growth ventures were associated with either gender. To interpret these results, Gupta, Batra, and Gupta explain that the social role theory (Eagly and Karau 2002 ; Eagly and Wood 2016 ) helps us understand how gender stereotypes for entrepreneurs are different in these two countries. The authors argue that these implicit theories about entrepreneurs are caused by socio-economic and cultural conditions of a society regarding how people perceive and respond to social role expectations.

Gimenez-Jimenez, Edelman, Dawson, and Calabrò (ms#126 insert citation in this special issue) explore the impact of risk aversion and country-level culture on the venturing process of women’s businesses with data from Project GLOBE (House et al. 2004 ) and the GUESSS project (Sieger et al. 2014 ) from 1552 nascent student entrepreneurs in 11 countries. They find that women’s perceptions of risk-taking behaviors are associated with less progress in the venturing process, but this relationship is weakened in socially supportive cultures—those that are concerned for the welfare of others (humane orientation) and tender and helpful (low on assertiveness) (Ute Stephan and Uhlaner 2010 ; Ute Stephan et al. 2015 ). For men, none of these variables is statistically related. We learn from this research that helping women to gain access to resources through programs and incentives in socially supportive environments may moderate new venture startup risks.

In the article “Gendered Regulations and SMEs’ Performance in Transition Economies,” Vershinina, Markman, Rodgers, Han, Kitching, Hashimzade, and Barrett (ms#135 insert citation in this special issue) study survey data from firms in 27 European countries collected by the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), through a partnership between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank. They studied the relationship between regulations—such as employee welfare, consumer safety, environmental protection, and equitable competition—and SME performance. They find that women take regulations more seriously and achieve improved SME performance, but when they respond to regulatory enforcers, the performance of their firms declines. Men by comparison experience lower SME performance and pay less attention to the influence of regulations, but when they engage enforcers, the performance of their firms improves. The authors suggest that regulations are not gender neutral and instead perpetuate gender biases.

Hechavarría and Brieger in “Practice Rather Than Preach: Cultural Practices and Female Social Entrepreneurship (ms#138 insert citation in this special issue)” analyze data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project (House et al. 2004 ), and the World Bank in 33 countries and more than 23,000 entrepreneurs to understand in what way culture is most relevant for social entrepreneurship among female business owners. They find that women are more likely than men to start socially oriented businesses in cultures where power is distributed evenly (low power distance), people are less helpful and supportive of others (low humane orientation), individual goals and accomplishments are celebrated (low in-group collectivism), people plan for the future (high future orientation), and comfort with unpredictability is low (high uncertainty avoidance).

Collectively, the studies in this issue elucidate how gender and culture dynamically interact, how they affect the types of entrepreneurial activity women undertake, and women’s effectiveness in pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives. Thus, this body of work demonstrates the value of a more holistic perspective, which incorporates multiple levels of gender–culture interaction across different areas of entrepreneurial action.

7 Discussion and conclusions

This special issue was motivated by the important role of women’s entrepreneurship for economic, societal, and environmental value creation worldwide. It is widely recognized that women face gender-specific opportunities and challenges in their entrepreneurial endeavors. Yet, research on how gender and culture dynamically interact; how culture affects women’s entrepreneurship at multiple levels (i.e., individual, team, company, region, and society as a whole); and how women’s entrepreneurial activity in turn affects social norms, values, and practices, has so far been fragmented and scattered across multiple theoretical platforms. In this special issue, we collected and organized empirical research into a framework for women’s entrepreneurship and culture research with three overlapping themes that include gender role expectations and identities, societal cultural dimensions, and the entrepreneurial environment. We offer suggestions for future research here based on these three themes.

7.1 Gender role expectations and identities

What are gender role expectations and identities from an intersectionality perspective? What are some of the tensions and/or reinforcing loops that exist when we holistically consider multiple entrepreneur identities? How do these affect entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges?

Given the traditional gender role of women as family caretakers, how do humanitarian disasters and economic crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic affect gender role expectations and identities?

How does women’s entrepreneurial activity affect perceived gender role expectations at different levels (i.e., community, region, country) and in different spheres (i.e., family, business, social enterprises)?

7.2 Societal cultural dimensions

How does women’s entrepreneurial activity affect cultural values and practices? Is there a differential effect on cultural values versus cultural practices? Is there a differential effect based on types of entrepreneurial activity undertaken by women (i.e., commercial versus social entrepreneurship) or high-growth versus low-growth entrepreneurship?

What are the overlaps and tensions when applying different societal cultural lenses on women’s entrepreneurship (i.e., Hofstede, GLOBE, the Schwartz culture model)? What can we claim as cumulative knowledge and what are some of the gaps and paradoxes?

How would the current “de-globalization” trend affect social values and norms with respect to women’s entrepreneurship? Would traditional social cultural values ossify or continue to evolve toward cultural convergence?

7.3 The entrepreneurial environment

What is the relative effect of community, firm-level, and societal cultural values and norms on the trajectory and outcomes of entrepreneurial initiatives?

What is the effect of digitization on the entrepreneurial environment with respect to gender role expectations and identities?

Is the digital environment for women’s entrepreneurship culturally shaped? If so, through what mechanisms and with what outcomes?

In conclusion, in this special issue of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal , we present conceptually rich and empirically robust investigations into the multiple points of interaction among gender, culture, and entrepreneurship. This collection is an important step in integrating research on women’s entrepreneurship and culture and further exploring their dynamic interaction in different economic and social systems and across geographies. There is still significant research to be done in this area. It is our hope that our collection of studies herein will serve as a springboard that inspires further work in this exciting area of research, and that other colleagues will join in this important conversation.

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Amanda Bullough

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Bullough, A., Guelich, U., Manolova, T.S. et al. Women’s entrepreneurship and culture: gender role expectations and identities, societal culture, and the entrepreneurial environment. Small Bus Econ 58 , 985–996 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00429-6

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Essay On Importance Of Entrepreneurship

1.1 Importance of entrepreneurship to the development and growth of the economy of the country What is a reason for starting a business organisation? Well as you all know we live under the industrial times with great need and wants, also limited resources that must be utilised efficiently. Entrepreneurship drives the economy of the country dearly. The early work of Schumpeter in 1911 established conceptually the ‘‘ entrepreneur as innovator’’ as a key ﬁgure in driving economic development (Aghion and Howitt, 1992).Firstly as industrialisation continued to ply its trade around the early centuries countries also started developing, there was more trading otherwise known as battering between people. Establishing an organisation is not an easy task …show more content…

Entrepreneurs provide solutions to the gaps in the market economy by using organisational skills such as planning, coordinating and controlling. The contribution of entrepreneurship to the economy needs small businesses to contribute to employment, innovations, competition and social and political stability. The role of small businesses as vehicle for entrepreneurship has increased over recent years and econometric evidence prove that entrepreneurship is a major importance in to economic growth of the country (Brizek and Khan, 2008, …show more content…

Technology development occurs due to higher economic activities and as a country trades more and more improvement in the ratings of the currency. The United State of America prides itself through their entrepreneur such Bill Gates who have turned the economy of that country around. What is known is that there is international monetary fund which helps to borrow countries money, but if having good decision makers this can be avoided by implementing entrepreneurial

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Entrepreneurs controlled the Gilded Age creating a growing economy with booming businesses and yet this has not changed over the years. John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie can be compared to those with the names Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Multibillionaires, who know what the consumers desire, is what these men are best at. They knew and now know business well enough to be able to control our country’s’ economy. However, these successful business men do not do it together.

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