Now that we have looked at why entrepreneurship is important and started to think about different types of entrepreneurs and the types of problems they are solving, we will define entrepreneurship further in this topic, by looking at entrepreneurial behaviour and opportunity. We will consider the evolution of entrepreneurship and discuss how this has shaped entrepreneurial culture around the world today. You will also be working on your own investment opportunities over the next four (4) months.
Welcome to Topic 2: Defining Entrepreneurship. In this topic, you will learn about:
- The evolution of entrepreneurship
- Defining entrepreneurial behaviour and opportunity.
These relate to the Subject Learning Outcomes:
- Discuss the importance of entrepreneurship as a driver of growth and how it varies from "business as usual".
- Explain the fundamental role of entrepreneurs as change agents.
Welcome to your pre-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these prior to attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer.
Click on each of the following headings to read more about what is required for each of your pre-seminar learning tasks.
The following article provides a good overview of the different ways in which academic authors have defined entrepreneurship. Read the article, put it away and then think about how you would explain what entrepreneurship is in your own words. Use your reflective journal to record your explanation. Bedi, H 2017, ‘Entrepreneurship: A state-of-the-art review’, paper presented to the International Conference on Strategies in Volatile and Uncertain Environment for Emerging Markets July, 14-15.
The following video explains definitions of entrepreneurship in various world languages by university entrepreneurship scholars. As you listen to the various explanations, jot down some recurring ideas and similarities between the different languages in your reflective journal.
Read through the topic content and action the learning tasks within it.
The evolution of entrepreneurship
Originally derived from a French word, entrepreneurship is based on the verb to undertake. Essentially the entrepreneur ‘undertakes’ the organisation and management as well as the risk associated with starting a new venture (Frederick et al. 2018).
Whilst there may be entrepreneurial traits throughout human evolution and development, as individualism became part of our society, a more specific understanding of entrepreneurship developed. Often this is associated with the concept of aspiring to change things, as well as making something happen. In fact, Pinchot (1985) famously said that “dreamers who do” was core to an innovative mindset.
Enterprising, innovative behaviour is an innate human trait, developed as the species shifted from nomadic to sedentary social structures. The idea of the entrepreneur as a specific role in culture and economic development really began in Europe in the 1700’s, when scholars began to consider the two (2) key traits of entrepreneurial behaviour; which hinge on taking risks and seeing and acting upon opportunity (Frederick et al. 2018).
Risk is the condition of uncertainty regarding an outcome or reward, as well as a situation in which one accepts the possibility of an undesirable outcome because of the lure of a desirable one. Opportunity is the possibility of facilitating a desired outcome. For entrepreneurship, this means the ability to see a means by which a need can be filled, or value added to people’s lives.
Entrepreneurs see opportunities and act creatively and innovatively to take advantage of them. In doing so, they accept and attempt to manage the risk that this course of action will fail.
Learning Task 1: Evolution of the entrepreneur
The Grasshopper infographic, ‘The Evolution of the Entrepreneur’, provides a light-hearted representation of how the ‘typical’ entrepreneur evolved over time, and in line with developments in technology and social changes.
- Read through the infographic.
- Think about the changes to the entrepreneur over time.
- Develop a catchy ‘tweet’ to post it in Topic 2: Forum activity 1. You can also navigate to the forum by clicking on 'ENT100 Subject Forum' in the navigation bar for this subject.
- A tweet consists of no more than 280 characters (this includes spaces and punctuation).
- A tweet usually introduces an idea or resource – in your case, your tweet is based on the infographic and its content.
- As part of this task, find three (3) influential entrepreneurs on Twitter and look at what they are talking about. Be ready to share your findings in our seminar class.
- Engage with your peers on the discussion forum by replying to their posts – let them know what you like about their tweets!
Defining entrepreneurial behaviour and opportunity
Frederick et al. (2018) identify the following key elements of entrepreneurial behaviour:
- Entrepreneurial cognition is the ability to ‘perceive, recognise, conceive, judge, sense, reason, remember and imagine’ the world ways that facilitate innovation.
- Locus of control is a sense of personal influence on the world, which one may perceive as high/internal (great personal influence), or low/external (little personal influence).
- Risk relates to the uncertainty of an outcome, especially when there is real potential for a negative result.
- Opportunity is the chance to make a gain, solve a problem, realise a profit, or add value.
- Opportunity orientation is the ability to perceive opportunities in every situation, especially the ones that others typically overlook.
Entrepreneurial cognition makes it possible to perceive a need for innovation and the means to act on it. A high internal locus of control creates confidence and an aggressive attitude. The willingness to accept certain risks after careful analysis gives the entrepreneur an edge in seizing opportunity, as does the ability to see new possibilities where others do not.
Motivation (or passion), be it out of necessity or interest, is a strong and driving force in entrepreneurial behaviour. Psychologist Dan Pink believes that entrepreneurs have a need to fix a problem, want autonomy and a desire to be authentic (Pink 2009).
As catalysts for change, entrepreneurs are autonomous thinkers, often share the ability to bring resources together, take risks and work independently.
Learning Task 2: Entrepreneurial opportunities
Read the following sections to get an in-depth understanding of entrepreneurial opportunities:
- Introduction
- 5.1 Entrepreneurial opportunity
- 5.2 Researching potential business opportunities
In Chapter 5 of the Entrepreneurship text.
Learning Task 3: Motivation and cognitive skills
Watch the puzzle of motivation by Dan Pink and answer the following questions in your reflective journal.
- How does the candle problem illustrate entrepreneurial opportunities?
- What kind of thinking does motivation encourage?
- Why do you think motivation is important for entrepreneurs?
You can access the reflective journal by clicking on ‘Journal’ in the navigation bar for this subject.
Knowledge check
Complete the following three (3) tasks. Click the arrows to navigate between the tasks.
Key takeouts
Congratulations, we made it to the end of the topic! Some key takeouts from Topic 2:
- Entrepreneurs see opportunities and act creatively and innovatively to take advantage of them. In doing so, they accept and attempt to manage the risk that this course of action will fail.
- Entrepreneurial cognition makes it possible to perceive a need for innovation and the means to act on it.
- Entrepreneurs possess a high internal locus of control that creates confidence and an aggressive attitude.
- As catalysts for change, entrepreneurs are autonomous thinkers, often working in an interdisciplinary manner.
Welcome to your seminar for this topic. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.
Click here to access your seminar.
The following learning tasks will be completed during the seminar with your lecturer. Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.
Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)
In-seminar learning tasks
The in-seminar learning tasks identified below will be completed during the scheduled seminar. Your lecturer will guide you through these tasks. Click on each of the following headings to read more about the requirements for each of your in-seminar learning tasks.
Based on the reading you did and the video you watched on the literal meaning of entrepreneurship in different languages, answer the following questions:
- What common themes did you identify in terms of defining entrepreneurship?
- What languages do you speak, and how is entrepreneurship defined in those?
Be prepared to share these answers as part of the seminar discussion.
Everyone picked a podcast episode of their choice to listen to before our class. In your breakout rooms:
- Briefly explain to the group what your episode was about and what this made you realise about entrepreneurs.
Once everyone has shared their views, discuss as a group whether there were any common themes you noticed. Share these with the rest of the class.
As a breakout room team, you need to brainstorm and prepare for the following scenario which we will be developing on in the next month.
- You will be provided with an unknown investment amount.
- Your task is to increase the investment.
- You will have one month to increase the investment provided to your group. Time is allocated across the next four weeks for you to work on this as part of your self-directed study.
- The group with the biggest increase wins.
Welcome to your post-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these after attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer. Your lecturer will advise you if any of these are to be completed during your consultation session. Click on each of the following headings to read more about the requirements for each of your post-seminar learning tasks.
There is a graded quiz you are required to complete for this topic. Select ‘Quiz’ at the end of your module (which can be found within your navigation menu) and follow the instructions.
Reflect on your learnings from this topic. Record and share a short video of yourself where you discuss what you have found most engaging and what you have found most challenging about the subject so far. Post your video in Topic 2: Forum activity 2. Contact your lecturer if you have any questions.
Each week you will have a consultation session, which will be facilitated by your lecturer. You can join in and work with your peers on activities relating to this subject. These session times and activities will be communicated to you by your lecturer each week. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.
Click here to access your consultation session.
Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.
Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)
The following additional resource can be used to extend your understanding of this topic:
- Mallya, S 2021 ‘21 Best Twitter accounts to follow for entrepreneurs’, 99signals
References
- Bedi, HS 2017, ‘Entrepreneurship: A state-of-the-art review’, paper presented to International Conference on Strategies in Volatile and Uncertain Environment for Emerging Markets July, 14-15.
- Frederick, H 2012, Definitions of entrepreneurship in world languages by university entrepreneurship scholars, https://vimeo.com/82531811
- Frederick, H, O’Connor, A & Kuratko, DF 2018, Entrepreneurship, 5th edn., Cengage.
- Grasshopper n.d., The evolution of the entrepreneur, https://grasshopper.com/resources/infographics/evolution-of-the-entrepreneur/#
- Laverty, M & Littel, C 2020, Entrepreneurship, Openstax, https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/5-introduction
- Pinchot III, G 1985, Intrapreneuring: Why you don’t have to leave the corporation to become an entrepreneur, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
- Pink, DH 2009, Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, Riverhead Books, New York.
- Pink, D 2009, The puzzle of motivation, streaming video, YouTube, https://youtu.be/rrkrvAUbU9Y
- Swanson, LA 2017, Entrepreneurship and innovation toolkit, Openpress, https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/entrepreneurship-and-innovation-toolkit
