Look up ]] in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Entrepreneur is a loanword from the French language that refers to a person who undertakes and operates a new venture, and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks. Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who establishes a new entity to offer a new or existing product or service into a new or existing market, whether for a profit or not-for-profit venture, a business entrepreneur. Business entrepreneurs often have strong beliefs about a market opportunity and are willing to accept a high level of personal, professional or financial risk to pursue that opportunity. Research has demonstrated that there is such thing as an "entrepreneurial type," with certain characteristics (such as having a father or a mother who was an entrepreneur) linked to the probability of someone being an entrepreneur themselves. There is little good evidence, however, that entrepreneurial type is linked to ultimate success of an entrepeneurial venture. Business entrepreneurs are often highly regarded in US culture as being a critical component of its capitalistic society. Famous entrepreneurs include: Henry Ford (automobiles), J. Pierpont Morgan (banking), Thomas Edison (electricity/light bulbs), Bill Gates (computer operating systems and applications), Steve Jobs (computer hardware, software), Richard Branson (travel and media) and others. Some distinguish business entrepreneurs as either "political entrepreneurs" or "market entrepreneurs." Contents 1 Defining entrepreneur 1.1 Entrepreneur as a risk bearer 1.2 Entrepreneur as an organiser 1.3 Entrepreneur as an innovator 1.4 Entrepreneur as a leader 2 Are entrepreneurs made or born? 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Defining entrepreneur Though there is a general sense that entrepreneurship involves the establishment of a new venture while adopting some of the risk, there is no common definition as the word has been used many ways in many times. Some scholars of entrepreneurship, such Prof. W. Long have tried to develop a definition by looking at the historical use of the word, as it evolved[1]. Entrepreneur as a risk bearer Richard Cantillon, an Irish man living in France was the first who introduced the term entrepreneur and his unique risk bearing function in economics in the early 18th century. He defined entrepreneur as an agent who buys factors of production at certain prices in order to combine them into a product with a view to selling it at uncertain prices in future. Uncertainty is defined as a risk, which cannot be insured against and is incalculable. There is a distinction between ordinary risk and uncertainty. A risk can be reduced through the insurance principle, where the distribution of the outcome in a group of instances is known. On the contrary, uncertainty is a risk, which cannot be calculated. The entrepreneur, according to Knight, is the economic functionary who undertakes such responsibility of uncertainty, which by its very nature cannot be insured, or capitalized or salaried too. Mark Casson has extended this notion to characerise entrepreneurs as decison makers who improvise solutions to problems which cannot be solved by routine alone. A man such as Maxwell Serebryanny or Donald Trump define what an entrepreneur is. Entrepreneur as an organiser Jean–Baptiste Say, an aristocratic industrialist, developed the concept of entrepreneur a little further. His definition associates entrepreneur with the functions of co-ordination, organisation and supervision. According to him, an entrepreneur is one who combines the land of one, labour of another and the capital of yet another, and, thus, produces a product. By selling the product in the market, he pays interest on capital, rent on land and wages to labourers and what remains is his or her profit. Entrepreneur as an innovator Joseph A. Schumpeter, for the first time in 1934, assigned a crucial role of innovation to the entrepreneur. Schumpeter considered economic development as a discrete dynamic change brought by entrepreneur by instituting new combinations of production, i.e. innovation. Schumpeter also made a distinction between an inventor and an innovator. An inventor is one who discovers new methods and new materials, and an innovator utilizes inventions and discoveries in order to make new combinations. Entrepreneur as a leader More recently, researchers such as R. B. Reich have argued that leadership, management ability, and team-building should be added to the definition of entreprenership. Other scholars disagree, viewing management as separate from entrepreneurship. Are entrepreneurs made or born? The "supply" theory says that entrepreneurs are born, not made. There are two theories about how entrepreneurs develop, often called the "supply" and "demand" theories. In the supply theory, entrepreneurs are born, not made -- certain people have the personality traits that make a good entrepreneur. Several research studies have shown that entrepreneurs are convinced that they can command their own destinies, or in the jargon of behaviorial scientists, the "locus of control" of the entrepreneur lies within himself. It is this self-belief which stimulates the entreprenuer, according to supply-side theorists. John G. Burch, writing in the September-October 1986 edition of Business Horizons gave a list of in-born traits that make an entrepreneur: A desire to achieve: The push to conquer problems, and give birth to a successful venture. Hard work: Are mostly workaholics. Nurturing quality: Willing to take charge of, and watch over a venture until it can stand alone. Acceptance of responsibility: Are morally, legally, and mentally accountable for their ventures. Reward orientation: Desire to achieve, work hard and take responsibility, but also want to be rewarded handsomely for their efforts; rewards can be in forms other than money, such as recognition and respect. Optimism: Live by the philosophy that this is the best of times, and that anything is possible. Orientation to excellence: Often desire to achieve something outstanding that they can be proud of. Organization: Are good at bringing together the components (including people) of a venture. Profit orientation: Want to make a profit; but the profit serves primarily as a meter to gauge their success and achievement. In academic circles, however, the "demand" theory is now generally more prevalent. The demand theory holds that entrepreneurs emerge out of the combination of entrepreneurial opportunities and people who are well-positioned to take advantage of them. Thus, anyone who encounters the right conditions might become an entrepreneur, if they find themselves in a position where they find a valuable problem that they alone can solve. Scholars studying the demand theory try to understand the conditions under which entrepeneurs appear, particularly in understanding how differences in the information various people have (see Austrian School economics) creates entrepreneurial opportunities, and how environmental factors (access to capital, competition, etc.) change the rate of entrepreneurship. See also Entrepreneurship Social Entrepreneur Serial Entrepreneur Parallel Entrepreneur References Casson, M. (2005). Entrepreneurship and the theory of the firm. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 58 (2) , 327-348 Theories of the Firm Long, W. (1983). The meaning of entrepreneurship. American Journal of Small Business, 8(2), 47-59. (c971086) Outcalt, Charles, The Notion of Entrepreneurship: Historical and Emerging Issues, 2000. Reich, R. B. (1987, May/June). Entrepreneurship reconsidered: The team as hero. Harvard Business Review. (c96187) External links Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur Magazine, focused on starting and running small businesses About Listing of Famous Entrepreneurs About Listing of Entrepreneur Associations and Support Organizations growFolio - The Online Business Magazine for Fresh Thinkers Features articles about entrepreneurs Entrepreneur Interviews nPost.com Thinking Like an Entrepreneur, information about the "entrepreneur" trademark conflict. University and College Entrepreneur Societies, a directory hosted by Rice University. Frontiers of Entrepreneurial Research, index of research in entrepreneurshipno:Gründer Search Term: "Entrepreneur" Categories: Business and financial operations occupations | Management occupations | French words | Entrepreneurs