It is hard to find a consensus of agreement
for the definition of “being enterprising”, and the different ways in which the
words are used causes further confusion. The primary differences are between
the economic school of thought where enterprise is what entrepreneurs do by
creating new businesses, jobs and wealth, all of which contribute to the
economy; and the educational school of thought. The latter takes the view that
not all firms are enterprising, and those that are involve use of imagination
and creativity, generating new ideas, dealing flexibly with changing
situations, taking responsibility and making decisions. As such it is closely
linked with the principles of lifelong leaning and continuous professional and
personal development. In some ways it can almost be viewed as a reversal of the
20th century approach to education in which personal creativity, initiative and
imagination were educated out of people to make them employable in large
conventional and conservative-minded organisations explain an article from
smart money magazine.
Enterprise is a word generally applied to
businesses set up and operated by individuals, more often within the size range
of SMEs. It can be, but rarely is used in the context of major companies or
international organisations, as it tends to reflect a level of venturous,
opportunistic and risk-taking attitude less typical of large organisations.
However, with the government’s aim to promote enterprise cultures at all levels
of education, the word is being increasingly used in schools in a much broader
context as an aspect of the curriculum to promote changes in attitude towards
venture creation.
The term entrepreneur typifies an individual
attitude of opportunity-spotting, and the creation and exploitation of business
opportunities to create wealth – often with the implicit use of innovation,
imagination, and risk-taking. The entrepreneur creates and operates the
enterprise, and in doing so displays the characteristic of Entrepreneurship.
However, too often the latter has been used in the restricted context of new
business start-up, particularly by academics and educationalists – but the
people who tend to care least about academic definitions are the entrepreneurs
themselves who are just interested in getting on with the job. Entrepreneurship
is also referred to as the process of growing and sustaining the business after
the start-up stage, implying a broader definition. Furthermore, the definition
attributed to Harvard University is that: “Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of
opportunity beyond the resources you currently control”, which opens up scope
for the word to be applied equally to non-profit social enterprises, and to
intrapreneurship within large commercial and public sector organisations to
reflect entrepreneurial behaviour amongst staff. It is in this context that we
start to consider the entrepreneur in terms of the characteristic which he or
she exhibits or demonstrates.
Much is also spoken about the importance of
generating and promoting enterprise cultures within organisations, in which
staff are positively encouraged to use initiative and imagination for the
benefit of the organisation, and ultimately also for themselves if the
enterprising behaviour is acknowledged and rewarded. An enterprise culture in society
is one where business is seen as a positive contributor to society and creation
of social capital, and where society positively supports entrepreneurial
activity. Within organisations it is a climate that recognises and reinforces
both business success and individual initiative, and accepts that there is a
risk of failure in new ventures that is both acceptable to the organisation,
and which does not attract blame. It is a climate in which innovation and
creativity can thrive.
Just to confound the issues further we must
not forget to mention several other related definitions. We have the Social Enterprises which are
essentially those set up for charitable or philanthropic purposes, or for the
benefit or welfare of their members; and these usually operate on a not for
profit basis, or plough back any profits into the organisation.
Then there are
the Serial Entrepreneurs who find a challenge in the process of creating and
growing a new business and then selling it for a profit, only to move on to create
another business, often in a totally different and unrelated market. In this
situation the personal objective is not just one of financial profit or capital
growth so much as the repeated and ever-greater challenge to create something
perhaps bigger and better – a bit like the mountaineer who starts with Snowdon
and Ben Nevis, moves on to the Eiger and progresses via Anapurna, to Everest as
the ultimate challenge. Then there is the idea of Intrapreneurship – the
practice of entrepreneurial behaviour within a large organisation or in the
public sector. The Intrapreneurs are usually easily recognised within an
organisation as the energetic ones who will spot the new ideas and the find
resources to match them – almost like Belbin’s Resource Investigators, a member
of the team but working at the edge of it, and often the one who others turn to
for ideas when problems arise.
Entrepreneurial
attitudes and characteristics
Entrepreneurship students are frequently
encouraged to ponder the question: are entrepreneurs made or born? Is
entrepreneurship an inherent characteristic, perhaps inherited or present at
birth, which gives them a unique capacity for spotting opportunities, taking
calculated risks, and using imagination and innovation, to create profit and wealth
from business activities? Alternatively, do we all start life from a level
playing field, and whilst most people head are educated and aim for
employability, there are those who acquire or develop the entrepreneurial
characteristics perhaps from experiences in early life that force them to
become resourceful, or by exposure to other entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial
activities? Certainly, children growing up in traditionally enterprising Asian
cultures seem the acquire the attitude and perception that to go into business
is a highly positive and respectable ambition, whereas modern western cultures
have tended to educate out entrepreneurial attitudes in favour of preparing
people for the more socially acceptable ambition of employability and having
what is perceived as a “good” pensionable career.
If entrepreneurial
characteristics can be acquired by exposure to enterprising environments, then
it follows that those entrepreneurial characteristics and attitudes could be
treated as transferable skills to be taught or learned, and that with the right
form of guidance and tuition, we should be able to raise the entrepreneurial
capacity of the working population. Individuals, such as Gates and Branson are
often held up as prime examples of people with inherent entrepreneurial
characteristics and skills, but with design and content, educational and
training programmes can certainly equip people with the knowledge and skills to
create and develop new enterprises and to thrive in highly competitive
environments. Whilst the existence of inherent entrepreneurial skills and
characteristic cannot be completely ruled out, the capacity to develop such
skills by appropriate training and/or exposure to enterprise cultures has got
to be a stronger argument. This is further reinforced by (often negative)
factors of personal experience and environment particularly in younger
developing years that are often quoted by successful entrepreneurs. For example
experience of poverty or hardship may act as a strong motivator in later life
to create and accrue wealth. In the case of Richard Branson, he has often
recounted his mother’s actions to make him self-reliant from an early age, as a
strong influence on his subsequent entrepreneurial development.
Various attempts have been made to define the
entrepreneurial personality. Timmons (2003) described 19 behavioural traits or
characteristics, whilst Lessem (1986) used examples of seven specific
high-profile entrepreneurs which he described as respectively reflecting
imagination, intuition, authority, will, sociability, energy, and flexibility,
these being based on specific combinations of attributes and personality
traits.
Bolton and Thompson (2005) explain
entrepreneurship as a balance between three characteristics:
§
Talent: abilities, such as creativity, opportunity-spotting, and
networking.
§
Temperament: personal needs, such as desire to take responsibility, focus
on performance, opportunity taking, feelings of urgency to act.
§
Techniques: personal skills sets and techniques to develop talents and to
manage temperament.
Bolton and Thompson have adopted a more
pragmatic analysis than some previous theorists, by looking at what
entrepreneurs do in practice rather than by attempting to analyse personality
or behaviours, although that practice will of course reflect personal attitudes
and characteristics. They defined entrepreneurs in terms of action factors,
i.e. the key action roles that can be associated with entrepreneurs or
entrepreneurship in any context:
1. Entrepreneurs make a
difference: They challenge accepted norms and often exhibit the ability to
convert vague or ill-defined ideas into practical and profitable reality.
2. Entrepreneurs are creative
and innovative: They combine opportunities with imagination to address new
challenges in innovative ways.
3. Entrepreneurs spot and
exploit opportunities: They are able to identify new opportunities in
situations that other people would miss or ignore, perhaps again because of
their ability to use imagination. They may not be the originator of an idea but
they can see how to developer exploit its potential. This is closely linked to
the previous example.
4. Entrepreneurs find the
resources required to exploit opportunities: This reflects the Harvard
definition of entrepreneurship mentioned previously, of pursuing resources
beyond those currently controlled.
5. Entrepreneurs are good
networkers: This is a key attribute that more conventional academic analysts
frequently ignore, i.e. the practical skills of making, maintaining and
exploiting contacts, in both short and long term, for mutual benefit. This is a
key characteristic in finding resources.
6. Entrepreneurs are determined
in the face of adversity: They do not give up easily as they are motivated to
succeed, and possess determination and self-belief. They can also face up to
and address unexpected problems and occurrences that may occur.
7. Entrepreneurs manage risk:
They are prepared to accept and take responsibility for calculated risks that
perhaps less enterprising people might avoid, but they will not take on
unnecessary or excessive risks. One outcome of this is that they also quickly
learn from their mistakes.
8. Entrepreneurs have control of
the business: They make themselves aware of the on-going performance of the
business, they control the business by attention to detail and by identifying
what is important, but do not allow it to dictate their response or activity –
a situation of strategic rather than operational control.
9. Entrepreneurs put customers
first: Another issue sometimes overlooked by other theorists. Entrepreneurs
have a strong customer focus and maintain constant awareness of changing
customer needs and demands. This also contributes to the identification of new
and evolving opportunities.
10. Entrepreneurs create
capital: Whether financial in the business context, or social or aesthetic for
non-profit making organisations, entrepreneurs create wealth, capital, or added
value for the community. This concept is compatible with business enterprise,
social enterprise and intrapreneurship.
As can be seen, there is some considerable
inter-relationships and overlap between these various characteristics. Bolton
and Thompson take the idea further by describing how the entrepreneur as
opportunity spotter, identifies the idea (action factors 2–5 above) and then
moves into the role of what they describe as a project champion to be able to
engage and implement the opportunities that have been identified (action
factors 1, 6–10) to make it happen.
