Entrepreneurs in society

Abstract

Human society is made up of a large number of unique individuals. One of the many ways in which each person differs from those around them is in their ambitions, hopes and dreams. Some people wish to become outstanding athletes, dancers, scientists, politicians, writers or musicians. These ambitions need not be engraved in stone; as people go through life, their circumstances and ambitions change. Some people, at some stages in their life, feel a powerful urge to build an organisation that will do something, or produce something, that has not been done before. When they put these urges into practice, they become entrepreneurs.¹ If their intentions are ethical, we refer to them as ‘ethical entrepreneurs’, or simply ‘entrepreneurs’ in this book. Other authors (for example Baumol 1990) use the term more broadly.