Abstract
Key to understanding entrepreneurship fully is the ability to understand the different ways in which the term is used and the different meanings that it has acquired. Different perspectives on entrepreneurship are examined in this chapter. Popular perceptions of entrepreneurs as business artists, business scientists and business philosophers are examined. The place of the entrepreneur in economic theory is then considered. An entrepreneur is shown to be a person who takes responsibility for difficult decisions and who re-allocates resources to more efficient uses.
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Further reading
The classical or canonical writings on the economic theory of entrepreneurship, together with the functions they emphasise, are as follows
Innovation
Schumpeter, J. A., trans. R. Opie (1934) The Theory of Economic Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Risk-bearing
Cantillon, Richard, trans. H. Higgs (1755) Essaisur la Nature du Commerce en Generale (London: Macmillan).
Knight, F. H. (1921) Risk, Uncertainty and Profit (Boston: Houghton Mifflin).
Coordination
Hayek, F. A. (1949) Individualism and Economic Order (London: Routledge Arbitrage).
Richardson, G. B. (1960) Information and Investment (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Kirzner, I. M. (1973) Competition and Entrepreneurship (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
These theories are synthesised in
Casson, M. (1982) The Entrepreneur: An Economic Theory (Oxford: Martin Robertson).
Modern theories that emphasise the role of the entrepreneur as an innovator include
Audretsch, D. A., and M. C. Keilbach (2006) Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Baumol, W. J. (2003) Entrepreneurship, Management and the Structure of Pay-offs (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
For a modern treatment of coordination with an emphasis on the entrepreneur as scientist see
Harper, D. (1995) Entrepreneurship and the Market Process (London: Routledge).
The link between entrepreneurship and the firm is explored in
Foss, N.J. and P.G. Klein (2012) Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
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© 2013 Mark Casson and Catherine Casson
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Casson, M., Casson, C. (2013). Perspectives on Entrepreneurship. In: The Entrepreneur in History: From Medieval Merchant to Modern Business Leader. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305824_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137305824_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
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