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The Meaning of Entrepreneurship: A Modular Concept

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  • Michael Peneder

    (WIFO)

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been characterised as one of the most intriguing but equally elusive concepts in economics. This critical review first surveys its major intellectual roots and then proposes a modular concept of entrepreneurship that preserves its essentially distinctive behavioural, functional, and occupational dimensions. It argues that the behavioural definition identifies the only attribute that is both comprehensive and unique to the nature of entrepreneurship, while the functional and occupational definitions add what is specificity required for many analytical purposes. To validate the concept, the paper discusses the appropriate empirical units of observation and maps a general policy framework.

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Paper provided by WIFO in its series WIFO Working Papers with number 335.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: 16 Mar 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2009:i:335
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Keywords: Entrepreneurship; market co-ordination; innovation; technology diffusion; occupational choice;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
  • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary

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  1. Beck, T.H.L. & Demirgüc-Kunt, A. & Maksimovic, V., 2008. "Financing patterns around the world : Are small firms different?," Other publications TiSEM 7078f1cc-51a6-4556-b193-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
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  7. Albert N. Link, 2007. "Public Policy and Entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policy, chapter 7 Edward Elgar Publishing.
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  14. Nadim Ahmad & Anders Hoffman, 2008. "A Framework for Addressing and Measuring Entrepreneurship," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2008/2, OECD Publishing.
  15. Serguei Kaniovski & Michael Peneder, 2008. "Determinants of firm survival: a duration analysis using the generalized gamma distribution," Empirica, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 41-58, March.
  16. Hartog, Joop & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada & Jonker, Nicole, 2002. "Linking Measured Risk Aversion to Individual Characteristics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 3-26.
  17. Ekelund, Robert B, Jr & Hebert, Robert F, 1991. "Dupuit's Characteristics-Based Theory of Consumer Behavior and Entrepreneurship," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 19-34.
  18. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1979. "A General Equilibrium Entrepreneurial Theory of Firm Formation Based on Risk Aversion," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(4), pages 719-48, August.
  19. Isabel Grilo & Jesus-Maria Irigoyen, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 305-318, 05.
  20. Schultz, Theodore W, 1975. "The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 827-46, September.
  21. Witt, Ulrich, 1998. "Imagination and leadership - The neglected dimension of an evolutionary theory of the firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 161-177, April.
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Cited by:

  1. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan & Stenkula, Mikael, 2010. "Taxation, Labor Market Policy and High-Impact Entrepreneurship," Working Paper Series 826, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
  2. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2014. "The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 337-365, September.
  3. Michael Peneder & Martin Woerter, 2014. "Competition, R&D and innovation: testing the inverted-U in a simultaneous system," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 653-687, July.
  4. Pablo Gluzmann & David Jaume & Leonardo Gasparini, 2012. "Decisiones laborales en América Latina: el caso de los emprendedores. Un estudio sobre la base de encuestas de hogares," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0137, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
  5. Michael Peneder & Andreas Resch, 2014. "Schumpeter and Venture Finance. Radical Theorist, Broke Investor and Enigmatic Teacher," WIFO Working Papers 490, WIFO.
  6. Peneder, Michael, 2010. "Technological regimes and the variety of innovation behaviour: Creating integrated taxonomies of firms and sectors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 323-334, April.
  7. Werner Hölzl, 2010. "The Economics of Entrepreneurship Policy: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 187-197, September.

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