Unit 2: The Foundation of Entrepreneurship

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Objectives

3.0 Main Content

3.1 Definitions of Terminologies

3.1.1 The concept of Entrepreneurship

3.2 The Role of Entrepreneurship in a Developing Society

3.2.1 Functions of an Entrepreneur

3.3 Management versus Entrepreneurship

3.4 Who is an Intrapreneur

3.4.1 The Meaning of Intrapreneurship

3.5 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 Reference/Further Reading

1.0 Introduction
This unit is designed to provide an insight into the definitions, nature and concept of
entrepreneurship. By the end of the unit, you are expected to have an overview of what
entrepreneurship entails, functions and the difference(s) if any between entrepreneurship
and intrapreneurship.
2.0 Objectives
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• define what entrepreneurship is

• explain who is an entrepreneur

• state the importance of entrepreneurship in any economy

• explain the functions of an entrepreneur

• differentiate between an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur

• list and explain the activities involved in entrepreneurship

• distinguish between the characteristics of an entrepreneur from that of an intrapreneur  list

and explain the different types of entrepreneurs

3.0 Main Content

3.1 Definitions of Terminologies

3.1.1 The Concept of Entrepreneurship

Inegbenebor and Igbinomwanhia (2011) define an entrepreneur as a person who has
possession of an enterprise, or venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent
risks and the outcome of the enterprise. According to Jones , George and Hill (2000),
entrepreneurs are individuals who notice opportunities and take responsibility for mobilizing the
resources necessary to produce new and improved goods and services. In other words,
entrepreneurs start new business venture and do all of the planning, organising, leading and
controlling necessary to meet organizational goals. Sharma (1999) defines entrepreneurs as the
owners of the business who contribute the capital and bear the risk of uncertainties in business
life. He organizes, manages, assumes the risks and takes the decisions about the enterprise.
Scarborough (2014) defines entrepreneur as one who creates a new business in the face of risk
and uncertainty for the purpose of achieving profit and growth by identifying significant
opportunities and assembling the necessary resources to capitalize on them. Drucker (1986)
defines the entrepreneur as someone who always searches for change, respond to it, and exploits
it as an opportunity.
Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are more often associated with small and medium
scale enterprises. This is because the vast majority of enterprises in which the entrepreneur plays
a visible role are small and medium scale enterprises.

3.2 The Role of Entrepreneurship in a Developing Society

Entrepreneurship has been recognized all over the world as a catalyst for development in any
economy. Entrepreneurship in developing countries in particular is being seriously advocated
because of the following importance:

1. Employment Generation: It helps to provide jobs through the establishment of new

businesses, especially small and medium scale enterprises.

2. Productivity: One of the factors for the greater interest in entrepreneurship has been the
increasing recognition of its role in raising productivity through various forms of
innovation. Entrepreneurs, through their innovation and creativity are capable of
transforming existing business sectors, and creating new sectors. They are helping to
bring about new goods and services (expanding productivity) and supplying the needs of
large enterprises, which have to rely on their operations for business success.
3. Facilitate the transfer/adaptation of technology: It enables entrepreneurs to have the
opportunities of developing and adapting appropriate technological methods and provide
a veritable avenue for skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled workers.

4. Ensures increased resource utilization: It helps entrepreneurs to put limited resources

that might otherwise remain idle into good use.

5. Stimulates growth in those sectors which supplies it with inputs: Entrepreneurship

stimulates growth in its supply market.

6. Reinvigorates large-scale enterprises and public enterprises: Most large scale enterprises
and public sector enterprises depend on the activities of small and medium scale
enterprises (SMEs) to supply them with various raw materials and other component parts
and also to assist them in the distribution of the finished goods to the final consumers.

7. Encourages and sustains economic dynamism that enables an economy to adjust

successfully in a rapidly changing global economy: As a result of the dynamic nature of
the environment, small and medium scale enterprises have no choice than to respond and
adapt to environmental changes from time to time.

8. Enables individuals to use their potential and energies to create wealth, independence and
status for themselves in society.

The above eight points are not in any way exhaustive.

3.2.1 Functions of an Entrepreneur

To list the functions of entrepreneurs, give the impression that there are clearly defined
activities which the entrepreneur is expected to perform. On the basis of this understanding, the
entrepreneur is expected to perform the following functions:

1. Perception and identification of business opportunities: This is the first function of the
entrepreneur. It has to do with the recognition and definition of an unsatisfied need of
individuals, firms or households which can be satisfied with a product or service at the
right price that will guarantee satisfactory profit to the entrepreneur.

2. Selection of the legal form, location and site of the business: The form of business
ownership that the entrepreneur may decide to go into depends entirely on the amount of
capital available to the individual. To this end, the business enterprise may be operated
either as sole proprietorship, partnership or a limited liability.

3. Identification, selection and acquisition of key resources: The identification, selection

and acquisition of key resources is yet another function unique to entrepreneurs. For any
start up firm to survive and grow depends heavily on the availability of competent
manpower who will be able to translate the entrepreneur‘s ideas into concrete forms.
Thus, key personnel must be sourced and encouraged to contribute their talents and
energy during and after the turbulent period of formation and take-off.
4. Innovation: This is usually regarded as the height of entrepreneurship. Innovation may be
defined as the translation of a new idea into a new company.

5. Risk bearing: This has been traditionally associated with the entrepreneur. There are
various types of risks in business. The risk of fire, accidents, bad debts, theft etc can be
minimized by taking preventive action and by insuring against them. Other risks arise
because business decisions are future oriented. Risk of business failure may arise from
adverse fluctuation in demand, unfavourable government policies, strong competitive
advantage of other firms, obsolete technology and hence high cost of operation etc. These
risks cannot usually be insured against and must be borne by the entrepreneur. One way
of managing risk is for the entrepreneur to be engage actively in monitoring the
environment in order to be able to respond and adapt to the dynamic nature of the
environment from time to time.

6. Management of the ongoing enterprises: This simply implies that the entrepreneur is a
planner, organizer, communicator, coordinator, leader, motivation and controller, and
most of all, a facilitator. Management of the on-going enterprise also involves the
process whereby the entrepreneur monitors and evaluates changes that are continuously
taking place in the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal and ecological
environment so as to respond appropriately to ensure the survival of the business.

3.3 Management versus Entrepreneurship

Management is both an art and a science. It is an art because it involves the use of
instinct. It is a science because it involves the use of logic. Both art and science complement
each other. Managers use the two efficiently and effectively in order to achieve organizational
goals. On the other hand, the entrepreneurship is preoccupied not with what is, but with what can
be. They envision the future, recognise emerging patterns, identify untapped opportunities and
come up with innovations to exploit those opportunities. As earlier noted by Morris et al (2011),
entrepreneurs pursue opportunity regardless of resources controlled. They do this by
demonstrating creative capabilities in obtaining and leveraging resources, overcoming obstacles,
mitigating risks, and persisting in implementing new ideas that represent change. They opine that
within great organizations, a balance is achieved between disciplined management and
entrepreneurship

3.4 Who is an Intrapreneur?

According to Jones, George and Hill (2000), an intrapreneur is a manager, scientist, or

researcher who works inside an existing organization and notices opportunities for product
improvements and is responsible for managing the product development process.

3.4.1. The Meaning of Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurship is the process whereby an organization

seeks to expand by exploring new opportunities through new combinations of its existing
resources.
 Intrapreneurship requires special attention from managers, because by design it cuts
against the grain of established organizational activities. Thus, we might expect that the
following are important to support intrapreneurship:

1. Explicit goals for intrapreneurial processes

2. A system of information exchange between managers and intrapreneurs

3. An emphasis on individual responsibility and accountability

4. Rewards for creative effort

3.5 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

Timmons (1989) identified fourteen dominant characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.
They are:

1. Drive and Energy: Entrepreneurs are more energetic than the average person. Long hours
and hard work are the rule rather than the exception, and the pace can be grueling.

2. Self-confidence: Entrepreneurs typically have an abundance of confidence in their

abilities to achieve the goals they set and confident that they chose the correct career
path.

3. Long term involvement: Entrepreneurship is hard work, and launching a company

successfully requires total commitment from an entrepreneur. They make a commitment
to a long term project and they work towards goals that may be quite distant in the future.

4. Money as a measure: One of the most common misconceptions about entrepreneurs is

that they are driven wholly by the desire to make money. To the contrary, achievement
seems to be entrepreneur primary motivating force: money is simply a way of ―keeping
score‖ of accomplishment – a symbol of achievement.

5. Persistent problem solving: Entrepreneurs possess an intense level of determination and

desire to overcome hurdles, solve a problem and complete the job in the course of
successfully building new enterprises.

6. Goal setting: Entrepreneurs have the ability and commitment to set goals that are both
measurable and attainable for themselves.

7. Preference for moderate risk: Entrepreneurs are not wild risk takers but instead take
calculated and moderate risk.

8. Dealing with failure: Entrepreneurs do not fear failure.

9. Desire for immediate feedback: Entrepreneurs like the challenge of doing a business and
they want to know how far they are doing in terms of performance. The use of feedback
 enables entrepreneurs to assess/take stock of their performance with the aim of
improving on it.

10. Taking initiative and seeking personal responsibility: Entrepreneurs feel a deep sense of
personal responsibility for the outcome of businesses they start. They willingly put
themselves in situations where they personally take responsibility for the success or
failure of the business.

11. Use of resources: Entrepreneurs have been known to use resources efficiently and
effectively in order to achieve organizational goals.

12. Competing against self-imposed and objective standards: High performing entrepreneurs
possess this internalized kind of competitive spirit in which he or she continuously
engages in competition with himself/herself to beat his or her last best performance.

13. Internal locus of control belief: The success or failure of a new business enterprise from
the point of view of an entrepreneur does not depend on luck or chance, or other external,
personally uncontrollable factors. But rather, the entrepreneur believes that one‘s
personal accomplishments as well as setbacks lie within one‘s personal control and
influence.

14. Tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty: Entrepreneurs tend to have a high tolerance for
ambiguous ever-changing situations, the environment in which they most often operate.

The above characteristics are not by any means exhaustive.

4.0 Conclusion
We have seen in this unit that entrepreneurship lies at the centre of any nation‘s free enterprise
system; small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are truly the backbone of any economy be it
developed or developing economy. This agent of catalyst for development has contributed
immensely to the businesses themselves in particular and the economy in general.

5.0 Summary
The highlights of this unit are hereby summarized below:

The concept of entrepreneurship has been seen to be a sine qua non for the development of any
economy. The unit also looks at the role of entrepreneurship in a developing society; functions of
an entrepreneur; characteristics of an entrepreneur as well as the clear distinction between
management and entrepreneurship.
Unit 3: The Corporate Innovation on Entrepreneurs

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Objectives

3.0 Main Content

3.1 Corporate Innovation Philosophy

3.2 Entrepreneurial Activities

3.3 Differences between the entrepreneur and the Owner Manager of a Business

Enterprise

4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 Reference/Further Reading

1.0 Introduction
This unit will be focusing on Corporate innovation philosophy, Entrepreneurial activities and

differences between the entrepreneur and the owner manager of a business enterprise. By the end

of the unit, you are expected to have a wider knowledge of the themes above discussed.

2.0 Objectives
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

• corporate innovation philosophy

• entrepreneurial activities

• differences between the entrepreneur and the owner manager of a business enterprise
3.0 Main Content

3.1 Corporate Innovation Philosophy

Corporate innovation succeeds in organization that provide employees with the freedom and

encouragement to develop their ideas, but top managers, if they do not believe that
entrepreneurial ideas can be nurtured, have been known to hamper innovation. They may find it

difficult, for example, to implement policies that endorse unstructured activity. If innovative

people are to reach their potential, however, new types of thinking must overcome managerial

hesitations. Five important practices for establishing innovation-driven organizations

follow:

1. Set explicit innovation goals

2. Create a system of feedback and positive reinforcement

3. Emphasize individual responsibility

4. Provide rewards for innovative ideas

5. Do not punish failures:

3.2 Entrepreneurial Activities

Kilby (1971) identified 14 activities which entrepreneurs carry out in a business enterprise. He

assumed that entrepreneurs in developing countries have access to new ideas, new technologies

etc already produced in developed economies which are readily available for borrowing or

imitation. These activities were organized into four major headings as follows:

(A) Exchange Relationship: which include activities involved in relating effectively with

critical elements in the economic environment. The activities under A above are:

(i) Perception of market opportunities

(ii) Purchasing input – raw materials and supplies

(iii) Marketing the product

(iv) Responding to competition

(B) Political Administration: Political administration is the process by which the

entrepreneur negotiates a favourable relationship with these individuals and groups in the

operating environment.
 (i) Dealing with public officials

(ii) Human relations within the firm

(iii) Customer and supplier relation

(C) Management Control

(ix) Financial management

(x) Production management

(D) Technology

3.3 Differences between the Entrepreneur and the Owner Manager of a Business

Enterprise

The owner manager of a business does what everybody else does the way everybody else does it

while the entrepreneur does it in a significant new and better way. It has been said that all

entrepreneurs are self-employed but not all self-employed are entrepreneurs.

The table below shows the major differences between the entrepreneur and the career
manager/owner-manager of a business.

S/N Dimension Entrepreneur Owner-Manager

1. Time orientation Medium to long (5-10 years) Short to medium (monthly,
quarterly, annual budgets and
quotas; next promotion

2. Risk taking Moderate, calculated risks, will Lower risk taken, averse to
risk job security and net worth making mistake because of
large company reward and
penalty system; what to take
the final plunge.

3. Tolerance of uncertainty High tolerance of ambiguity and Lower tolerance of

uncertainty uncertainty.
4. Personal standards High; more oriented to High; but more oriented to
internalized, self-imposed externalized standards of the
standards organization; more
responsive to organization‘s
reward system, and trapping

such as status, job titles etc.

5. Management skills None or limited formal More likely to have formal

management education, may management education, broad
have technical or scientific
training if in a technical ventures; knowledge and experience in
knows a business well, may be managing
former general manager.
people and resources

6. Motivation Highly goal-oriented and More motivated by goal and

achievement motivated, rewards established by the
selfreliant and self-motivated
organization, power
motivated

Source: Timmons, Smaller and Dangee (1977), New Venture Creation: A Guide to Small
Business Development

4.0 Conclusion
We have seen in this unit that activities which entrepreneurs carry out in a business enterprise. It

was assumed that entrepreneurs in developing countries have access to new ideas, new

technologies etc already produced in developed economies

5.0 Summary
The highlights of this unit are hereby summarized below:

The Corporate innovation philosophy, Entrepreneurial activities and differences between the

entrepreneur and the owner manager of a business enterprise. The unit also looks at the decisions
and behavior of certain individuals and groups in the operating environment of the firm may

have immediate impact on the performance of the entrepreneurs.