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Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Process
From a theoretical point of view, Bygrave (in Kuratko et al. 1997:25) defined an entrepreneurial event as the creation of a new organisation to pursue an opportunity. Some of the characteristics that Bygrave used to describe the entrepreneurial event were: discontinuities, holistic, change, dynamic, unique, extremely sensitive to initial conditions, involving numerous antecedent variables, and initiated by an act of human volition (Kuratko et al. 1997:25 Wickham (2001:23) proposed that the following characteristics of the entrepreneurial process which is supported by Bygrave’s (1993:257) description are acknowledged: • Initiated by a human decision
• Taking place on the level of an individual enterprise
• Discontinuous
• A holistic process
• A dynamic process
• A unique process
• Including various antecedents and variables, and
• Results which are very sensitive to initial nature of said variables.
It should also be mentioned that growth has been measured typically at the business level, yet intentions are an individual-level construct. Wiklund (2001:3) found that business managers’ growth intentions are positively related to the actual growth of their businesses. It was furthermore hypothesised that the level of human capital will moderate the relationship between a manager’s growth intentions and the level of growth achieved i.e., growth will increase with intention, but at a faster rate for those with (a) more education, and (b) more relevant experience. It was found however, that the relationship between intention and growth appeared to be more complex than stated. Wiklund (2001:4) was of the opinion that the dynamism of the environment in which the business operated also had an influence.
Entrepreneurial process models
Entrepreneurship is not typically characterised as being logical, systematic, or planned and the entrepreneurship process is often perceived as disorderly and unpredictable. A number of attempts have been made to construct theoretical models of the entrepreneurial process (Gartner; Greenberger & Sexton; Learned; Herron & Sapienza; Herron & Robinson; Naffziger, Hornsby, and Kuratko & Bhave as quoted by Kuratko, Hornsby & Naffziger 1997:26).
Brazeal and Herbert (1999:33) offer a model of the entrepreneurial process, integrating the fields of technology, psychology and business. The roles, played by “change”, “innovation” and “creativity” are highlighted, recognising that entrepreneurship is enabled by the
• The current or potential existence of something new (an innovation)
• Which may have been developed by new ways of looking at old problems (creativity)
• Or the lessened capability of prior processes or solutions to respond effectively to new problem parameters brought on by new or emerging external conditions (environmental change)
• Which can supplant or be complementary to existing processes or solutions (a change), and
• When championed by one or more invested individuals (the innovator).
Entrepreneurial activity stems from an imbalance between the potentiality of something new and its realisation, that is, the creating of an exploited opportunity where none existed previously, by one or more individuals (Brazeal & Herbert 1999:34).
The Entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is significant because the entrepreneur is the dynamic force that disturbs the economic equilibrium through innovation (what he achieves) by creating an entrepreneurial process (what he does) (Trevisan, Grundling & De Jager 2002:128).
The entrepreneur lies at the heart of the entrepreneurial process. Zietsma (1999:3) proposed that entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs differ in both their cognitive structures (schema), and their cognitive processes (the use of heuristics and biases), and that entrepreneurs may invoke schemas that are more predisposed towards entrepreneurial events, allowing them to make sense out of uncertainty. Wickham (2001:41) sees the main impetus for entrepreneurs to be their desire to create change and to make a difference. Entrepreneurs as innovators, are people who create new combinations of these factors and then present them to the market for assessment by consumers. The value added cannot always be measured in purely financial terms. The entrepreneur exists in a state of tension between actual and possible. The tension is manifested in three dimensions, i.e., the financial, the personal and the social.
The entrepreneur as key person in the process seeks suitable business opportunities and develops a framework for the commercialisation of the product or service. Dollinger (1995:50) mentions four factors that serve as impetus for entrepreneurship:
• Negative displacement (the marginalisation of individuals/groups from the core of society)
• Being between things (e.g. between student life and a career)
• Positive push (e.g. a career path that offers entrepreneurial opportunities or an education that gives the individual the appropriate knowledge and opportunity), and
• Positive pull (e.g. mentors and partners encouraging the individual).
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Success
1.2 Purpose of this research
1.3 Importance of the study
1.4 Research Plan
2 ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND CREATIVITY
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Entrepreneurship Subject Domain
2.3 Various perspectives of Entrepreneurship
2.4 Entrepreneurs versus small business owners
2.5 Key Concepts of the Entrepreneurship Domain
2.6 Entrepreneurship theory and creativity
2.7 A summary of the literature reported
2.8 Content analysis of Entrepreneurship definitions
2.9 Testing the results of the content analysis quantitatively
2.10 Chapter Conclusion
3 THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Characteristics of the Entrepreneurial Process
3.3 Entrepreneurial process models
3.4 Elements of the entrepreneurial process
3.5 Activities of the Entrepreneurial Process
3.6 Chapter Conclusion
4 CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Various perspectives on Creativity
4.3 Dimensions of Creativity
4.4 The Creative Process
4.5 Content analysis of definitions
4.6 Innovation
4.7 The combination of the concepts « creativity » and « innovation » in the Entrepreneurship Domain.
4.8 An Evaluation of the work done
4.9 Chapter Conclusion
5 CREATIVITY AND THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENTREPRENEURS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Learning, Training, Education and Development
5.3 Entrepreneurial needs
5.4 Entrepreneurship programme models
5.5 Creativity as subject content in Entrepreneurship programmes
5.6 Chapter Conclusion
6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Research Problem and Hypotheses
6.3 Research design
6.4 The Measurement Instrument/Questionnaire
6.5 Data collection
6.6 Data processing
6.7 Validity
6.8 Chapter Conclusion
7 FINDINGS
7.1 Chapter purpose
7.2 Reporting the Empirical Results
8 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
8.1 Entrepreneurship theory (Chapter 2)
8.2 Entrepreneurial Process (Chapter 3)
8.3 Creativity and Innovation (Chapter 4)
8.4 Entrepreneurship training and development (Chapter 5)
8.5 Empirical research (Chapters 6 and 7)
8.6 Implications for Training and Development of entrepreneurs
8.7 Limitations of the study
8.8 Potential further research questions
8.9 Recommendations
9 LIST OF REFERENCES
