Content
Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 3
The nature of entrepreneurship.......................................................................................................... 3
1.1 What is entrepreneurship? ................................................................................................. 3
1.2 The entrepreneur’s tasks..................................................................................................... 3
1.3 The role of the entrepreneur .............................................................................................. 4
1.4 The entrepreneur as a person ............................................................................................. 4
Lecture 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Types of entrepreneur......................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Classifying entrepreneurs .......................................................................................................... 6
The entrepreneurial personality ......................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Schools of thinking on personality ............................................................................................ 7
Lecture 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 9
The entrepreneurial process ............................................................................................................... 9
10.2 The entrepreneurial process: opportunity, organization and resources ................................ 9
10.3 The entrepreneurial process: action and the dynamics of success (focus, fit and
configuration) .................................................................................................................................. 9
Entrepreneurial teams................................................................................................................... 10
Lecture 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 12
The nature of business opportunity .................................................................................................. 12
11.1 The nature of business opportunity ...................................................................................... 12
11.2 innovation and the exploitation of opportunity ................................................................... 12
11.3 High and low entrepreneurship ............................................................................................ 13
11.4 Opportunity and entrepreneurial motivation ....................................................................... 13
11.5 The opportunity to create wealth ......................................................................................... 14
11.6 The opportunity to distribute wealth .................................................................................... 14
11.7 entrepreneurship: risk, ambiguity and uncertainty .............................................................. 14
Venturing opportunities: Found, or Created? ............................................................................... 14
Metaphor of opportunity .............................................................................................................. 15
21.1 Why existing businesses leave gaps in the market ............................................................... 16
21.2 The strategic window: a visual metaphor ............................................................................. 16
Advantages and disadvantages associated with opportunity concept ........................................ 18
Lecture 5 ................................................................................................................................................ 19
Entrepreneurship, cognition and decision making ........................................................................... 19
Cognitive aspects of entrepreneurship ......................................................................................... 19
, Types of decision and problems .................................................................................................... 19
Decision making perspectives ....................................................................................................... 20
Lecture 6 ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Resources in the entrepreneurial venture ........................................................................................ 22
12.1 resources available to the entrepreneur............................................................................... 22
12.2 Financial resources ................................................................................................................ 22
12.3 operating resources............................................................................................................... 22
12.4 Human resources................................................................................................................... 23
12.5 Organizational process and learning as resources ................................................................ 23
12.6 Resources, investment and risk ............................................................................................. 23
12.7 Stretch and leverage of entrepreneurial resources .............................................................. 24
This document contains a summary of the first 6 lectures and all the chapters from the book
‘strategic entrepreneurship’ by Philip A Wickham. This is all the material for the midterm (cases
excluded).
, Lecture 1
The nature of entrepreneurship
1.1 What is entrepreneurship?
There is no clear single universal definition of entrepreneurship since it is a very complex
phenomenon. We can say that entrepreneurship is the identification, evaluation, and exploitation of
opportunities. Entrepreneurship is characterized by a particular approach to wealth creation.
Recognizing this gives us three directions from which we can develop an understanding. The
entrepreneur can be considered as:
i. Economic: The function (role) of the manager (what are the effects)
ii. Managerial: the tasks undertaken by the entrepreneur
iii. Psychological: The entrepreneur as a personality
The entrepreneur is an individual who fulfills a particular economic function by undertaking certain
tasks.
1.2 The entrepreneur’s tasks
Owning organizations/the business
Many entrepreneurs do own their own organizations but this is not necessarily true. This means that
someone can be an entrepreneur without (fully) owning a business. Owning shares of the business
may encourage more entrepreneurial behavior, but it does not, in itself, make an entrepreneur.
Founding new organizations
An entrepreneur has not always established a new business organization. The entrepreneur is
recognized as the person who undertakes the tasks of bringing together the different elements of the
organization and giving them a separate legal entity. Entrepreneurs make major changes their
organizational world.
Bringing innovation’s to the market
Innovation can mean a new product or service, but it can also include a new way of delivering an
existing product or service (so that it is cheaper or more convenient for the user, for example), new
methods of informing the consumer about a product and promoting it to them, new ways of
organizing the company, or even new approaches to managing relationships with other
organizations. Innovation is a crucial part of the entrepreneurial process, however it is not unique to
it.
Identification of market opportunity/identifying opportunities
An opportunity is a gap in a market where the potential exists to do something better and thereby to
create value. The identification of new opportunities is one of the key tasks of the entrepreneurs.
Like innovation, entrepreneurial opportunity scanning differs from that of ordinary managers in
degree, not substance.
Application of expertise
It has been suggested that entrepreneurs are characterized by the way that they bring some sort of
expertise to their jobs. They have a special ability in deciding how to allocate scare resources in
situations where the information is limited. Again such a skill cannot be unique to the entrepreneur.
Provide leadership
Leadership is an important factor in entrepreneurial success and it is often a skill that is exhibited
particularly well by the entrepreneur, but it is a general management skill rather than one which is
specific to the entrepreneur.
Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 3
The nature of entrepreneurship.......................................................................................................... 3
1.1 What is entrepreneurship? ................................................................................................. 3
1.2 The entrepreneur’s tasks..................................................................................................... 3
1.3 The role of the entrepreneur .............................................................................................. 4
1.4 The entrepreneur as a person ............................................................................................. 4
Lecture 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Types of entrepreneur......................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Classifying entrepreneurs .......................................................................................................... 6
The entrepreneurial personality ......................................................................................................... 7
3.2 Schools of thinking on personality ............................................................................................ 7
Lecture 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 9
The entrepreneurial process ............................................................................................................... 9
10.2 The entrepreneurial process: opportunity, organization and resources ................................ 9
10.3 The entrepreneurial process: action and the dynamics of success (focus, fit and
configuration) .................................................................................................................................. 9
Entrepreneurial teams................................................................................................................... 10
Lecture 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 12
The nature of business opportunity .................................................................................................. 12
11.1 The nature of business opportunity ...................................................................................... 12
11.2 innovation and the exploitation of opportunity ................................................................... 12
11.3 High and low entrepreneurship ............................................................................................ 13
11.4 Opportunity and entrepreneurial motivation ....................................................................... 13
11.5 The opportunity to create wealth ......................................................................................... 14
11.6 The opportunity to distribute wealth .................................................................................... 14
11.7 entrepreneurship: risk, ambiguity and uncertainty .............................................................. 14
Venturing opportunities: Found, or Created? ............................................................................... 14
Metaphor of opportunity .............................................................................................................. 15
21.1 Why existing businesses leave gaps in the market ............................................................... 16
21.2 The strategic window: a visual metaphor ............................................................................. 16
Advantages and disadvantages associated with opportunity concept ........................................ 18
Lecture 5 ................................................................................................................................................ 19
Entrepreneurship, cognition and decision making ........................................................................... 19
Cognitive aspects of entrepreneurship ......................................................................................... 19
, Types of decision and problems .................................................................................................... 19
Decision making perspectives ....................................................................................................... 20
Lecture 6 ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Resources in the entrepreneurial venture ........................................................................................ 22
12.1 resources available to the entrepreneur............................................................................... 22
12.2 Financial resources ................................................................................................................ 22
12.3 operating resources............................................................................................................... 22
12.4 Human resources................................................................................................................... 23
12.5 Organizational process and learning as resources ................................................................ 23
12.6 Resources, investment and risk ............................................................................................. 23
12.7 Stretch and leverage of entrepreneurial resources .............................................................. 24
This document contains a summary of the first 6 lectures and all the chapters from the book
‘strategic entrepreneurship’ by Philip A Wickham. This is all the material for the midterm (cases
excluded).
, Lecture 1
The nature of entrepreneurship
1.1 What is entrepreneurship?
There is no clear single universal definition of entrepreneurship since it is a very complex
phenomenon. We can say that entrepreneurship is the identification, evaluation, and exploitation of
opportunities. Entrepreneurship is characterized by a particular approach to wealth creation.
Recognizing this gives us three directions from which we can develop an understanding. The
entrepreneur can be considered as:
i. Economic: The function (role) of the manager (what are the effects)
ii. Managerial: the tasks undertaken by the entrepreneur
iii. Psychological: The entrepreneur as a personality
The entrepreneur is an individual who fulfills a particular economic function by undertaking certain
tasks.
1.2 The entrepreneur’s tasks
Owning organizations/the business
Many entrepreneurs do own their own organizations but this is not necessarily true. This means that
someone can be an entrepreneur without (fully) owning a business. Owning shares of the business
may encourage more entrepreneurial behavior, but it does not, in itself, make an entrepreneur.
Founding new organizations
An entrepreneur has not always established a new business organization. The entrepreneur is
recognized as the person who undertakes the tasks of bringing together the different elements of the
organization and giving them a separate legal entity. Entrepreneurs make major changes their
organizational world.
Bringing innovation’s to the market
Innovation can mean a new product or service, but it can also include a new way of delivering an
existing product or service (so that it is cheaper or more convenient for the user, for example), new
methods of informing the consumer about a product and promoting it to them, new ways of
organizing the company, or even new approaches to managing relationships with other
organizations. Innovation is a crucial part of the entrepreneurial process, however it is not unique to
it.
Identification of market opportunity/identifying opportunities
An opportunity is a gap in a market where the potential exists to do something better and thereby to
create value. The identification of new opportunities is one of the key tasks of the entrepreneurs.
Like innovation, entrepreneurial opportunity scanning differs from that of ordinary managers in
degree, not substance.
Application of expertise
It has been suggested that entrepreneurs are characterized by the way that they bring some sort of
expertise to their jobs. They have a special ability in deciding how to allocate scare resources in
situations where the information is limited. Again such a skill cannot be unique to the entrepreneur.
Provide leadership
Leadership is an important factor in entrepreneurial success and it is often a skill that is exhibited
particularly well by the entrepreneur, but it is a general management skill rather than one which is
specific to the entrepreneur.
