Exam preparation –
entrepreneurship
Theory session 4
Question 1
a) Please describe the connection between entrepreneurship and innovation according to
Knudson, elaborate and contrast each entrepreneurial innovation type.
Knudson, Wysocki, Champagne, and Peterson (2004) describe in their article that the
behaviour of individuals or firms is driven by two factors. The drive to commercialize an idea
and the drive to create an idea/to innovate. The interaction between these two drivers leads
to the formation of four entrepreneurial innovation types.
The first type is the master entrepreneur. These individuals possess skills in the field
of management and have a risk taking character. So, these individuals have an
entrepreneurial attitude, but are not driven to innovate new things. Master entrepreneurs
use already existing business models, products or services to fill market gaps.
The innovative entrepreneurs also have an entrepreneurial character, they are
continuously searching for new challenges and are willing to take risks. However, unlike the
master entrepreneurs, these individuals are also looking for new ideas. So, they also possess
some innovator traits. Innovative entrepreneurs improve a mix of existing and new business
models, products or services with their innovative ideas.
Entrepreneurial innovators are innovators at their core, but also possess some
entrepreneurial characteristics. These individuals seek out change and are willing to take
risks to be able to launch their innovation on the market. So, entrepreneurial innovators fill
market gaps with their own newly created business models, products or services.
The last entrepreneurial innovation type is the master innovator. These individuals
are mainly innovators and have no ambition to bring their innovation on the market. They
are satisfied with their innovating activities in a certain area they are specialized in. So,
master innovators see market gaps, but they do not fill them. They only develop new
business models, products or services.
b) Describe how these entrepreneurial innovation types relate to your business plan
In these entrepreneurial innovator types I recognize the division of roles at the start of
writing our business plan. With this, I mean the hacker, hustler, hipster model. In my opinion,
the hacker is comparable with the master innovator, since the hacker is the engineer who
builds the innovation and the end product of the company. However, the hackers needs a
hustler, someone with a sense for business. The hustler will be responsible for sales, this
person will talk with investors and structures the business model. I recognize a master
entrepreneur in the hustler, since the hustler mainly has skills in the field of
entrepreneurship and does not possess innovator traits. By matching master innovators
(hacker) with master entrepreneurs (hustler), it is in my opinion, possible to set up a strong
business team. Both individuals strongly complement each other due to the contradictory
character traits.
The hipster is the team member responsible for the creative vision of the company. I think
the hipster is somewhere in the middle of the entrepreneurial innovation types, since the
hipster needs to collaborate closely with both the hacker and the hustler. The hipster should
, communicate with the hacker to gain some knowledge about the innovation and should
communicate with the hustler to be able to visually communicate the business plan. So, the
hipster forms the connection between the hacker and the hustler and is able to transform
the inputs of both the hacker and the hustler into a creative visual output. All in all, this
means the hustler needs to possess a combination of some innovator traits and
entrepreneurial traits to be able to efficiently communicate with both the hacker and the
hustler. So, in my opinion the hipster is comparable with either the entrepreneurial
innovator or the innovative entrepreneur.
c) Give some real life examples of each entrepreneurial innovation type and explain why it fits
according to the descriptions of Knudson.
Master entrepreneur – Donald Trump
Trump received a bachelor's degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania. After
this, he joined his father's real estate business. He learned a lot from his father who had a
real business oriented mind-set. After a while Trump started for himself and turned towards
commercial real estate development, for instance he owned hotels and casinos. The deal-
making skills of Trump allowed him to build an empire in real estate and entertainment. So,
Trump possesses the primary characteristics of an entrepreneur. He is willing to take risks,
since he took huge loans and he definitely has skills when it comes to negotiating and closing
deals. However, the activities of Trump have nothing to do with innovations. Buying real
estate is nothing new and does not require innovative ideas.
Innovative entrepreneurs – Picnic
Picnic is a Dutch online supermarket. The company only delivers to home and does not have
its own stores. They offer their products for the lowest price and the home delivery is free.
This is possible because the company does not have shops in expensive locations. The idea of
grocery delivery is not completely unique, some existing supermarkets already offered
grocery delivery. The concept of Picnic is an improvement of an existing business models of
the grocery delivery services, the innovative idea is the absence of stores which makes it
possible to offer their service for a relatively low price.
An example can be peanut butter with caramel sea salt. Peanut butter already existed but
Calvé improved the recipe by adding caramel and sea salt, since caramel sea salt is a very
popular taste.
Entrepreneurial innovator – Bill Gates
Bill Gates was interested in programming and the operation of computers from a very young
age. He enrolled at Harvard University, where he studied mathematics and computer
science. During his studies he had all kinds of innovative ideas related to mathematics and
programming. He decided to drop out of his education early and founded the company
Microsoft together with a fellow student.
Swap fiets
Master innovators
Professors who conduct research on behalf of universities.
entrepreneurship
Theory session 4
Question 1
a) Please describe the connection between entrepreneurship and innovation according to
Knudson, elaborate and contrast each entrepreneurial innovation type.
Knudson, Wysocki, Champagne, and Peterson (2004) describe in their article that the
behaviour of individuals or firms is driven by two factors. The drive to commercialize an idea
and the drive to create an idea/to innovate. The interaction between these two drivers leads
to the formation of four entrepreneurial innovation types.
The first type is the master entrepreneur. These individuals possess skills in the field
of management and have a risk taking character. So, these individuals have an
entrepreneurial attitude, but are not driven to innovate new things. Master entrepreneurs
use already existing business models, products or services to fill market gaps.
The innovative entrepreneurs also have an entrepreneurial character, they are
continuously searching for new challenges and are willing to take risks. However, unlike the
master entrepreneurs, these individuals are also looking for new ideas. So, they also possess
some innovator traits. Innovative entrepreneurs improve a mix of existing and new business
models, products or services with their innovative ideas.
Entrepreneurial innovators are innovators at their core, but also possess some
entrepreneurial characteristics. These individuals seek out change and are willing to take
risks to be able to launch their innovation on the market. So, entrepreneurial innovators fill
market gaps with their own newly created business models, products or services.
The last entrepreneurial innovation type is the master innovator. These individuals
are mainly innovators and have no ambition to bring their innovation on the market. They
are satisfied with their innovating activities in a certain area they are specialized in. So,
master innovators see market gaps, but they do not fill them. They only develop new
business models, products or services.
b) Describe how these entrepreneurial innovation types relate to your business plan
In these entrepreneurial innovator types I recognize the division of roles at the start of
writing our business plan. With this, I mean the hacker, hustler, hipster model. In my opinion,
the hacker is comparable with the master innovator, since the hacker is the engineer who
builds the innovation and the end product of the company. However, the hackers needs a
hustler, someone with a sense for business. The hustler will be responsible for sales, this
person will talk with investors and structures the business model. I recognize a master
entrepreneur in the hustler, since the hustler mainly has skills in the field of
entrepreneurship and does not possess innovator traits. By matching master innovators
(hacker) with master entrepreneurs (hustler), it is in my opinion, possible to set up a strong
business team. Both individuals strongly complement each other due to the contradictory
character traits.
The hipster is the team member responsible for the creative vision of the company. I think
the hipster is somewhere in the middle of the entrepreneurial innovation types, since the
hipster needs to collaborate closely with both the hacker and the hustler. The hipster should
, communicate with the hacker to gain some knowledge about the innovation and should
communicate with the hustler to be able to visually communicate the business plan. So, the
hipster forms the connection between the hacker and the hustler and is able to transform
the inputs of both the hacker and the hustler into a creative visual output. All in all, this
means the hustler needs to possess a combination of some innovator traits and
entrepreneurial traits to be able to efficiently communicate with both the hacker and the
hustler. So, in my opinion the hipster is comparable with either the entrepreneurial
innovator or the innovative entrepreneur.
c) Give some real life examples of each entrepreneurial innovation type and explain why it fits
according to the descriptions of Knudson.
Master entrepreneur – Donald Trump
Trump received a bachelor's degree in economics at the University of Pennsylvania. After
this, he joined his father's real estate business. He learned a lot from his father who had a
real business oriented mind-set. After a while Trump started for himself and turned towards
commercial real estate development, for instance he owned hotels and casinos. The deal-
making skills of Trump allowed him to build an empire in real estate and entertainment. So,
Trump possesses the primary characteristics of an entrepreneur. He is willing to take risks,
since he took huge loans and he definitely has skills when it comes to negotiating and closing
deals. However, the activities of Trump have nothing to do with innovations. Buying real
estate is nothing new and does not require innovative ideas.
Innovative entrepreneurs – Picnic
Picnic is a Dutch online supermarket. The company only delivers to home and does not have
its own stores. They offer their products for the lowest price and the home delivery is free.
This is possible because the company does not have shops in expensive locations. The idea of
grocery delivery is not completely unique, some existing supermarkets already offered
grocery delivery. The concept of Picnic is an improvement of an existing business models of
the grocery delivery services, the innovative idea is the absence of stores which makes it
possible to offer their service for a relatively low price.
An example can be peanut butter with caramel sea salt. Peanut butter already existed but
Calvé improved the recipe by adding caramel and sea salt, since caramel sea salt is a very
popular taste.
Entrepreneurial innovator – Bill Gates
Bill Gates was interested in programming and the operation of computers from a very young
age. He enrolled at Harvard University, where he studied mathematics and computer
science. During his studies he had all kinds of innovative ideas related to mathematics and
programming. He decided to drop out of his education early and founded the company
Microsoft together with a fellow student.
Swap fiets
Master innovators
Professors who conduct research on behalf of universities.
