An enterprise is considered to be any entity engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of its legal form. This includes, in particular, self-employed persons and family businesses engaged in craft or other activities, and partnerships or associations regularly engaged in an economic activity.
The term entrepreneur stems from the French word ‘entreprendre’ meaning one who undertakes or one who is a ‘go-between’. According to Richard Cantillon, “an entrepreneur is a person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise”. According to J.B. Say, an entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labor of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labor and interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower productivity into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.
Entrepreneurship can be described as a process of action an entrepreneur undertakes to establish his/ her enterprise. Entrepreneurship is a creative activity. It is the ability to create and build something from practically nothing.
According to Peter Drucker Entrepreneurship is defined as ‘a systematic innovation, which consists in the purposeful and organized search for changes, and it is the systematic analysis of the opportunities such changes might offer for economic and social innovation.’ According to Schumpeter entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services. David McClleland: An entrepreneur is a person with a high need for achievement. He is energetic and a moderate risk taker.
It is a knack of sensing opportunity where others see chaos, contradiction and confusion. Entrepreneurship is the attitude of mind to seek opportunities, take calculated risks and derive benefits by setting up a venture. It comprises numerous activities involved in conception, creation and running an enterprise.
In an integrate, entrepreneurship is a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation. It requires an application of energy and passion towards the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solutions. It requires essential ingredients that include: the willingness to take calculated risk; the ability to formulate an effective venture team; the creative skill to marshal needed resources; the fundamental skills of building a solid business ; and the vision to recognize opportunity where others see chaos, contradiction, and confusion.
The term entrepreneur is used to describe men and women who establish and manage their own business. The process involved in creating and starting an enterprise is called entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is an abstraction whereas entrepreneurs are tangible people. Entrepreneurship is a process and an entrepreneur is a person. Entrepreneurship is theoutcome of complex socio-economic, psychological and other factors. The entrepreneur is the key individual central to entrepreneurship who makes things happen. The entrepreneur is the actor, entrepreneurship is the act. Entrepreneurship is the most effective way of bridging the gap between knowledge and the market place by creating new enterprises. An entrepreneur is the catalyst who brings about change. An enterprise is the business organization that is formed and which provides goods and services, creates jobs, contributes to national income, exports and overall economic development.
