Entrepreneurship Overview

Principles

Definition

Entrepreneurship is the academic concept and research field investigating the process of identifying, creating, and launching new ventures by organizing resources to pursue opportunities, address market needs, and generate value. It examines the dynamics of innovation, risk-taking, and strategic action in the formation and growth of businesses and other organizations.

Ontological type

Core Theories

Venture Creation Process

Opportunity Recognition

Key developments

Key Figures

Venture Creation Framework era

William B. Gartner [1], affiliated with the University of Washington [3] and the University of Southern California [4], helped shape the Venture Creation Framework of the 1970–1995 era. His influential papers include A Conceptual Framework for Describing the Phenomenon of New Venture Creation [8], Who Is an Entrepreneur? Is the Wrong Question [7], and What are we talking about when we talk about entrepreneurship? [9], which collectively advanced how opportunities are perceived and pursued and linked recognition to resource mobilization in early venture formation. Patricia P. McDougall [2], affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology [5] and Georgia State University [6], contributed to the theory of international new ventures. Her 1994 Toward a Theory of International New ventures [10] helped articulate how ventures expand internationally, underscoring the era’s focus on cross-border knowledge flows and resource mobilization.

Knowledge-Driven Ecosystems era

Scott Shane[1] highlights the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[3] and Case Western Reserve University[4] as key institutions shaping this era. His work in this era emphasizes building the entrepreneurship field and legitimating new ventures, as reflected in The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research[7], Opportunities and Entrepreneurship[8], and Legitimating first: organizing activities and the survival of new ventures[9]. Ammon Salter[2] is associated with Imperial College London[5] and the University of Sussex[6] in this era. His contribution centers on openness as a driver of innovation performance, as shown in Open for innovation: the role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms[10].

Digital-Learning Ecosystems era

Friederike Welter[1] highlights contextual entrepreneurship, with Université Paris Cité[3] and KU Leuven[4] among the institutions shaping her work in this era. Welter[1] advances the conversation by contextualizing entrepreneurship through Contextualizing Entrepreneurship—Conceptual Challenges and Ways Forward[7], clarifying why situational factors matter for venture formation within digital-learning ecosystems. Jeffrey G. Covin[2] is affiliated with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne[5] and University of Colorado Boulder[6], reflecting his cross-institutional engagement in this era. Covin[2] contributes to understanding entrepreneurial orientation through The Measurement of Entrepreneurial Orientation[8] and Entrepreneurial Orientation Theory and Research: Reflections on a Needed Construct[9], offering measurement and theoretical foundations essential for rapid experimentation and learning in digital-learning ecosystems.