The Concept of Entrepreneur and The Difference in Entrepreneur and Businessman
Concept of Entrepreneur
Key words:
Entrepreneur, Attributes of an entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, lifestyle entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur:
Entrepreneur is a French word which means a person who possesses some idea or has the skills of transforming any new idea into successful innovation.
Leadership Attributes:
An entrepreneur has to lead an organization. He manages and organizes teams, so he must have management skills and strong team building skills. Entrepreneurs emerge from a group of people; they seek opportunities and become popular because of his creative mind set and innovative skills.
Influences, personality traits and attributes:
Though entrepreneurs possess some typical characteristics that they must have i-e- entrepreneurs are usually extravert and risk-takers, still some environmental factors also influence the entrepreneur and his business because an entrepreneur acts as a catalyst between his business and the changing environmental conditions. Psychologists suggest that the characteristics of male and female entrepreneurs are much similar to each other except for a few differences and this difference can be due to the gender stereotyping.
Types of Entrepreneurs:
Entrepreneurs can be;
€ Social entrepreneur
€ Serial entrepreneur
€ Lifestyle entrepreneur
Social Entrepreneur:
A social entrepreneur is the one who is motivated by a desire to help some social, educational or economic condition, i-e- NGOs and not-for-profit organizations.
Serial Entrepreneur:
A serial entrepreneur is the one who always comes up with some new ideas and innovations. Usually, a serial entrepreneur possesses more risk, innovation and achievement.
Lifestyle Entrepreneur:
A lifestyle entrepreneur is the one who launches his business with such plan for which he had a desire or a passion. This passion becomes the lifestyle of the entrepreneur and such entrepreneurs are usually successful because they work what they have passion for.
Difference in Entrepreneur and Businessman
The difference between traditional businessman and entrepreneurs is not huge, it could be a thin-line yet a defining one. If checked deeply, there is a difference between a traditional businessman and entrepreneurs.
€ A businessman usually starts a venture from an existing idea or concept and therefore becomes a market-player. An entrepreneur, on the other hand, thinks of a unique idea, spins it into a venture and aims to become a market leader.
€ Businessman usually has one primary motive-a healthy bottom line. In short, they want short-term gains. An entrepreneur, however, begins his journey with a people and customer-oriented outlook, solves problems and therefore gives customers what they need as opposed to what they want.
€ Businessman hires people to increase productivity while an entrepreneur creates jobs.
€ A businessman plays it safe, goes for the tried and tested routes and is afraid of failure. An entrepreneur is a person with a daring adventurous spirit, someone who is innovative, revolutionary and unfazed by the idea of failing.
€ A businessman has many business rivals while an entrepreneur's business rival is himself.
€ Businessman is profit-oriented while an entrepreneur is people-oriented.
€ A businessman is a market player while an entrepreneur is a market leader.
€ Businessman is atomistic (gives value to a part of the business world). In contrast, an entrepreneur is holistic (gives importance to the business world as a whole).
€ Businessman is more €Analytical Thinker' while Entrepreneur is more €Possibility Thinker'. This means that, for example, a Business man main focus is not on innovation, but more on making sure a company is making profit. Entrepreneurship on the contrary focus on generating value, and this value could be social, emotional, aesthetic and/or financial.
€ Entrepreneurs love to innovate while traditional business owners love to stick to tested services and solutions.
€ Entrepreneurs are on a look out to create something new-a product, solution, strategy, application, service or even a whole new concept. Whereas, businessmen stick to traditionally popular products and services and try to recycle it.
€ Entrepreneurs tend to pick up niches that are not over-crowded. In fact, they create new niche and market segments. Traditional businessmen, as the name suggest, like to stick to crowded markets.
€ Entrepreneurs have to brace with initial blockage in terms of finance, support and resources. Traditional businessmen often enjoy support because there is not much of speculation over the feasibility of their venture.
€ Entrepreneurs tend to tread a risky path, though the rewards are also pretty rich.
€ Entrepreneurs could innovate at any scale. At the same time, they may face problems in scaling up.
To simplify, the main focus for Business men is:
€ Administration of business
€ Search for truth, Short-term
€ Logical, Linear, Utility, Incremental
€ Features
€ Facts, Verbal, Measure
€ Minimal Risks, Predictable, Smaller Rewards
€ Profit
While, on the contrary, the main focus for Entrepreneurs is:
€ Invention of business
€ Search for what is interesting, Intuitive, Long-term
€ Holistic, Significance & Meaning, Leap forward
€ Benefit
€ Emotion, Visual thinking
€ Risk, Uncertainty, Potentially High Rewards
€ Value
From the comparison above, we can learn that entrepreneurship is not an easy feat compare to merely doing business. We can also realize that an entrepreneur is a business person who has evolved into a more complete person-one that is not simply a business person but a real human being. Being a businessman is good. Being profit-oriented, market player, business competitor, traditional, busy and active income earner is not bad since all business owners have been on those stages. Even the successful entrepreneurs, before they succeed, have been into that. It is just that they have taken the right move to evolve in to a better and even the best businessman that they can be. That is why, they become not only businessmen, but rightfully they become entrepreneurs.
References:
€ Deakins, D.; Freel, M. (2009). Entrepreneurship and Small Firms, 5th Edition. McGraw Hill.
€ Gartner, William B. (2001). "Is There an Elephant in Entrepreneurship? Blind Assumptions in Theory Development.(Business research)" (http:/ / www. entrepreneur. com/ tradejournals/ article/ 80787420. html), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Summer 2001
€ Minniti, Maria; L©vesque, Moren. "Entrepreneurial types and economic growth" (http:/ / econpapers. repec. org/ article/ eeejbvent/ v_3a25_3ay_3a2010_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a305-314. htm), Journal of Business Venturing, 2010, vol. 25, issue 3, pages 305-314.
€ Shane, S.; Venkataraman, S. (2000). "The Promise of Entrepreneurship as A Field of Research" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 259271), Academy of Management Review, Vol 25 (1), 217-226.
€ Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., and Wright, M., (2001). "The Focus of Entrepreneurial Research: Contextual and Process Issues" (http:/ / www. highbeam. com/ doc/ 1G1-80787422. html), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Summer 2001.
€ Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, Shulman (2009). "A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges" (http:/ / econpapers. repec. org/ article/ eeejbvent/ v_3a24_3ay_3a2009_3ai_3a5_3ap_3a519-532. htm), Journal of Business Venturing, 24 (5), pp. 519€"532
€ Business Design Tools(online). Available from http://www.businessdesigntools.com/2012/01/the-difference-between-business-and-entrepreneurship/ (Accessed on 25 June 2013)
€ Anonymous(online). Available from Source...
Key words:
Entrepreneur, Attributes of an entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur, lifestyle entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur:
Entrepreneur is a French word which means a person who possesses some idea or has the skills of transforming any new idea into successful innovation.
Leadership Attributes:
An entrepreneur has to lead an organization. He manages and organizes teams, so he must have management skills and strong team building skills. Entrepreneurs emerge from a group of people; they seek opportunities and become popular because of his creative mind set and innovative skills.
Influences, personality traits and attributes:
Though entrepreneurs possess some typical characteristics that they must have i-e- entrepreneurs are usually extravert and risk-takers, still some environmental factors also influence the entrepreneur and his business because an entrepreneur acts as a catalyst between his business and the changing environmental conditions. Psychologists suggest that the characteristics of male and female entrepreneurs are much similar to each other except for a few differences and this difference can be due to the gender stereotyping.
Types of Entrepreneurs:
Entrepreneurs can be;
€ Social entrepreneur
€ Serial entrepreneur
€ Lifestyle entrepreneur
Social Entrepreneur:
A social entrepreneur is the one who is motivated by a desire to help some social, educational or economic condition, i-e- NGOs and not-for-profit organizations.
Serial Entrepreneur:
A serial entrepreneur is the one who always comes up with some new ideas and innovations. Usually, a serial entrepreneur possesses more risk, innovation and achievement.
Lifestyle Entrepreneur:
A lifestyle entrepreneur is the one who launches his business with such plan for which he had a desire or a passion. This passion becomes the lifestyle of the entrepreneur and such entrepreneurs are usually successful because they work what they have passion for.
Difference in Entrepreneur and Businessman
The difference between traditional businessman and entrepreneurs is not huge, it could be a thin-line yet a defining one. If checked deeply, there is a difference between a traditional businessman and entrepreneurs.
€ A businessman usually starts a venture from an existing idea or concept and therefore becomes a market-player. An entrepreneur, on the other hand, thinks of a unique idea, spins it into a venture and aims to become a market leader.
€ Businessman usually has one primary motive-a healthy bottom line. In short, they want short-term gains. An entrepreneur, however, begins his journey with a people and customer-oriented outlook, solves problems and therefore gives customers what they need as opposed to what they want.
€ Businessman hires people to increase productivity while an entrepreneur creates jobs.
€ A businessman plays it safe, goes for the tried and tested routes and is afraid of failure. An entrepreneur is a person with a daring adventurous spirit, someone who is innovative, revolutionary and unfazed by the idea of failing.
€ A businessman has many business rivals while an entrepreneur's business rival is himself.
€ Businessman is profit-oriented while an entrepreneur is people-oriented.
€ A businessman is a market player while an entrepreneur is a market leader.
€ Businessman is atomistic (gives value to a part of the business world). In contrast, an entrepreneur is holistic (gives importance to the business world as a whole).
€ Businessman is more €Analytical Thinker' while Entrepreneur is more €Possibility Thinker'. This means that, for example, a Business man main focus is not on innovation, but more on making sure a company is making profit. Entrepreneurship on the contrary focus on generating value, and this value could be social, emotional, aesthetic and/or financial.
€ Entrepreneurs love to innovate while traditional business owners love to stick to tested services and solutions.
€ Entrepreneurs are on a look out to create something new-a product, solution, strategy, application, service or even a whole new concept. Whereas, businessmen stick to traditionally popular products and services and try to recycle it.
€ Entrepreneurs tend to pick up niches that are not over-crowded. In fact, they create new niche and market segments. Traditional businessmen, as the name suggest, like to stick to crowded markets.
€ Entrepreneurs have to brace with initial blockage in terms of finance, support and resources. Traditional businessmen often enjoy support because there is not much of speculation over the feasibility of their venture.
€ Entrepreneurs tend to tread a risky path, though the rewards are also pretty rich.
€ Entrepreneurs could innovate at any scale. At the same time, they may face problems in scaling up.
To simplify, the main focus for Business men is:
€ Administration of business
€ Search for truth, Short-term
€ Logical, Linear, Utility, Incremental
€ Features
€ Facts, Verbal, Measure
€ Minimal Risks, Predictable, Smaller Rewards
€ Profit
While, on the contrary, the main focus for Entrepreneurs is:
€ Invention of business
€ Search for what is interesting, Intuitive, Long-term
€ Holistic, Significance & Meaning, Leap forward
€ Benefit
€ Emotion, Visual thinking
€ Risk, Uncertainty, Potentially High Rewards
€ Value
From the comparison above, we can learn that entrepreneurship is not an easy feat compare to merely doing business. We can also realize that an entrepreneur is a business person who has evolved into a more complete person-one that is not simply a business person but a real human being. Being a businessman is good. Being profit-oriented, market player, business competitor, traditional, busy and active income earner is not bad since all business owners have been on those stages. Even the successful entrepreneurs, before they succeed, have been into that. It is just that they have taken the right move to evolve in to a better and even the best businessman that they can be. That is why, they become not only businessmen, but rightfully they become entrepreneurs.
References:
€ Deakins, D.; Freel, M. (2009). Entrepreneurship and Small Firms, 5th Edition. McGraw Hill.
€ Gartner, William B. (2001). "Is There an Elephant in Entrepreneurship? Blind Assumptions in Theory Development.(Business research)" (http:/ / www. entrepreneur. com/ tradejournals/ article/ 80787420. html), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Summer 2001
€ Minniti, Maria; L©vesque, Moren. "Entrepreneurial types and economic growth" (http:/ / econpapers. repec. org/ article/ eeejbvent/ v_3a25_3ay_3a2010_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a305-314. htm), Journal of Business Venturing, 2010, vol. 25, issue 3, pages 305-314.
€ Shane, S.; Venkataraman, S. (2000). "The Promise of Entrepreneurship as A Field of Research" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 259271), Academy of Management Review, Vol 25 (1), 217-226.
€ Ucbasaran, D., Westhead, P., and Wright, M., (2001). "The Focus of Entrepreneurial Research: Contextual and Process Issues" (http:/ / www. highbeam. com/ doc/ 1G1-80787422. html), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Summer 2001.
€ Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, Shulman (2009). "A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges" (http:/ / econpapers. repec. org/ article/ eeejbvent/ v_3a24_3ay_3a2009_3ai_3a5_3ap_3a519-532. htm), Journal of Business Venturing, 24 (5), pp. 519€"532
€ Business Design Tools(online). Available from http://www.businessdesigntools.com/2012/01/the-difference-between-business-and-entrepreneurship/ (Accessed on 25 June 2013)
€ Anonymous(online). Available from Source...