Entrepreneurship in Neoclassical Economics

In Part II of this book the concern is with theoretical treatment of entrepreneurs and the activities that constitute ‘entrepreneurship’. In Chapter 1 it is demonstrated that while there is by no means a consensus in academic thought regarding the definitions of ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘entrepreneurship’, there are common themes, of which the acts of creating and developing innovative new business ventures are the foremost. Another issue to emerge from the discussion of small businesses in Chapter 2 is the fact that few small businesses ever grow to a significant extent, although in aggregate the sheer number and diversity of small business activity makes this an important sector in both advanced and developing contemporary market economies. The concept of entrepreneurship in practical terms is commonly linked to small business activity, with the ‘ideal’ model of business success being the growth of a small business into a corporate giant.