Introduction to Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship, Types and Functions of Entrepreneurs [For BCOM NEP Syllabus and CBCS Pattern]

An entrepreneur should possess all such characteristics with the help of which he can perform various responsibilities successfully. The following characteristics are:

1. Innovator: Schumpeter differentiates between an inventor and innovator. An inventor discovers new methods and new materials and an innovator is the one who utilizes those discoveries and inventions. Not only this, the entrepreneur further exploits the inventions commercially and thus produces newer and better goods which give him profit and satisfaction. Innovation may occur in the following forms:

(i) The introduction of new goods.

(ii) The introduction of new methods of production.

(iii) The opening of a new market.

(iv) The conquest of a new source of supply of raw-material.

(v) The carrying out of the new form of organization of any industry.

The entrepreneur locates ideas and puts them into effect in the process of economic development. According to Baumol, an entrepreneur is a Schumpetarian innovator and something more than a leader.

2. Risk-taker: Risk means the condition of not knowing the outcome of an activity or decision. A risk situation occurs when one is required to make a choice between two or more alternatives whose potential outcomes are not known and must be subjectively evaluated. A risk situation involves potential gain or loss. The greater the possible loss, the greater is the risk involved.

An entrepreneur is a calculated risk-tasker. He enjoys the excitement of a challenge but he does not gamble. An entrepreneur avoids low-risk situation because there is a lack of challenge and he avoids high-risk situation because he wants to succeed. He likes achievable challenges. An entrepreneur likes to take realistic risks because he wants to be successful. He gets greater satisfaction in accomplishing difficult but realistic tasks by applying his own skills. Hence, low-risk situation and high-risk situation both are avoided because these do not satisfy the entrepreneur.

3. Organiser: An entrepreneur has to bring together various factors of production, minimize losses and reduce the cost of production. Initially, he may take all the decisions but as the enterprise grows, he starts delegating the authority. He produces that best results as an organizer. Not only this, it is the entrepreneur who has to pick or select the right piece of land, choose the right person and opt for the finance. He must be able to inspire loyalty and hard work amongst the workers to raise productivity and efficiency.

4. Creative: Creatively, as field knowledge, seeks to explain how humans, either individually or collectively, reach solutions that are both novel and useful. Innovation means the effort to create purposeful ventures. Harry Nystrom states that innovation may be defined as radical discontinuous change and creativity is the ability to devise and successfully implement such changes. Successful innovations depend on creativity and one of the most important requirements of an entrepreneur is to be creative as creativity may be taken as the cause and successful innovation as the effect.

5. Motivator: McClelland explicitly introduces the need for achievement motivation as a psychological motive and implicitly emphasised the need for achievement as the most directly relevant factor for explaining economic behaviour. Achievement motivation is a drive to overcome challenges, to advance and to grow. An entrepreneur is an achievement-oriented person, not ‘money hungry’. He works for his desire for challenge, accomplishment and service to others.

6. Technical Competent: Success of an entrepreneur depends largely upon his ability to adopt latest technology. Technical knowledge implies the ability to devise and use new and better ways of producing and marketing goods and services. An entrepreneur must have a reasonable level of technical knowledge. Technical knowledge is the ability that people can acquire with hard work.

7. Self-confident: It is necessary for an entrepreneur to be self-confident. He should have faith in himself only then he can trust others. In an expanded business, delegation of authority is a must and only a self-confident entrepreneur can delegate his authority. He can seek cooperation of his staff and inculcate a sense of team work in them.

8. Socially Responsible: The changing environment calls for a socially conscious entrepreneur who is not threatened by progress of others. On the contrary, he acts in full awareness of social repercussions of his actions. His entrepreneurial ability may create jobs for others. He may invent new products and new manufacturing methods. He may innovate new ways of doing things. All these have social consequences. An entrepreneur should think of projects of social significance and of importance to others.

9. Optimistic: An entrepreneur should approach his task with a hope of success and optimistic attitude. He attempts any task with the hope that he will succeed rather than with a fear of failure. Such a hope of success enhances his confidence and drives him towards success.

10. Equipped with Capability to Drive: Drive is a person’s motivation towards a task. It comprises of such personality traits as responsibility, vigour, initiative, persistence and ambition. An entrepreneur must exert considerable effort in establishing and managing his business. Those entrepreneurs who work hard in planning, organizing, co-ordinating and controlling their business are more likely to have a successful business than the entrepreneur who is lost and haphazard.

Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship can be described as a process of action an entrepreneur undertakes to establish his enterprise. It is a creative activity. It is the ability to create and build something from practically nothing. 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 of numerous activities involved in conception, creation and running an enterprise.

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.’

Entrepreneurship is a discipline with a knowledge base theory. It is an outcome of complex socio economic, psychological, technological, legal and other factors. It is a dynamic and risky process. It involves a fusion of capital, technology and human talent. Entrepreneurship is equally applicable to big and small businesses, to economic and non-economic activities.

Enterprise: Entrepreneur is a person who starts an enterprise. The process of creation is called entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is the actor and entrepreneurship is the act. The outcome of the actor and the act is called the enterprise. 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.

Though both the terms entrepreneur and entrepreneurship are almost similar they possess several differentiating terms with them. The differences between the entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are as follows:

Entrepreneur	Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneur one who undertakes and operates a new enterprise and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.	Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in responses to identified opportunities.
Entrepreneur is often synonymous with founder.	Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo projects to major undertakings creating many job opportunities.
The person who starts and operates a business enterprise is an entrepreneur.	The process in which an entrepreneur starts and operates his business enterprise is entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneur is a coordinator as he coordinates all the three elements of production i.e. land, labor and capital.	Entrepreneurship is the coordination maintained by an entrepreneur.
The person who innovates something new is an entrepreneur.	The innovation of something new or the process of innovation is entrepreneurship.
He who leads an enterprise towards its vision thorough leadership, motivation is an entrepreneur.	The way in which an entrepreneur leads his manpower, motivates them for the achievement of the firms goal is entrepreneurship.

1. Cost: An innovating entrepreneur is one who introduces new goods, inaugurates new method of production to produce a new product. An innovator has to maintain more cost than imitative entrepreneurs. But the developing countries cannot afford to bear this cost. On the other hand, an imitative entrepreneur follows the innovator entrepreneurs. They copy the product that has been innovated before. Since innovative entrepreneurs need to expense a lot of money that imitative entrepreneurs. So developing countries need imitative entrepreneurs.

2. Technology: From the technology the developed countries are better than the developing countries in case of technology. An innovative entrepreneur uses the modern technology. But developing countries cannot use digital technology. So in the developing countries need imitative entrepreneurs.

3. Discovery of Market: Discovery of market is easy for the developed countries. So the developed countries can expect innovative entrepreneurs. On the other hand, in the developing countries it is difficult to spread the market of product. So developing countries need imitative entrepreneurs.

4. New method of production: It is very difficult to make a new method of production for the developing countries. As innovative entrepreneurs adopt new methods of production. So developing countries need to choose the imitative ones to re3duce the risk of loss.

5. Reorganizing: An innovating entrepreneur reorganizes the enterprise. But the enterprises in the developing countries like India cannot be re-formatted. So the imitative entrepreneurs are most suitable for the developing countries. 

6. Challenge: An innovating entrepreneur can take challenge. But the developing countries cannot let the public in the face of the Black hole. That is why the imitative entrepreneurs are suitable for the developing countries.

7. Intention: In the developing countries like India the people are less educated for what they are not intentionally keen to engage in the entrepreneurial activities.

8. Less initiative: There is a lack of opportunities in the developing countries for what the individuals do not come forward to take initiative to form an enterprise.

9. Risk: In a developing country the people do not take a chance in using the new product for what the innovators do not take chance of inventing new products.

10. Imitation: In a developing country like ours the people do not possess any knowledge on the latest technology for what they take the path of imitation. They bring out the products that are being sold worldwide.

Traits and Qualities (Characteristics or Matching of situational requirements) of an Entrepreneur:

The true entrepreneur is one who is endowed with more than average capacities in the task of organizing and co-coordinating the various other factors of production. He should be a pioneer, a captain of industry. The supply of such entrepreneurship is however quite limited and all are not endowed with such talent. The modern entrepreneur is one who detects and evaluates a new situation in his environment and directs the making of such adjustments in the economic systems as he deems necessary. He conceives a new industrial enterprise, displays considerable initiative, grit and determination in bringing his project to fruition. Some of the qualities of an entrepreneur are mentioned below:

1) Initiative: Initiation of any business activity should come from the entrepreneur. It is the entrepreneur who takes action that goes beyond job requirements or the demand of the situation. He does things before being asked or forced by the events.

2) Looking for opportunities: A successful entrepreneur is one who always is on the look for and takes action on opportunities. He must be always in readiness to exploit it in maximizing the interest of the organization.

3) Persistence: An entrepreneur should take repeated actions to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of reaching goals. He should never be disheartened by failures. He should believe in the Japanese proverb, "Fall seven times, and stand up eight".

4) Information seeking: An entrepreneur is always in search of new ideas and information’s from various sources to help reach objectives or clarify problems. He can consult experts for business or technical advice. He personally undertakes research, analysis or investigation on his own to get information in realizing his goals.

5) Concern for quality products: Successful entrepreneurs always believe in high quality standards of their products with reasonable prices. They believe in excellence. They act to do things that meet or beat existing standards of excellence.

6) Commitment to work: Successful entrepreneurs do every sacrifice to get the task completed. They put highest priority for accomplishing their objective. They are committed to their work. They also express a concern for satisfying their customers.

7) Efficiency orientation: Successful entrepreneurs find ways to do things faster with fewer resources at lower costs. They are always interested in devising new methods aimed at promoting efficiency.

8) Systematic Planning: Entrepreneurs develop and use logical, step-by-step, realistic and proper plans to accomplish their goals. They believe in systematic planning and its proper execution to reach goals.

9) Problem solving: Successful entrepreneurs are challenging by nature. They always try to find out ways and means to overcome the problems that come in their way. They also identify new and potentially unique ideas to achieve their targets.

10) Self-Confidence: Successful entrepreneurs must have a strong belief in themselves and in their own abilities. They have full faith and confidence on their own knowledge, skill, and competency to complete a task or meet a challenge. They are not at all cowed down by difficult situations.

11) Assertiveness: A successful entrepreneur must be assertive in nature so that he can assert his issues with others for promotion of interest of his enterprise. He tells others what they have to do and rebuke or disciplines those failing to perform as expected.

12) Persuasion: A successful entrepreneur must be able to persuade others to do the work the way he wants them to do. He is able to convince others through his knowledge and competence. He asserts strong confidence in his own company's product or services. He must possess the ability to convince everybody - sellers, consumers, employees, creditors etc.

An entrepreneur frequently has to wear many hats. He has to perceive opportunity, plan, organize resources, and oversee production, marketing, and liaison with officials. Most importantly he has to innovate and bear risk. The main functions of an entrepreneur are as follows:

1. Innovation: Innovation is one of the most important functions of an entrepreneur according to Schumpeter. An entrepreneur uses information, knowledge and intuition to come up with new products, new methods of reducing costs of a product, improvement in design or function of a product, discovering new markets or new ways of organization of industry. Through innovation, an entrepreneur converts a material into a resource or combines existing resources into new and more productive configurations. It is the creativity of an entrepreneur that results in invention [creation of new knowledge] and innovation [application of knowledge to create new products, services or processes.] Systematic innovation means monitoring the following for innovative opportunity:

Ø  The unexpected success or failure or any unexpected outside event, (e.g. when the IT bubble burst the ITES sector started growing.)

Ø  Innovation based on process need [e.g. plate based cameras, film based cameras, digital cameras]

Ø  Changes in industry and market structure [e.g. video cassette VCD, DVD, Blue ray disc]

Ø  Demographics changes (e.g. increasing number of working women and nuclear families in most metropolitan cities)

Ø  New knowledge (e.g. Pentium chip)

2. Risk and uncertainty bearing: According to Hozelist an entrepreneur performs the function of risk and uncertainty bearing. Every decision pertaining to development of new products, adapting new technologies, opening up new markets involves risk. Decision-making in an environment of uncertainty requires anticipation of risk. Profit is said to be the reward for anticipating and taking such risks. However, it is pertinent to mention that the entrepreneur is not a gambler, he only takes calculated risks. An entrepreneur develops the art of decision making under conditions of uncertainty as a matter of survival.

3. Organization building: An entrepreneur has to organize men, material and other resources. He has to perform the functions of planning, co-ordination and control. He has to use his leadership qualities to build a team, generate resources and solve problems. With his organizational skills an entrepreneur builds an enterprise from scratch, nurtures it and makes it grow. His vision sows the seeds for a sound and vibrant organization and synergies are built in the enterprise.

According to Kilby in a developing country even the imitator entrepreneurs are very important and the entrepreneurial role encompasses the following:

a)       Perception of market opportunities

b)      Gaining command over scarce resources

c)       Purchasing inputs

d)      Marketing the products

e)      Dealing with bureaucrats

f)        Managing human relations within the firm

g)       Managing customer and supplier relations

h)      Managing finance

i)        Managing production

j)        Acquiring and overseeing assembly of the factory

k)       Industrial engineering

l)        Upgrading process and product

m)    Introducing new production techniques and products

Entrepreneurs are classified as under different heads as given below. This helps the potential entrepreneurs to choose his own nature and style of entrepreneurship.

a) According to the Type of Business: Entrepreneurs are found in various types of business occupations of varying size. We may broadly classify them as follows:

Business Entrepreneur: Business entrepreneurs are individuals who conceive an idea for a new product or service and then create a business to materialize their idea into reality. They tap both production and marketing resources in their search to develop a new business opportunity. They may set up a big establishment or a small business unit.

Trading entrepreneur: Trading entrepreneur is one who undertakes trading activities and is not concerned with the manufacturing work. He identifies potential markets, stimulates demand for his product line and creates a desire and interest among buyers to go in for his product. He is engaged in both domestic and overseas trade.

Industrial Entrepreneur: Industrial entrepreneur is essentially a manufacturer who identifies the potential needs of customers and tailors product or service to meet the marketing needs. He is a product oriented man who starts in an industrial unit because of the possibility of making some new product.

Corporate Entrepreneur: Corporate entrepreneur is essentially a manufacturer who identifies the potential needs of customers and tailors product or service to meet the marketing needs. He is a product oriented man who starts in an industrial unit because of the possibility of making some new product.

Agricultural Entrepreneur: Agricultural entrepreneurs are those entrepreneurs who undertake such agricultural activities as raising and marketing of crops, fertilizers and other inputs of agriculture. According to the use of Technology.

Technical Entrepreneur: A technical entrepreneur is essentially an entrepreneur of “Craftsman type”. He develops a new and improved quality of goods because of his craftsmanship. He concentrates more on production than marketing.

Non-technical Entrepreneur: Non-technical entrepreneurs are those who are not concerned with the technical aspects of the product in which they deal. They are concerned only with developing alternative marketing and distribution strategies to promote their business.

Professional Entrepreneur: Professional entrepreneur is a person who is interested in establishing a business but does not have interest in managing or operating it once it is established.

b) According to Motivation: Motivation is the force that influences the efforts of the entrepreneur to achieve his objectives. An entrepreneur is motivated to achieve or prove his excellence in job performance. He is also motivated to influence others by demonstrating his power thus satisfying his ego.

Pure Entrepreneur: A pure entrepreneur is an individual who is motivated by psychological and economic rewards. He undertakes an entrepreneurial activity for his personal satisfaction in work, ego or status.

Induced Entrepreneur: Induced entrepreneur is one who is being induced to take up an entrepreneurial task due to the policy measures of the government that provides assistance, incentives, concessions and necessary overhead facilities to start a venture.

Motivated Entrepreneur: New entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire for self-fulfillment. They come into being because of the possibility of making and marketing some new product for the use of consumers. If the product is developed to a saleable stage, the entrepreneur is further motivated by reward in terms of profit and enlarged customer network.

Spontaneous Entrepreneur: These entrepreneurs start their business out of their natural talents and instinct. They are persons with initiative, boldness and confidence in their ability which motivate them to undertake entrepreneurial activity.

Growth Entrepreneur: Growth entrepreneurs are those who necessarily take up a high growth industry. These entrepreneurs choose an industry which has substantial growth prospects.

Super-Growth Entrepreneur: Super-growth entrepreneur are those who have shown enormous growth of performance in their venture. The growth performance is identified by the liquidity of funds, profitability and gearing.

c) According to Stages of Development

First-Generation Entrepreneur: A first generation entrepreneur is one who starts an industrial unit by means of an innovative skill. He is essentially an innovator, combining different technologies to produce a marketable product or service.

Modern Entrepreneur: A modern entrepreneur is one who undertakes those ventures which go well along with the changing demand in the market. They undertake those ventures which suit the current marketing needs.

Classical Entrepreneur: A classical entrepreneur is one who is concerned with the customers and marketing needs through the development of a self supporting venture. He is a stereo type entrepreneur whose aim is to maximize his economic returns at a level consistent with the survival of the firm with or without an element of growth.

Innovating Entrepreneurs: Innovating entrepreneurship is characterized by aggressive assemblage of information and analysis of results, deriving from a novel combination of factors. Men/women in this group are generally aggressive in experimentation who exhibit cleverness in putting attractive possibilities into practice.

Imitative Entrepreneurs: Imitative entrepreneurship is characterized by readiness to adopt successful innovations by innovating entrepreneurs. They first imitate techniques and technology innovated by others.

Fabian Entrepreneurs: These categories of entrepreneurs are basically running their venture on the basis of conventions and customary practices. They don’t want to introduce change and not interested in coping with changes in environment. They have all sorts of inhibitions, shyness and lethargic attitude. They are basically risk aversor and more cautious in their approach.

Drone Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs who are reluctant to introduce any changes in their production methods, processes and follow their own traditional style of operations. Though they incur losses and looses their market potential, will not take any effort to overcome the problem. Their products and the firm will get natural death and knockout.

Forced Entrepreneurs: Sometimes, circumstances made many persons to become entrepreneurs. They do not have any plan, forward looking and business aptitude. To mitigate the situational problem, they are forced to plunge into entrepreneurial venture. Most of the may not be successful in this category due to lack of training and exposure.