Entrepreneurial intensity : sustainable advantages for individuals, organizations, and societies

The concept of entrepreneurial intensity captures how entrepreneurship fluctuates by degree and frequency, and how it applies to personal well-being, organizational performance, and the quality of societal life. Morris develops his ideas by challenging the 13 leading myths about entrepreneurship while integrating many diverse perspectives on them. Readers will find in the EI concept a new way of examining and understanding the entrepreneurial process and strategies for fostering entrepreneuriship. Rigorously grounded in research, this book is an important resource for the academic community and for business professionals. Entrepreneurship is a subject that has come into vogue rapidly. Governments are trying to foster it, individuals are practicing it in unprecedented numbers, and large organizations are desperately trying to return to their own entrepreneurial roots. Colleges and universities, in response, are now teaching courses on entrepreneurship, and are establishing programs devoted to it. Morris explores this new interest in entrepreneurship, why it matters, and how it can be encouraged. Many controversies and unresolved issues abound such as the basic questions: how should entrepreneurship be defined? and what will its role be in the future?. Morris examines the issues in-depth and gives readers a comprehensive summary of what entrepreneurship means for today's business organizations, their people, and society. Contents 7 Illustrations 11 Foreword 15 Preface 17 Common Myths Regarding Entrepreneurship 21 Understanding Entrepreneurship 33 The Process of Entrepreneurship 45 The Concept of Entrepreneurial Intensity 57 The Environment for Entrepreneurship 79 The Entrepreneurial Individual 95 The Entrepreneurial Organization 113 Entrepreneurship at the Societal Level 133 Government and Entrepreneurship 151 A Braver New World: Entrepreneurship and the Future 163 Suggested Readings 183 Index 185