Overview
17 May 2023
Human capital (knowledge, abilities and skills) is considered as stimulus of the innovation process for economic growth and development. This course has been designed to introduce a variety of perspectives on entrepreneurship and SMEs in the public and private sectors. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines an entrepreneur as: “a person who undertakes an enterprise or business with the chance of profit or loss; a contractor acting as an intermediary; the person taking effective control of a commercial undertaking … from the French entreprende, to undertake”.
Entrepreneurs have an important role in helping the economy to deal with innovation and change and the associated risks and uncertainty. This course will discuss four different perspectives for considering who entrepreneurs are. The first set looks at the role or function of entrepreneurs in the economy such as acting as risk takers, resource allocators, and innovators. The second considers that entrepreneurs are those who exhibit particular forms of behaviour. The third set focuses upon the characteristics of entrepreneurs, and the fourth set links entrepreneurship to particular events, such as the creation of a new firm or organisation. There is a large degree of overlap between these differing perspectives, but each can help us to understand various aspects of the entrepreneurship process and entrepreneurs.
Location
London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom