Pioneers in entrepreneurship and small business research by hans landstrom

PIONEERS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
SMALL BUSINESS RESEARCH


INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Series Editors:
Zoltan J. Acs
University of Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland USA
David B. Audretsch
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana USA
Other books in the series:
Black, G.
The Geography of Small Firm Innovation
Tubke, A.
Success Factors of Corporate Spin-Offs
Corbetta, G., Huse, M., Ravasi, D.
Crossroads of Entrepreneurship
Hansen, T., Solgaard, H.S.
New Perspectives in Retailing and Store Patronage Behavior
Davidsson, P.
Researching Entrepreneurship
Fornahl, D., Audretsch D., Zellner, C.
The Role of Labour Mobility and Informal Networks for Knowledge Transfer
Audretsch D., Grimm, H., Wessner, C.
Local Heroes in the Global Village


PIONEERS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND

SMALL BUSINESS RESEARCH

Hans Landström
Institute of Economic Research, Lund University School of Economics, Lund, Sweden

Springer


eBook ISBN:
Print ISBN:

0-387-23633-3
0-387-23601-5

©2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
Print ©2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
Boston
All rights reserved
No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher
Created in the United States of America
Visit Springer's eBookstore at:
and the Springer Global Website Online at:





Contents

Foreword

ix

Acknowledgements

xi

Part I
1.

2.

3.

A History of Entreprenership and Small Business Research

INTRODUCTION
The Development of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Research
The Mystery of Enterpreneurship
The Content of the Book
THE ROOTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL
BUSINESS RESEARCH
Early Thinking on Entrepreneurship
Joseph Alois Schumpeter
The Post-Schumpeterian Development of Economic Science
From Economic to Behavioral Science
Entrepreneurship and Small Business in Management Science
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research in Relation to

Societal Developments
THE EMERGENCE OF AN ACADEMIC FIELD
The Decade of the Pioneers and the Enthusiastic Emergence
of the Field
The Growth of Entrepreneurship Research
The Cognitive Development of Entrepreneurship and
Small Business Research
The Struggles

3
3
7
21

27
27
31
37
39
47
51
59
60
65
70
83


vi

Pioneers in Entreprenuership and Small Business Research

95
96
115
123

4.

THE INTERNATIONAL PICTURE
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research in Europe
Entreprenuership and Small Business Research in Australia
Comparisons between Europe, Australia, and the US

5.

PIONEERS – THE INDIVIDUALS WHO CREATED THE
FIELD
131
132
Infrastucture Builders – Setting the Stage
136
Research Pioneers – Playing the Game
150
And the Winner is

Part II
6.

7.

8.

9.

Pioneers – Macro-level Analysis

DAVID BIRCH
David Birch – a Genuine Pioneering Achievement and a
Breakthrough for Entreprenuership and Small Business
Research
Stream of Interest in David Birch’s Research
Perspectives on High Growth Firms (Gazelles)
DAVID STOREY
David Storey – Building Bridges between Research and
Policy Making
Stream of Interest in David Storey’s Research
Perspectives on Small Businesses
ZOLTAN ACS AND DAVID AUDRETSCH
Zoltan Acs and David Audretsch – Discoverers of the Role
of Small Firms in Innovation and Creators of the Small
Business Economics Research Field
Stream of Interest in Zoltan Acs’ and David Audretsch’s
Research
Perspectives on Small Business Economics
GIACOMO BECATTINI
Giacomo Becattini – Rediscovery of the Marshallian
Industrial Districts
Stream of Interest in Giacomo Becattini’s Research
Piore and Sabel “The Second Industrial Divide” (1984)

Perspectives on Industrial Districts

159

159
162
169
173
173
177
196
205

205
217
223
235
235
240
253
255


vii

Table of Contents

Part III Pioneers - Micro-level Analysis
10. ARNOLD COOPER
263

Arnold Cooper – Combining Interesting Research Questions
with Scientific Rigor
263
Stream of Interest in Arnold Cooper’s Research
268
Perspectives on High-tech Firms
284
11. IAN MACMILLAN
Ian MacMillan – Academic Legitimizer, Organizer of
Entrepreneurship Research and a Researcher Devoted to
“Actionable” Research
Stream of Iinterest in Ian MacMillan’s Research
Perspectives on Corporate Entrepreneurship

295
301
316

12. HOWARD ALDRICH
Howard Aldrich - Theorist and Legitimizer of the Field
Stream of Interest in Howard Aldrich’s Research
Perspectives on the Evolution of New Firms

325
325
330
348

295

Part IV Epilogue
13. A RETROSPECTIVE AS A FUTURE OUTLOOK

361


This page intentionally left blank


Foreword

It is almost ten years now since the FSF-NUTEK International Award
was introduced, the first award winner being appointed 1996. The
objective of introducing an award of the sum 50 000 USD is to promote
outstanding research in the area of small business and entrepreneurship.
The award is bestowed upon an individual researcher or group of
researchers who have made significant contribution to increasing
understanding of entrepreneurship, small business development, the role
and significance of new business start-ups, and the impact of small
business on economic development.
The award has since it started 1996 been giving to a number of very
distinguished researchers from US and Europe. From David Birch and
his ideas about the importance of small business as job creators to Paul
Reynolds and his ideas of how to measure and compare the
entrepreneurial spirit of nations.
In this book Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Research you can read of most of these excellent researchers. For Paul
Reynolds and William J Baumol special papers have been produced
about their research. You can also read more about the different award
winners on the websites www.fsf.se and www.nutek.se.

Around the world an increasing interest can be seen concerning
issues of small business and entrepreneurship, and it is of vital
importance to learn about the existing research knowledge about the
individuals which start business, the characteristics of spin-offs from
universities, the importance of clusters and industrial districts, the
domain of the policy areas for small business. Reasons why there are so
few really innovative entrepreneurs to give some examples. Therefore it
is a book of great importance not only for researchers but also for service
providers and policy-makers.
In a time with a lot of myths and opinions of the role of entrepreneurs
and small business it is vital to like in this book summarize the


x

Pioneers in Entreprenuership and Small Business Research

knowledge that can be learned from really outstanding research. Such
knowledge is often build upon empirical oriented methods giving a lot of
policy relevant results of what to do or not to do in creating a society for
small business owners and entrepreneurs.
The Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and The
Swedish Business Development Agency (NUTEK) will continue to
support the creation and dissemination of knowledge from excellent
research to make better use of such knowledge among both the research
society and politicians or service providers. This book is therefore an
important piece in this work. Read it, discuss it and find interesting ideas
for your future work.
Stockholm in September 2004
Anders Lundström

President, FSF

Sune Halvarsson
Deputy Director General, NUTEK


Acknowledgements

In this book I will provide a historical-doctrinal review of the
development of entrepreneurship and small business research as well as
presenting some of the researchers who created and shaped the field –
the pioneers of entrepreneurship and small business research. Such an
undertaking is always associated with risk. Many people have their own
“images” of history, and history can be depicted from many different
perspectives as well as focusing on various aspects. I therefore wish to
stress that this is my own subjective description of history, where I have
chosen to focus on the individuals and events that, in my view, have
been important in the shaping of the research field. There is also a risk
that some readers will use a book such as this as an easy route to the core
works of the research field. This book is not intended as a substitute for
in-depth study of the original works, but instead I hope that it will
stimulate such reading – a challenge that is both fascinating and highly
recommended. My motivation for writing this book, despite the risks
involved, is that entrepreneurship is a young and quickly growing
research field and I believe it is beneficial to stop now and again to
reflect on the knowledge acquired through research in order to establish
a basis for further development.
Even if this book is to a great extent a personal reflection, I have
received considerable help and valuable comments and views from many
of my colleagues. First, I would like to mention some good friends and

colleagues who have assisted me in the writing of this book. Many of the
initial ideas for the book were developed in collaboration with Morten
Huse, and our close collaboration over many years has been both fruitful
and stimulating. I would also like to mention my long and exciting
collaboration with Bengt Johannisson. Bengt has not been directly
involved in the writing of this book, but my discussions with him over
many years of friendship have influenced my views on entrepreneurship


xii

Pioneers in Entreprenuership and Small Business Research

and small business as a research field and given me a great deal of ideas
on the history of the field and where it is heading.
Second, the book focuses on the first recipients of the FSF-NUTEK
International Award for Small Business Research, and I am very grateful
to the award winners David Birch, Arnold Cooper, David Storey, Ian
MacMillan, Howard Aldrich, Zoltan Acs, David Audretsch, and
Giacomo Becattini for making time for the interviews and for many
intellectually stimulating discussions. In this connection I also wish to
extend my heartfelt thanks to Thomas Mattsson of the entrepreneurship
library at Jönköping International Business School, who always located
the literature necessary for this project with great enthusiasm and
efficiency.
Third, in the course of this project, a number of researchers have been
interviewed, who have contributed their knowledge and views on the
development of the research field. I would like to thank Jon Aarum
Andersen, Per Davidsson, Frederick Delmar, Gunnar Eliasson, Marlene
Fiol, Richard Harrison, Magnus Henrekson, Colin Mason, Rita McGrath,

Dale Meyer, Charlene Nicholls-Nixon, and Roy Thurik for giving me
access to their knowledge and reflections on the development of the
field.
Fourth, the book also contains a review of entrepreneurship and small
business research in different countries. I have visited a number of
countries and interviewed researchers with a good overview of the
research field in the respective country. In this respect I wish to thank:
Josef Mugler, Hermann Frank, Hanns Pichler, Nikolaus Franke, David
Smallbone, David Kirby, Robert Blackburn, Gabi Dei Ottati, Isabelle
Marchini, Guido Corbetta, Massimo Columbo, Antoinio Ramos
Rodrigues, Lars Kolvereid, Mette Mönsted, Poul Dreisler, and
Annaleena Parhankangas. A special thank to Damian Hine for his efforts
regarding the analysis of the development of entrepreneurship and small
business research in Australia.
Fifth, several people have read at least part of the book and given me
feedback on the manuscript, and I am therefore very grateful to Poul
Dreisler, Damian Hine, David Kirby, Josef Mugler, David Smallbone,
and Joakim Winborg for their efforts and challenging comments, which
have helped me improve upon the quality of the manuscript.
Sixth, parts of the book have been presented at a number of seminars,
conferences and especially at a large number of doctoral courses around
Europe. It would be impossible to individually mention the large number
of people who have discussed the subject with me, but our discussions
have always been fruitful and on many occasions have caused me to
reflect on my own views.
Finally, the book has taken a longer time to complete than I had
anticipated. The Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF)
has funded the project, and Anders Lundström, President of FSF, has
shown admirable patience with regard to the completion of the book.

xiii
The same is true of Kluwer Academic Publishers, who with an equal
measure of patience and good will have waited for a manuscript that
never seemed to assume its final form. I also wish to thank Gullvi
Nilsson and Monique Federsel, who have helped me handle the English
language in a most exemplary way.
Hans Landström
Institute of Economic Research
Lund University School of Economics and Management
Lund, Sweden


This page intentionally left blank


A HISTORY OF ENTREPRENERSHIP AND
SMALL BUSINESS RESEARCH


This page intentionally left blank


Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

The aim of Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Research is first to provide a historical-doctrinal review of the
development of entrepreneurship and small business research and,
second, to present some of the pioneers that have shaped the research

field during the past three decades. In this introductory chapter I wish to
lay the foundation of the book by presenting some of the main themes
and discussions (section 1.1.). A problem in entrepreneurship research is
the difficulty of defining the concept of “entrepreneurship” and, in
section 1.2., some of the definitions employed in the research over the
years are presented. The chapter concludes with section 1.3., which
presents an outline of the structure and content of the book.

1.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS
RESEARCH

1.1

Entrepreneurship in Society and Academia – a
Long Standing Interest

Historically, entrepreneurship is one of the oldest activities. To
discover or identify new business possibilities and to exploit these
possibilities in new ventures for economic gain has always been


4

Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research

important in human life. Entrepreneurial activities in society are
mentioned by the ancient Greeks, and it was the philosopher Xenophon

(approx. 430-354 B.C) who recognized the adventurous and opportunity
seeking activities of oversea merchants (Karayiannis, 2003).
“So deep is their love of corn that on receiving reports that it is
abundant anywhere, merchants will voyage in quest of it: they will
cross the Aegean, the Euxine, the Sicilian sea; and when they have
got as much as possible, they carry it over the sea, and they actually
stow it in the very ship in which they sail themselves. And when they
want money, they don’t throw the corn away anywhere at haphazard,
but they carry it to the place where they hear that corn is most valued
and the people prize it the most highly, and deliver it to them there.”
(Oeconomicus, quoted in Karayiannis, 2003, p. 558)
Throughout history we have seen many important examples of
entrepreneurial activities. One wave of entrepreneurial activities took
place during the last few decades. In the 1970s and 1980s we
experienced huge structural changes in society worldwide – oil crises,
economic recessions, technological progress, increasing globalization,
etc., as well as far reaching political changes in favor of a stronger
market-oriented ideology. This created the uncertainty and
disequilibrium that constitute breeding grounds for new business
opportunities and new ventures (Bettis & Hitt, 1995; Meyer & Heppard,
2000). As a consequence, new and small firms have been seen by
politicians and decision-makers as the main contributors to the
development of the economy and wealth-creation in society.
This interest in entrepreneurship and small firms on the part of
society has also had an impact on the academic world. The study of
entrepreneurship and small business has become one of the most popular
fields of research in management studies. The research has grown
exponentially, the number of positions and chairs in entrepreneurship
and small business has increased dramatically, and PhD programs
specializing in entrepreneurship have been introduced at various

universities (Finkle & Deeds, 2001). In the US, entrepreneurship is
taught at over 1,600 schools in more than 2,200 courses. At the same
time 277 endowed positions have been established, and there are 44
English-language refereed academic journals within the area (Katz,
2003). It is no exaggeration to say that entrepreneurship and small firms
have been a “hot topic” in society as well as in education and academic
research in recent decades.
The rapid development of the research within the field has, however,
had some adverse effects – observers from (more) mature fields of study,
looking at this growing body of entrepreneurship and small business
research, have questioned whether the research really has created a
coherent research stream that advances the field. For example, concerns
have been raised in respect of (i) the problem of defining entrepreneur-


Introduction
ship and the uncertainty in the domain of entrepreneurship and small
business research, and (ii) the fact that the field still suffers from a
“liability of newness” (Stinchcombe, 1965), which among other things is
evidenced by fragmented research and a transient research community,
and consequently a lack of a theoretical foundation. Seen in this light,
the research still has a long way to go before it can be regarded as an
established scientific discipline, including (Molander, 1988): a social
structure expressed in terms of organized forums for communication
between researchers within the field, an established organization that
ensures its survival, and role models and ideals as well as educational
programs that provide and define the minimum competence required of
researchers within the field, in addition to a cognitive structure including
a general delimitation of and wide ranging background knowledge about
the study object as well as accepted methods and ways of reasoning.

In the book I will show how scholars from different disciplines have
taken an interest in entrepreneurship and small firms since the 18th
century, represented by precursors such as Richard Cantillon and Jean
Baptiste Say, and Austrian economists like Carl Menger and Joseph
Schumpeter. The interest was intensified during the 20th century, when
it spread to many different academic disciplines. Entrepreneurship and
small business research gradually changed from being a topic within
economic science, becoming a part of behavioral science, before finally
moving into the area of management science. There is, thus, a long
research tradition to build on, and the purpose of this book is to shed
light on it with reference to the development of entrepreneurship and
small business research throughout history. In the book I will also argue
that the interest in entrepreneurship and small business research seems to
appear at different eras and peaks during periods characterized by
powerful dynamics and societal development. Thus, there seems to be a
strong link between societal development and the interest in
entrepreneurship and small business research.

1.2

The Emergence of Entrepreneurship and Small
Business as a Field of Research

Even if scholars within different scientific disciplines have long taken
an interest in entrepreneurship and small business, it is only in the past
two decades, or not more than half an academic career, that the study of
entrepreneurship and small business has been conducted more
systematically and that a research field has started to emerge. This
development has been characterized by exponential growth, which is
obvious almost irrespective of the measures employed. The field seems

to have been especially successful when it comes to building a strong
social structure with an advanced infrastructure in terms of number of
journals, conferences, educational programs, etc., but this advanced

5


6

Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research

infrastructure has not been fully paralleled by a corresponding cognitive
development. However, the field is still young, and today we know a
great deal more about the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and small firms
than we did twenty years ago.
In the book I will try to describe the emergence of entrepreneurship
and small business research during the 1980s and 1990s and the
development of the field from a discovery-oriented research approach
toward strong empirically-based research and the increasingly theoretical
interest that we can find today. Entrepreneurship and small business
research generally seems to follow the existing pattern for the
development of new fields of research. I will argue that today there seem
to be two different, and partly contradictory, tendencies: one converging
more and more toward a “normal science approach” – mainly based on a
US research tradition – and another in the form of increased
heterogeneity within the research, which is based on differing contextual
preconditions and research traditions in various countries. Against this
background, the efforts to attain coherence by unified entrepreneurship
and small business research are open to question.

1.3

The Contributions of the Pioneers

In emerging phases of new research fields, such as entrepreneurship
and small business research, some individuals seem to be more important
than others – a few researchers who ask the interesting and important
questions and who make new phenomena visible, who attract other
researchers (pioneers who open up new territories of research) but also
researchers who start to organize colleagues with similar interests,
maintain informal contacts with other researchers, recruit and train new
doctoral students for the field, etc. – pioneers who create a research
community. In this way these pioneers have a substantial impact upon
the emerging research field in terms of setting the norms and maintaining
the cohesion of the area. Put in another way, these pioneer researchers
seem to play a major role in giving direction to the emerging field of
research as well as influencing the selection of research problems
(Crane, 1972). In a similar way, Aldrich & Baker (1997) argued that
“Influences come from exemplary research, not from the propagation of
rules or admonitions. The field will be shaped by those who produce
research that interests and attracts others to build on their work” (p. 398).
In this book I wish to highlight the contributions of these pioneers –
researchers that have been highly influential in the development of the
research field. It is my wish that the reader will not only gain an insight
into the key contributions of these pioneers but also get to know them as
individuals and researchers. However, the field of entrepreneurship and
small business includes many individual researchers that can be regarded
as pioneers, and I do not claim to provide a complete picture of the
contributions of all pioneers in the field. The pioneers selected for

Introduction
inclusion in this book have all received the International Award for
Small Business Research – an award established in 1996 by the Swedish
Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and the Swedish National
Board for Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK). The Award
is presented annually to a researcher who has produced scholarly work of
outstanding quality and importance within the field of entrepreneurship
and small business research.
I will demonstrate that the contributions of these pioneers are not
based on chance or flashes of genius but that their ground-breaking
works are the result of solid empirical research based on new measuring
instruments resulting from the development of information technology
and new databases as well as their openness to ongoing societal changes.
As in most radical ventures, courage is required in order to free oneself
from the rules and knowledge of established disciplines, in combination
with the motivation necessary to question conventional wisdom within
the discipline and society at large, in addition to “timing” – their findings
were presented at exactly the right time when new and small firms were
in vogue. As a consequence, the pioneers focused their attention on
important questions relevant for wealth creation in society and presented
interesting theories about the phenomenon – theories that involved a
certain movement of the minds of the audience.

THE MYSTERY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

2.

A long-standing difficulty is how to define the central concepts
within entrepreneurship and small business research and to demarcate

the entrepreneurial domain. As far back as 1971, Peter Kilby observed
that the entrepreneur has a lot in common with the “Heffalump”, a large
animal that competed for honey in A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. The
“Heffalump” is described as:
“... a rather large and important animal. He has been hunted by many
individuals using various trapping devices, but no one so far has
succeeded in capturing him. All who claim to have caught sight of
him report that he is enormous, but disagree on his particulars.”
The “Heffalump” still seems to exist in entrepreneurship research,
and in this section I will present some definitions of the entrepreneur and
entrepreneurship that have been used in research over the years.

2.1

Early Definitions of Entrepreneurship

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship is far from novel, and the use
of the concept of “entrepreneurship” goes back a long time both in the

7


8

Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research

French and in the English language (see Redlich, 1949; Hoselitz, 1951;
Gopakumar, 1995).
2.1.1

Entrepreneurship in the French Vocabulary

“Entrepreneur” was originally a French word. The word appeared for
the first time in the 1437 Dictionnaire de la langue francaise. Three
definitions of the “entrepreneur” are listed in this dictionary. The most
common meaning was “celui qui entreprend quelque chose”, referring to
a person who is active and achieves something. The corresponding verb
is “entreprendre”, which means to undertake something. The word has
been a part of the French language since the 12th century, and many
French authors referred to the term “entrepreneur” during the medieval
period, often in connection with brutal war-like activities. An example of
this was Lemaire de Beiges, who described Hector and other Trojan
warriors as “entrepreneurs”. Other French authors referred to the
entrepreneur as someone who is tough and prepared to risk his own life
and fortune.
At the beginning of the 17th century the risk taking component
became more apparent, and an entrepreneur was understood as a person
who took risks. However, not all individuals taking risks were
considered as entrepreneurs. Only those individuals involved in really
big undertakings could be called entrepreneurs. Most often it was a
question of large contracts between the state and some competent,
wealthy person, with the objective of undertaking a major building
scheme or supplying the army with equipment, etc. The typical
entrepreneur was thus a person that was contracted by the state to
perform specific services or to supply the state with certain goods. The
price was fixed in the contract, and the entrepreneur assumed the risk of
making a profit or loss. This meaning of the word “entrepreneur” was
reflected in the French dictionaries of that time, in which the concept
was defined as “entrepreneur, qui entreprend un bastiment pour un
certain prix”, which means that the entrepreneur has been contracted to

perform a certain task at a fixed price. This definition of the
“entrepreneur” concept was very common in the French legal and
economic literature of the 17th and 18th centuries.
2.1.2

The Entrepreneur as a Building Contractor – Construction
Entrepreneurs

In light of the increased use of the concept of entrepreneurship to
denote a person having the technical and managerial responsibility for
major public undertakings, most often the construction of public
buildings, it may be of value to reflect on the role of the entrepreneur as
a building contractor.


Introduction
The typical entrepreneur in medieval times was thus a person with
responsibility for major constructions such as castles, public buildings
and churches. Up until the end of the 12th century it was most often the
clergy who were responsible for such constructions of churches.
However, the clergy did not assume any private financial risk. At the
beginning of the 13th century the clergy were replaced by persons who
specialized in construction work. They may be considered the first
construction entrepreneurs. Their roles were, however, not clearly
defined. In some cases they were responsible for the whole undertaking,
whereas in other cases they appear to have had an exclusively advisory
function.
As secular power increased, the influence of the clergy as builders
decreased and finally disappeared completely. The major constructions
were no longer churches or cathedrals. As a result of evolving

capitalism, the planning and construction of buildings, etc. continually
became more rationalized and the role of the builder more specialized.
There was a successive increase in the division of work between
architects and engineers specialized in the technical aspects of the
construction and entrepreneurs who were responsible for commercial
issues. With the growing importance of secular public buildings and
intensification in the division of work, the entrepreneur increasingly
developed dual roles. The first role was that of organizer and
administrator, while the second was the role of capitalist. The organizing
role involved integrating various production factors such as labor,
material and machines. The role of capitalist implied taking the risk that
costs would not exceed the contracted price.
2.1.3

The Entrepreneur Concept in the English Language

For a long time no similarity to the French “entrepreneur” concept
existed in the English language. The most closely related term was
“undertaker” and even “adventurer”. The latter concept was used since
the 15th century to refer to real estate speculators in Ireland. However,
during the 18th century this definition became obsolete, and in A
Dictionary of the English Language from 1755 the following definition
was used: “Adventurer, he that seeks occasion of hazard; he that puts
himself in the hand of chance”.
The word “undertaker” was probably a more commonly used concept
even though the meaning was not quite clear. Historically the word had
certain parallels to the French “entrepreneur” concept. During the 14th
and 15th centuries it simply denoted a person who undertook a certain
task. Later on the concept developed into that of a person who undertook
a task for the state at his own risk. As time went by the concept became

more broadly defined and came to represent situations where one person
engaged in projects involving risk where the profit was uncertain. The
term “undertaker” thereby came closer to the concept of “projector”,

9


10

Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research

although there are indications that a “projector” was often considered to
be a swindler or speculator, while an “undertaker” was an honest man
involved in business with uncertain results. The definitions, however, are
not quite clear, and some evidence also suggests that during the 17th and
18th centuries the term “undertaker” also referred to the owner-managers
of big businesses. At this time the original meaning of an “undertaker” as
someone involved in state undertakings had disappeared, and by the
middle of the 18th century an “undertaker” was simply defined as a
businessman, which meaning is exemplified by Adam Smith in Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), in which he
writes about “the undertaker of a great manufacture”. By the end of the
18th century the concept had become obsolete in this connection and was
gradually replaced by the “capitalist” concept. “Undertaker” later came
to mean someone who organises funerals.

2.2

What do We Mean by Entrepreneurship?

Recent entrepreneurship research is characterized by ambiguity about
the content of the concepts “entrepreneur” and “entrepreneurship”.
Different studies have used many various definitions, the number of
which more or less equals the number of authors. For example, Morris
(1998) found 77 different definitions in a review of journal articles and
textbooks over a five-year period, while Gartner (1990) reviewed the
concept as it was understood by academics, business leaders and
politicians and listed 90 different attributes associated with the
entrepreneur. Some common definitions are given in Figure 1-1.
The lack of a single clear definition has been considered as a barrier
to the development of a research field (see e.g. Low & MacMillan, 1988;
Bygrave & Hofer, 1991). It could be argued that without clear definitions
of central concepts, each researcher would make his/her own
interpretation of the concepts, which may limit the knowledge
accumulation within the field.