Entrepreneurship: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #372

by Paul Westhead, Mike Wright

There has been an explosion of interest in entrepreneurs in the popular media, as well as in business, policy, and education. But what do entrepreneurs do and why is what they do important? Paul Westhead and Mike Wright weave a pathway through the debates about entrepreneurship, providing a guide to the entrepreneurial process. They look at how the actions of entrepreneurs are shaped by the external environment and availability of resources, consider the types of organizations in which they can be found, and look at the diversity in their backgrounds, experience, and how they think and learn. Lastly, they consider the impact that entrepreneurs have on modern market economies and look at the future of entrepreneurship in our increasingly globalized world.

About the

Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Economics, Nonfiction, Audiobook

154 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2013

Reviews

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja weer mooi voor de inspiratie hoor! Vooral het tabel over de voor-en nadelen van family forms kan zo gebruikt worden voor de dissertatie.

[Ankit Mundada · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is excessively complicated in language and details. The author definitely has a profound knowledge of the subject matter, yet I cannot recommend this to a general reader, like me, as it does not seem to create much practical output.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entrepreneurship seems to be all the rage in various business and economics discussions these days. Its association with the high-tech sector in particular seems to make it a very recent and novel phenomenon. However, the word “entrepreneur” is centuries old, and many of the things that make entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs distinct within the economic and social markets have been around for much longer than that. Nonetheless, it’s probably thanks to the rise in free markets, free trade, and freedom of association in various countries and across the globe that have facilitated the recent economic dynamism and the rise of entrepreneurship.

This short book aims to take a closer look at the concept of entrepreneurship and to provide the reader with a better ide of what it entails. The book is filled with many interesting examples and case studies of entrepreneurship, which are always some of the most fascinating and exciting reads for anyone interested in business and similar topics. It also provides many theoretical and systematic studies of entrepreneurship that try, among other things, to give the proper scope for this construct. Some of that material is interesting and well worth considering, but a lot of its still very abstruse and of interest mostly to academics and their fellow travelers. The theoretical parts can be pretty boring to read, but the book is still overall pretty interested.

If you are interested in the topic of entrepreneurship mostly out of intellectual curiosity than this book can be a worthwhile read. However, if you are an entrepreneur or and aspiring entrepreneur interested in more practical aspects of entrepreneurship, then I would recommend that you take a look at some other book that is more focused on case studies and concrete how-to advice. I am not aware of any such book right now, but if I come across one I will update this review with that info.

[Badr Mokrai · Rating 2 out of 5]

يحاول الكاتب من خلال هذا المؤلف أن يقرب مجال ريادة الأعمال من الجمهور، فهو يعرف رائد الأعمال، بكونه ذاك الشخص الذي يستطيع اقامة شركة أو مشروع جديد ناجح، أو تطوير آخر موجود فعلا و دعمه ليحقق الاستمرارية و العطاء. لرائد الأعمال عدة مهام، فهو مغامر يغوص في الأخطار، و متصيد للفرص، و مضارب، قائد، و مدير، و مسير... الخ. ان مهمة الشركات الريادية تتجاوز النجاح، الى خلق فرص عمل و تحقيق تقدم اقتصادي ملحوظ و خلق التغيير.
هناك العديد من العوائق التي تقف في طريق رواد الأعمال، منها الخوف من الخسارة، الرغبة في الاستمرارية الامنة فقط، الشركات العائلية... الخ.

في الفصل الثاني، يركز الكاتب على فكرة أن رواد الأعمال الحقيقين، يخوضون غمار المغامرات و التحديات و يرغبون في خلق او اكتشاف الفرص و تحقيق النجاح.

في الفصل الثالث يطرح الكاتب الموارد المتوفرة التي ينبغي لرواد الاعمال استغلالها، وهي الموارد البشرية بمعنى الكفاءات و الخبرات، و الموارد المادية بمعنى الادوات و الوسائل، ثم الموارد النفسية بمعنى الثقة و العزيمة و التحدي... الخ من الصفات.

في الفصل الرابع يناقش الكاتب تكوين رواد الاعمال، هل هو فطري ام مكتسب، ويخلص الى انه خليط من عوامل اجتماعية و أخرى خبرات و تمرس و سعي للتعلم. و يتطرق كذلك في هذا الفصل الى الدور المهم الذي تلعبه رائدات الأعمال، و ان هذا المجال لا ينبغي أن يبقى حكرا على الرجال فقط، وقد اعطى الكاتب عدة نماذج من مجالات مختلفة لرائدات أعمال ناجحات، ثم ركز على الدور المنوط بالدول أن تلعبه لتحقق مزيد من المساوات عن طريق الدعم و التحفيز.
في الفصل الخامس يتحدث الكاتب عن تكوين رائد الاعمال، الذي يجب عليه ان يتحلى بعدة خصال و ان يخوض عدة تجارب و يتمرس و يستمر رغم الاخفاق حتى يصل إلى النجاح.
في الفصل السادس يتطرق الكاتب لموضوع المشروعات الريادية المغامرة، كالشركات العائلية، و الاعمال المؤسسية، و الاستحواذ الاداري، و الشركات الأكاديمية المنشأ... الخ، و كلها تتوفر على عوامل خطر مرتفعة جدا.

الفصل السابع و هو الاخير خصص للحديث عن مستقبل مجال ريادة الاعمال، دعمه و مشروعاته و كذلك جانبه المظلم او السلبي و خطورته.

الكتاب عموما صعب نوعا ما، و لا اراه يصلح لغير المتخصصين، به العديد من الاجزاء خاصة الجداول التي تشتت الافكار بدل ان تجمعها و تنسقها لتشكل فكرة واضحة موجهة.

[Jiggyasa Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to introduce oneself into the world of entrepreneurship. This book provides the basic understanding of what entrepreneurs do? Why they do it? and how a firm or startup grows and what factors entrepreneurs should watch out. A must read for the 'to-be Entrepreneur'.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Westhead and Mike Wright are both British professors of entrepreneurship. Westhead and Wright wrote Entrepreneurship: A Very Short Introduction together. I read the edition in 2013. The book has illustrations, including several graphs. The book has several tables. The book has “further reading” (Westhead & Wright 137-148). I read the book on my Kindle. The book has an index. The book is interested in the theory of entrepreneurship. The first chapter is entitled “The Importance of Entrepreneurship” (Westhead & Wright 1-20). The second chapter is “discovering and creating opportunities” (Westhead & Wright 21-37). The third chapter is “Exploiting Opportunities” (Westhead & Wright 38-53). Westhead and Wright write that in Chapter 5, “we discuss the links between an individual’s social context and the attitudes and resources that can be accumulated at different stages of life, which can be mobilized to pursue a career in the enterprise” (Westhead & Wright 83). Chapter 6 is on different theories about the traits of entrepreneurs. This chapter also includes theories about how entrepreneurs learn from their entrepreneurial experience. Chapter 6 is entitled “Forms of Entrepreneurial Venture” (Westhead & Wright 98-124). Westhead and Wright write that the last chapter is about “if the current golden age of entrepreneurship is to have a lasting impact on society, several puzzles and challenges need to be addressed. We need to consider that entrepreneurship has costs, shortcomings, and benefits” (Westhead & Wright 165). The book is a well-done introduction to the theory of entrepreneurship.

[موسى جبر · Rating 1 out of 5]

ثاني قراءة لسلسلة "مقدمة قصيرة جدًا" وبنفس خيبة الأمل، كتاب أكاديمي ونظري قد يفيد من يريد كتابة بحث حول ريادة الأعمال، لكنه لن يعلّمك كيف تكون رائد أعمال.

[Mills College Library]

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