ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The word ‗entrepreneur‘ is widely used, both in everyday conversation and as a technical term in management and economics. Its origin from a French word, entreprender, where an entrepreneur was an individual commissioned to undertake a particular commercial project. A number of concepts have been derived from the idea of the entrepreneur such as entrepreneurial, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial process. The idea that the entrepreneur is someone who undertakes certain projects offers an opening to developing an understanding of the nature of entrepreneurship. Undertaking particular projects demands that particular tasks be engaged in with the objective of achieving specific outcomes and that an individual take charge of the project. Entrepreneurship is then what the entrepreneur does. Entrepreneurial is an adjective describing how the entrepreneur undertakes what he or she does. The entrepreneurial process in which the entrepreneur engages is the means through which new value is created as a result of the project: the entrepreneurial venture.