New Venture Initiation: Factors Influencing Success

The authors recognize that the definition of "entrepreneur'' may still be subject to varying interpretation. For the purposes of this study, the tenn entrepreneur will be used to include a broad entrepreneurial behavior along the lines of Hisrich and Peters' definition that ''Entrepre­ neurship is the process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and social risks and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction" (5).Previous research on entrepreneurial success, has explored both the cognitive and behav­ ioral characteristics of the entrepreneur as well as the contextual variables surrounding the business venture. This study has been designed to explore specific variables relative to (a) the entrepreneur, (b) the context of the business venture and (c) the product or service itself. Itis the intent of this survey to identify and confinn the impact these variables have on the initiation and eventual success of new business ventures