Entrepreneur : dead or dying?

It was the objective of this thesis to examine both the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial activities from a behavioral viewpoint. Essentially, this was an attempt to establish a perspective of this type of individual, which would be dyanmic, adaptable to a broad range of entrepreneurial situations, and devoid of many of the conceptual limitations often applied to the entrepreneur and his activities. It was assumed as a basis for reasoning that the establishment of this perspective would allow the entrepreneur to be seen as continuing his role as a vital force in economic growth in an age of rapid change and relative non-permanence. It is an age characterized among other things by increasingly large scale organizations, emphasis on efficiency, and an evolving social ethic. The study itself is broad in its acceptance of ideas from other sources. Accordingly, the steps following in the investigation were as follows: (1) A definitive outline was developed of hypothesized entrepreneurial functions, motivations, attitudes, and behavior patterns. This outline was based on selected studies of the traditional independent entrepreneur in particular and other studies making reference to the entrepreneurial type individual in general. (2) An examination was made of various structural and operational features often associated with relatively large scale organizations, and deemed to be potentially consuming to individualistic entrepreneurial type behavior. It was intended that this examination establish a perspective of the large scale business organization which would facilitate the understanding of the development of the organizational entrepreneurial type individual. The examination itself was based on selected studies of management and large scale organizations. (3) A comparative presentation was made of an hypothesized organizational entrepreneur based on the findings of selected studies of a particular managerial mode of behavior in large business organizations. The presentation was made in such a way as to be easily comparable with the definitive outline of the entrepreneur provided previously, and was qualified by certain organizational features examined in the thesis prior to this comparative presentation. (4) An examination was made of entrepreneurial evolution from the viewpoint of its value to the attainment of the goals of a free enterprise Western society. The examination was based on the hypothesis that the appearance of the organizational entrepreneur represented entrepreneurial evolution. Selected studies arguing evolution of the business sector and the managerial requirements of this process of change were used as references. (5) A presentation was made of possible methods of encouraging the development of the entrepreneurial type individual by aligning the methods of encouragement with the motivations, attitudes, and behavior patterns hypothesized as being entrepreneurial throughout the thesis. The general conclusions arrived at in this thesis are that: (1) There is a similarity in the motivations, attitudes, and behavior patterns with respect to business activity, between the traditional independent entrepreneur as defined in this thesis and a type of executive defined as an organizational entrepreneur in this thesis and found in large scale business organizations. (2) The basic similarities in the motivations, attitudes, and behavior patterns of the traditional independent entrepreneur as defined and the organizational entrepreneur as defined, indicate that the entrepreneur is subject to a process of evolution just as is the business environment. (3) It is both beneficial and possible to encourage the development of the organizational entrepreneurial type individual by understanding and appealing to the motivations, attitudes, and behavior patterns of this type of individual.Business, Sauder School ofGraduat