Abstract
The ‘rise and rise’ of entrepreneurship over recent years is evident from its growing status as a recognised academic discipline – a set of practices which have a central role within global economic development, the combination of which in turn fuel dedicated government policy intervention. Summing up current attitudes to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in contemporary society, the expression ‘it’s come a long way in a short time’ would spring to mind. This book is testament to the rapid development of entrepreneurship in that there is an enthusiasm (and a market) for clear introductory texts that capture the complexity of contemporary debate and discussion in a manner accessible to an informed lay audience. In that respect, this pocket-sized book exactly fulfils such a remit; the concise but comprehensible style makes this an educative and interesting read. This short book will be of value both to those who are completely new to entrepreneurship in enlightening them that it is more than the exploits of Mark Zuckerman and Richard Branson, as well as to those of us a little more familiar with the arguments, but who still welcome a simple but cogent summary of complex ideas. Although a pocket-sized text, the authors have managed to encapsulate a wide and diverse range of critical issues that underpin and inform key aspects of contemporary entrepreneurship within 7 chapters, 6 illustrations and 22 figures.
The individual chapters begin by positioning entrepreneurship as a contemporary phenomenon, whereby the ‘heroic entrepreneur’ has emerged into the public imagination as an almost evangelical figure with the means to engender socio-economic transformations – but the authors also acknowledge the entrepreneur as ‘villain’ to challenge superficial stereotypes. Having set the scene, the book moves forward to explore different approaches to exploring who and what is an entrepreneur and consider differing ideas which explain and define entrepreneurial activity; therefore, there are useful overviews of the historical thinkers and contemporary theories regarding causation and effectuation. Thus, the accessible style is not at the expense of analytical engagement. Having explored the debates surrounding the role of opportunity, in Chapter 3, the authors use this as a foundation to discuss resource accumulation – exploring what is understood by a ‘resource’ to identifying how entrepreneurial resources coalesce into a firm – and given the complexity of this topic, the judicious use of clear explanatory figures to illustrate these arguments is particularly useful.
Having established differing approaches to understanding entrepreneurship and how it is enacted and resourced, Chapter 4 then engages with the notion of context. This is an ambitious chapter as context is a little stretched at times to cover debates such as the entrepreneurial personality, geographical influences, novice and experienced entrepreneurs and gender. Consequently, a diverse range of constructs is covered under a very broad umbrella. Chapter 5 picks up on the personality issue again through the notion of ‘thinking and learning’, and delves into this in some depth. In exploring issues such as the need for achievement theories, biases and hubris, a wide range of theories is captured in short overviews and aptly summarised through the explanatory figures and tables. Chapter 6 recognises the diversity of the entrepreneurial venture, offering a comprehensive illustration of the many and varied types of venture, from venture capital (VC)-backed firms to social enterprise – the use of case study examples to expand upon the differences between such ventures is particularly useful. In the final chapter, the authors focus upon the future of entrepreneurship research; this device works well and identifies a number of emergent but important ideas that could not be addressed in the main text. Therefore, the thorny issue of firm growth, the critical aspect of finance, entrepreneurship as a solution to global poverty and criminal behaviour as enterprising behaviour are all considered with some consideration regarding how these debates might develop in the future.
Personally, I enjoyed reading this book – and not only because it did not take very long to do so, but also because, as one would expect from such experienced scholars, it is articulate, informed and engaging. It enables us to reconsider many ideas and theories that we take for granted and encourages us to revisit them, and – in some cases – adds a new dimension to our thinking. Given the remit of the book, it is inevitably somewhat superficial; experienced academics will note gaps and leaps in the overviews presented and might question why seemingly ‘big’ topics, such as finance, are not afforded more attention. However, the purpose here is to offer an accessible, engaging and even entertaining introduction. Therefore, while issues such as finance, strategy and so on are all alluded to, if not unpacked, a very comprehensive list of further reading is offered to enable more in-depth engagement. To coin a phrase, this book ‘does what it says on the tin’ and does it very well – it will draw in those not familiar with this field of study, offer a useful overview of key issues for those with some experience and even, I would venture to suggest, refresh the minds of those who might consider themselves as experts. In terms of who should use it, it would be accessible to the growing cohort of older secondary school students encouraged to learn about entrepreneurship, a great introduction for undergraduates completely new to the topic (as one of several reference texts), but even a nice present for friends and relatives who are just curious about all the attention and fuss given to entrepreneurship and who, perhaps, might want to read beyond the rhetoric and pantomime of the Dragons’ Den image.