Entrepreneurs Because issues are important to your study of management. we've included Entrepreneurship boxes in selected chapters. The first thing we need to do, however, is to define what we mean by an entrepreneur. There are about a many definitions of entrepreneur as there are authors who write about entrepre neurship. We'll define entrepreneurship as a process by which individuals pursue opportunities, fulfilling needs and wants through innovation hout rega resources they currently control. It's also important to recognize that managing a small business is not neces sarily the same as entrepreneurship. Not all small business managers are entrepre- neurs. Many small business managers don't innovate. They merely operate their businesses like large, bureaucratic orga- nizations--just on a smaller scale. Why do we make such a distinction? Because there are some key differences in the managerial styles of entrepreneurs and traditional bureaucratic managers of small or large organizations. What are some of these differences? enure pranours actively seek change by exploiting opportunities, whereas tradi- tional managers tend to be more custodial When searching for these opportunities entrepreneurs often put their own per- sonal financial security at risk. The hierar- chical structure of bureaucratic organiza tions typically insulates managers from these financial wagers and rewards them for minimizing risks and avoiding failures. In fact, traditional managers tend to avoid risk, whereas entrepreneurs accept risk as part the entrepreneurial process, In of return, entrepreneurs are motivated b independence and the opportunity to cre- ate financial gain. Traditional managers