Cantillon was one of the first scholars in the emerging discipline of economics to consider entrepreneurship in his 'Essay in the Nature of Commerce' published in 1755 (Glaister,1988). Cantillon portrayed the entrepreneur as a pivotal figure within markets. Cantillon viewed the entrepreneur as essentially an organiser of production (Deakins and Freel,2003). that is, someone who brings together factors of production such as land, labour and capital so that goods and services can be brought to market. In the late nineteenth century Marshall took a similar line arguing that in a world of small firms. the entrepreneur had a vital role to play as an organiser of production. In the twentieth century Knight (1921) took the analysis further, arguing that the entrepreneur's function was essentially one of risk taking. Since factor inputs are purchased at known prices and sold at prices that are as yet unknown, the entrepreneur has to bear risk. A key feature of Knight's analysis was distinguishing between risk which is insurable and uncertainty which is not. The combination of time lags in production,unforeseen changes in household circumstances and the absence of forward markets in the product exposes the entrepreneur to uncertainty. The entrepreneur's function is to bear uncertainty and as Knight (1921:p.310) noted,