Entrepreneurship and the
entrepreneurial system
In the first part of this book, we looked at various perspectives of
entrepreneurship, articulated around three broad approaches. Regarding
entrepreneurship as a field of research, we examined three currents
of thought1 that we also called ‘paradigms’ (acknowledging the
fact that this term may give rise to discussion and controversy). The
first paradigm, within which Shane and Venkataraman’s vision (2000)
emerged, focuses on the notion of opportunity. The second concerns
the creation of an organisation and generated another important vision
of entrepreneurship, initiated by and largely based on Gartner’s work.
Finally, the paradigm value creation is at the heart of our perspective
on entrepreneurship. However, in our definition of entrepreneurship
we do not discard the concepts of opportunity and organisation creation,
as they are essential in supporting our thesis. Beyond the simple
presentation of the various threads and theories we refer to, we will
also endeavour to give a precise definition and semantic clarification
of the concepts mentioned.
In order to introduce this part, we will rely on Gartner’s research
(1990), in which he attempts to answer the following question: ‘What
are we talking about when we talk about entrepreneurship?’ With
this objective in mind, he used a DELPHI method consisting of three
rounds. The objective of the study was to gather experts’ opinions
about the definition of entrepreneurship. The findings, unsurprisingly,
showed that there was no consensus on one definition; everybody
seemed to have their own. However, some themes stand out, and
venture creation is spontaneously recognised as being at the heart of
the matter. With a factorial analysis, Gartner brings out eight themes,
which account for 67.3 per cent of the variance:
1 entrepreneurship concerns the entrepreneur as an individual with
particular characteristics
1 We could also use the term ‘dominant research perspectives’.