The entrepreneur, wealth creator and growth seeker: Myth or reality?
Type de matériel :
19
Nowadays, entrepreneurship presents itself as a driver of social and economic development (Observatory of European SMEs 2003). Entrepreneurs are perceived as the pillars, if not the saviors, of the market economy, and their activities as creating value, employment, and multiple advantages for consumers. However, some recent studies (Shane 2009) show that this image of the entrepreneur as a kind of hero seems to be a myth. Most of the time, entrepreneurs create ordinary firms that do not grow. Although the entrepreneur has largely been ignored by classical and neo-classical economic theory, the myth of the entrepreneur as a wealth creator finds its roots in the postulate of profit maximization that drives firms to grow. However, actual competition, combined with the fact that ownership and management are often in the hands of the same people, allows entrepreneurs to pursue utility functions beyond profit maximization. Entrepreneurs often have non-monetary goals like independence, power, or a sense of achievement. This leads them to limit growth voluntarily. The aim of this paper is therefore to explain where this myth comes from and to show that if these alternative objectives are not taken into account, it is not possible to reconcile entrepreneurial behavior’s apparent inconsistencies with economic and management theories.
Réseaux sociaux