The word was also applied to the
leaders of military expedition. But it was Richard Cantilon, an Irishman,
living in France who first used the the term entrepreneur to refer to economic
activities. According to Cantilon : ‘An entrepreneur is a person who buys
factor services at certain prices with a view to selling its product at
uncertain prices.’ Thus, to Cantilon, an entrepreneur is a bearer of risk which
is non- insurable.
One of the most renowned French
economists Jean Baptiste says the term entrepreneur is the agent who unites all
the factors of production and who finds in value of the products the
re-establishment of the entire capital he employs, and the value of wages,
interest and the rent which he pays as well as the profits belonging to
himself. He may or may not supply capital but he must have judgement,
perseverance and the knowledge of the world of business. He must possesses the
art of superintendence and administration.
There are so many definitions of entrepreneurship , however for the sake of
simplicity and understanding the term small business can be defined as
follows:-
Adam Smith, the father of classical economics, did not use the term entrepreneur anywhere. Instead, he used
the words like employer, the merchant, the undertaker and the master.
Alfred Marshall wrote about the capitalist and management but he was silent about
their difference. As such, the classical economists ignored the term entrepreneur entirely.
According to A.P.Usher: “Specialization or division of labour
necessitates an entrepreneurial function the crux of which is to coordinate
different economic activities, This view on entrepreneurship was very narrow
and it reduces the entrepreneurship activities to know more than a managerial
function”.
No comments:
Post a Comment