The purpose of this course is to help the learner understand what defines entrepreneurship. There are many definitions in public literature, but research over time has exposed some critical elements and common characteristics of successful entrepreneurship. These elements and characteristics are not guarantees of success, but they are common in entrepreneurial ventures considered to be successful (e.g., financial gain, creation of new markets, introduction of a new benefit to society, etc.).
Three hundred years ago, French banker and author Richard Cantillon wrote in his treatise on economics that an entrepreneur is a risk-bearer, willing to invest time, energy, and resources in order to create wealth, or some other beneficial outcome. Cantillon built a great fortune through speculation, buying shares in a company meant to develop French holdings in North America that he publicly stated was bound to fail, and then selling them at higher prices before the venture actually did fall apart.
A hundred years later, French economist Jean-Baptiste Say stated what has become know as “Say’s Law”, the assertion that the production of one product creates demand for another product by providing something of value which can be exchanged for that other product.
“As each of us can only purchase the productions of others with his/her own productions – as the value we can buy is equal to the value we can produce, the more men can produce, the more they will purchase.”
(Say, 1834)
In other words, the production of goods creates its own demand. Say believed that entrepreneurs were people who would create new things, and forge new economies. They could obtain more by doing something in a new or different way.
This course will help the learner understand the principles of entrepreneurship as we understand them today, based on a historical perspective and hundreds of years of examination and practice, as well as the characteristics and skills of entrepreneurs and how personal and entrepreneurial visions are formed.
