Introduction to Entrepreneurship- This is an attempt to understand the concept of entrepreneurship and its related concepts. This presentation follows study note format, so the students can use it to prepare for exams and can store it for future reading. The contents covered here are based on the syllabus prescribed for third year UG students. Hence it provides a vast and comprehensive analysis of all the topics. Enjoy learning with this presentation. This is the first lecture presentation in the subject of Entrepreneurship and small business management.
2. WHAT IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of value. It can be
viewed as change entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered
in starting a small business, which may include other than simply
economic ones.
More definitions of entrepreneurship have described it as the
capacity and willingness to develop, organise, and manage a business
along with many of its risks in order to make a profit.
According to Howard Stevenson- “Entrepreneurship is defined as the
pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled.” This definition
underlines the importance of risk-taking in the field of
entrepreneurship.
3. WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?
The word entrepreneur is derived from the French word
‘Entreprendre’ which means to ‘undertake’, i.e., the person who
undertakes the risk of a new enterprise.
Joseph A. Schumpeter writes the following on entrepreneurs- “The
Entrepreneur in an advanced economy is an individual who introduces
something new in the economy- a method of production not yet
tested by experience in the branch of manufacturer concerned, a
product with which customers are not yet familiar, a new source of
raw material or of new markets and the like.” He further states the
entrepreneur’s function is to “reform or revolutionise the pattern of
production by exploiting an invention or more generally an untried
technological possibility for producing a new commodity.”
The entrepreneur is an important input of economic development.
He is a catalyst of development; with him we prosper, without him we
4. EVOLUTION OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The constant necessity for a good leader is one of the many factors
that drive the evolution of entrepreneurship. Apart from there are a
few other factors:
Trading: With the improvement in communication between the countries
and the advancement in transportation, start the process of trading.
Advent of stable specialization and communities: When more and more
individuals start to settle in secure communities, a huge change in
lifestyles was noticed. Each group had a leader who was qualified and
specialized in one task and that helped in speeding the development of
leadership skills and innovation.
Need for an independent career: More and more people are looking for a
career path that is totally independent. The majority of them started to take
risks by developing their own businesses in order to achieve maximum
benefit.
5. Early Period: The earliest definition of the entrepreneur as a go-between is Marco Polo.
He tried to establish trade route to the Far East. He used to sign a contract with a venture
capitalist to sell his goods. The capitalist was the risk bearer. The merchant adventurer
took the role of trading. After his successful selling of goods and completing his trips, the
profits were shared by the capitalist and the merchant.
Middle Ages: The term entrepreneur was referred to a person who was managing large
projects. He was not taking any risk but was managing the projects using the resources
provided. An example is the cleric who oversees great architectural works such as castles,
public buildings, cathedrals etc.
17th Century: An entrepreneur was a person who entered a contractual arrangement with
the Govt. to perform a service or to supply some goods. The profit was taken (or loss was
borne) by the entrepreneur.
18th Century: It was Richard Cantillon, French Economist, who applied the term
entrepreneur to business for the first time. He is regarded by some as the founder of the
term. He defined an entrepreneur as a person who buys factor services at certain prices
with a view to sell them at uncertain prices in the future.
19th Century: The entrepreneurs were not distinguished from managers. They were
viewed mostly from the economic perspective. He takes risk, contributes his own initiative
and skills. He plans, organizes and leads his enterprise.
20th Century: During the early 20th century Dewing equated the entrepreneur with
business promoter and viewed the promoter as one who transformed ideas into a
profitable business. It was Joseph Schumpeter who described an entrepreneur as an
innovator. According to him an entrepreneur is an innovator who develops untried
technology.
21st Century: Research Scientists live De Bone pointed out that it is not always important
that an individual produces an entirely new idea to be called an entrepreneur, but if he is
adding incremental value to the current product or service, he can rightly be called an
6. CHARACTERISTICS OF
ENTREPRENEURS
A successful entrepreneur must be a person with technical
competence, initiative, and good judgement, intelligence, leadership
qualities, self-confidence, energy, attitude, creativeness, fairness,
honesty, tactfulness and emotional stability.
Some key characteristics of entrepreneurs are as follows:
Mental ability
Clear objectives
Business secrecy
Human relation ability
Communication ability
Technical Knowledge
7. Mental ability:
Mental ability consists of intelligence and creative thinking. An entrepreneur must be
reasonably intelligent, and should have creative thinking and must be able to engage
in the analysis of various problems and situations in order to deal with them. The
entrepreneur should anticipate changes and must be able to study the various
situations under which decisions have to be made.
Clear objectives:
An entrepreneur should have clear objectives as to the exact nature of the business,
the nature of the goods to be produced and the subsidiary activities to be
undertaken. A successful entrepreneur has the objective to establish the product,
make a profit, or render a social service.
Business secrecy:
An entrepreneur must be able to guard business secrets. Leakage of business
secrets to trade competitions is a serious matter which should be carefully handled
by the business owner. An entrepreneur should be able to make a proper selection
for his or her staff and personal assistants.
8. Human relation ability:
The most important personality factors contributing to the success of an
entrepreneur are emotional stability, personal relations, consideration and
tactfulness. An entrepreneur must maintain good relations with his customers, he is
supposed to establish relations that will encourage them to continue to patronise his
business. He must also maintain good relations with his employees if he is to
motivate them to perform their jobs at a high level of efficiency. An entrepreneur
who maintains good relations with customers, employees, suppliers, creditors and
the community is much more likely to succeed in his business than the individual
who does not invest in maintaining these relations.
Communication ability:
This ability pertains to communicate effectively. Good communication also means
that both the sender and the receiver understand each other and are being
understood. An entrepreneur who can effectively communicate with customers,
employees, suppliers and creditors will be more likely to succeed than one who does
not.
Technical knowledge:
An entrepreneur must have a reasonable level of technical knowledge. This is one
ability that most people are able to acquire if they try hard enough.
9. WHO IS A MANAGER?
A manager is a person responsible for controlling or administering
an organization or a group of staff. Managers must often take
decisions regarding various aspects of the business.
Effective managers help people stay motivated to do their best work.
They make the people they manage feel valued and supported. They
feel they are successful when the employees they manage are
successful. The employees willingly recommend these individuals as
good managers.
The manager is responsible for overseeing and leading the work of a
group of individuals in many instances. The manager is also
responsible for planning and maintaining work systems, procedures
and policies that enable and encourage the optimum performance of
its people and other resources within a business unit.
10. FUNCTIONS OF A MANAGER
The managers play a crucial role in the smooth functioning of every
business unit. They perform various tasks in the organization on a
daily basis.
Here are some of the main functions of a manager:
Planning
Organising
Staffing
Directing/Leading
Coordinating
Reporting
Budgeting
Controlling
11. Planning:
The basic step required for any project, big or small, is the planning stage. The
manager needs to plan the schedule and give the blueprint of how the task is to be
done with all the necessary details, and the manager should have a backup plan that
if this doesn’t work then what next. Example − There is a new project, how to start,
human resource required, resources required, etc., everything should be planned.
Organising:
Next comes the organizing part, where the manager needs to synchronize and must
make sure everything is going according to the plan. Everything should work as per
the plan, and if not, then the manager needs to investigate the issue and make it
work as planned. Example − A software tester is required, so organize the venue,
date and time to interview those eligible for the post.
Staffing:
In simple words, staffing means grouping of people into different teams and
allotting different tasks to them. If the team members have some disputes, then the
team member needs to report to the team leader who will forward it to the manager
and the issue will be taken care of. Example − Assembling a new team for a new
project.
Directing/Leading:
It is a manager’s responsibility to guide the employees in all situations in order to
avoid conflicts and delay in the task. Manager must lead the employees so that they
can get a clear idea about what is to be done and how to do it. Example − a team
12. Coordinating:
It means bringing all the employees together by forming an efficient relationship and
making them feel comfortable to share their views and issues freely. Example −
Coordinating the schedule for a project.
Reporting:
The manager must keep updated information about all the ongoing tasks, and it is
the sole responsibility of the manager to report the updated status to the higher
authorities; while all the employees are bound to report to the manager. Example −
Keeping the respective directors informed about the progress on their respective
projects.
Budgeting:
A task must be completed within the given time frame as well as it should be cost
efficient. The manager needs to be double sure that all the amount invested in the
project doesn’t exceed the budget given and in case of imbalance, the budgeting
manager must report to the management. Example − If budget allows to place three
employees, then five employees cannot be assigned for the task.
Controlling:
Last but of course not the least role played by the manager is having everything
under control. Whether it is the budget, or resource allocation, everything should be
in order. Example − All members of a team cannot be granted leave on the same
13. ENTREPRENEUR V/S MANAGERS
Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneur is the visionary and
bears all financial risks.
Focuses on starting and expanding
the business ideas.
Key motivation for entrepreneurs
are the achievements.
Reward for all the efforts is the
profits earned from the enterprise.
Entrepreneurs can be informal and
casual.
Managers
Managers works for salary, and
does not have to bear any risks.
Focus on daily smooth functioning
of the business.
Manager’s motivation comes from
the power that comes with their
position.
Remuneration is the salary drawn
from the company.
Manager’s approach to every
problem is very formal.
14. He is the change agent.
He is driven by perception of
opportunity.
Commitment to opportunity is
revolutionary with short duration.
Commitment of resources is multi-
staged with minimal exposure at
each stage.
Control of resources is episodic use
of rent of required resources.
Management structure is flat with
multiple informal networks.
Mainly focuses on technology,
marketplace and overall
organisational welfare.
Likes risk, invests heavily and
expects to succeed.
Decision making style is intuitive.
He is the product of change.
He is driven by resources currently
controlled.
Commitment to opportunity is
evolutionary with long duration.
Commitment of resources is
single-staged with complete
commitment upon decisions.
Control of resources is that of
ownership or employment of
required resources.
Management structure is
formalized hierarchy.
Mainly concentrates on events
inside the organisation.
Attitude towards risk is cautious
and vigilant.
Decision making style is calculative.
15. TYPES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship is an innovative process that involves multifaceted
and diversified activities for providing new things to society and
civilization. It is a dynamic process that keeps changing over space
and time.
It can categorised under nine heads as follows:
Administrative Entrepreneurship
Opportunistic Entrepreneurship
Acquisitive Entrepreneurship
Incubative Entrepreneurship
Imitative Entrepreneurship
Private Entrepreneurship
Public Entrepreneurship
Individual Entrepreneurship
Mass Entrepreneurship
16. Administrative Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurial activity under this category is centered around administration
techniques and functions. It gives a new option to handle prevailing or future
situations in a more effective way that provides advantages and a competitive edge.
Total quality management, job redesigning, new techniques of doing things,
participative management or management by consensus are few of the examples of
administrative entrepreneurship that increases overall organisational effectiveness
and that makes the firm successful and sustainable in the competitive market
environment.
Opportunistic Entrepreneurship:
There is a proverb ‘Strike the iron while its hot.’ it is the best exhibit of the
characteristic of this category of entrepreneurship. Environmental changes always
offer new opportunities. But everybody is not equally capable of identifying and
utilizing that opportunity on time. The entrepreneurship that identifies, exploits and
executes the opportunity in the first hand is regarded as opportunistic
entrepreneurship.
Acquisitive Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurship that learns from other competencies is called acquisitive
entrepreneurship. It acquires something new of value front, the competitive
environment or achieves the competitor’s technical capacities. It keeps
entrepreneurship sustainable in a competitive environment. The failure never
17. Incubative Entrepreneurship:
This category of entrepreneurship generates and nurtures new ideas and ventures
within the organisation. It productively executes them and ensure material gain for
the organization. They pursue and help to get differentiated technologies to promote
creations and innovations. Here, the ideas are constructively executed with the
assistance of business incubators. A business incubator is a company or an
organization that provides a multitude of services to new businesses or start-ups.
These services may include anything from management training to workspace,
infrastructure, and even access to sponsors.
Imitative Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurship that imitates a good or a service operating in the market
under a franchise agreement is the imitative entrepreneurship. It is the medium that
spread technology over the world. It adopts an existing technology over the
countries of the world. It also adopts an existing technology with minor
modifications appropriate to the local condition.
Private Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurship that is initiated under the private sector falls under this
category. The government provides various support measures through private and
public concerns that encourage private initiative in taking entrepreneurial ventures.
A layer and mutual relationship between public and private sectors would make
economic development speedy and balanced.
18. Public Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurship that is undertaken by the government through its various
development agencies falls under this category. All countries developed or under-
developed, take a public initiative in venture ideas to fulfil the initial deficiency of
private entrepreneurs. Most of these ventures are aimed at improving the standard
of living of the people. The objective of these programs are generally that of public
welfare and not that profit maximisation.
Individual Entrepreneurship:
The entrepreneurial venture that is undertaken by the individual or his family is
defined as individual entrepreneurship. These ventures mostly originate out of the
desire and vison of the owner, and mostly employ the local labour and resources.
They operate on a small scale and are dispersed to smaller regions.
Mass Entrepreneurship:
This type of entrepreneurship emerges in an economy where a favorable climate of
motivation and encouragement exists for developing a wide range of entrepreneurship
among general mass is mass entrepreneurship. It increases small and medium enterprises in
a country.
19. CONCEPTS OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship is both a science as well as an art. It combines the
knowledge obtained from various disciplines into producing goods
and services that benefit the society.
There are 10 concepts of entrepreneurship, which are as follows:
1. Risk bearing concept
2. Innovative concept
3. Managerial skill concept
4. Creative and Leadership concept
5. High achievement capacity concept
6. Professional concept
7. Organisation and coordination concept
8. Business oriented concept
9. Result oriented concept
10.Personality, identity or role transformation process concept.
20. Risk bearing Concept:
The Risk bearing concept details the importance of taking risks in the field of
entrepreneurship. This is the premiere and most popular concept. In this regard we can say
that entrepreneurship is a function of taking unlimited risks. The entrepreneur has to bear
various risks in establishing and operating an enterprise in order to make a profit. These
risks are related to time changes and fluctuations in prices.
Innovative Concept:
According to this concept, the entrepreneur in a developed economy is someone who
introduces something new into the economy. The individual brings about various innovations
in industries, markets, production techniques, new sources of raw materials and also new
methods of marketing. Hence this concept is a modern concept and it is one that is dynamic
and not static.
Managerial Concept:
Every entrepreneur should possess good managerial skills. They are responsible for the day-
to-day smooth functioning of the business. Hence being a good manager is necessary for the
success of any business venture. A good manager plans, directs and coordinates all the
activities of the firm. He or she assigns tasks to the employees and ensures that all the
objectives are satisfied and the demands of the clients are met.
Creative and Leadership Concept:
According to this concept new thoughts emerge due to creativity which can be put to
economic use through effective leadership. Entrepreneurs should have strong vision and clear
objectives, this together with effective leadership skills can lead to success of the venture.
21. High Achievement Capacity Concept:
Entrepreneurship is a high achievement capacity concept, for which the capacity of making
innovations and taking decisions during risks is essential. According to this concept the
inspiration for high-level achievements makes a man an entrepreneur. Every epic journey
begins with a single step. Hence an entrepreneur with his vision, creative ability and
leadership skills is able to realise an opportunity and make the most of it.
Professional Concept:
Modern management experts accept entrepreneurship as a professional concept. They are of
the view that entrepreneurship may be developed through education and training. A
managerial ability may be learned through guidance, similarly entrepreneurship can be
learned as well. That is why governments and private organisations should encourage the
development of entrepreneurship and should conduct various training programs to create
awareness about the hidden opportunities and also should create facilities that provide
assistance to budding entrepreneurs to realise such opportunities.
Organisation and coordination concept:
Entrepreneurship is that economic component that organises and coordinates various sources
of production. It is often defined as the ability to ‘organise an enterprise’. Both organisation
and coordination are important management functions and they facilitate the smooth conduct
of the business. This concept is dynamic, as the structure of organisations are fast changing.
Technology is here to stay and improve thereby facilitating better coordination of man,
machine and materials.
22. Business oriented Concept:
Entrepreneurship is closely associated with business. In this concept entrepreneurship is
expressed as a business oriented concept in which profit maximisation becomes the primary
focus. This concept talks about the various aspects of running a business and how to be
successful in a business. As part of running a business, the individual should be able to
formulate plans, take risks and coordinate resources.
Result oriented Concept:
According to this concept entrepreneurship is called as result-oriented in the modern age. In
this concept the following questions are asked- ‘How much effort was put in to achieve the
objective ?’, ‘How have the resources allocated been utilised by the firm ?’, ‘What is the result
of company policies on the output of the firm ?’, etc. Here, entrepreneurship is concerned
with the attainment of certain goals which are set by the entrepreneur. Hence it is considered
as result-oriented.
Personality, identity and role transformation process concept:
Entrepreneurship is not only the adoption of new works and behaviours, but it is also the
transformation of personality and to establish a new identity through that. It takes
transformational leaders to bring about extraordinary changes in organisations and
industries. These leaders are able to inspire individuals to unleash their potential thus
creating a team of talent and vision.
23. ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in economic development. It
creates organisations that offer employment to millions of people.
They convert resources to useful products and services. They create
goods and services that improve the standard of living of the people
in the country.
Here are some of the important roles played by entrepreneurship in
the process of economic development:
Wealth creation and Sharing
Create jobs
Balanced regional development
GDP and Per capita income
Standard of Living
Exports
Community development
24. Wealth creation & sharing:
By establishing the business entity, entrepreneurs invest their own resources and attract capital
(in the form of debt, equity, etc.) from investors, lenders and the public. This mobilizes public
wealth and allows people to benefit from the success of entrepreneurs and growing businesses.
This kind of pooled capital that results in wealth creation and distribution is one of the basic
imperatives and goals of economic development.
Creates jobs and employment:
Entrepreneurs are by nature and definition job creators, as opposed to job seekers. The simple
translation is that when you become an entrepreneur, there is one less job seeker in the
economy, and then you provide employment for multiple other job seekers. This kind of job
creation by new and existing businesses is again is one of the basic goals of economic
development. Therefore the Govt. of India has launched initiatives such as Startup India to
promote and support new startups, and others like the Make in India initiative to attract foreign
companies and their FDI into the Indian economy. All this in turn creates a lot of job
opportunities and is helping in augmenting our standards to a global level.
Balanced regional development:
Entrepreneurs setting up new businesses and industrial units help with regional development
by locating in less developed and backward areas. The growth of industries and business in
these areas leads to infrastructure improvements like better roads and rail links, airports,
stable electricity and water supply, schools, hospitals, shopping malls and other public and
private services that would not otherwise be available. Every new business that locates in a less
developed area will create both direct and indirect jobs, helping lift regional economies in
many ways. The combined spending by all the new employees of the new businesses and the
supporting jobs in other businesses adds to the local and regional economic output. Both
25. GDP and Per capita income:
India’s MSME sector, comprised of 36 million units that provide employment for more than 80 million
people, now accounts for over 37% of the country’s GDP. Each new addition to these 36 million units
makes use of even more resources like land, labor and capital to develop products and services that
add to the national income, national product and per capita income of the country. This growth in
GDP and per capita income is again one of the essential goals of economic development.
Standard of Living:
Increase in the standard of living of people in a community is yet another key goal of economic
development. Entrepreneurs again play a key role in increasing the standard of living in a community.
They do this not just by creating jobs, but also by developing and adopting innovations that lead to
improvements in the quality of life of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders in the
community. For example, automation that reduces production costs and enables faster production
will make a business unit more productive, while also providing its customers with the same goods at
lower prices.
Exports:
Any growing business will eventually want to get started with exports to expand their business to
foreign markets. This is an important ingredient of economic development since it provides access to
bigger markets and leads to currency inflows and access to the latest cutting-edge technologies and
processes being used in more developed foreign markets. Another key benefit is that this expansion
that leads to more stable business revenue during economic downturns in the local economy.
Community Development:
Economic development doesn’t always translate into community development. Community
development requires infrastructure for education and training, healthcare, and other public services.
For example, you need highly educated and skilled workers in a community to attract new businesses.
If there are educational institutions, technical training schools and internship opportunities, that will
26. GROWTH OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
IN INDIA
Entrepreneurship is the life blood of the economy. It creates many job
opportunities, helps to develop the rural areas and speeds up the process of
economic development.
Entrepreneurship is that input of production that combines all the other
factors of production and brings out innovative goods and services that
boost the standard of living of the population.
India is a fast-paced developing country. In such a thriving environment,
entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in achieving the objective of growth
with stability in India. It also helps in creating a balanced regional
development.
The growth of entrepreneurship in India can be presented in two sections,
which are as follows:
Entrepreneurship pre-independence
Entrepreneurship post-independence
27. Entrepreneurship in the Pre-Independence period:
The evolution of the Indian entrepreneurship can be traced back to even as early as Rigveda when
metal handicrafts existed in society.
This would bring the point home that handicrafts entrepreneurship in India was as old as the human
civilization itself and was nurtured by the craftsmen as a part of their duty towards the society.
Before India met the West, people were organized in a particular type of economic and social system
of the village, community.
Then, the village community featured the economic scene in India. The Indian towns were mostly
religious and aloof from the general life of the country.
The elaborated caste-based diversion of workers consisted of farmers, artisans and religious priests
(the Brahmins). Most of the artisans were treated as village servants.
Such a compact system of village community effectively protecting village artisans from the
onslaughts of external competition was one of the important contributing factors to the absence of
localization of industry in ancient India.
Evidently, organized industrial activity was observable among the Indian artisans in a few
recognizable products in the cities of Banaras, Allahabad, Gaya, Puri, and Mirzapur which were
established on their river basins. Very possibly, this was because the rivers served as a means of
transportation facilities.
These artisan industries flourished over the period because the Royal Patronage was to them to
support them. The workshops called ‘Kharkhanas’ came into existence. The craftsmen were brought
into an association pronounced as ‘guild system’.
Overall, perfection in art; durability beyond doubt and appeal to the eye of the individual were the
distinguishing qualities inherent in the Indian craftsmanship that brought many everlasting laurels of
name and fame to illustrious India in the past To quote, Bengal enjoyed world-wide celebrity for
corah, Lucknow for chintzes, Ahmedabad for dupattas and dhotis, Nagpur for silk-bordered cloths,
Kashmir for shawls and Banaras for metal wares.
Thus, from the immemorial until the earlier years of the eighteenth century, India enjoyed the
prestigious status of the queen of international trade with the help of its handicrafts.
Unfortunately, the prestigious Indian handicraft industry, which was basically a cottage and small
sector, declined at the end of the eighteenth century for various reasons.
28. The decline of the handicraft industry can be attributed to the following
reasons:
The disappearance of the Indian Royal Courts, who patronized the crafts
earlier;
The lukewarm attitude of the British Colonial Government towards the Indian
crafts;
The imposition of heavy duties on the imports of the Indian goods in England;
Low-priced British-made goods produced on a large scale which reduced the
competing capacity of the products of the Indian handicrafts;
Development of transport in India’ facilitating the easy access of British
products even to far-flung remote parts of the country;
Changes in the tastes and habits of the Indian, developing craziness of foreign
products, and
The unwillingness of the Indian craftsmen to adapt to the changing tastes and
needs of the people.
Some scholars hold the view that manufacturing entrepreneurship in India
emerged as the latent and manifest consequence of East India Company’s advent
in India.
The company injected various changes in the Indian economy through the
export of raw materials and the import of finished goods in India. Particularly,
the Parsis established a good rapport with the Company and were much
influenced by the Company’s commercial operations.
29. He belonged to a Wadia family which gave birth to many leading shipbuilders of Bombay.8 9 In
1677, Minjee Dhanjee was given a contract for building the first large gun-powder-mill in
Bombay for the East India Company.
Besides, a Parsi foreman of a gun factory belonging to the company established a steel
industry in Bombay in 1852. Based on these facts, it can be stated that the East India Company
made some contribution towards entrepreneurial growth in India.
But, whether the company did it deliberately for the growth of entrepreneurship in India or it
was just a coincidence that people met with the Company and entered the manufacturing,
nothing can be said with certitude.
The actual emergence of manufacturing entrepreneurship can be noticed in the second half of
the nineteenth century. Prior to 1850, some stray failure attempts were, indeed, made by the
Europeans to set up factories in India. In the beginning, the Parsis were the founder of
manufacturing entrepreneurs in India.
Ranchodlal Chotalal, a Nagar Brahman, was the first Indian to think of setting up the textile
manufacturing on the modem factory lines in 1847 but failed. In his second attempt, he
succeeded in setting up a textile mill in 1861 at Ahmedabad.’
But before this, the first cotton textile manufacturing unit was already set up by a Parsi,
Cowasjee Nanabhoy Davar in Bombay in 1854 followed by Nawrosjee Wadia, who opened his
textile mill in Bombay in 1880.
The credit for the expansion of textile industries up to 1915 goes to the Parsis. Out of 96
textile mills existing in 1915, 43 percent (41) were set up by Parsis, 24 percent (23) by Hindus,
10 percent (10) by Muslims and 23 percent (22) by British citizens.
10 Later, the Parsis invaded other fields, mainly iron and steel industry, also Jamshedjee Tata
was the first Parsi entrepreneur who established the first steel industry in Jamshedpur in 1911.
In the first wave of manufacturing entrepreneurship, except Parsis, all others hailed from non-
commercial communities. Why the Well-known commercial communities, namely, Jains and
30. Secondly, it can also be attributed to their conservative attitude to change from commercial entrepreneurship
to industrial entrepreneurship.
The Swadeshi campaign, i.e., emphasis on indigenous goods, provided, indeed, a proper seedbed for
inculcating and developing nationalism in the country.
It was the influence of Swadeshi that Jamshedji Tata even named his first mill ‘Swadeshi Mill’.
The spirit of indigenousness strengthened its roots so much in the country that the Krishna Mills in its
advertisement of Tribune of April 13 made the following appeal: “Our concern is financed by native capital
and is under native management throughout”.
The second wave of entrepreneurial growth in India began after the First World War.
Firstly, the improvement of the business climate in the countryside during this period resulted in an increase
in the quantum of trade which assured quick returns on investments. This proved the” commercial activity
more lucrative during the period.
For various reasons, the Indian Government agreed, to ‘discriminating’ protection to certain industries, even
requiring that companies receiving its benefits should be registered in India with rupee capital and have a
proportion of their directors as Indians. The advantages of these measures were mostly enjoyed by the
Indians.
The Europeans failed to harness the protectionist policies to their interests, These measures helped in
establishing and extending the factory manufacturing in India during the first four decades of the twentieth
century.
During these decades, the relative importance of Parsis declined and Gujaratis and Marwari Vaishyas gained
that pendulum in India’s entrepreneurial scene.
The emergence of Managing Agency System which made its own contribution to Indian entrepreneurship can
be traced back to 1936 when Carr, Tagore & Co. assumed the management of the Calcutta Steam Tug
31. The credit for this initiation goes to an Indian, Dwarkanath Tagore, who encouraged
others to form joint-stock companies and invented a distinct method of management
in which management remained in the hands of the ‘firm’ rather than of an
‘individual’.
Historical evidence also does confirm that after the East India Company lost
monopoly in 1813, the European Managing Agency Houses entered the business,
trade, and banking.
These houses markedly influenced eastern India’s Industrial scene. It is stated that
the Managing Agency Houses were the real entrepreneur for that period, particularly
in Eastern India.
Brimmer holds the opinion that Agency Houses emerged to overcome the limitations
imposed by a shortage of venture capital and entrepreneurial acumen through all.
may not agree squarely with this view.
Entrepreneurship in the Post- Independence period:
After taking a long sigh of political relief is 1947, the Government of India tried to
spell out the priorities to devise a scheme for achieving balanced growth.
For this purpose, the Government came forward with the first Industrial Policy,
1948 which was revised from time to time.
The Government in her various industrial policy statements identified the
responsibility of the State to promote, assist and develop industries in the national
32. It also explicitly recognized the vital role of the private sector in
accelerating industrial development and, for this, enough field was
reserved for the private sector.
The Government took three important measures in her industrial
resolutions:
to maintain a proper distribution of economic power between the private and
public sector;
to encourage the tempo of industrialization by spreading entrepreneurship from
the existing centers to other cities, towns and villages, and
to disseminate the entrepreneurship acumen concentrated in a few dominant
communities to many industrially potential people of varied social strata.
To achieve these adumbrated objectives, the Government accorded
emphasis on the development of small-scale industries in the
country.
Particularly since the Third Five Year Plan, the Government started to
provide various incentives and concessions in the form of capital,
technical know-how, markets and land to the potential entrepreneurs
to establish industries in the industrially potential areas to remove
the regional imbalances in development.
This was, indeed, a major step taken by the Government to initiate
33. Several institutions like Directorate of Industries, Financial Corporations, Small-Scale Industries
Corporations, and Small Industries Service Institute were also established by the Government to
facilitate the new entrepreneurs in setting tip their enterprises.
Expectedly, the small-scale units emerged very rapidly in India witnessing a tremendous increase in
their number from 121,619 in 1966 to 190,727 in 1970 registering an increase of 17,000 units per
year during the period under reference.
The recapitulation of review of the literature regarding entrepreneurial growth in India, thus, leads us
to conclude that prior to 1850, the manufacturing entrepreneurship was negligible lying dormant in
artisans.
The artisan entrepreneurship could not develop mainly due to inadequate infrastructure and
lukewarm attitude of the colonial political structure to the entrepreneurial function.
The East India Company, the Managing Agency Houses and various socio-political movements like
Swadeshi campaign provided one 'way or the other, proper seedbed for the emergence of the
manufacturing entrepreneurship from 1850 onwards.
The wave of entrepreneurial growth gained sufficient momentum after the Second World War. Since
then, the entrepreneurs have increased rapidly in numbers in the country.
Particularly, since the Third Five Year Plan, small entrepreneurs have experienced a tremendous
increase in their numbers.
But they lacked entrepreneurial ability, however. The fact remains that even the small
entrepreneurship continued to be dominated by business communities though at some places new
groups of entrepreneurs too emerged.
Also, there are examples that some entrepreneurs grew from small to medium-scale and from
medium to large-scale manufacturing units during the period.
The family entrepreneurship units like Tata, Birla, Mafatlal, Dalmia, Kirloskar, and others grew beyond
the normally expected size and established new frontiers in business in this period.
Notwithstanding, all this happened without the diversification of the entrepreneurial base so far as its
34. CONCLUSION
Entrepreneurship is the dynamic process of creating incremental
wealth and innovating things of value that have a bearing on the
welfare of the general public. It provides civilization with an
enormous amount of goods and services and enhances the growth of
social welfare.
The main importance of entrepreneurship is the creation of job
opportunities, innovation, and improve the economy.
The man behind the entrepreneurship is an action-oriented and
highly motivated individual who is ready to achieve goals.
M. Kirzner (1973) observes entrepreneurs as; “one who perceives
what others have not seen and acts upon that perception”.
Thus, entrepreneurs take the economy and the society that is the
whole civilization to the state of progress and prosperity.