Entrepreneurship in motion: Towards an interdisciplinary and an eclectic perspective

Abstract

During the past two decades there has been a heightened policy and research interest in the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship in South Africa and other countries. The recent focus on entrepreneurship has made an understanding that the nature or role of entrepreneurs is essential for economic growth and business development. Without entrepreneurs, there cannot be any entrepreneurship, whether in a large or small venture. It is increasingly realized that SMME entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are critical to the generation of output growth, employment creation, wealth expansion, revenue generation and poverty alleviation for individual and national prosperity, when many large firms are downsizing and retrenching labour, amidst a background of recessionary circumstances and fiscal stress. Entrepreneurship has been conceptualized by different schools of thought, stressing different functions, under diverse circumstances in different historical times. This paper critically examines the nature of entrepreneurship by selectively drawing from the economic, management and psychological schools. It then presents an eclectic view of entrepreneurship related to decision-making ability under conditions of uncertainty by individuals who have access to and can control the utilization of resources in response to opportunities. The paper offers some pointers for enhancing the supply of effective entrepreneurship at the national level in South Africa, and suggests that an interdisciplinary approach is needed to gain a better understanding of entrepreneurship.