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EntrepreneurialActivities

This section describes the job tasks of an entrepreneur post-emergence. There are various sources who give various lists of tasks, each focusing more or less on different items.

I can't find a good task analysis of entrepreneurs. Ultimately, this will be critical for any theory of entrepreneurship - it is hard to say much about entrepreneurship without being able to describe what tasks they undertake.

I propose that entrepreneurs will have sets of core tasks (such as those commonly reviewed in the literature), semi-common tasks (based on their type of business and certain individual differences) and uncommon tasks (things that are specific to their industry or company). The commonality of these tasks will be dependent on their specificity. [Update] Gotta think this through - All entrepreneurs must "prototype" something, but that could include building or managing others. Should we only pick highly specific tasks and then determine their commonality? Probably that's best. However, "market research" is a high-level task which is appropriately incorporated here. So let's consider how specific we want to get. How about - specific enough to train a person to do the tasks, evaluate their ability with the tasks, but not so specific that we define how the tasks are done?

How about: organize tasks by area, then incorporate commonality as a quality of each task? Let's build a spreadsheet of these tasks. [update]

General-Level, Differentiating Tasks

• Communicating a Vision
  • Setting Goals
• Legitimating Activities (i.e., doing stuff for the business)
  • Everything else

Note that "opportunity recognition" isn't a key part here. Question: Are entrepreneurs better at recognizing opportunities? I'm not sure that they would be. They may find them more salient, optimistic or interesting, but not necessarily see them more than the general population.

Common tasks could include:

• Developing and promulgating a vision
• Engaging others, negotiating resource acquisition
• Hosting company meetings
• Interviewing and hiring
• Other specific management and leadership tasks
• Doing some level of market research

Semi-common could include:

• Specific marketing activities
• Specific selling activities
• Accounting
• Office management

Uncommon could include:

• Anything specific to the regular work, like programming, baking, etc.

The Classical Behavioral Model

The various behaviors associated with entrepreneurs involve (from Gartner 1985):

1. Identification of opportunities
2. Accumulation of Resources
3. Markets products and services
4. Produces the product
5. Initiation of Organization
6. Responds to government and society

(Citations from: Cole 1965, Kilby 1971, Leibenstein 1968, Maidique 1980, Peterson and Berger 1971, Schumpeter 1934, Vesper 1980)

Identification of Opportunities

• Identifying opportunities
• Evaluation of opportunity, markets, competition, operations, etc.
• Business planning

Accumulation of Resources

• Acquisition of suppliers
• Raw materials
• Getting capital

Markets Products and Services

• Contact with customers
• Creation of marketing materials

Produces the product

• Creating a prototype
• Developing an operating plan
• Doing the work

Initiation of Enterprises

• Initiating an organization
• Hiring team members
• Legitimizing activities
• Development of networks
• Providing vision
• Developing work processes

Gestation

Known as entrepreneurial gestation (Reynolds and Miller 1992; Whetten 1987), organizational emergence (Gartner, Bird and Starr 1992), preorganization (Katz and Gartner, 1988; Hansen 1990), start-up (Van de ven, Angle and Poole 1989, Vesper 1990), organization in vitro (Hansen and Wortman 1989), prelaunch (McMullan and Long, 1990). Gestation is used to describe the range of activities that an entrepreneur engages in to begin a new venture.

Carter 1996? shows that those who start a business, give up trying or continue to try to start a business show very different profiles in terms of the number and type of startup activities they engage in over time.

Rotefoss Kolvereid 2005? show that experience as a entrepreneur predicts business founding.