Heidi M. Neck - Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset

The Practice and Mindset

FOR INFORMATION:

SAGE Publications, Inc.

2455 Teller Road

Thousand Oaks, California 91320

E-mail: order@sagepub.com

SAGE Publications Ltd.

1 Olivers Yard

55 City Road

London, EC1Y 1SP

United Kingdom

SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area

Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044

India

SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.

3 Church Street

#10-04 Samsung Hub

Singapore 049483

Copyright 2018 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in Canada

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Neck, Heidi M., author. | Neck, Christopher P., author. | Murray, Emma L., author.

Title: Entrepreneurship : the practice and mindset / Heidi M. Neck, Christopher P. Neck, Emma L. Murray.

Description: Los Angeles : SAGE, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016034255 | ISBN 978-1-4833-8352-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Entrepreneurship.

Classification: LCC HB615 .N43297 2017 | DDC 338/.04dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016034255

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Our vision in writing this book was to create a practice-based text that promotes active learning and engagement with the realities of entrepreneurship, encouraging students to think like entrepreneurs rather than just learning about them. We treat entrepreneurship as a method that demands practice. In fact we call it the practice of entrepreneurship throughout the book. Today entrepreneurship is most often taught as a process which involves identifying an opportunity, understanding resource requirements, acquiring resources, planning, implementing, and harvesting. But the word process assumes known inputs and known outputs as in a manufacturing process. A process implies you will get to a specific destination. For example, building a car on an assembly line is a manufacturing process. You know all the parts; you know how they fit together; and you know the type of car you will have at the end. A process is quite predictable.

Entrepreneurship is not predictable and, therefore, cannot adequately be taught as a process. In fact, entrepreneurship is complex, chaotic, and lacking in any notion of linearity. The entrepreneurship practice requires creative and nimble thinking leading to a heightened level of experimentation where numerous iterations represent stages of learning rather than a series of starts and stops or even successes and failures. Finally, while a process is tested multiple times to ensure quality when used, a method is something that requires consistent practice so knowledge and expertise can be continually developed and applied to future endeavors.

Entrepreneurship: The Practice and Mindset catapults students beyond the classroom to think and act more entrepreneurially in order to create opportunities and take action in uncertain environments. Based on the world-renowned Babson program, this new text emphasizes practice and learning through action. Students learn entrepreneurship by doing entrepreneurship. By the end of the text students have the entrepreneurial mindset, skillset, and toolset that can be applied to organizations of all kinds.