Entrepreneurship: what it is and its origins
Before answering the question of what entrepreneurship is, we could explain that its origin lies in the French word entrepreneur (pioneer), a term conceptualised by Richard Cantillon in the mid-18th century in his work “Essay on the Nature of Trade in General”.
Later, Jean-Baptiste Say defined the entrepreneur as ‘an agent of change who brings together and combines the means of production, natural, human and financial resources to build a productive entity and finds the value received from the products, the recovery of the capital invested, the expenses incurred and the profits sought’.
But returning to the definition of this word, one option—since there is no great consensus—could be to turn a new idea into a successful innovation through the use of skills, creativity and exposure to risk.
Depending on various characteristics or different factors, there are different types of entrepreneurship. Let’s take a look at what they are.
Types of entrepreneurship
Depending on the objectives or business models, we find the following variety of types of entrepreneurship, although it should be noted that the list of types may vary depending on various considerations.
Small business
This is usually considered the most common type of entrepreneurship and focuses on family businesses or retail shops aimed at meeting the basic needs of small communities.
Due to the very nature of this type of business, it targets small markets with simple market structures that do not aspire to aggressive expansion, but rather seek proximity and personalised service for their customers, as well as stability for the owners and employees, if any.
Scalable
Technology and innovation are the tools with which this type of entrepreneurship seeks to grow rapidly to reach large markets.
This requires both considerable investment and the support of investors so that the ability to scale up allows them to get ahead of the competition.
Although it may seem obvious, the business model of start-ups of this type must be scalable and able to meet high market demand.
Some technology companies are examples of how to move from small start-ups to large global corporations.
Social
Social entrepreneurship is a way of creating and managing businesses whose objective is to generate a positive impact on society or the environment, with certain specific characteristics such as the aforementioned social purpose, community focus, collaborative leadership and economic self-sustainability.
Opportunistic
Created to meet a sporadic and urgent need, this type of opportunistic entrepreneurship lives up to its name and is characterised by the entrepreneur’s vision, creativity and ability to execute quickly.
In this way, a business model that meets unmet needs is quickly identified, developed and implemented.
Innovative
Combining innovation, creativity and risk, this type of entrepreneurship seeks to transform the market through disruptive solutions.
As its name suggests, it is based on the creation of completely new products, services or processes that break and redefine the rules of the market with proposals that change how we work, interact, enjoy leisure and even live.
Mirror
Opposite to the type we have just analysed, mirror entrepreneurship, also known as imitation entrepreneurship, replicates existing business models, such as franchises or established brands.
To develop this type of entrepreneurship, it is necessary to travel to study the particularities of already established businesses, study their characteristic features or analyse how these measures can be successfully implemented in different scenarios.
Intrapreneurship
Unlike the other types of entrepreneurship we have analysed, this involves the development of projects within an existing company.
We can therefore define intrapreneurship as the ability of those who work in a company to develop ideas, products or services with the support of their organisation, promoting internal talent and strengthening innovation.
