Does growth company CEOs and
venture capitalist hold at least a quarter of the seats on the
three largest bank? Does the local economic development department spend more time helping local
companies grow than it does chasing after branch facilities of out-of –state
corporations? Does the governor of your
state meet regular with entrepreneurs to seek their views? Can you quickly think of 5 recent spin-offs
–growth companies started by entrepreneurs
who have left larger companies? With each ‘yes’ answer
scoring 10 points, a total score of 70
points or higher produces a
‘passing’ grade according to
the authors of the test. If you are interested in learning more on the
topics in this paper, just continue reading.
SUCCESS STORIES
To read about success stories in rural America please visit RUPRI:
innovative approaches to entrepreneurial development (a publication)
Nature vs. nurture: how do entrepreneurship
theories help to explain the motivation and actions of entrepreneurs?
INTRODUCTION
Every day, when we look around, we see different people who have
different colour of their eyes, hair, and skin.
We even give each other nicknames such as “red –haired mary” or “skinny
billy”. We know that we get our genetic makeup from our parents and there is little we can
do to change it, without resorting to modern technology. Do we get our
unique personality from our parents as well or do l we develop our personality
traits through endless life experience? The
nature vs nurture debate is not only an academic or medical interest but
also of interest form an entrepreneurial prospect vs why are
some people successful entrepreneurs while others are not, are they born
with success blood, and as long as they
follow their natural instinct everything will work out for them? Or is it a lot
of hard work, with risk being taken, based on past experience after being
carefully weighed up. The group looked at the nature
versus nurture debate and how these theories can explain entrepreneurial
success. Our research focused on five different area, economic, psychology,
sociology, management, and entrepreneurship and then turned to entrepreneurs
from our immediate environment to verify our theories.
ECONOMIC THEORY
“An economic agent” is one “who
perceives market opportunities and assembles the factors of production
to exploit them” entrepreneurs by nature see opportunities in the market
or environment and source the
means, financial and otherwise to
realize the product or service that will fill the “gap” in the market.
They tend to have a willingness to take risks and a vision that enable
them to continue when others may not share their vision or ambition. Nurture enables the entrepreneurs
to become aware of his or her strengths and weaknesses and to exploit any
opportunities they may encounter. When forming a business, team this allows
them to make informed decisions that build
and complement each others strengths and weaknesses.
LIAVAN MILLIN ON ENTREPRENEURS
I think you have to have imitative
and be solution and goal focused. You have to be inquisitive with a desire to learn. About all
you have to be a good communicator!”
Morrissey M irish entrepreneur business and life, blazing strength ,
volume 3
issue 6 page 29
there are country and city
enterprise boards throughout irealand that are willing to nurture budding entrepreneurs’
and give them the e support they need to make a success of their product or
service the following is form the
assistant CEO of Dubin city enterprise board.
Elbhlin curley “the country and city
enterprise boards offer a range of supports
to new and existing small businesses. The supports vary from providing an
initial first stop shop service for information, advice, training and mentoring to financial
supports are designed to assist new and
existing entrepreneurs at each stage of business development”.
PSYCHOLOGY
I don’t think people are
born entrepreneurs, I think that they
are taught to be entrepreneurs. You are born with a set of skills and courses teach you how to use them”
Mr Morgan o flaherty supreme ceramics and
pottery studies, entrepreneur on the year munster region, interview on 03
11-051 there are two different
schools of thought, people are born with their own unique personality or their personality
develops there are two different schools
of thought, people are born with their
own unique personality or their personality develops throughout their life.
The following is an except from
a talk between Winifred Gallagher, science writer and David Gergen editor with
US news and world report
Winifred Ballagher: get a second nature, so that rather than
nature and nurture beig oil and
water, they’re like the four and water that make bread and once, once you
have bread , you cant pull apart the flour and the water anymore. Mr. Gergen so that , in effect you’re born,
genetically born with a certain temperament
Mr. Gergen but you experience is your early years in your childhood,
then makes modifies that temperament it can change that temperament
Winifred Gallagher not just
psychologically in some sort of airy fairy way but in vary real physiological structural way will give you an example we can’t do these
kinds of experiments with children for obvious reason, but if
scientists breed very, very highly aggressive or highly
anxious monkeys, and give that infant to a very relaxed, competent, experienced
mother to raise, that infant will grow
up to resemble, not just behaviorally
but also neuro-chemically, an infant who was born with the normal levies
of those two traits. Now, that a very
profound finding. This isn’t just like some sort of slick gloss on a basic
trait. This is a profound change in that trait that’s due to experience”.
Gallagher W. and Gergen D., Nature Vs Nurture, {Online}. Available
from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/gallgher5-14html, {Accessed
02/11/05,13:05}.
Some psychologists believe
that personalities are determined by certain genetics the biochemistry of our
brains. Their evidence states that in working situation, “because the measures
of job satisfaction are fairly stable over time and across different jobs a
predisposition to be content with or frustrated at work my have genetic
component. In this perspective, your personality is fixed at birth and life’s
experiences do little or nothing to alter it”. However”, “jobs satisfaction can
influence by changing job design and other factors such as supervisory style. (Huczynski
A. and Buchanan D., Organizational Behaviour, prentice Hall, 2001, page 144)
On the other hand, some
psychologists argue that our human personal traits are shaped by environmental,
cultural and social factors. It is the environment that we are living in that
decides the way and how we think and behave under certain situation. Our
feelings and behavior patterns are learned from our life experience.
“We learn new behavior
through observing and imitating others.”
Every society has
distinctive social standard and norm many also have a unique way of doing
things in daily life, it is impossible to be born with this local knowledge.
From this point of view, “ your personality is flexible, it can be changed with
experience. It may be that psychological well being depends on such
adaptability.”
Words such as ambitious,
adventurous and creative are often associated with successful entrepreneurs.
Are these people born to succeed? Or do they succeed because of constant
adoptions and improvements in their learning? In this area, the Nurture theory
makes more sense.
In this case entrepreneurs
are same everybody else when they come into the world, however, they constantly
pay attention, develop and improve their skills thought their life experience.
Nobody is born to be a winner even the most talent people need to be inspired
and stimulated all the time, when there is an opportunity, the entrepreneur
stands out in contrast.
At this point it’s worth
pointing out that entrepreneurs do experience fear that their business or idea
might not be the winner that they believe it to be. When Mr Morgan O’flaherty
was asked if he thinks about failure, he said, “ I did I put it aside…you can’t
go around worrying about what will go wrong, you deal with things as they come
along and focus the positive.”
Mr Morgan O’Flaherty, Supreme Ceramics and Pottery Studio, Entrepreneur on the Year Munster region, {Interview on 03 Now 2005}.
Mr Morgan O’Flaherty, Supreme Ceramics and Pottery Studio, Entrepreneur on the Year Munster region, {Interview on 03 Now 2005}.
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Sociological perspective can be broadly looked at under two heading
socio-cultural and family background
Socio-cultural factors
include such things as the community that the entrepreneur grew up in or now
live in, the value of that society or the social position within that society.