Description
Book SynopsisThe U.S. is home to some of the largest corporations on the planet. American entrepreneurs spawned massive companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Oracle. Founders of these companies became very wealthy. Government entities and consumers benefited from the unmarketable products entrepreneurial visionaries developed. Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: The People and their Environment provides in-depth case studies of contemporary entrepreneurs that are building the future. The author argues that the famous billionaire entrepreneurs of today such as Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Bloomberg, Page, Brin, Ellison and others possessed individual drive and talent. However, it is also argued that talent may not be enough. Talent withers or thrives in its social, cultural, political and legal environment. The environment of the U.S. and its entrepreneurial "ecosystem" has been conducive to innovators and entrepreneurs of the past such as Benjamin Franklin, Levi Strauss, Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison. This book explores how both talent and context influence entrepreneurial development.
Trade ReviewSteven Koven very powerfully reminds us that successful entrepreneurship is a product of both agency and the context in which that individual effort is conducted as well as that truly understanding entrepreneurship requires an interdisciplinary perspective. This book is an essential resource for all who would support and pursue entrepreneurship-focused economic development.
-- Thomas S. Lyons, PhD., Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship, University of Tennessee
Table of ContentsPart One: The Setting, Strategies and Theories of Entrepreneurship
Chapter 1: The Economic and Governmental Setting
Chapter 2: Strategies for Economic Development
Chapter 3: Entrepreneurship Theories
Part Two: Entrepreneurs and Their Environment
Chapter 4: Contemporary Entrepreneurs
Chapter 5: The Educational and Legal Environment for Development
Chapter 6: The Social and Political Environment for Development
Part Three: Decline of U.S. Entrepreneurial Dynamism?
Chapter 7 Institutional Challenges to U.S. Entrepreneurialism
