ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
ADM2313
The Entrepreneurial Society
Module 2A
Ali Mahdi
Spring-Summer 2024
May 13, 2024
● Entrepreneurial Mindset
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Entrepreneurial
Mindset
The
Entrepreneurship Nexus
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
(Shane, Venkatarama)
Enterprising Discover Lucrative Evaluate Exploit New
Individual Opportunity Venture
“The entrepreneurial process begins with the perception of opportunities, or situations in
which resources can be combined at a potential profit.
Alert individuals, called entrepreneurs, discover these opportunities, and develop ideas for
how to pursue them, including the development of a product or service that will be
provided to customers.” (Shane, 2003)
Entrepreneurship Nexus
Entrepreneurial Opportunity
• situations in which new goods, services, raw materials, and organizing methods can be
introduced and sold at greater than their cost of production
Entrepreneurial Thinking
• Whether a signal represents an opportunity for someone
• Whether an opportunity for someone is also an opportunity for a group or individual,
and/or processing feedback from action steps taken
Entrepreneurial Action
• Action through the creation of new products/ processes and/or the entry into new
markets, which may occur through a newly created organization or within an established
organization
5
Traits of Entrepreneurs
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
McGrath and MacMillan (2000) define an entrepreneurial mindset as “the ability to rapidly
sense, act and mobilize, even under uncertain conditions.”
Persistent
Determination Drive to Opportunity Initiative and
problem
& perseverance achieve orientation responsibility
solving
Seeking Internal locus Tolerance for Calculated risk High energy
feedback of control ambiguity taking level
Creativity and
Vision Passion Independence Team building
innovativeness
Determination and perseverance
Characteristics
• Dedication to success as an entrepreneur; overcome
of the obstacles & setbacks
Drive to achieve
Entrepreneurial • Self-starters internally driven by a strong desire to
Mindset compete
Opportunity orientation
• Focus on opportunity
Internal locus of control
• Belief that accomplishments and setbacks are within
one's own control & influence
Tolerance for ambiguity
• Thrive on the fluidity and excitement of an ambiguous
existence
7
What Risks?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Financial Risk Career Risk
● Use of personal risk l savings ● Uncertain career path
● Personal guarantees (e.g. for ● Loss of employability in your
loans and leases) previous line of work
● Loss of income
● No employment insurance
Psychological Risk
● Stress and anxiety
Family and Social Risk ● Impact of failure on wellbeing
● Competing commitments and and mental health
long work hours jeopardize
family and social relations
Dealing with Entrepreneurs use failure as a learning
experience.
Failure
Have a tolerance for failure
Effective entrepreneurs are realistic
enough to expect difficulties and failures.
9
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
BORN
The Genetic Set Up (Nicolaou et al., 2008)
● Thesis: Genetic factors explain the tendency of people to engage in entrepreneurial
activity
● Study:
○ Compare monozygotic (MZ) twins and dizygotic (DZ) twins with regards to their
engagement in entrepreneurship.
○ If there is greater concordance between MZ twins than between DZ twins, then
genetics play a role.
○ Entrepreneurship is defined as one of the following: self-employment, starting a
new business, owning and operating and existing business
● Result: Genetic factors do influence the tendency to become an entrepreneur
● Main limitations:
○ The study does not identify the specific genes that influence the tendency to
engage in entrepreneurship.
○ It cannot be directly generalized to males because the twin population that was
studied was overwhelmingly female.
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made? BORN/
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MADE
The Personality Approach (Various authors)
● It intends to show the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurial
behavior. Fundamental attributes of people determine who becomes an entrepreneur.
○ Emerged in the 60s with McClelland (1961)
○ Heavily criticized in the 80s
● Use of meta-analysis validated that following traits are predictors of entrepreneurial
behaviour (Rauch, 2014):
○ Risk taking
○ Need for achievement
○ Innovativeness
○ Proactiveness
○ Self-efficacy
○ Stress tolerance
○ Need for autonomy
○ Locus of control
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MADE
The Social Capital (Stam et al., 2014)
● Social capital is defined as the networks of relationships among
people who live and work in a particular society.
● Thesis and study result: Founder’s social capital - both intra- and
extra-industry - have an impact on a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation
and performance.
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MADE
Prior Knowledge (Shane, 2000)
● Thesis: Opportunity discovery is a function of the distribution of
information in a society.
● Study: Compare 8 entrepreneurs who exploit the same MIT invention.
● Result: Different people will discover different opportunities, based
solely on their prior knowledge.
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MADE
The Gender Gap (Thébaud, 2010)
● Fact: Men are still about twice as likely as women to create a business.
● Thesis: Due to cultural beliefs about gender and entrepreneurship, women
are less likely to perceive themselves as able to be an entrepreneur.
● Study result:
○ Confirms the thesis
○ Adds that difference in self-assessments account for a significant
portion of the gender gap in entrepreneurship.
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Acquired attributes /
Born External factors
attributes
Social
Capital
Genetic Personality Prior
Setup Approach Knowledge
Gender
Gap
ÉCOLE DE GESTION TELFER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Thank you
ADM2313
The Entrepreneurial Society
Ali Mahdi
Spring-Summer 2024