Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:05:13.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are we ignorant about enterprise: Questioning assumptions?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2019

Simon Bridge Open the ORCID record for Simon Bridge [Opens in a new window]
Simon Bridge*
Affiliation:
Ulster Business School, Ulster University, Belfast, UK
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Twenty years ago Gibb suggested that despite an ‘explosion of research’ into enterprise, there had been ‘a growth of ignorance’. To see if that still applies, this paper looks at the nature of ‘knowledge’ and in particular at how our knowledge about enterprise has evolved. It suggests that to build our enterprise understanding, assumptions were made but not subsequently reviewed and verified. For instance it seems to have been assumed that enterprise is a sub-set of business, with the apparent consequence that big business-based thinking is applied also to small businesses.The paper concludes that there is a prima face case that ignorance about enterprise still prevails and there are examples which support this conclusion. In consequence, until the questionable assumptions are highlighted and their foundations recognised and corrected, we should not claim a leading role for our thinking or promote it as an appropriate basis for enterprise policy.

Keywords

enterpriseignorancehalf-life of knowledgescientific methodquestionable assumptions
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 3 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amit, R., MacCrimmon, K. R., Zietsma, C., & Oesch, J. M. (2001). Does money matter? Wealth attainment as the motive for initiating growth-oriented technology ventures. Journal of Business Venturing, 16(2), 119–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbesman, S. (2013). The half-life of facts. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Balog, A. M., Baker, L. T., & Walker, A. G. (2014). Religiosity and spirituality in entrepreneurship: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 11(2), 159–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birch, D. L. (1979). The job generation process (Unpublished report prepared for the Economic Development Administration). Cambridge, MA: MIT Program on Neighborhood and Regional Change.Google Scholar
Bridge, S. (2017). The search for entrepreneurship: Finding more questions than answers. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bridge, S., & Hegarty, C. (2013). Beyond the business plan – 10 principles for new venture explorers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Bridge, S., & O'Neill, K. (2018). Understanding enterprise, entrepreneurs and small business. London: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinckmann, J., Grichnik, D., & Kapsa, D. (2010). Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? Journal of Business Venturing, 25, 24–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, P. (2014). New venture creation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bygrave, W. (1989). The entrepreneurship paradigm (I): A philosophical look at its methodologies. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 14(1), 11.Google Scholar
Cole, A. H. (1942). Entrepreneurship as an area of research. The Journal of Economic History, 2 (supplement), 118–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennis, W. J. (2011). Entrepreneurship, small business and public policy levers. Journal of Small Business Management, 49(1), 92–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earls, M. (2011). In an interview on BBC Radio 4, 18 August 2011.Google Scholar
Franklin, B. (1791). The Autobiography– taken from J. S. Leo Lemay & P. M. Zall (Eds.), Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. New York: Norton, 1986.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine, 13 September 1970.Google Scholar
Galloway, L., Kapasi, I., & Wimalasena, L. (2019). A theory of venturing: A critical realist explanation of why my father is not like Richard Branson. International Small Business Journal, 37(6), 626–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, A. A. (2000). SME policy, academic research and the growth of ignorance, mythical concepts, myths, assumptions, rituals and confusions. International Small Business Journal, 18/3, 13–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hannon, P. (2005). Philosophies of enterprise and entrepreneurship education and the challenges for higher education in the UK. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 6(2), 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hari, J. (2018). Lost connections:Uncovering the real cause of depression and the unexpected solutions. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Hurst, E., & Pugsley, B. W. (2011). What do small businesses do. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2011 Fall.Google Scholar
Katz, J. A. (2003). The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education 1876–1999. Journal of Business Venturing, 18(2), 283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landström, H., & Johannisson, B. (2001). Theoretical foundations of Swedish entrepreneurship and small-business research. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 17(2), 225–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, M., Libaers, D., Thijs, B., Grant, K., Glanzel, W., & Debackere, K. (2013). Origin and emergence of entrepreneurship as a research field. Belgium: KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paine, T. (1776). Common sense, (published anonymously in America).Google Scholar
Penrose, E. (1959). The growth of the firm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Plaschka, G. R. (1992). ICSB Senior Vice President, writing in the Bulletin of the International Council for Small Business Vol.XXIV, No.1, Winter 1992.Google Scholar
Porter, R. (2003). Blood &guts: A short history of medicine. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Reijonen, H., & Komppula, R. (2007). Perception of success and its effect on small firm performance. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 14(4), 689–701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup. London: Portfolio Penguin.Google Scholar
Rowson, J., & McGilchrist, I.(2013). Divided brain, divided world. London: RSA.Google Scholar
RSA. (2008). The social brain. London: RSA.Google Scholar
Sarasvathy, S. (2008). Effectuation: Elements of entrepreneurial experience. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, M., & Rosa, P. (1999). Has firm level analysis reached its limits? Time for a rethink. International Small Business Journal, 14(4), 81–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sloman, S., & Fernbach, P. (2017). The knowledge illusion. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Taleb, N. N. (2013). Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Warburton, N. (1992). Philosophy: The basics. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Welsh, J. A., & White, J. F.(1981). A small business is not a little big business. Harvard Business Review, 59(4), 18–27.Google Scholar
West, G. (2018). Scale. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google ScholarPubMed
Wohlleben, P. (2017). The hidden life of trees. London: William Collins.Google Scholar