Principles of Entrepreneurship and Management glossary

A person who identifies a business opportunity, assembles the capital, labour and other resources needed to act on it, and bears the risk of the venture in exchange for the profit, or loss, it produces.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Acquires an existing business, franchise or brand rather than building one from scratch, and grows it from that base.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Resist change altogether, continuing with outdated methods even after the market has moved on, and losing ground to competitors who adapt.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

The shared values, attitudes and norms within a society or an organisation that encourage initiative, risk-taking, innovation and self-reliance, as opposed to a culture that rewards only conformity and caution.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

The process of identifying a business opportunity, mobilising the resources needed to pursue it, and organising and running a venture to exploit it, while bearing the associated risk in the hope of a reward.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Cautious and sceptical of change, adopting a new idea only once its success is already proven beyond doubt, and only under real competitive pressure to do so.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Opportunistic, low-capital ventures built on effort, resourcefulness and quick adaptation rather than formal planning or outside funding, common in the informal sector.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Adopt an innovation that has already succeeded elsewhere, adapting it to a new market or context rather than originating it themselves.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Replicates a business model that already works elsewhere, competing chiefly on execution, price or local adaptation rather than originality.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Built specifically around a new product, technology or business model, rather than around replicating an existing one.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Introduce a genuinely new product, process or way of doing business, rather than improving on an existing one. They carry the highest risk but capture the greatest reward when the innovation succeeds.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial behaviour, innovation, initiative and a willingness to take calculated risks, practised by an employee inside an existing organisation rather than by someone starting their own venture. An intrapreneur uses the parent organisation's resources and still answers to it.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Innovation and new-venture activity carried out inside an already-large corporation, drawing on its existing capital, brand and distribution to launch a new line of business.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Grounded in a strong technical or academic foundation, turning research findings or specialised expertise directly into a venture.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

Build a venture on the back of systematic research and technical knowledge, commercialising a discovery or a deep understanding of a problem rather than acting purely on instinct or opportunity.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

A venture deliberately designed from the outset to grow fast and large, typically backed by outside investors seeking a high return.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

A modestly resourced venture, often family-run, aiming to earn its owner a living rather than to scale rapidly or dominate a market.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship

A venture whose primary goal is to solve a social, environmental or community problem, with any profit reinvested toward that mission rather than distributed for its own sake.

Taught in Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship