History of the academic study of entrepreneurship
Arnold C. Cooper
There have been entrepreneurs throughout human history. However, entrepreneurship, as an academic field of study, is quite young. The first course in entrepreneurship was apparently offered at the Harvard Business School in 1947 by Myles Mace. Early courses often dealt primarily with small business management. It was many years before business schools began to offer courses focusing upon entrepreneurship.
The first conference on small businesses and their problems was held at St. Gallen University in Switzerland in 1948 and has been held every other year since then. The predecessor organization of ICSB, the National Council for Small Business Management Development, grew from a conference on small business management development held at the University of Colorado in 1956. Many of the early leaders were with the US Small Business Administration. The organization had a strong orientation toward small business education and included many university educators involved in service or outreach programs. The name of the organization was changed to the International Council for Small Business in 1977.
The first academic conference on entrepreneurship research was at Purdue in the fall of 1970. It brought together 12 researchers to report upon their studies of technical entrepreneurship in various parts of the country.
Within the Academy of Management, Karl Vesper held an organizational meeting in 1974 for those interested in forming an Interest Group on Entrepreneurship. The Interest Group was formed as a part of the Division of Business Policy and Planning. The Entrepreneurship Interest Group did not achieve full status as the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management until 1987.
What was termed the First International Conference on Entrepreneurship Research was held in Toronto in 1973; it brought together primarily Canadian and American researchers. There was an effort during that period to organize a new professional organization of professors interested in the field. It was called SERA, the Society for Entrepreneurship Research and 144 history of the academic study of entrepreneurship Application. There was a mailing list of 42 members. However, it never progressed very far. The International Symposium of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (ISEED) was held in Cincinnati in 1975. This one time conference was a very ambitious undertaking, with an international steering committee and many sponsors and cooperating agencies. It in volved more than 230 participants from all over the world, who gathered for the four day conference. Many were with government agencies which sponsored programs to encourage entrepreneurship, and they reported upon their experiences.
A number of interesting developments occurred at Babson. The Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs was established in 1978 to recognize ‘‘world class’’ entrepreneurs. This became the prototype of other programs to re cognize entrepreneurs, including the Ernst and Young ‘‘Entrepreneur of the Year Awards,’’ the NFIB ‘‘Best in America’’ contest, and a number of local and regional programs intended to celebrate entrepreneurs and their achievements. The Babson Research Conference was started in 1981. Karl Vesper and Jack Hornaday organized the first conference, which involved the presentation of 39 papers. It was established from the beginning as a working conference, with a required paper as the ticket for admission for all of the participants. The Price Babson College Fellows Program, directed at experienced business people who were interested in teaching entrepreneurship, started in 1984.
The Small Business Institute Program (SBI) was started in 1972 at Texas Tech University. This program, sponsored by the Small Business Administration, provided support to universities which set up courses in which students consulted with small businesses. This program got off to a fast start and by 1976 there were 398 universities participating. The professional organization, SBIDA, was organized to bring in volved faculty together. Although SBA no longer funds this program, variations of it can be found on many campuses and SBIDA continues as an organization binding together faculty who share interests in students learning through consulting.
The first of the ‘‘State of the Art’’ conferences was held at Baylor in 1980. A number of re searchers were invited to summarize what was known and not known on particular topics. There were five subsequent conferences, which were held about every three to five years. These were organized primarily by Don Sexton and each resulted in a book.
When scholars first began to try to publish articles on entrepreneurship there were few outlets. The Journal of Small Business Management started in 1963 under the auspices of the National Council for Small Business and became the official publication of the successor organization, ICSB, in 1977. The American Journal of Small Business was started about 1976; in 1988, under the leadership of Ray Bagby, its name was changed to Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice. The Journal of Business Venturing was started in 1985 by Ian MacMillan under the sponsorship of New York University and the Wharton School. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development was started in 1989.
In reviewing these developments, it is clear that many of the journals we read and conferences we attend were started in the last 20 years, only about half of a professional’s working life. This is indeed a young field.
Not only is this field young, but it has also been relatively small in number of full time faculty. Although there has been a great growth in total courses, the number of people devoting their full energies to teaching and research in the area has continued to be limited. Many of the courses are taught by non tenure track faculty, often on a part time basis. These are often fine teachers, but their other commitments are such that they are usually not involved in developing the intellectual capital of the field. Even where tenure track faculty are involved, they often teach and do work in other areas in addition to entrepreneurship. Furthermore, many entrepreneurship faculty are of an applied bent, good at relating to practicing managers, but sometimes less inclined toward research. The upshot of all of this is that the number of full time faculty, particularly young faculty, doing research in the field has been relatively small.
by Karl Vesper) has history of the academic study of entrepreneurship 145 increased from fewer than 10 in 1967, to 105 in 1975, 173 in 1980, 250 in 1984, and 370 in 1993. Since the first MBA entrepreneurship major was offered at the University of Southern California in 1972, many undergraduate and MBA pro grams have added sets of courses and majors. More recently, it was reported that there are more than 2,200 courses at 1,600 colleges and universities (Brush et al., 2003).
The number of English language journals has grown to 44. Conferences are now so numerous that it is difficult to keep track of them. There are 277 chaired professorships in the field. More than 100 universities have established Entrepreneurship Centers (Brush et al., 2003). These serve as focal points for research, for outreach, for student enrichment, and for fundraising.
Public interest in entrepreneurship is quite high. Magazines such as INC (started in 1979) and Entrepreneur (started in 1977) attract both subscribers and advertisers. Articles in the general business press attract widespread reader ship. Not only are there articles about how to be an entrepreneur, there are also articles ‘‘about’’ entrepreneurs. The evolution of entrepreneurs to the role of folk heroes is a remarkable development. USA Today surveyed young people, asking that if they could devote one year to any occupation, which would they choose. For the women, 47 percent chose entrepreneur, more than tour guide or novelist. For the young men, 38 percent chose entrepreneur, even more than professional athlete. A Gallup poll reported that over 90 percent of Americans would approve if either a daughter or son attempted to start a small business.
This widespread interest in entrepreneurship reflects what is happening in society. A few years ago, Fortune magazine estimated that the average young person entering the job market would have ten different jobs with five different organizations before retirement. Old industries decline and well known corporate names disappear. Many young people recognize that they must take responsibility for their own careers. Even if they expect to start with larger firms and hope to stay with them, conditions can change. Those who have developed entrepreneurial skills will be better prepared for a constantly changing world and they may also have more interesting options in the future. In addition, it is increasingly clear that many of the careers offering the greatest rewards and excitement are in entrepreneurial firms.
Whether the academic study of entrepreneur ship will continue to grow will depend upon student interest, the value of research and writing in the field, and the continued support of foundations, government agencies, and universities. The record over recent years suggests that this is still a developing field which is likely to have even greater impact in the future.
Bibliography
Brush, C. G., Duhaime, I. M., Gartner, W. B., Stewart, A., Katz, J. A., Hitt, M. A., Alvarez, S. A., Meyer, G. D., and Venkataraman, S. (2003). Doctoral education in the field of entrepreneurship. Journal of Management, 29 (3): 309 32.