This important book enhances understanding of entrepreneurial dynamics, providing the first analysis of changes in US entrepreneurial activity. Based on the unprecedented Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, it examines adult participation in new firm creation and differences in regional firm creation activity. Shedding light on the importance of new firms for job growth, productivity enhancements, innovation, and routes for social mobility, the author tracks the success or failure of entrepreneurs, including comparisons of different groups, such as women and minorities, as well as across countries.

Weaving together vivid narrative with economic analysis, "American Entrepreneur" vividly illustrates the history of business in the United States from the point of view of the enterprising men and women who made it happen.

From the colonial era to the present day, small businesses have been an integral part of American life. First published in 1991 and now thoroughly revised and updated, A History of Small Business in America explores the central but ever-changing role played by small enterprises in the nation's economic, political, and cultural development. Examining small businesses in manufacturing, sales, services, and farming, Mansel Blackford argues that while small firms have always been important to the nation's development, their significance has varied considerably in different time periods and in different segments of our economy. Throughout, he relates small business development to changes in America's overall business and economic systems and offers comparisons between the growth of small business in the United States to its development in other countries. He places special emphasis on the importance of small business development for women and minorities. Unique in its breadth, this book provides the only comprehensive overview of these significant topics.

List of Tables and Figures; List of Acronyms; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Thinking Big Again; Chapter 1: From Crisis Ideology to the Division of Innovative Labour; Chapter 2: Technology, Innovation and Growth; Chapter 3: Risk-Taking State: From 'De-risking' to 'Bring It On!'; Chapter 4: The US Entrepreneurial State; Chapter 5: The State behind the iPhone; Chapter 6: Pushing vs. Nudging the Green Industrial Revolution; Chapter 7: Wind and Solar Power: Government Success Stories and Technology in Crisis; Chapter 8: Risks and Rewards: From Rotten Apples to Symbiotic Ecosystems; Chapter 9: So.

Without a clear and organized view of where and how entrepreneurship manifests itself, policy makers have been left in uncharted waters without an analytical compass. The purpose of this book is to provide such an analytical compass for directing how public policy can shape and promote entrepreneurship. We do this in two ways. The first is to provide a framework for policymakers and scholars to understand what determines entrepreneurship. The second is to apply this framework to a series of cases, or country studies. In particular, this book seeks to answer three questions about entrepreneurship: What has happened over time? Why did it happen? And, what has been the role of government policy? The cornerstone of the book is the proposed Eclectic Theory of Entrepreneurship. The goal of the Eclectic Theory is to provide a unified framework for understanding and analyzing the determinants of entrepreneurship. The Eclectic Theory of entrepreneurship integrates the different strands from relevant fields into a unifying, coherent framework. At the heart of the Eclectic Theory is the integration of factors shaping the demand for entrepreneurship on the one hand, with those influencing the supply of entrepreneurs on the other hand. The key to understanding the role of public policy is through identifying those channels shifting either the demand for or the supply of entrepreneurship by policy instruments. The findings in this book show that, by utilizing the framework provided by the Eclectic Theory of Entrepreneurship, it is within the grasp of policymakers to identify the determinants of entrepreneurship in a particular country setting at a particular point in time. This will be essential in formulating new public policies to promote entrepreneurship and, ultimately, economic growth, job creation and international competitiveness.

The 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.

Today when the competition, technology, and the economy are evolving faster than ever before, organizations and the people like us who work in them need a proven approach to help us adapt--and succeed. The key, according to Paul B. Brown, is to think like an entrepreneur, no matter what your position or industry. What works for the most successful entrepreneurs will work for us, Brown argues, whether we want to stay employed working for someone else or are thinking of going off on our own. Based on extensive research, Entrepreneurship for the Rest of Us reveals the best practices of the most successful entrepreneurs, those who are adept at continually innovating and seeing opportunity where others do not. They do that by following a rigid approach. For example: They never start with a new idea, but by trying to solve a market need. Financing is an afterthought. They get started with the resources at hand (not only does that allow them to move quickly, if things don't work out, they are not out much). Perfect is the enemy of good, it is much more important to get out into the marketplace with a prototype than to keep fiddling with what you have. In short, the entrepreneurial mindset is a protection against economic uncertainty, and Brown's goal is to spread that thinking to individuals and large organizations alike. Though of course we won't all start or run our own companies, we need to learn to think like entrepreneurs so that when uncertainty hits, as it will again and again, individuals and companies will be better prepared to not only survive but win.