INTRODUCTION
We are truly excited about the fourth edition of our book and the promise it brings
to you. A key reason for this is that in many parts of the world, studying and
practicing entrepreneurship are very exciting and potentially highly rewarding
activities for entrepreneurs and the nations in which they launch their ventures
and conduct their operations. In this sense then, across the world, even during
what are challenging economic conditions on a global basis, entrepreneurial
ventures are creating and bringing to market new products and services that
make our lives easier, enhance our productivity at work, improve our health, and
entertain us in new and fascinating ways. As you will see from reading this book,
entrepreneurs are some of the most passionate and inspiring people you’ll ever
meet. This is why successful firms have been launched in a variety of unexpected
places such as garages and an array of coffeehouses with wireless hot spots.
Indeed, we never know the amount of success the person sitting next to us
drinking coffee might achieve after launching an entrepreneurial venture!
As you might anticipate, the passion an entrepreneur has about a business
idea, rather than fancy offices or other material things, is typically the number
one predictor of a new venture’s success. Conversely, a lack of passion often
leads to entrepreneurial failure.
The purpose of this book is to introduce you, our readers and students of
entrepreneurship, to the entrepreneurial process. We do this because evidence
suggests that the likelihood entrepreneurs will be successful increases when
they thoroughly understand the parts of the entrepreneurial process as well as
how to effectively use those parts. The fact that in the United States alone
roughly one-third of new firms fail within the first two years while another
20 percent fail within four years of their launching is the type of evidence we
have in mind. These failure rates show that while many people are motivated
to start new firms, motivation alone is not enough; indeed, motivation must
be coupled with accurate and timely information, a solid business idea, an effec-
tive business plan, and sound execution to maximize chances for success.
In this book, we discuss many examples of entrepreneurial ventures and the
actions separating successful firms from unsuccessful ones.
This book provides a thoughtful, practical guide to the process of successfully
launching and growing an entrepreneurial venture. To do this, we provide you
with a thorough analysis of the entrepreneurial process. We model this process
for you in the first chapter and then use the model’s components to frame the
book’s remaining parts. Because of its importance, we place a special emphasis
on the beginnings of the entrepreneurial process—particularly opportunity recog-
nition and feasibility analysis. We do this because history shows that many entre-
preneurial ventures struggle or fail not because the business owners weren’t
committed or didn’t work hard, but because the idea they were pushing to bring
to the marketplace wasn’t the foundation for a vibrant, successful business.
WHAT IS NEW TO THIS EDITION?
We are committed to presenting you with the most up-to-date and applicable
treatment of the entrepreneurial process available in the marketplace. While
serving your educational interests, we want to simultaneously increase the
likelihood that you will become excited by entrepreneurship’s promise as you
read and study current experiences of entrepreneurs and their ventures as well
as the findings springing from academic research.
PREFACE
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