Entrepreneurial Mindset Assessed

Running Head: ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND-SET 1
Entrepreneurial Mind-set
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ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND-SET 2
Entrepreneurial Mind-set
Introduction
As a result of high unemployment rate in the global arena, most of the young people are
encouraged to develop entrepreneurial skills that can solve this problem. It is believed that the
knowledge and skills possessed by the entrepreneurs can create opportunities for many
individuals reducing the challenges experienced as a result of unemployment. The
entrepreneurship begins by the individuals developing the right mind-set that work for the
benefit of the society. As in leadership, the entrepreneurship is believed to be an innate trait that
is possessed by few individuals. According to Senges (2007) the stakeholders in the academics,
professional and policy makers across the globe have identified the great need for instilling the
entrepreneurial mind-set to the people. This paper analyses the benefits and impact of the
development of the entrepreneurial mind-set through review of literature and conceptual
framework.
1. Paradox in Theory: Entrepreneurial Mind-set
The entrepreneurial mind-set refers to the innovative and the energetic motive of the
individuals to exploit the opportunities that arise in facilitating their actions as highlighted in the
Schumpeter (Senges 2007). Schumpeter theory claims that there is necessity for the firms and
organizations to continually develop entrepreneurial mind-set to overcome the high competition
in the market. The theory adds that entrepreneurs strive to “creatively destroy” the status quo;
any company that does not continually innovate will eventually be destroyed by someone who is
more “entrepreneurial. According to McGrath & MacMillan (2000), the development of
entrepreneurial mind-set has helped many firms acquire new opportunities, get to exploit the

opportunities and mobilize available resources in the production of high quality goods without
compromising the quality. The individual perspective proves that the entrepreneurial mind-set
viewed as a life philosophy that present the intangible component in an organisation that
promotes the firm's culture and climate. This theory works better in the market as compared to
Kirzner entrepreneurial that indicates that there are always disequilibria in markets.
Entrepreneurs are good at uncovering and exploiting these opportunities. The Schumpeter is well
supported by the evidence presented by a number of authors. Before the assessment of the
entrepreneurial mind-set, there is the need to get the definition of entrepreneurship which is
viewed as the process capturing the idea or opportunity to start a business that is aimed at either
solving problems, improving the current products and delivery of better services (Stevenson and
Jarillo, 1990).
2. Entrepreneurs’ Ability to Deal with Fundamental Paradoxes
a) Risk Taking
It is an essential process that encourages the individuals or organizations to pursue the
opportunities to start-up businesses without considering the resources they are controlling. Most
of the entrepreneur do develop unique business models and the acquisition of the human and
other material resources to develop the idea or business opportunity. It is notable that the
entrepreneur mind-set cannot be separated with innovation and the risk taking opportunities
continually to control the market trends in a competitive global environment.
b) Needfor Urgency
According to Lumpkin & dess (1996), the strategic entrepreneurial mind-set is crucial to
development of entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities. It is a strategic approach to the business

environment especially during the turbulent state of the business such as an economic crisis and
increased competition in the market. The main aim of developing the right entrepreneurial mind-
set in the business environment is in creation of the firms’ competitive advantage which
maximizes on wealth creation and reduction of production cost and expenses. Most operating
industries and corporations value the entrepreneurial mind-set as it help them in strategic
decisions relating to improvement of quality, increasing competitive advantage, reducing the cost
of production for the firms operations and maximization of the profit.
c) Creativity
Creativity improves the way business is conducted helping in risk management and
detection before the firm suffers the loss. This comes when the entrepreneur is able to identify
the right form of the entrepreneurial culture and the entrepreneurial leadership that are critical in
ensuring that there is proper form of resource management and utilization in the business firm
that is a key driver towards effective resource management and the experience of the competitive
advantage. In so doing, the firm is able to maximize the profit and reducing the production cost
by coming up with effective means of consuming the resources (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996). It also
helps to identify the uncertaininities relating to the start-up businesses.
d) Responsiveness
In areas where the firms experiences high competition, it is essential for organization to
explore the possible creating competitive advantage and sustainability. Different forms of
orientation for the entrepreneurs influences the growth and development of the business
organizations. For this reason, it is critical for the entrepreneurs to develop the right mind-set in
influencing the decisions regarding the organization through innovative approaches. It is the

recipe that makes some organizations to explore high growth while others grow at a slow rate.
Innovation normally influences the firm’s operation in production, marketing, supply and
customer relations and feedback (Lumpkin & dess, 1996).
e) Flexibility
Through innovative approaches to the organization’s operations, the firm is able to
change and establish the best path for their production, the right quality of produce, cost effective
measures, effective advertisement measures and visionary empowerment of the employees
through the human resource department to ensure that their productivity in the organization is
maximized. From these arguments, it is clear that strategic approach to the organizational growth
and development through the entrepreneurial mind-set is essential in today’s business where high
competition exist between firms in the same line of production all over across the globe.
Furthermore, accessibility of information, internet development and advancement of technology
has increased need for innovative skills in running the business.
f) Ambiguity
Most start-up businesses experiences a number of uncertainties that arise during their
operations. Planning forms a crucial process that comprises of some form of ambiguity which
helps the start-up organizations from competition by creating ambiguous process that prevent
they competitors from copying their strategic approaches. Lumpkin & dess (1996) address the
issue of ambiguity in the start-ups and point out how important they are for these businesses as
they hinder their competitors from stiff competition.
3. Assessment of Entrepreneurial Mind-set: The 8 Paradoxes

Even though the entrepreneurial mind-set is intangible, there are a number of activities
that can be undertaken to assess the value of the entrepreneurial mind-set growth. In this area, we
are going to view three main entrepreneurial mind-set indicators relevant to this field of study.
a) Leadership
This is a form of entrepreneurial mind-set that is strategically modelled by the firm that
encompasses the activities in the processes, practices and the decision making that are essential
in ensuring that the opportunities are exploited in the best way possible sustainably (Dhilwayo &
Vuuren, 2007). The most influential arguments is the work that most of the authors relies on that
was formulated by Miller (1983) which stated that leadership is an important quality in
organizational management especially for the start-up businesses.
b) Achievement Motivation
Morris, Schindehutte & Allen (2005) argues that achievement motivation is viewed as an
internal factor which tend to influence the most important innovation supportive climate in the
organization under the assessment through encouragement and recognition of the employees
hard work and rewarding the best performers in the organization. On the other hand, it creates
the competitive advantage as the employees feel motivated more by the recognition which is the
form of assessment that represent the pro-active elements of the organization that intends to
control the market structure through competitive advantage. The similar perception is upheld by
other known authors in the field of business such as Morris, Schindehutte & Allen (2005).
c) Creativity
Considering the innovativeness, Antoncic & Hisrich (2001) argues that it simply means the
ability to formulate ideas that leads to production of new goods and services that improve the

lives of people and also improve the ability of the organization to make profit by reducing the
cost of production. The second level of assessment of the entrepreneurial opportunities through
the entrepreneurial mind-set is risk taking. At this level, the firm management has to determine
the resources that are available for the project that bears uncertainties. These are the resources
that have to assess to determine the possible risk they might cause to the firm survival in the
competitive market. During this stage of the assessment, it is important carrying out both
qualitative and quantitative research to determine and define the possible solutions to the risks
identified. This protects the project from experiencing unbudgeted losses that may lead to the
failure of entire program even before completion.
d) Risk Taking
In the risk taking conception, one can argue that the entrepreneurial behaviour of the
organization may vary in regard to its innovativeness, the pro-activeness and also the risk-taking
models. Goosen (2002) argues that regardless of many critics on the value of the entrepreneurial
orientation, there is higher level of understanding that relates the model to success of the
organization from both the theoretical and conceptual analysis and assessment in the firm.
Through innovativeness and pro-activeness, it is now evident that entrepreneurial development
has led to improvements from service deliver to advertisement strategies.
e) Initiatives Taking
Throughout the organization context on entrepreneurial mind-set, development of an
initiative helps the organization in defining the process to use to produce new products and
services for the future market demand. The move to develop initiatives is regardless of the
control over the resources required for the project. According to the argument presented by

(Wielemaker, 2003), initiatives through innovation normally result to activities such as
production of new products, new service or the process innovations that lead the firm into a
competitive advantage with its competitors. The other result of the entrepreneurial mind-set
would lead to pursuance of the new market segment by opening a new business venture when the
opportunity is established.
f) Analytical Ability
The assessment of the e-business initiatives can be possible through formulation of better
ways of analysing the business when it is bearing better performance in the market. According to
the direction given by Morris & Sexton (1996) concerning the entrepreneurial e-business
initiatives, the business organization may not necessarily make multiple initiatives to succeed in
the market; but can indulge into initiatives that work for it effectively after analysing and
assessment of the possible risks. Covin & Slevin (1991) argues that firms that bear
entrepreneurial mind-set normally experiences better performance in the market after the
assessment of the initiative in the competitive industry. The strength of the business venture that
an entrepreneur carries out shout bear proper settings of the initiative. Through the
entrepreneurial mind-set framework, the business organization has to experience dynamism that
is initiated by the improving technology and change of business processes. Also, it is notable that
employees in an organization that encourages the supportive organizational cultures normally
derive more initiatives as opposed to those that there is no supportive role by the employees.
g) Networking
The entrepreneurial mind-set is greatly influenced by the network in the organization that
goes to the extent of influencing the organizational culture in the internal environment.

Organization that has well-structured culture in performance and service delivery would be more
likely to develop good entrepreneurial skills and mind-set than those that have no reputable
culture. Minniti, Bygrave & Autio (2006) and also Hornsby et al (2002) points out that effective
network in the stakeholders within the organization facilitate the employees to experience job
satisfaction in the business environment performing better and developing high chances of
coming up with global hanging strategies like the mobile phone communication networks.
Though empirical results that are presented by Minniti, Bygrave & Autio (2006) indicates that
when there is a supportive culture or climate in an organization, there is high tendency of that
organization experiencing higher number of entrepreneurial activities within it that encourages
innovative decision making process and productive human resource activities.
h) Persuasiveness
In order to develop the entrepreneurial mind-set in an organization, the management and
the human resource department has to ensure that they put up measures to guarantee good
Persuasive skills and support are available in the workforce. Morris & Kuratko (2002) argues
that the management team in an organization plays a crucial role in the productive development
and decision making in persuading the employees to work towards the organizational objectives.
Their concern also extends to the development of new products in the market where all the
stakeholders have to be considered in the product development process. The middle level
management team should also persuade the employees under them to exhibit the entrepreneurial
mind-set in the developmental process for the organization ink coming up with innovative ways
of overcoming high competition and ensure they there is high customer satisfaction in the firm.

References
Antoncic, B. & Hisrich, R.D. 2001. Entrepreneurship: construct refinement and cross-cultural
validation. Journal of Business Venturing 16:495-527
Covin, J.G. and Slevin, D.P. 1991. A conceptual model of entrepreneurship as firm behaviour.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 16(1):7-25
Dhilwayo, S. & Van Vuuren, J.J. 2007. The strategic entrepreneurial thinking imperative. Acta
Commercii 7:123-134
Goosen, G.J., De Coning, T.J. & Smit, E.V.D.M. 2002. Corporate entrepreneurship and financial
performance: the role of management. South African Journal of Business
Management 33(4):21-27
Hornsby, J.S., Kuratko, D.F. and Zahra, S.A. 2002. Middle managers' perception of the internal
environment for corporate entrepreneurship: assessing a measurement scale. Journal of
Business Venturing 17:253-273
Kreiser, P., Marino, L. & Weaver, L.M. 2002. Assessing the relationship between
entrepreneurial orientation, the external environment and firm performance. Frontiers of
Entrepreneurship Research: Babson [Online]. Available
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(Accessed 2 October 2014).
Lumpkin, G.T. & Dess, G.G. 1996. Clarifying entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it
to performance. Academy of Management Review 21(1):135-172.

Lumpkin, G.T. & Dess, G.G. 1996. Clarifying entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it
to performance. Academy of Management Review 21(1):135-172
McGrath, R.G. & MacMillan, I, 2000. The entrepreneurial mindset. Boston: Harvard Business
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Miller, D. 1983. The correlates of entrepreneurship in three types of firms. Management Science
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Minniti, M., Bygrave, W.D. & Autio, E. 2006. Global entrepreneurship monitor 2005 executive
report. Babson College and London School of Business
Morris, M.H. & Kuratko, D.F. 2002. Corporate entrepreneurship. Harcourt College Publishers:
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Morris, M.H. and Sexton, D.L. 1996. The concept of entrepreneurial intensity: implications for
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Morris, M.H., Schindehutte, M. & Allen, J. 2005. The entrepreneur's business model: toward a
unified perspective. Journal of Business Research 58(6):726-735
Senges, M. 2007. Knowledge entrepreneurship in universities: practice and strategy of Internet
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Stevenson, H.H. & Jarillo, J.C. 1990. A paradigm of entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship
management. Strategic Management Journal 11(Summer Special Issue):17-27
Wielemaker, M. 2003. Managing initiatives: a synthesis of the conditioning and knowledge
creating view. Unpublished PhD thesis. Erasmus University Rotterdam

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