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ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE
ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND-SET

I. THE NATURE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP A. Entrepreneurial actions begin at the nexus of a lucrative opportunity and an enterprising individual. . B. An entrepreneurial opportunity could stem from introducing an existing technological product used in one market to create a new market or it could be creating a new technological product for an existing market or creating a new product for a new market. 1. Because opportunities exist in high uncertainty, entrepreneurs must use their judgment about whether or not to act. 2. The individual’s prior knowledge can decrease the amount of uncertainty. C. The McMullen-Shepherd model explains how knowledge and motivation influence two stages of entrepreneurial action. 1. Signals of changes in the environment that represent possible opportunities will be noticed by some individuals but not others. 2. Individuals with knowledge of markets and technology are more capable of detecting changes in the external environment, and if motivated will allocate further attention to processing this information. 3. The result of Stage 1 is an individual’s realization that an opportunity exists for someone. 4. The result of Stage 2 is the individual then needs to determine whether it represents an opportunity for him or her. D. To be an entrepreneur is to act on the possibility that one has identified an opportunity worth pursuing and it involves entrepreneurial thinking. II. HOW ENTREPRENEURS THINK A. Entrepreneurs think differently than nonentrepreneurs. B. Sometimes they have to make decisions in highly uncertain environments, with high stakes and immense time pressures. C. Given the nature of an entrepreneur’s decision-making environment, he or she needs to think structurally, engage in bricolage,