The question of “Are entrepreneurs born or made?” has been an interrogative sentence for long as both confronting propositions are bolstered by sophisticated theories. Regardless of the perpetual fierce debate, my standpoint is that entrepreneurs are both born and made as these seemingly opposing ideologies are in fact coexisting with each other. This essay will attempt to critically discuss the authenticity of the above stance.
The definition of “entrepreneurs”
Entrepreneurs are defined as innovative people who conceptualize new ideas and take risks to transform ideas into entrepreneurial opportunities so to accomplish extraordinary achievements (Hatten, 1997; HoHolt, 1992). Conspicuously, this startling ability of exploiting and innovating ideas into feasible opportunities (Piperopoulos, 2011) differentiates entrepreneurs from ordinary people. But in concrete, what fundamental factors account for these entrepreneurial traits?
A Brief introduction to parameters accounting for entrepreneurs’ distinctiveness
Chiefly, “Entrepreneurs’ character traits”, “Situational factors” and “Antecedent influences” are believed to have substantial influences on the entrepreneurs’ propensity for entrepreneurship practice (Piperopoulos, 2011:3). The details are shown on the diagram below (Piperopoulos, 2011):
With the acknowledgement of these dominating parameters affecting entrepreneurs’ behaviors, it is high time to critically evaluate the “made” and “born” factors of entrepreneurs.
The “made” factors for entrepreneurs
Conclusively, entrepreneurship can be classified into two components: “Science” and “Arts” part (Jack and Anderson, 1998). For the former one, it refers to “teachable” (Miller, 1987) theoretical business know-how like “Technical Management and Organizing skills” (Hisrich and Peters ,1998:20) or “Business management skills” including “planning to decision-making skills”