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INTRODUCTION
The significant amount of attention devoted to entrepreneurship in recent years has resulted in a keen awareness of the limitations of current knowledge on the subject. For instance, Low and MacMillan (1988) not only note the lack of a well-defined research agenda or set of research programs in the entrepreneurship field, but find that most of the contemporary research lacks clarity and consensus regarding purpose, theoretical perspective, focus, level of analysis, time frame, and methodology.
A more fundamental concern is the general lack of agreement among scholars and practitioners regarding the nature of entrepreneurship itself. A wide variety of definitions can be found in even the most recent literature, and conflicting schools of thought continue to debate the relative importance of various underlying dimensions and to disagree about the distinction between small business and entrepreneurial ventures.
The purpose of this article is to provide a unified conceptualization regarding the nature and scope of entrepreneurship. A distinction is drawn between inputs and outputs of the entrepreneurial process. It is argued that entrepreneurship is a variable phenomenon that can be characterized in terms of its intensity. An integrative model is presented which relates entrepreneurial inputs, the process, intensity, and outputs. It is argued that the model can be applied at both the organizational and societal levels.
THE DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES.
Although the term "entrepreneurship" has been used in a business context for well over two hundred years, there is still considerable disagreement regarding its meaning. While there have been literally hundreds of perspectives, seven of the most prevalent themes are summarized here (see also Table 1). (Table 1 omitted)
Early definitions, which were formulated principally by economists, tended to emphasize assumption of risk, supply of financial capital, arbitrage, and coordination of the factors of production. While the entrepreneur was clearly involved in the initiation of a business, these early perspectives saw entrepreneurship as an ongoing function in companies, and profit as a return for addressing uncertainty and coordinating resources. Economists historically failed to make a distinction between management and entrepreneurship, or to address the difference between small and large firms. In fact, distinctions like these were not well established until the 1930s. Even so, the prevalent tendency has been to associate entrepreneurship with small...