Introduction to Technopreneurship

• Entrepreneurship


  The act of creating a business or businesses while building and scaling it to generate a profit
• Entrepreneurship


  Seeks to understand how opportunities to create something new arise and are discovered or created by specific persons who then use various means to exploit or develop them, thus producing a wide range of effects
• Entrepreneur


  An individual who takes initiative to bundle resources in innovative ways and is willing to bear the risk and/or uncertainty to act
• Technopreneurship


  About how to manage technology in order to achieve superior value for the customer (how to use technology [ICT] to improve value)
• Technopreneurship


  Also known as cyberpreneurship or netpreneurship or technology entrepreneurship
• Technopreneur


  An entrepreneur with the skills and mindset to deal with a knowledge economy or people who shift economic resources up the value chain
• Social entrepreneurship


  It is also about transforming the world by solving big problems, like initiating social change, creating an innovative product or presenting a new life-changing solution
• Social entrepreneur


  Recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change
• Nature of entrepreneurship


  • Involves the creation process
  • Requires assumption of necessary risks
  • Requires devotion of time and effort
  • Involves rewards of being an entrepreneur
• Entrepreneurial opportunities


  Situations in which new goods, services, raw materials, and organizing methods can be introduced and sold at greater than their cost of production
• Entrepreneurial action


  Action through the creation of new products/processes and/or the entry into new markets, which may occur through a newly created organization or within an established organization
• Entrepreneurship


  The process of identifying and starting a new business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources, and taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture
• Entrepreneur


  An individual who identifies a business opportunity and assumes the risks to start and run a new business venture in order to make a profit
• Technopreneurship


  The process of identifying and starting a new technology-based business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources, and taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture
• Structural similarities


  • Exist when the underlying mechanisms of the technology resemble (match) the underlying mechanisms of the market
• Superficial similarities


  • Exist when the basic (relatively easy to observe) elements of the technology resemble (match) the basic (relatively easy to observe) elements of the market
• Bricolage


  Entrepreneurs making do by applying combinations of the resources at hand to new problems and opportunities (used in a way for which they were not originally designed or conceived)
• Effectuation process


  A process that starts with what one has (who they are, what they know, and whom they know) and selects among possible outcomes
• Causal process


  A process that starts with a desired outcome and focuses on the means to generate that outcome
• Comprehension questions


  • Questions designed to increase entrepreneurs' understanding of the nature of the environment
• Connection tasks


  • Tasks designed to stimulate entrepreneurs to think about the current situation in terms of similarities to and differences from situations previously faced and solved
• Strategic tasks


  • Tasks designed to stimulate entrepreneurs to think about which strategies are appropriate for solving the problem (and why) or pursuing the opportunity (and how)
• Reflection tasks


  • Tasks designed to stimulate entrepreneurs to think about their understanding and feelings as they progress through the entrepreneurial process
• Perceived Desirability

  The degree to which an individual has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of the potential entrepreneurial outcomes
• Entrepreneurial self-efficacy- The conviction that one can successfully execute the entrepreneurial process. 

• Background and characteristics


  • Education, age, and work history may largely influence an entrepreneur's self-efficacy
• Role models and support systems


  • Feasibility and desirability may further be enhanced if an entrepreneur in the presence of a strong support system
• Sustainable entrepreneurship


  Focused on preserving nature, life support, and community (sustainability) in the pursuit of perceived opportunities to bring future products, processes, and services into existence for gain (entrepreneurial action) where the gain is broadly construed to include economic and noneconomic benefits to individuals, the economy, and society (development)
• Cognitive Adaptability - Describes the extent to which entrepreneurs are dynamic, flexible, self-regulating, and engaged in the process of generating multiple decision frameworks focused on sensing and processing changes in their environments and then acting on them.
• Education - Formal education is not necessary but provides a good background in starting a business; Does not determine whether he will create a new businesss to exploit the discovered opportunity
• Age - Entrepreneurial careers mostly start between the ages of 22 and 45; During milestone ages (every five years); Early 30's for males, middle 30s for females; And even quite later in life
• Work History - Dissatisfaction with one’s job; Experience in financing, product or service development, manufacturing, and the development of distribution channels; Managerial experience and skills; previous start-up experience
• Role Models - Viewed as catalysts by potential entrepreneurs Serve as mentors during and after the launch of a new venture Frequent, in-depth, and mutually beneficial
• Moral Support Network - Source of psychological support to an entrepreneur Family, friends, relatives
• Professional Support Network - Provide help to the entrepreneur’s business activities Mentors, business associates, clients, experts, suppliers, trade associations, personal affiliates