The study is the result of a 'journey of discovery'. The fruits of an analytical and purposely open-minded
process, which sought neither to prove nor disprove some pre-existing theory, regarding
either the nature or influencing drivers of the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship; but rather progress
through a subjective review of past and current thinking on the topic. Only then, armed with that
insight, proceeded to both test and possibly re-discover the underlying evolutional and constituent
realities of this most elusive of subjects.
The desired resultant goal of this process is to help define a methodology by which to better identify
the principle traits that make up successful entrepreneurial companies and most importantly, the
individual entrepreneur(s) that lead them. Should such benchmarks show reliability of purpose, they
would certainly help provide both the Institutional and Venture Capital community with a better and
more insightfid understanding and evaluational mechanism of venture ready Entrepreneurs thereby
leading to a streamlining of their funding processes.
This process of discovery commenced by drawing on existing literature and defining what was to be
one of the principal subject matters for analysis - the nature of entrepreneurship itself and
specifically whether entrepreneurship was an 'art' or a 'science'? Was it learned or instinctive? And
whether its existence could actually be formulated, and thereby predicted.
The results of this initial process were revealingly rather ambiguous. For while alluding to the
existence of a workable methodology by which to deliver an insight into the potential success or
failure of an entrepreneurial venture, the contention that a commonality of entrepreneurial
characteristics and predispositions existed were almost entirely dismissed. As a result, the
subsequent research sought to test this perception and to identify the key constituent characteristics
and motivars of the successful entrepreneur.
To do so, a multi-dimensional entrepreneurial model was formulated and, in turn, tested through the
development of a three tiered qualitative analysis methodology. Firstly, one that encompassed a
relatively broad-based pool of approximately 45 entrepreneurs from pre-selected Small Medium
Enterprises. From this number 12 subjects were in turn further tested utilising pre-defined
methodologies; with four of them actually subjected to in-depth one on one interviews and
subsequent analysis.
Contrary to conventional thought, the evaluational amalgam of this qualitative process significantly
revealed a reliably high degree of commonality of specific traits among entrepreneurial subjects
reviewed. In addition, an exciting and valuable insight into the mind of the entrepreneur was
revealed; one that within the study is described as the 'third dimension' of entrepreneurial
motivation, and one that the author contends could unlock the door to an even deeper understanding
of this most elusive of subject matters and form a strong basis for further research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216535 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Ippaso, Robert A., rai@thenaturalsource.com |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Robert A. Ippaso |
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