Comments on: Wobbling Towards Entrepreneurial Society JC Spender, Kozminski University

By: JC Spender

JC Spender — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 15:08:07 +0000

Thanks David – precisely the point, that there can be no ‘theory’ of the second, as we presently use the term ‘theory’. Entrepreneurship, like the rest of business (and managing) is an art form. The widespread attempts to ‘theorize’ it are ludicrous, showing the way the ‘theorists’ misunderstand the phenomena of interest (economic value-creation). At the same time the ‘art of value-creation’ is constrained by many limits or boundaries. As an ex-engineer I normally mention the 2nd Law of thermodynamics (the one that ensures that even if we can imagine perpetual motions machines we cannot build them). We would do better to focus our research on such constraints to the entrepreneurial art form.

By: David Hurst

David Hurst — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:43:08 +0000

That’s a really helpful distinction between entrepreneurship as arbitrage in existing markets and entrepreneurship as innovation to create new markets. Is it fair to say that the former is more likely be digitized and performed by an algorithm, while the latter depends upon humans and their experiences?

By: JC Spender

JC Spender — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 13:33:01 +0000

Thanks for your kind comment Erhard. Yes, it is all about freedom, especially in the socio-economic sphere. We know centralized authority does not work too well if economic growth is the aim. But just as most of us are deeply committed to liberty and democracy’s political aims – and we know that means setting up laws and other constraints on what individuals can do (and say), so entrepreneurial activity only becomes a social good when similarly constrained. How are we to organize this as the necessary complement to encouraging entrepreneurial activity?

By: Erhard Friedberg

Erhard Friedberg — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 16:32:06 +0000

This is a very useful antidote against too much enthousiasm about the entrepreneurial society. However, just calling for more direct monitoring by government is certainly not going to solve the problem, because as we know, close monitoring by government aganecies is a cumbersome process, not vey innovative by nature, a process which has already shown its inefficeincy in avoiding the problems that private entrepreneurship supposedly or really creates.