The concept of entrepreneurship is multi-faceted. You will find varied, diverse and somewhat contradictory sets of definitions of the term. As a way out the definitional dilemma, this article aims to describe the economic perspective on entrepreneurship.

The economic perspective rests on certain economic variables including innovation, risk bearing, and resource mobilization.

Innovation/Creativity In the approach, entrepreneurs are those whom carry out new combination of productive resources. The key ingredient, the carrying out of new combination (or innovation) distinguishes entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs. While new venture creation appears as the most prevalent form of entrepreneurship, there exist other forms. Entrepreneurship also involves the initiation of changes in the form of subsequent expansion in the quantity of goods produced, and in existing form or structure of organisational relationships.

In the entrepreneurship literature, some scholars have questioned the usage of organization creation as criterion for entrepreneurship. It has been argued that organizations for example political parties, associations and social groups will almost always be created by people that are not "entrepreneurs." Interesting as it might sound, the terms entrepreneurship and entrepreneur have been adopted by varied scholars to meet the innovation and spirit of the time. This really is evidenced by attempts to apply entrepreneurial thinking to contemporary team-oriented place of business strategies. Members of such groups - political parties, associations and social groups - as a result, might be called entrepreneurial teams. Besides, activities inherent in such groups have flourished lately, and are increasingly being described as social entrepreneurship.

Risk Taking This really is another economic variable upon which the financial perspective revolves. Risk taking distinguishes entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs. Sometimes, entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers. They bear the uncertainty in market dynamics. This notion has its critics and advocates. Entrepreneurs may not necessarily risk her own funds but risk other personal capital such as reputation as well as the possibility of being more gainfully employed elsewhere.

Resource Mobilization here, entrepreneurship is reflected in alertness to perceived profit opportunities in the economy. This implies the allocation of resources in quest for opportunities with the entrepreneur playing the role of the chance identifier. This way, entrepreneurs are distinguished by their ability to identify persistent shocks or challenges (of long term opportunities) to the environment, and after that to synthesize the information and take decisive actions based upon it.

This article has conceptualized entrepreneurship based upon resource mobilization, risk taking, and innovation. Beyond the above-mentioned financial variables, entrepreneurship also can be viewed based upon a group of personal characteristics, motives and company leadership incentives of the actor within the entrepreneurship act. This is the psychological perspective, the subject of a future article. As well as the psychological perspective, we shall also examine the process and small business perspectives.