Page 274 - ENTREPRENEURSHIP Innovation and entrepreneurship

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Suggested Readings

Most of the literature on entrepreneurship is anecdotal and of the
“Look, Ma, no hands” variety. The best of that genre may be the
book by George Gilder: The Spirit of Enterprise (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1984). It consists mainly of stories of individuals who
have founded new businesses; there is little discussion of what one
can learn from their example. The book limits itself to new small
businesses and omits discussion of entrepreneurship in both the
existing business and the public-service institution. But at least
Gilder does not make the mistake of confining entrepreneurship to
high tech.
Far more useful to the entrepreneur—and to those who want to
understand entrepreneurship—are the studies by Karl H. Vesper of
the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, especially his
New Venture Strategy (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
1980), and his annual publication, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship
Research (Babson Park, Mass.: Babson College). Vesper, too, con-
fines himself to the new and especially to the small business. But
within these limits, his stimulating works are full of insights and
practical wisdom.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Management (83 Spring Street,
New York, N.Y. 10012), founded and directed by Joseph R.
Mancuso, focuses entirely on “How to Do It” in the small business,
as does Mancuso’s well-known text How to Start, Finance and
Manage Your Own Small Business (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
HaIl, 1978).
Entrepreneurial management in the existing and especially in the
large business is the subject of two very different books that comple-
ment each other. Andrew S. Grove, one of the founders and now the
president of Intel Corporation, discusses the policies and practices
needed to maintain entrepreneurship in the business that has grown fast
and to large size in his High-Output Management (New York: Random
House, 1983). Rosabeth M. Canter, an organizational psycholo
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