Entrepreneurship and Small Business – Management in the Hospitality Industry / ريادة الأعمال والأعمال الصغيرة – الإدارة في صناعة الضيافة

Entrepreneurship and Small Business – Management in the Hospitality Industry, Most of us have an intuitive understanding of what entrepreneurs are due to much-publicized activities of characters such as Richard Branson (Virgin), Anita Roddick (Bodyshop), Bill Gates (Microsoft) and others. The international hospitality industry of course has its own icons such as Charles Forte, Conrad Hilton and Ray Croc. Indeed, some of these figures have almost reached superstar status appearing on reality television programs and having cameo roles in movies.

Therefore, it would be reasonable to suggest that most of us would link entrepreneurship with a particular personality trait or type and many writers have sought to do so (for example, see Hornaday 1982; Timmons Smollen, and Dingee, 1985; Lessem, 1986; Gibb, 1990; &

Wickham, 1998).

The likely ones here are ‘charismatic’ and ‘extrovert’. However, these characteristics are too simplistic to provide an adequate description of what constitutes the entrepreneur.

Definitions of entrepreneurship emanate from several disciplines including the ‘great person’ school; classical and neoclassical economics; psychology; sociology; and management (Yeung, 2002). Other researchers have sought to explain entrepreneurship

by linking it with national culture (for example see, Shane, 1995; McGrath, MacMillan, and Scheinberg, 1992; and Mueller and Thomas, 2001). Others including Meredith, Nelson et al. (1982) and Zimmerer and Scarborough (2005) have focused on the entrepreneurial environment.

Therefore understandably, one single universal definition of entrepreneurship is problematic given its multidisciplinary nature.

Many writers agree with Kirby (2003) and Chell, Haworth & Brealey (1991) who state respectively that:

‘there is no agreed definition of…what constitutes… entrepreneurship’ (p. 10).

‘there is still no standard, universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship’ (p. 1).

Baumol (1993) goes further suggesting that:

‘‘Any attempt at rigid definition of the term entrepreneur…[should] be avoided…because whatever attributes are selected, they are sure to prove excessively restrictive, ruling out some feature, activity, or accomplishment of this inherently subtle and elusive character’’ (p. 7).

However, if we stay with the idea of popular media icons, especially fictitious ones such as Dell Boy Trotter and Arthur Daley from UK television programs ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘Minder’ in the 1990s it becomes fairly obvious that any definition must necessarily include elements of both the individual and the environmental opportunities present.