What is Entrepreneurship?

We have been redesigning the entry about the entrepreneurship major in the UM Bulletin this week, so it is a perfect time to start the discussion of what I mean when I say "Entrepreneurship." The old entry in the bulletin said "The ENT major is primarily designed for students who intend to start and/or manage their

own business." The rest of the faculty and I agreed that this was a limited and outdated view. Our new description is " The entrepreneurship major prepares students to engage in the process of value creation, regardless of organizational context. Students will develop a holistic view of organizational creation and change that is applicable to either starting a new venture (for profit or nonprofit), or working effectively within an existing organization."

Note that we feel strongly that entrepreneurship is context-independent. i.e. it doesn't relate to starting a business. Starting a business is just one instance of entrepreneurial activity.