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Home Business Resources
The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.11
EAN: 9780300113310
ISBN: 0300113315
Label: Yale University Press
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2008-01-28
Publisher: Yale University Press
Studio: Yale University Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Insightful
Comment: Nutshell review - The author defines an entrepreneur as anyone who starts, manages and assumes the risk of running a business. Keep this definition in mind when reading the book because it is against this definition that the book proceeds to analyze and argue against 67 "myths" commonly held about entrepreneurs. It is well written with each chapter presenting the arguments against various beliefs and ends with a point form summary of the myths dispelled (this last is very useful for finding the key-points later). The author cites various data and clearly argues his case and the whole book can be read in just a few hours. It certainly contains many insights into the small business owner and is worthwhile reading for that alone.
Personal comment: If we hold so many different ideas (i.e. myths) to be true about entrepreneurs then perhaps we and the author are thinking of different things. A key point the author makes about entrepreneurs is that most of them have apparently no desire to grow their business beyond a one-man show. Another finding the author makes is that most do not start a business as a desire to make more money, or for the thrill of starting a business, or any other such reason. The main reason entrepreneurs start a business is apparently to avoid working for someone else! These traits do not fit at all with my notion of what it is to be an entrepreneur. Perhaps one should separate those who just start their own business to avoid working for someone else (self-employed) and those that are driven and inspired to create and grow a truly great business.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Please, Please read this book 1st before you start a business!
Comment: Give this book to your partner as well so she/he will know what she is getting herself into before you start the business. To start, where was Shane 25 years ago when I needed him most while I was starting my first business. There was little help back then for the entrepreneur. I also completed an EMBA at an Ivey league school 3 years ago and this type of consolidated knowledge/wisdom was not available. What sets this book apart is that it is backed up by seemingly sound research and fact based evidence. So many other books on the market are anecdotal in nature that leads potential entrepreneurs (or anyone, see other reviews) astray.
I won't give all the good lessons away but here are a few:
1. People start business for one of 3 reasons: they can't find a job, don't like working for others, want to make lots of money. Which do you think is most successful?
2. Who is more successful in business on average: the software engineering startup or joe the plumber. The answer, which business would you roll $100k into if you had to make a choice between only the two. Come on, be honest with youself.
3. Why women start businesses and why they don't achieve the success that men do. They could very easily, they just have different goals.
4. Factors that will increase you success rate - gender, education, choice of industry to start a business in.
5. Entrepreneurship is like golf, looks easy but it is not. Its largely a winner take all endeavor where only a few win big. In fact he makes the argument that most people (upwards of 80%) will be better off financially as a employee given the risk/reward.
6. The correlation between country wealth and level of entrepreneurship. Hint: while the US may be the wealthiest its not the most entrepreneurial. Neither is Silicon Valley the most entrepreneurial area in the US!
One area the author misses is the toll it takes on your personal life although he does mention financial risks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sobering
Comment: Scott Shane's work "Illusions of Entrepreneurship" was a valuable, yet sobering, addition to my library and knowledge base. He shines the light on many of the leading myths of entrepreneurship that scholars, practioners, and practioner-scholars such as myself proport.
Its enjoyable to read. Somewhat fun, its a good book to hammer through for practioners, policy makers, and academics alike. Supported by "facts" and research, it will lead one to rethink the link between entrepreneurship and economic development for beginners.
As a Ph.D. student researching entrepreneurship, innovation and regional development, I found this book valuable in helping me to question many of my basic assumptions that I took for granted. I also found Scott's Seminar in Entrepreneurship Research that I attended in 2007 in Cleveland to be helpful as well.
One of my takeaways as an entrepreneurship and innovation researcher was a renewed question and interest in methods. The entrepreneurs and related activites at the middle of the bellcurve are really not that interesting. What matters are the outliers. The use of empirical methods, the preferred way to go now amongst academic researchers, in order to better understand high impact entrepreneurship, is really not helpful. Qualitative methods and creative exploring will help us better understand these outliers.
-Michael Clouser, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Entrepreneurship Research, University of Edinburgh; Research Associate, Edinburgh-Stanford Link, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Customer Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR CHARLATANS
Comment: This is a great book! Its about time that someone put together a book that offers a realistic perspective on starting a business! Its a quick and easy read and offers some great ideas for increasing the odds that the business you start will be succesful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: So Repetitive
Comment: This book is the perfect example of the folks whose communication style goes like this: they tell you what they are going to tell you, they tell you, and then they tell you what they told you! And just for good measure (or to fill up more pages) this guy adds a numerical list of what he told you! Since the hardcover version I have runs just 165 pages before endnotes, you have to wonder if this is really a business magazine article, stretched waaaayyyyy out.
From reading business and economic development literature, I have often seen a distinction made between lifestyle entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurs. Shane makes no such distinction and I think the statistics he uses to bust myths are highly questionable. Do we really think policy-making in this important area should conflate every attorney who hangs a shingle to do real estate closings or draft wills, with businesses that aspire to develop new products, technologies?
On the other hand, if you are reading this because you want to leave your law firm and open a solo practice, or sell baked goods prepared in your home (lifestyle entrepreneurs) this book could be quite useful.
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Editorial Reviews:
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There are far more entrepreneurs than most people realize. But the failure rate of new businesses is disappointingly high, and the economic impact of most of them disappointingly low, suggesting that enthusiastic would-be entrepreneurs and their investors all too often operate under a false set of assumptions. This book shows that the reality of entrepreneurship is decidedly different from the myths that have come to surround it. Scott Shane, a leading expert in entrepreneurial activity in the United States and other countries, draws on the data from extensive research to provide accurate, useful information about who becomes an entrepreneur and why, how businesses are started, which factors lead to success, and which predict a likely failure. The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is an essential resource for everyone who has dreamed of starting a new business, for investors in start-ups, for policy makers attempting to facilitate the formation and survival of new businesses, and for researchers interested in the economic impact of entrepreneurial activity. Scott Shane offers research-based answers to these questions and many others: · Why do people start businesses? · What industries are popular for start-ups? · How many jobs do new businesses create? · How do entrepreneurs finance their start-ups? · What makes some locations and some countries more entrepreneurial than others? · What are the characteristics of the typical entrepreneur? · How well does the typical start-up perform? · What strategies contribute to the survival and profitability of new businesses over time?
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