1. Entrepreneurship And MIS
Bob Jolly
Department of Economics
and
Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative
Iowa State University

2. What does an entrepreneur do?
Discovers an unmet need – an opportunity to create value.
Commits to meeting the need or solving the problem even though they may lack the knowledge or resources to do so.
Develops a way to meet the need – which may be novel or routine.
Creates an organization to assemble and direct the resources and human effort toward meeting the need.
Operates the business or organization or sells it and moves on to something else.

3. Why Entrepreneurship Matters -- macro
Innovation, creative society
Economic growth
Social welfare
Competitiveness
Democracy
Rule of law

4. Hypothesized Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth
Rate of Entrepreneurship
Developed countries are moving from “managerial”
to “entrepreneurial” economies, Zoltan Acs

5. Why Entrepreneurship Matters -- to you
Expand your career options and goals
Run your own business
Start your own non-profit
Life skill
Enable you to be entrepreneurial about your own career
Enhance your employability and career success
Improve the quality of your education
Increase your creativity and problem solving skills
Better understanding of business and market economics
Persistence
Teamwork and networking
Communication
Start early developing these skills
Start in K – 12 rather than post-secondary

6. What does an entrepreneur do?
Discovers an unmet need – an opportunity to create value.
Commits to meeting the need or solving the problem even though they may lack the knowledge or resources to do so.
Develops a way to meet the need – which may be novel or routine.
Creates an organization to assemble and direct the resources and human effort toward meeting the need.
Operates the business or organization or sells it and moves on to something else.

7. Taking apart the definition
Opportunity?
Create value
Improve product or service characteristics
Reduce costs
Meet a need
Solve a problem
“No problem – no business!” (Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures)
Heal the pain in the market place

8. Taking apart the definition
Organization?
A for-profit business or cooperative
A strategic alliance of existing organizations
An NGO, or a non-profit business
A franchise
A licensing agreement for a technology

9. Where do opportunities come from?
External changes
Technology
Policy and regulation
Demographics, consumer preferences
Inside information
Knowledge of a market segment
Interaction with potential customers

10. Types of Entrepreneurs
Opportunity
Develop businesses in response to needs in the market place
Survival
Develop businesses in response to adversity
Job loss, factory closings, low income
Growth
Develop businesses with significant capacity to create jobs or wealth
“gazelles”
Lifestyle
Develop businesses that reflect an interest or avocation
Permits the owner to live where or how they prefer
Growth and job creation are not primary concerns
Social
Develop organizations that address a particular social need
Habitat for Humanity, Sierra Club

11. Game plan
Video – face to face with a real entrepreneur who took advantage of technological advances in IT
Class exercise – develop a business model in response to an external change in the economy
Open discussion of entrepreneurship and MIS