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Lesson 1
Entrepreneurship: is the process of starting a business, typically a startup company offering an
innovative or inventive product, process or service.
What is an “Entrepreneur”?
• The word "entrepreneur" is derived from the French word "entreprendre“, meaning “to begin or
start.”
• Entrepreneur: A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.
(Often satisfy a need and/or want in society)
• To be entrepreneurial means exhibiting the qualities of an entrepreneur.
• “These aren’t crazy genius people, they just hustle.” –Philip Sweezey
Why is Entrepreneurship Important?
Economic scale:
• 48% of Canadians work for small businesses.
• In 2005 small businesses accounted for 42% of Canada's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• GDP - The countries total value of goods and services produced in one year.
• Small business are defined as less than 100 employes
• Venture – A business startup or undertaking with an uncertain outcome
• Venture Capital: The money required for early stage and emerging companies.
• Bottom line: Profit, money, earnings.
• Triple bottom line: People Planet Profit
• Need – Something that is essential to life.
• Physical - food, water, sleep
• Physiological – love, companionship
• Want – Human desires that are not essential for human survival
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
• Confidence
• Hard-Working
• Motivated
• Resourceful
• Able to Manage Risk
• Positive Attitude
• Reliability
• Determination
• Respond positively to failure
• Creative
• Goal-Oriented
• Optimistic
• Flexible
• Independent
• Visionary
• Team builder
• Adaptable
• Comfortable with uncertainty
Lesson 2
Characteristics of Entrepreneurial Ventures
Business Ventures fit into one or more of the following categories:
For Profit, Non-Profit, or Not-For-Profit
 For Profit - Ventures are usually undertaken for profit (to make money). Ex: East Side
Board Supply, Booster Juice, Clay Cafe.
 Not-For-Profit - ventures that are created for social or community service purposes. Ex:
YMCA, The Salvation Army, Greenpeace, etc.
 Non-Profit – a venture that raises funds for a specific cause (Terry Fox Foundation)
 The goal with not-for-profit and non-profit is to raise the money needed to deliver a special
service or satisfy a specific need in society.
Can Produce Goods and or Services
 Good/Product Providing Venture – the venture provides members of society with a
tangible object
 Examples– shoes, bottled water, cars, popcorn, etc.
 Service Venture – the venture does something for a member of society, intangible.
 Examples– hair salon, mechanic, lawn mowing, etc.
 Ventures can provide both goods and services. A salon might provide the service of
cutting a customer’s hair, but also sell products such as shampoo.
Can be Physical or Virtual
 In the past, most ventures were “brick-and-mortar” stores that you physically visited for
goods/services.
 With the advent of the computer and Internet, you never physically have to “visit” a store
to receive goods and/or services...you can now virtually shop for what you need and
want. This is often referred to as “e-commerce.”
 More and more businesses today have a store front and a website.
Local/Provincial/National/International
 Local entrepreneurship happens when the venture provides a good or service to the area
in which it originated, usually a city or town. (The Radical Edge)
 Provincial occurs when a venture offers its goods/services to all areas of a province.
(Fuzzy Duck Fredericton)
 National occurs when an entire nation (i.e. Canada) is able to use the good/service (Trail
Blazer Products/Dartmouth)
 International entrepreneurship occurs when more than one country in the world is making
use of a good/service provided by a venture. (Major Drilling Group/Moncton)
Lesson 3
Lesson 3 – The Economy
The “Economy” can be defined as:
 The use of resources to produce and distribute goods and services.
The three “Ages” of the Economy are:
The Agricultural Age (non-specific – 1750)
The Industrial Age (1750 – 1975)
The Information Age (1975 – present)
The Agricultural Age (non-specific – 1750)
 The majority of people lived in rural areas and worked as farmers, blacksmiths, crafts
people and merchants.
 Customers knew who was producing the goods and services that they consumed.
 Hard work and physical labour were valued.
 Entrepreneurs first emerged during this age.
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The Industrial Age (1750 – 1975)
Equipment and machinery was invented to mass produce goods.
Majority of people are not self-employed, use of equipment & machinery, assembly lines.
The focus was on quantity, not quality.
Entrepreneurship was discouraged during this age. Employers wanted workers to follow
routines, not have original ideas.
Working conditions were dangerous and wages were low. As a result, some of the first
ever unions were formed.
The Information Age (1975 – present)
We are in it!
For the first time, information and knowledge are valued more than anything else.
Computers are so important during this age because they have changed how we share
information of all kinds.
People can work anywhere, because of computers, tech, and advances in communication
This has had two main effects on workers:
Fewer are needed, as they are replaced with computers/robots.
Those who remain employed work longer hours, as they can work “anywhere.”
Alvin Toffler, a Sociologist said the following about the Information Age:
 “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but
those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
What does this quote mean?
What Alvin Toffler is saying in the previous quote is:
How we receive and transmit information is changing by the day.
We must be able to learn how to transmit information (operating a Discman), unlearn
(leave that information behind) and relearn (operating an MP3 player, or an Ipod).
If you are unable to do this, or refuse to, you will be considered “illiterate.”
Entrepreneurs can have a positive impact on the local economy in several ways, including:
 Job Creation – employees, producers, etc.
 New Ideas – new ways of doing things (new & improved products & services)
 Provide employment opportunities and create new jobs as a result of growing their
businesses consistently and rapidly.
 Help contribute to regional and national economic growth.
 Compete with one another, which improves production, quality & keeps prices down
 Provide a spirit of energy, initiative & potential for progress to a community
Intrapreneurship:
 Entrepreneurship that occurs within a company
 Encourages competitiveness, productivity, etc.
 May take the form of: teams within a company; inviting customers to be part of the
creative process; offering rewards for innovation.
Technology & Change
Positive Affects of Technology:
 The growth of e-commerce (online business) has made it possible for small businesses
to compete with large ones; the playing field has been evened out.
 Entrepreneurs now have access to large data banks and search engines; small
businesses can gather more kinds of information faster than they ever could before.
 Inexpensive software is on the market to help small businesses.
 Can work/shop at home.
 Easier to communicate
Negative Affects of Technology:
 A negative effect of technological change is job loss due to downsizing. Much of the
technology created has eliminated the need for human employees.
 Downsizing – to reduce operating costs in an organization by reducing the number of
employees; often takes the form of layoffs.
 Lack of Privacy- people can reach you anytime and any where. Hard to escape work.
 More expectations to work longer hours.
 Cyber bullying.
 The oldest entrepreneurial company in Canada – The Hudson’s Bay Company, now
referred to as simply HBC and owner of The Bay and Zellers.
Terms to know
 Labour - is the economic that includes all forms of human effort that result in the
production of a good or service in exchange for a wage or salary.
 Natural Resources – bestowed by nature and comes from the land, ex. fish, trees, etc.
 Capital Resources – man made, used in the production of goods. (saws, drills, pizza
ovens)
 Wage – paid by the hour for labour
 Salary – paid a lump sum, usually a yearly salary
 Globalization – the expansion of businesses and markets based on worldwide
independence.
 Supply is the quantity of goods that a supplier has available to sell
Demand is the amount of goods that consumers are willing/w