Entrepreneurship, knowledge and employment

Uncertainty as an entrepreneur environment, nutrient or destructive.

Irina Chaplygina, Lomonosov Moscow State University

According to entrepreneurship theories (F.Night, J. Schumpeter, L.Mises) the entrepreneur function originates from uncertainty. Moreover, the figure of entrepreneur depends on the uncertainty conception of each author. Night associates uncertainty with fundamental indetermination of the future. Entrepreneurship as better prediction of the future come out as intellectual, cognitive task, although not rational. The position of Austrian school demonstrates the same logic: entrepreneur has some extraordinaire ability to catch in the past and present the features of future. As to Schumpeter the darkness of the future need not necessarily the entrepreneur strategy. Humanity has evaluated the standard practices against usual uncertainty through its history. The real uncertainty arises only out of innovative activity. So not each undertaker need to be entrepreneur, but only who realizes something principally new. Entrepreneurship is now the operating task, not cognitive and also not rational. So in the framework of modern discussion about preexistence of entrepreneurial opportunity, Night and Mises theories demonstrate “discovery approach” and Schumpeter theory can be attribute to “creation approach”. At the same time the considerable uncertainty can be treated as negative factor for entrepreneurship. During economic history formal and informal institutes were invented for minimizing the risk of enterprises. At the beginning of XX this problem was analyzed by J. Commons. He associates uncertainty with undoubtedness of agreements, that paralyzes “entrepreneur capacity” of individuals. According to Commons this problem become crucial in modern economic with future dealing and intangible property. So the growth of economic depends on the invention of appropriate institutions (“collective forms”) which could release individual entrepreneur capacities. So different understanding of uncertainty leads to represent it as the environment or the barrier for entrepreneurship.

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Keywords: Uncertainty, entrepreneurship, F.Knight, J.Schumpeter, L.Misec, J.Commons

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