The Invention of Enterprise - Book Report/Review Example

? The Invention of Enterprise. Overview and Focus The editors of this book, William Baumol, William Landes,and Joel Mokyr, are prolific authors and accomplished scholars. Their stated goal of writing "The Invention of Enterprise" is to give interesting insights to the entrepreneur; providing them with valuable entrepreneurial knowledge. The book justifies its aim by stating that there is an upcoming interest in economists within institution effect that offer access to opportunities (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 465). The book was executed and conceived to discuss that interest among economists. The authors offered insights into the origin, effectiveness, and nature of entrepreneurship across space and time. Entrepreneurs and innovations have had a great influence on the prosperity and growth of nations (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 211). The book gathers leading historians to find the role of entrepreneurs in society from ancient Mesopotamia to nowadays. Addressing the institutional and social influence from the context of history, the chapters in the book examines entrepreneurship during a given period and in a crucial geographic location. The book begins with the history of Neo-Babylon and Mesopotamia; it enlightens the reader on the Islamic Middle East; it gives insight into the entrepreneurial history of Japan, Colonial India, and China. It describes the fundamental work of the entrepreneur in innovations in the United States and Europe, since the medieval period to present. Contribution of entrepreneurship is relative; the authors explain why the activities of entrepreneurship are not productive and may sabotage development. Restrictions and institutions that impeded or enabled innovative activities and incentives for dissemination and adoptions of inventions were examined. The authors also described broad variations in activities of entrepreneurship during historical periods and the development similarities, as well the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 216). The book is full of past events and examples that offer lessons for pursuing and successfully promoting contemporary entrepreneurship as a way to give to social welfare. Key insights Invention of Enterprise outlines a definitive visual for those who seek an understanding of innovative activities core positions in our world. Invention of Enterprise gives a posted contribution to our emerging comprehension of entrepreneurial activities in past context and is in point worthwhile to people who have an interest in particular rich episodes that are little known. Entrepreneurship has had a varied and long history, and scholars explore its evolution in the book. They search for society commonalities that failed or prospered from innovative activities of entrepreneurs, and they found out that entrepreneurship is affected directly by the prevailing religion and culture. The book explores tries to answer the crucial questions on the evolution of entrepreneurship and what makes it prosper. The critical questions and the evidences available for the places and periods analyzed the change tremendously, so the approach of the authors must to (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 58). Their depth is almost absurdly and beautifully vast, their perception is many, and the conclusions are limited. While entrepreneurship is compared to civilization age-wise, its past stories are widely scattered and little known. The books outlay an interesting cast on the importance and prevalence of entrepreneurship across the millennia. The book deeply leads to an in-depth appreciation of this fact. The present world became rich by moving towards entrepreneurship that is productive. The book addresses a topic that has been sidelined; importance of entrepreneur in the context of history. The vastness of historical contexts in this book offers moving evidence that entrepreneurship is crucial for economic growth and that firms shape entrepreneurship. The book asserts that money makes the world go round, but spinning do not happen without the innovations of entrepreneurs. The thorough examination of entrepreneurship delves into global economies. The book helps the reader to comprehend the culture currents and forces of politics that streamline entrepreneurship in the entire world. Most economies are biased against entrepreneurs. The book is recommended for people with historical passion who want to know up-to-date development of commercial enterprise. According to Oscar Gelderblon, institutions are more important than particular skills, and put a stern warning against the stagnation of economy in Holland to failure of entrepreneurship. Opposite is the opinion of Joel Mokyr, he argues that organizations determine if results of entrepreneurship efforts lead in wealth creation or its distribution, taking a concern that societies seeking rent have fewer types of entrepreneurship than societies that are market-oriented. Andrew Godley and Mark Casson insist judgment as the crucial feature of entrepreneurial (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 168). Additionally, Victorian England the most crucial field for judgment of entrepreneurship was in large companies that majorly focused on infrastructure projects in financial services, transport, and urban development. Casson and Godley say that entrepreneurs of British origin were less culpable, and 20th Century was not a success, than conventionally believed by declined British explanations. Urin Wegenroth follows entrepreneurship development in Germany (post 1815), political upheaval period, institutional rearrangements, and shifting borders caused by a change in regimes all factors that redefined the rules for entrepreneurs in ways that constrained their effectiveness. Industrial revolution of France lagged England's, delayed by the Napoleonic Wars and French revolution that followed (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 145). Michael Hau investigates the religious, cultural, economic, and political detriment to the full flourish of France entrepreneurial during the 19th and 20th century. Entrepreneurship development in the US commands three episodes. Lewis Cain portrays development and creation of the US in the period of antebellum as an economic and political exercise of entrepreneurship. Secondly, Naomi -Lamreaux shows proliferation of large enterprises in the take-off era of the US economy (1865-1920) as a response to entrepreneurship that encouraged change in structure, which affected entrepreneurial and innovation, even in the face of government regulation. The third, Margaret Graham analyses consequence of increasing corporatization and intervention of government on entrepreneurship in the US in the late 20th century. Susan Walcott depicts how the system of caste in colonial India influenced entrepreneurial (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 264). Wellington Chan explains entrepreneurship before and after Mao’s China in that nation's organizational makeup. The next to the last chapter Hiroshi Shimuzu and Seiichir Yonekura explore entrepreneurial nature that streamlined Japan's development, its wider business conglomerates. Entrepreneurs of Japan took the responsibility in executing and designing the reforms of institutions that streamlined the infrastructure of the country and transformed the system of government from a feudal economy to a market. Robert Strom and William Baumol denied and summed up the content and approach of contributions in the future chapters and find institutions in specific that promoted production and innovation of entrepreneurship throughout history. They cite bankruptcy protection, antitrust law, banking, and patent systems. Strom and Baumol give discussion of how firms that steered productive entrepreneurship came up because they had faith that they evolve accidentally. They claim that historical studies of accidents yield significant insights and instructive that improves the entrepreneurial understanding. Its close link with the growth of the economy means the entrepreneurship is always identified as economic behavior that is salutary (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 384). Critiques The book lacks consistency; a universal problem in book is overwied by many authors. Although there is a natural disparity in execution and focus, the authors' contribution explores and explores the cultural hypothesis steered by Landes. The cultural hypothesis believes that institutions and cultures play a crucial role in the development and formation of entrepreneurship and its effectiveness in various societies. Historically entrepreneurship did not get on the course until past people came to learn the crucial lesson that peaceful commercial to get needed materials was not more expensive than war (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 122 ). It shows that success of entrepreneurship depends on new equipment, technology, shared profit, and shared labor, mode of financing, distribution merges, and product marketing. Islamic countries were friendly to entrepreneurship before Mohammad, the effect of prophet on law of Islamic prevented corporations by recognizing persons with flesh and blood. Myth of timeless perfection discouraged development of entrepreneurial tendencies and dynamic. James Murray warned against generalizing entrepreneurial, claiming that absence of standalone entrepreneurs in Europe. John Munro says that the present entrepreneurial capitalism is not present in Tawny's Century (1540-1640). It was found in the present Industrial Revolution time between 1640 and 1740. The authors are not guilty of naivete. The authors remind the reader that there is both bad and good entrepreneurship; unproductive and productive behavior of enterprising. Entrepreneurship that is innovative but unproductive is exercised by persons who are opportunistic; use approaches of novel of crime, rent-seeking, or damaging social activities. These opportunists rather expanding the pie of the economy by redistribution of wealth that is in existence. People who find their way through bribe-taking bureaucracy, or democrats who undertake novel, lawsuits that are potentially lucrative, offer ready examples (Landes, Mokyr and Baumol 465). Strom and Baumol find perspectives that are historical for such behaviors in earlier epochs, citing that entrepreneurial that were unproductive in the earlier eras was institutional response and incentives of culture. Previously, there was no guarantee that a person whose effort increased the size of economic share would benefit therefrom. Greater status quo was mainly obtained by entrepreneurship that was unproductive because the subjects that were favored benefited from relations with the king. The points are valid, but the tendency of the contemporary economies has to be discreet, whether undemocratic or democratic, to go back in this aspect, is unmarked. Having attained maintenance standard across many authors, this work depicts a high quality literary stylized; it delivers the idea. It should be received by economists, informed readers, and historians. Reference Landes, David S., Joel Mokyr, and William J. Baumol. The invention of enterprise: entrepreneurship from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010. Print. Read More