Counternarrating entrepreneurship

Abstract

Schumpeter envisioned entrepreneurship research as a way to examine and understand how capitalism changes. This notwithstanding, contemporary entrepreneurship studies predominantly explore the emergence and growth of new business firms, thus adopting a view that assumes a positive macro-level role for entrepreneurship in society even as it neglects the destructivity which was key to Schumpeter’s theory. To bring capitalism back into entrepreneurship, we suggest a narrative approach to entrepreneurial history. Specifically, we introduce counternarratives to discuss new ways of thinking about the micro-macro linkage in entrepreneurship and to open up fresh understandings of creative destruction within, and beyond, capitalism. We conclude the paper with practical suggestions for new entrepreneurial histories that develop alternative narratives.