EDP Notes

Entrepreneurs may be classified in a number of ways.
A. ON THE BASIS OF TYPE OF BUSINESS.
Entrepreneurs are classified into different types. They are
1) Business Entrepreneur: He is an individual who discovers an idea to start a business
and then builds a business to give birth to his idea.
2).Trading Entrepreneur: He is an entrepreneur who undertakes trading activity i.e;
buying and selling manufactured goods.
3) Industrial Entrepreneur: He is an entrepreneur who undertakes manufacturing
activities.
4) Corporate Entrepreneur: He is a person who demonstrates his innovative skill in
organizing and managing a corporate undertaking.
5) Agricultural Entrepreneur: They are entrepreneurs who undertake agricultural
activities such as raising and marketing of crops, fertilizers and other imputs of agriculture. They
are called agripreneurs.
B. ON THE BASIS OF USE OF TECHNOLOGY: Entrepreneurs are of the following types.
1) Technical Entrepreneur: They are extremely task oriented. They are of craftsman type.
They develop new and improved quality goods because of their craftmanship. They concentrate
more on production than on marketing.

2) Non-Technical Entrepreneur: These entrepreneurs are not concerned with the technical
aspects of the product. They develop marketing techniques and distribution strategies to promote
their business. Thus they concentrate more on marketing aspects.
3) Professional Entrepreneur: He is an entrepreneur who starts a business unit but does
not carry on the business for long period. He sells out the running business and starts another
venture.
C. ON THE BASIS OF MOTIVATION:
Entrepreneurs are of the following types:
1) Pure Entrepreneur: They believe in their own performance while undertaking business
activities. They undertake business ventures for their personal satisfaction, status and ego. They are
guided by the motive of profit. For example, Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance Group.
2) Induced Entrepreneur: He is induced to take up an entrepreneurial activity with a view to avail
some benefits from the government. These benefits are in the form of assistance, incentives,
subsidies, concessions and infrastructures.
3) Motivated Entrepreneur: These entrepreneurs are motivated by the desire to make use of their
technical and professional expertise and skills. They are motivated by the desire for self-fulfillment.
4) Spontaneous Entrepreneur: They are motivated by their desire for self-employment and to
achieve or prove their excellence in job performance. They are natural entrepreneurs.
D. ON THE BASIS OF STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT: They may be classified into;
1) First Generation Entrepreneur: He is one who starts an industrial unit by means of his own
innovative ideas and skills. He is essentially an innovator. He is also called new entrepreneur.
2) Modern Entrepreneur: He is an entrepreneur who undertakes those ventures which suit the
modern marketing needs.
3) Classical Entrepreneur: He is one who develops a self supporting venture for the satisfaction of
customers’ needs. He is a stereo type or traditional entrepreneur.
E. CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY: They are
classified as follows:
1) Novice: A novice is someone who has started his/her first entrepreneurial venture.
2) Serial Entrepreneur: A serial entrepreneur is someone who is devoted to one venture at
a time but ultimately starts many. He repeatedly starts businesses and grows them to a sustainable
size and then sells them off.
3) Portfolio Entrepreneurs: A portfolio entrepreneur starts and runs a number of
businesses at the same time. It may be a strategy of spreading risk or it may be that the entrepreneur
is simultaneously excited by a variety of opportunities.
F. CLASSIFICATION BY CLARENCE DANHOF: Clarence Danhof, On the basis of American
agriculture, classified entrepreneurs in the following categories:
1) Innovative Entrepreneurs: They are generally aggressive on experimentation and
cleverly put attractive possibilities into practice. An innovative entrepreneur, introduces new goods,
inaugurates new methods of production, discovers new markets and reorganizes the enterprise.
Innovative entrepreneurs bring about a transformation in lifestyle and are always interested in
introducing innovations.
2) Adoptive Or Imitative Entrepreneurs: Imitative entrepreneurs do not innovate the
changes themselves, they only imitate techniques and technology innovated by others. They copy
and learn from the innovating entrepreneurs. While innovating entrepreneurs are creative, imitative
entrepreneurs are adoptive.
3) Fabian Entrepreneurs: These entrepreneurs are traditionally bounded. They would be
cautious. They neither introduce new changes nor adopt new methods innovated by others
entrepreneurs. They are shy and lazy. They try to follow the footsteps of their predecessors. They
follow old customs, traditions, sentiments etc. They take up new projects only when it is necessary
to do so.
4) Drone Entrepreneurs: Drone entrepreneurs are those who refuse to adopt and use
opportunities to make changes in production. They would not change the method of production
already introduced. They follow the traditional method of production. They may even suffer losses
but they are not ready to make changes in their existing production methods.
There is another classification of entrepreneurs. According to this, entrepreneurs may be
broadly classified into commercial entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs.
Commercial Entrepreneurs: They are those entrepreneurs who start business enterprises for their
personal gain. They undertake business ventures for the purpose of generating sales and profits.
Most of the entrepreneurs belong to this category.
Social Entrepreneurs: They are those who identify, evaluate and exploit opportunities that create
social values and not personal wealth. Social values refer to the basic long standing needs of
society. They focus on the disadvantaged sections of the society. They play the role of change
agents in the society. In short, social entrepreneurs are those who start ventures not for making
profits but for providing social welfare.