Entrepreneurial Drive and Performance in an Industry Ecosystem

Book excerpt: This book will further knowledge and invite the exchange of ideas in academia, policy and practice of entrepreneurship from an ecosystem perspective. It spotlights an increasingly important perspective of understanding and developing individual entrepreneurship that can impact businesses, industries, economies and societies. It uniquely examines the link between individual entrepreneurship and the competitive performance of actors in an industry, using Kenya’s leather industry as an illustrative case. The book provides conceptual models of entrepreneurial drive as a valid construct that should guide understanding and interventions for developing entrepreneurship in academia, practice and policy. Thus, it acknowledges the role of individuals, their entrepreneurial abilities, the diverse roles they play in an industry and the resultant potential in innovation and broad-based performance outcomes. Coming at a time where entrepreneurship and innovation attention are centred on knowledge-based industries, this book uses the case of a primary or factor-driven industry to re-focus attention on an area of economic advantage that is typical of African countries.