Sociology-economic Differences of Entrepreneurship between the U.S. and other European Countries

Sociology-economic Differences of Entrepreneurship between the U.S. and other European Countries

Thesis Statement

Europeans have been better at achieving a higher level of engagement whereas, people from the US are found to be better with the mindset to set up a new business.



Introduction

Entrepreneurship has been an emerging concept of the twenty first century with unique characteristics prevailing in various cultures and societies across the globe. These distinctions have depicted numerous benefits and improvements in the corporate practices. The paper focuses on the entrepreneurial differences in the US and other European countries. A focus point has been set around the social and economic aspects of entrepreneurial act in these two regions.

Discussion

A concept that might be termed as the byproduct of globalization that has initiated a new era of activities and work perspective in the business arena is the entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial initiatives. Research studies have indicated that entrepreneurship has been at the heart of productivity and economic growth, innovation, job creation and competitiveness (Grilo & Thurik, 2006).

Entrepreneurship is stated as the process of transforming an idea into a real product. It has often been regarded as entrepreneurial ladder where higher steps will refer to higher entrepreneurial engagement levels (Zwan et. al., 2011). The behavioral and the operational notion of entrepreneurship have been distinctively identified by Sternberg and Wennekers (2005). According to them, the operational notion is centered on the individual owning and running a business for their own risk and account, and the concept has usually been denoted as self employment or business ownership. The behavioral notion of entrepreneurship has centered on behavior related to pursue of an entrepreneurial opportunity, which is being denoted as entrepreneurship or the entrepreneurial behavior (Wennekers et. al., 2009).

Numerous research studies have been conducted on the relationship between economic performance and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship has played a significant role in enhancing the competitiveness of a region that might be characterized by a well-developed infrastructure that will support the business activities. It is a fact that each region has been developing its own set of laws and regulations to be imposed by the governing bodies, as well as a certain level of munificence of resources and competition, that will be determining the available market opportunities for entrepreneurs (Zwan et. al., 2011).

More favorable conditions of the region are predicted to be enhancing the ease with which firms can come into existence, which in turn might affect the competitiveness of a region. Not only has the creation of new business been important for regional performance, but also their survival and growth (Zwan et. al., 2011). The statistical figures indicate a declining trend in self employment stability among the US citizens whereas; European graph of self employment preference remains stable. Major reasons that have contributed to the preference of self-employment include good education, urban area living and parental occupation or family occupation are the driving forces towards self employment (EUROPA, 2010).

Figure 01: Stability in Preference for Self-Employment (EUROPA, 2010, ...