Adam Smith’s treatise on “Wealth of Nations” (1776; 1937) is still considered a classical text expounding on the nature and cause of wealth of nations. He spoke of the enterpriser in his 1776 “Wealth of Nations” as an individual who undertook the formation of an organization for commercial purposes. He thereby ascribed to the entrepreneur the role of industrialist, but he also viewed the entrepreneur as a person with unusual foresight who could recognize potential demand for goods and services. In Smith’s view, entrepreneurs reacted to economic change, thereby becoming the economic agents who transformed demand into supply.
The impact of entrepreneurship in developing countries remains relatively under-researched phenomenon especially interms of economic development (Khanka, 1998). Acs (2006) as well as Blair & Caroll
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In fact, until the 1950s the majority of definitions and references to entrepreneurship had come from economists. For example, Cantillon (1971), just mentioned; Jean Baptiste Say (1845), the renowned French economists; and Joseph Schumpeter (1934), a twentieth-century economic genius, all wrote about entrepreneurs and its impact on economic development. Entrepreneurship as a topic for discussion and analysis was introduced by the economists of the eighteenth century, and it continued to attract the interests of economists in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the word became synonymous or at least closely linked with free enterprise and capitalism. Also, it was generally recognized that entrepreneurs serve as agents of change; provide creative, innovative ideas for business enterprises; and help business grow and become profitable (Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2007) to regain a competitive lead in the world economy (Baumol et al, 2007). However, many small business support programs may not be supportive of entrepreneurship per se (Schramm, 2004). In the European