Eine Gesellschaft von Unternehmern

The traditional view of entrepreneurs as persons exhibiting exceptional initiative and willingness to take risks, who achieve considerable economic success by being innovative in markets, is challenged in this paper. A broader definition of the concept will be introduced: Entrepreneurs are profit-seeking sellers of commodities on markets. According to this conception, a society of entrepreneurs refers to a society in which potentially every member throughout his or her life, time and again, faces the need to act as an entrepreneur. The paper will start by clarifying the concept of entrepreneurship and distinguishing various forms of its manifestation. The second part provides an interpretation of change in entrepreneurship based on the thesis of its expansion and ?profanation“: Expanding entrepreneurship within organizations – downward and inward – in form of projects and in context of permanent organizational change is of crucial significance in this respect. The ?profanation“ (and normalization) of entrepreneurial action becomes manifest in the context of project structures where employees at all levels are expected to bring forth innovative resource combinations. The process of ?creative destruction“ (Schumpeter) is inwardly directed, thus challenging the prevailing understanding of organizations. Finally, the cultural conditions underlying such a development of entrepreneurship are discussed. Resulting behavior uncertainties and coordination problems raise the question of how project-type entrepreneurship might be integrated into existing organization structures.