Provides an analysis of entrepreneurship as an essential aspect of the modern economy and grounds theoretical perspectives in the reality that entrepreneurs face in their day-to-day decision-making. The text begins with an assessment as to whether there exists an entrepreneurial personality. The traditional view that entrepreneurs have certain personality characteristics is contrasted with the more dynamic view that entrepreneurial skills and attitudes are acquired within a process that is itself subject to analysis. Similarly, the question as to whether there exists growth-oriented small firms with identifiable characteristics is developed later in the text.