Economic development and entrepreneurship

Several dynamic forces, such as technological disruption, fluctuating economies or demographical changes, have brought new opportunities and threats for organizations, and transformed societies from all over the world. In order to cope with these shifting forces, governments, public and private organizations, and the public are more and more aware of the importance of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a multifaceted phenomenon, being analysed as a process, a resource or a state-of-being. According to the Schumpeterian view, the entrepreneurial process constitutes one of the key factors in the economic development of a country/region. However, researchers have expressed different views about the relationship between the stages of economic development and entrepreneurship during the time. The aims of the paper are to examine in brief the concepts of economic development and entrepreneurship, and to emphasize the role of entrepreneurship in economic development. The methodological approach is literature review. Our paper provides a theoretical model that highlights some of the main factors involved in the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development. More than ever in the history, economic development and entrepreneurship have become strongly interconnected. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.