Pioneers—the Individuals who Created the Field

The previous chapters (Chapters 3 and 4) described the growing interest in entrepreneurship and small firms among international researchers in the late 1970s and especially in the 1980s. A number of scholars observed the prevailing tendencies in society—with an increased focus on industrial renewal, innovation and entrepreneurship—and in various ways these pioneers stimulated an interest in entrepreneurship and small firms among their colleagues around the world. Who then were these pioneers? In this chapter, some of them will be presented. Naturally, views differ concerning the individuals and events that have been influential in the development of the field, and this presentation is a subjective evaluation. However, I have attempted to cover a broad range of topics within the field including the pioneers who built an infrastructure (section 1) as well as those involved in entrepreneurship and small business research (section 2). Since 1996 the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research (FSF) and the Swedish Business Development Agency (NUTEK) have presented the International Award for Small Business Research to scholars within entrepreneurship and/or small business whose research has contributed substantially to increased knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship and/or small businesses. The FSF-NUTEK International Award will be presented in section 3 together with a brief overview of the first recipients of the Award—recipients that can all be regarded as pioneers in the field of entrepreneurship and small business research. These pioneers will then be described in Part II and Part III of the book.