Book review: Markus C. Becker, Thorbjørn Knudsen and Richard Swedberg (Eds.), The Entrepreneur-Classic Texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120921840 |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Author | Gadadhara Mohapatra |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews 265
Having dealt with policy issues at the highest level and having encountered
problems because of political pressures, Mohanty is in a position to comment on
governance issues. I was particularly interested in his observations on how the
Tata-Singapore Airlines deal approved by the Committee of Secretaries, which he
was heading, was finally scuttled by the Minister of Civil Aviation and Secretary,
Civil Aviation, under pressure from various political parties including Congress,
BJP and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Mohanty in his entire career never compromised with his principles and main-
tained the highest traditions of the civil service. We need more people like him.
This breed is rare and is in danger of becoming an endangered species.
The book with experiences and instances shared by Mohanty will certainly
enhance the understanding of the readers on the functioning of civil service in
India and related operational challenges in governance.
S. K. Misra
Chairman, Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development
New Delhi, India
Former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India
E-mail: skm810@gmail.com
Markus C. Becker, Thorbjørn Knudsen and Richard Swedberg (Eds.), The
Entrepreneur-Classic Texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter. Stanford University
Press, 2011, ix + 368 pp., $35.00 (Paperback). ISBN: 9780804762830.
DOI:10.1177/0019556120921840
Entrepreneurship is the quality of being an entrepreneur, i.e. one who undertakes
an enterprise. The term puts emphasis on the risk and effort taken by individuals
who both own and manage a business, and on the innovations resulting from their
economic success. Joseph Schumpeter, Moravian-born American Economist
and Sociologist, put innovation at the heart of economic theory and capitalism.
He proposed that innovation is the process by which economies are able to break
out of their static mode and enter a path of dynamism. It was his theory of
‘creative destruction’ that first highlighted the importance of innovators in revo-
lutionising the economic structure, leading to the creation of new products,
services and markets.
The present volume gives a head start to anyone who wishes to grab a complete
understanding of Schumpeter’s theories of economics and his ‘creative destruc-
tion’. This anthology makes available to the readers English translation of original
texts in German by Schumpeter. Edited by Markus C. Becker, Thorbjørn Knudsen
and Richard Swedberg, the book comprises of nine chapters, all by Schumpeter.
This volume starts with a far-reaching introduction that attempts to go beyond
the ideas of Schumpeter and points out to the readers the seminal contribution
made by him, trying to draw out his underlying assumption of entrepreneurship.
The first three chapters of the volume are based on The Theory of Economic
Development which was originally written in German, published in 1911 (first
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