Innovation and Entrepreneurship

I am very gratified to note that this wonderful book is still around & is being re-released as a new print. I read it when it was first published in the mid-80s. I remember that I had reread it during the early 90's when I had just started my own consultancy business.

I fully concur that this book is the first book to present innovation & entrepreneurship as a purposeful & systematic discipline. The book concists of three major parts:

- Part I: The Practice of Innovation;
- Part II: The Practice of Entrepreneurship;
- Part III: Entrepreneurial Strategies;

According to the author, entrepreneurial strategies are as important as purposeful innovation & entrepreneurial management. Together, they make up innovation & entrepreneurship.

What I like most about the book is the author's clear definition & concise elaboration of innovation as a disciplined business practice. He makes a very clear distinction: "Business, because of its purpose, has just two functions, & only two: MARKETING & INNOVATION. Marketing & Innovation make money. Everything else is a cost."

Best of all, he also provides some general guidelines for identifying innovative opportunities.

As a matter of fact, in Part I of the book, he describes the seven sources for innovative opportunities. Each of these seven sources are systematically covered in a specific chapter. For all entrepreneur-wannabes out there, understanding these 'innovative secrets of success' alone is worth the price of the entire book.
- Link: http://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Entrepreneurship-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060851139