Key Factors for Entrepreneurial Success: A Synthesis of Earlier Research and an Agenda Proposal to Support Entrepreneurial Training

Abstract

Studies about success and unsuccess factors for startups are still relevant due to the dispersion of the literature about it. Additionally, it remains important to understand how some usual tools used by the entrepreneurs could support a better diagnosis of the success conditions in an earlier phase of the business, avoiding or preventing the unsuccess. This study is a work in progress financed by EU under Erasums+ Program and aims to discuss the factors that influence the business entrepreneurial success considering several stages of the business and its maturity. Finally, it also attends to the business plan as an important tool for entrepreneurial success. The chapter organizes contributions attending to the dimensions—entrepreneurial profile, external environment, and managerial process—and presents an agenda about a set of factors in a macro perspective (public policies, infrastructures, etc.) and in a micro perspective (entrepreneurial profile, social and human capital, etc.) that allows a reflection about the success on a different stage of a business.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Startup: A startup is a company that seeks to explore a business opportunity in an innovative or untapped area. Instead of being supported by a fixed model, it has a more fluid concept, adapting to the opportunities that arise. Startups are associated to technology and innovation.

Entrepreneurship: Refers to the studies about the creation of new business. Could also be linked to opportunity and innovation. It is possible find different kinds of entrepreneurship, such as social entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship, etc.

Business Plan: A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business, in general a new business) defines its objectives and how it is to go about achieving its goals.