Question

Discuss the various functions of an entrepreneur

Answer 1

  Shifting cultivators -  Shifting cultivators practise slash and burn agriculture.In this practise, parts of the forest are cut and burnt in rotation. European foresters regarded this practice as harmful for the forests. They felt that such land could not be used for growing trees for railway timber and was dangerous while being burnt as it could start a forest fire. This type of cultivation also made dificult for the government to calculate taxes. Thus, Colonial government banned shiftinf cultivation. As a result, many communities were forcibly displaced from their homes in the forests. Some had to change occupations, while some resisted through large and small rebellions.

2.  Nomadic and pastoralist communities -  The reservation of forest areas by the British Government also sealed the fate of many nomadic and pastoral communities like the Korava, Karacha and Yerukula of the Madras Presidency lost their means of livelihood. Earlier these people and their cattle depended totally on the forest from which they were deprived because of the new forest management. Some of these communities began to be called ‘criminal tribes’ and were forced to work in factories, mines, and plantations under government supervision. Thus, these people were forced to operate within new systems and reorganize their lives.

Answer 2

Answer:

The following points highlight the top five functions of an entrepreneur. The functions are: 1. Decision Making 2. Management Control 3. Division of Income 4. Risk-Taking and Uncertainty-Bearing 5. Innovation.

Explanation:

Function # 1. Decision Making: The primary task of an entrepreneur is to decide the policy of production. An entrepreneur is to determine what to produce, how much to produce, how to produce, where to produce, how to sell and’ so forth. In brief, he is to make vital business decisions relating to the purchase of productive factors and to the sale of the finished goods or services.

Function # 2. Management Control: Earlier writers used to consider the manage­ment control one of the chief functions of the entrepreneur. Management and control of the business are conducted by the entrepreneur himself.  

Function # 3. Division of Income:  The next major function of the entrepreneur is to make necessary arrangement for the division of total income among the different factors of production employed by him. Even if there is a loss in the business, he is to pay rent, interest, wages and other contractual incomes out of the realised sale proceeds.

Function # 4. Risk-Taking and Uncertainty-Bearing: Risk-taking is perhaps the most important function of an entrepreneur. Modern production is very risky as an entrepreneur is required to produce goods or services in antici­pation of their future demand.

Function # 5. Innovation: Another distinguishing function of the entrepreneur, as emphasised by Schumpeter, is to make frequent inventions — invention of new products, new techniques and discovering new markets — to improve his competitive position, and to increase earnings.