Entrepreneurship Beyond (a New) Economy : Creative Swarms and Pathological Zones

The relationship between entrepreneurship and the new economy is explored. This exploration builds on the writings of Michel de Certeau, whose examination of the impulsive and the spontaneous in relation to the dominant workings of a phenomenon allow for a culturally sensitive analysis of the role of entrepreneurship in the new economy. De Certeau's notion of "creative swarms" is borrowed to describe the emerging Internet economy.With its e-companies, networking communities, and virtual lives, the Internet economy is the site for the ebb and flow of multiplying activities--it brings those participating in it to the point of risking their very existence. "Pathological zones," another term coined by de Certeau, is used to describe phenomena (such as the e-conomy) that increase the fading of the colors of society and the role of entrepreneurship in it. The historiography of entrepreneurship research is examined in order to construct the argument that entrepreneurship cannot be confined to economy and that it actually moves economies by moving beyond the economic.In order to give entrepreneurship room to breathe, we must recognize that creativity and pathology are inextricably interwoven, which means that surprises will happen no matter what.(SAA)