Latest Book
Latest Book · Forthcoming 2027
Entrepreneurship Through the Ages
A Historical Exploration of Entrepreneurial Understanding
Rethinking entrepreneurship through history
What counts as entrepreneurship has changed across historical settings. This book traces entrepreneurial ideas, practices and understandings from antiquity to the contemporary digital and platform economy. Rather than treating present-day definitions as timeless, it situates entrepreneurship in the institutions, cultures and political economies in which entrepreneurial action took shape.
The historical account moves across ancient civilisations, medieval commerce, early modern trade and expansion, industrialisation, modern capitalism and contemporary technological change. It connects historical inquiry with debates in entrepreneurship, organisation studies, management history and economic sociology.
A comparative historical perspective. Across eras, the book revisits opportunity, risk and judgment, innovation, legitimacy and responsibility. These lenses enable comparisons across different times without assuming that entrepreneurs always understood their activities as we do today.
What readers will find
Entrepreneurship in context
How economic, political, social and religious institutions shaped who could undertake enterprise and what counted as legitimate economic action.
Long-run historical change
From ancient trade and medieval guilds to industrial firms, corporate entrepreneurship and digital platforms.
Connections across disciplines
Insights from management history, entrepreneurship studies, economic history, sociology and political economy.
Questions for contemporary research
How historical variation changes our understanding of innovation, inequality, entrepreneurial responsibility and the institutions of enterprise.
Chapter-by-chapter materials
Chapters & Reader Resources
Explore the book’s 11 chapters. A presentation for each chapter will be made available here, either as a PowerPoint file (PPTX) or a PDF of the slides. Select a chapter to view its resources.
01Introduction to Entrepreneurial History
02Researching the History of Entrepreneurship
03Entrepreneurship in Ancient Civilizations
04Entrepreneurship in Western Europe During the Middle Ages
05Entrepreneurship in the Medieval Islamic World and the Indian Ocean Region
06Early Modern Commerce, Empire, and Global Expansion
07Industrial Revolution and the Formation of the Modern Entrepreneur
08The 20th Century: Theory, Corporation, Technology, and the Digital Turn
09Entrepreneurial Practices and Theories: A Comparative Analysis
10The Socio-Economic Impact of Entrepreneurship
11Connecting the Past to the Present: Entrepreneurship’s Contemporary Relevance and Enduring Legacy
Resources marked “Coming soon” are not yet available for download.
Publication details
Author: Deniz Tunçalp
Full title: Entrepreneurship Through the Ages: A Historical Exploration of Entrepreneurial Understanding
Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Series: Management History: Global Perspectives
Expected publication: February 2027
Hardcover ISBN: 9781837421640
For the publisher’s current publication details and ordering options, please use the Emerald page below.