Dwindling Entrepreneurial spirit in the United States: A Time for Rethinking and Action

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the status of entrepreneurship in the United States. Findings indicate that entrepreneurship is in a state of decline at alarming rates, a situation that requires considerable rethinking and appropriate action. Data show that the birth of newly established entrepreneurial firms – companies with fewer than 20 employees – dropped form 558,500 in 1990 to 515,100 in 2011, a decrease of 8 percent. On the other hand, the death of young firms increased by 11 percent during the same time. While the country created 2,230 new business ventures per million of population in 1990, it created only 1,653 ventures in 2011, a decline of 26 percent. The paper discusses key factors that contribute to the waning of entrepreneurial spirit, and suggests that a viable course of action for entrepreneurs is to craft and implement disruptive innovation strategies to achieve continuity and growth of their business ventures.