Measuring the Benefits of Entrepreneurship at Different Levels of Analysis

This paper presents a suggested framework for future research designs to examine the benefits of entrepreneurship, both non-financial and financial. Based on a review of the literature, and using contextual exemplars throughout the paper with an Australia and New Zealand focus, we identify a range of benefits from entrepreneurship at the various levels of analysis (e.g. individual, organizational, national). From a non-financial perspective such benefits include independence, autonomy, competitive advantage, increased market share, employment, and increased standards of living. From a financial perspective, entrepreneurship’s benefits include enhanced remuneration or rent from revenue, profits, cash flow, return on investment, and increases in GDP – specific financial measures to be expressed in clear financial terms. The suggested framework represents both an initial step towards the measurement of entrepreneurship’s financial benefits, and a valuable starting point for the development of a theory of the non-financial and financial benefits of entrepreneurship.