Entrepreneurship: America's Competitive Secret

What's the secret that has led the American economy to become the world’s strongest? Our unparalleled skill as entrepreneurs. As Schramm compellingly shows in this sweeping manifesto, entrepreneurship alone—not anything else—can give America the necessary leverage to remain an economic superpower. Not technology, since everyone now has the same technology, or access to it. Not education—we are years behind other nations in this area. Not basic manufacturing, long since moved overseas from the United States. And not capital markets, now truly global entities.

Drawing on detailed research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation and on his decades of experience as an entrepreneur himself and as a leader and mentor to other entrepreneurs, Schramm persuasively demonstrates in detail what this entrepreneurial imperative means for the way we run universities and foundations, lead companies, make personal job decisions, and even conduct our foreign affairs. The Entrepreneurial Imperative will change not only the way our government, corporations, and nonprofits operate, but also our day-to-day lives as working Americans.

Praise for The Entrepreneurial Imperative:

"Entrepreneurial capitalism, as described by Carl Schramm, is the essence of America’s economic renaissance. This book is an excellent explanation of how our economy has changed in the last twenty-five years and how to prepare for what's ahead. An imperative book for every policymaker, teacher, and parent."

"The 1700s were America's formative century. The 1800s were our expansion century. The 1900s were the industrial century. This is your guidebook to our century, America's 'Entrepreneurial Century.' Carl Schramm shows the paths to personal independence and to democratization around the world stem from the same source, the entrepreneurial power to see new opportunity. Schramm unlocks the key to growth, for your company, your career, and your contribution to the planet, and roots it in the American spirit inside us all."

"Carl Schramm has outlined the new economy, where an entrepreneurial society is critical to competing in the world. Entrepreneurship is the hidden force that has made America so successful in the world economy. This book is essential reading to understand and prepare for our personal lives and the future."