ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the underlying assumptions of historic entrepreneurship thinking to consider its consequences for contemporary thought. Kilby is widely quoted as criticising the search for a definition of entrepreneurship through this analogy with A. A. Milne's 'Winnie-the-Pooh' where attempts are made to describe and trap a mythical Heffalump. Kilby argued that the entrepreneur as a focus of research had escaped explanation because each researcher had applied an approach that described specific aspects yet did not capture the whole. In A. A. Milne's story, the uncritical application of definitions leads to the development of traps which serve only to ensnare the hunters themselves. The chapter illustrates how common underlying meta-theories have caused a degree of myopia in entrepreneurship theory and argues for the use of meta-theoretical diversity in entrepreneurship thought as a means to consider a wider range of approaches. It categorizes this willingness to consider a diverse set of underlying philosophies as an 'interpretive' perspective to the construction of theory.
