At this point, you are probably aware of the cultural groups to which you belong (i.e., “I am a Latino, middle-class, (almost) college-educated male”). Do you remember the process of coming to awareness of your cultural identity—when did you know you were white and what that meant? Was it during childhood, as a teenager, or reading this chapter? Has your understanding, or acceptance, of your racial heritage changed during the course of your lifetime? For most people it does. Just as Piaget organized the growth of children according to various stages of development, cultural scholars have similarly organized racial awareness along models and stages. Before explaining the various models, let us make a couple general comments about models. One, a model is not the thing it represents. Is the model car you played with as a child the same as the actual automobile? What were the differences? Size, time, maneuverability, details? These same kinds of differences exist between the model of racial identity development and the actual personal process. But just like the car model gives a fairly accurate picture of the actual automobile so do the racial identity models. Two, these models are general and not meant to fit perfectly to every individual’s experience. With that said, let us examine the process of coming to an understanding of our racial identity.
To better understand this complex process, and in recognition of the above discussion regarding the distinctions in experiences for various cultural groups, we will present four racial identity models—-
Minority, Majority, Bi-racial, and Global Nomads.
Minority Identity Development
Because people who identify as members of a minority group in the United States tend to stand out or get noticed as “other” or “different,” they also tend to become aware of their identity sooner than individuals who are part of the majority group. Since White is still considered normative in the United States, White people may take their identity, and the corresponding privilege, for granted. While we are using the following four stages of development to refer to racial and ethnic identity development, they may also be useful when considering other minority aspects of our identity such as gender, class, or sexual orientation (Ponterotto and Pendersen). Moreover, there is no set age or time period that a person reaches or spends in a particular stage, and not everyone will reach the final stage.
-
Stage 1: Unexamined Identity
. As the name of this stage suggests, the person in stage one of Phinney’s model has little or no concern with ethnicity. They may be too young to pay attention to such matters or just not see the relationship between racial identity and their own life. One may accept the values and beliefs of the majority culture even if they work against their own cultural group.
-
Stage 2: Conformity
. In stage two the individual moves from a passive acceptance of the dominant culture’s value system to a more active one. They consciously make choices to assimilate or fit in with the dominant culture even if this means putting down or denying their own heritage. They may remain at this stage until a precipitating event forces them to question their belief system.
-
Stage 3: Resistance and Separation
. The move from stage two to stage three can be a difficult process as it necessitates a certain level of critical thinking and self-reflection. If you have ever tried to wrestle with aspects of your own belief system then you can imagine the struggle. The move may be triggered by a national event such as the case of “Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed on August 9, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, MO (Buchanan). Learn more about the case
here
. It may be fostered on a more individual scale such as enrolling in a Women’s Studies class and learning about the specifics of women’s history in America. Martin Luther King Jr. moved to this stage around age six after the mother of King’s White neighborhood friends told them that he could not play with her children anymore because he was Black. A person in this stage may simply reject all of their previously held beliefs and positive feelings about the dominant culture with those of their own group, or they may learn how to critically examine and hold beliefs from a variety of cultural perspectives, which leads to stage four.
-
Stage 4: Integration
. The final stage is one where the individual reaches an achieved identity. They learn to value diversity; seeing race, gender, class, and ethnic relations as a complex process instead of an either/or dichotomy. Their aim is to end oppression against all groups, not just their own.
Majority Identity Development
The following model was developed by Rita Hardiman in 1994 and contains some similarities with Phinney’s minority identity development model.
-
Stage 1: Unexamined Identity
. This stage is the same for both minority and majority individuals. While children may notice that some of their playmates have different colored skin, they do not fear or feel superior to them.
-
Stage 2: Acceptance
. The move to stage two signals a passive or active acceptance of the dominant ideology—either way the individual does not recognize that he or she has been socialized into accepting it. When a White person goes the route of
passive acceptance
they have
no conscious awareness of being White although they may hold some subtly racist assumptions
such as “[p]eople of color are culturally different, whereas Whites are individuals with no group identity, culture, or shared experience of racial privilege.” Or, White art forms are “classical” whereas works of art by people of color are considered “ethnic art,” “folk art,” or “crafts” (Martin and Nakayama 132). People in this stage may minimize contact with minorities or act in a “let me help you” fashion toward them. If a White person in this stage follows the active acceptance path then they are conscious of their White identity and may act in ways that highlight it. Refusing to eat food from other cultures or watch foreign films are examples of the active acceptance path of this stage.
-
Stage 3: Resistance
. Just as the move from stage two to stage three in the minority development model required a great deal of critical thought, so does this juncture. Here the members of the majority group cease blaming the members of minority groups for their conditions and see socioeconomic realities as a result of an unjust and biased sociopolitical system. There is an overall move from seeing one’s station in life as a purely individual event or responsibility to a more systemic issue. Here, people may feel guilty about being White and ashamed of some historical actions taken by some White people, they may try to associate with only people of color, or they may attempt to exorcise aspects of White privilege from their daily lives.
-
Stage 4: Redefinition
. In this stage, people attempt to redefine what it means to be White without the racist baggage. They are able to move beyond White guilt and recognize that White people and people of all cultures contain both racist and nonracist elements and that there are many historical and cultural events of which White people can be proud.
-
Stage 5: Integration
. In the last phase individuals are able to accept their Whiteness or other majority aspects of their identity and integrate it into other parts of their lives. There is a simultaneous self-acceptance and acceptance of others.
Bi- or Multiracial Identity Development
Originally, people thought that bi-racial individuals followed the development model of minority individuals, but given that we now know that race and the meanings about race are socially constructed, it makes sense to realize that a person of mixed racial ancestry is likely to be viewed differently (from both the dominant culture and the individual’s own culture) than a minority individual. Thus, they are likely to experience a social reality unique to their experience. The following five-stage model is derived from the work of W.S. Carlos Poston.
-
Stage 1: Personal Identity
. Poston’s first stage is much like the unexamined identity stage in the previous two models. Again, children are not aware of race as a value-based social category and derive their personal identity from individual personality features instead of cultural ones.
-
Stage 2: Group Categorization
. In the move from stage one to two, the person goes from no racial or cultural awareness to having to choose between one or the other. In a family where the father is Black and the mother is Japanese, the child may be asked by members of both families to decide if he or she is Black or Japanese. Choosing both is not an option in this stage.
-
Stage 3: Enmeshment/Denial
. Following the choice made in stage two, individuals attempt to immerse themselves in one culture while denying ties to the other. This process may result in guilt or feelings of distance from the parent and family whose culture was rejected in stage two. If these feelings are resolved then the child moves to the next stage. If not, they remain here.
-
Stage 4: Appreciation
. When feelings of guilt and anger are resolved the person can work to appreciate all of the cultures that shape their identity. While there is an attempt to learn about the diversity of their heritage, they will still identify primarily with the culture chosen in stage two.
-
Stage 5: Integration
. In the fifth and final stage the once fragmented parts of the person’s identity are brought together to create a unique whole. There is integration of cultures throughout all facets of the person’s life—dress, food, holidays, spirituality, language, and communication.
Global Nomads
People who move around a lot may develop a multicultural identity as a result of their extensive international travel. International teachers, business people, and military personnel are examples of global nomads (Martin and Nakayama 138). One of the earlier theories to describe this model of development was called the U-curve theory because the stages were thought to follow the pattern of the letter U. This model has since been revised in the form of a W, or a series of ups and downs; this pattern is thought to better represent the up and down nature of this process.
-
Stage 1: Anticipation and Excitement
. If you have ever planned for an international trip, what were some of the things you did to prepare? Did you do something like buy a guide book to learn some of the native customs, figure out the local diet to see if you would need to make any special accommodations, learn the language, or at least some handy phrases perhaps? All of these acts characterize stage one in which people are filled with positive feelings about their upcoming journey and try to ready themselves.
-
Stage 2: Culture Shock
. Once the excitement has worn off or you are confronted with an unexpected or unpleasant event, you may experience culture shock. This is the move from the top of the U or W to the bottom. Culture shock can result from physical, psychological, or emotional causes often correlating with an unpleasant and unfamiliar event. When individuals have spent most of their lives in a certain country, they will most likely experience culture shock when they travel overseas. The differences in cultural language, customs, and even food may be overwhelming to someone that has never experienced them before.

Todd Wasserman explains the benefits of the increased presence that digital technologies have in our lives. People have realized that they can do their work from anywhere that provides wifi, thus creating a new population of individuals that opt to travel the world while doing the same work that they could have been doing in a home office. To find out more,
click here
.
-
Stage 3: Adaptation
. The final stage at the top of the U and W is a feeling of comfortableness: being somewhat familiar with the new cultural patterns and beliefs. After spending more time in a new country and learning its cultural patterns and beliefs, individuals may feel more welcomed into the society by accepting and adapting to these cultural differences.
After exploring the identity development models for minority, majority, bi-racial individuals, and global nomads, we hope you have some understanding that a person’s identity development is a process, occurs in stages, and is specific to the individual and cultural groups. We also hope you noticed that identity development is a social process—it occurs within our relationships with other people and the larger society. Not surprisingly, language is a key factor in shaping our own self-perception as well as the attitudes and beliefs we hold about other cultural groups. In the next section, we will explore the role that language plays in intercultural communication.
There are a variety of global nomads. There are digital and physical nomads, as well as willing and unwilling nomades. Each of these experiences can also be applied to the model but understand that the excitement phase for someone could be positive or negative. Nevertheless, the goal is always to adapt to your situation.
As a consequence of war outbreaks and volatile political climates, individuals are unwillingly thrust into different cultures. Refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution, they are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedoms are at risk (UNHCR). As of 2017 there are nearly 20 million refugees worldwide (UNHCR). It is important to have effective intercultural communication in refugee situations because, often the agencies and camps that are resources, are staffed by outsiders. This difference of culture, between refugees and staff, can cause unforeseen obstacles.
An example would be if an agency, trying to provide food for refugees, offered pork to a Muslim community. On one hand, these people need help, but religiously it would be a “haram”. If the refugees do not or cannot explain why they do not want to eat pork, the staffers may feel resentment or think they do not need food.
Food is not the only difference that can be a problem for global nomads. Living or sleeping arrangements may also be different and may depend on gender, age, and family structure. Cultural identity, as seen above, is complex and ingrained in individuals, so it is very difficult for people to adapt their identity and practices.
Language Shapes Cultural Perception
Saying that language plays a vital role in intercultural communication and relationships probably seems obvious to you at this point. But do you know how and why? Let us now turn to a more detailed explanation of the power of language. Specifically, we will discuss ascription and avowal, the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis, labels and stereotypes, and reclaiming.
As you have been reflecting on your own identity, do you think it matches up with how others see you? The way people present themselves is referred to as the avowal process. The opposite of that is ascription, how others see us: the qualities or attributes that are ascribed to us. Part of your avowed identity is probably that of a college student and you hope that others see you this way too. Perhaps one of your hobbies is fashion and you enjoy paying attention to your clothes. You may then see yourself as fashionable and stylish. But do others? Might some of your classmates think you trendy, superficial, or fiscally irresponsible? The qualities that others may ascribe to you based on your fashion sense may in turn affect how you see yourself. This is yet another way that identity is shaped through communication in a social context.
In Part I of this book you were introduced to the idea that language shapes reality; the vocabulary we use to discuss an idea or person influences how we think about our subject. Likewise, if we have no words for a phenomenon then we are discouraged from talking about it or bringing it into our reality. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf believed that the structure of language was a necessary component for producing thought. You have probably heard that Eskimos have numerous words for snow. How many do you have? Snow. Ice. If you ski or snowboard then you probably have a few more. Powder. Moguls. Depending on the extent of your snow vocabulary you can look at the frozen water and perceive it in numerous ways. But if your vocabulary is limited then so is the way you can think and talk about snow. If you have studied languages such as Spanish or French then you are familiar with the concepts of a formal and informal “you.” Depending on the relationship between you and your audience you will use a different word for “you” and consequently conjugate your verbs accordingly. If you are talking with a child, for example, you would use the informal version, but if you were speaking with someone of higher social status such as your Professor you would use the formal “you.” As you speak and write, this language structure demands that you be consciously aware of social relations. This awareness then becomes part of your social reality.
If you have ever been on the receiving end of a stereotype or derogatory label in reference to your culture, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or other aspect of your identity, then you are acutely aware of the power of language. You know that such language is not a neutral conveyor of ideas, but is designed to alter and shape the way the audience thinks about a particular person or group. Think about the list of terms that historically have been used to refer to persons of African descent—African, Colored, Negro, Black, Afro-American, African American, and the harshest, the N-word. When you read each term, what are the different images or connotations connected with them? Do they bring up different historical periods, varying degrees of sociopolitical power, a variety of relationships to the dominant group? The range of emotions and images that each of these terms produces is further testament to the subjectivity of language as well as its temporal nature.
A more recent linguistic strategy among historically oppressed groups is called
reclaiming
. When a group reclaims a word they are attempting to take it back from the dominant group. If the dominant group has used a word or phrase as an insult then the oppressed group reclaims it for their own, positive meaning. Can you think of some examples? How about “bitch,” “queer,” “nigga,” or “cunt”? Hopefully, you are thinking, “hey, those words may still be insulting to some people; they’re not necessarily positive.” True. Part of the process in reclaiming is that only certain people can use them in a reclaimed fashion, most simply, the members of the oppressed groups at which the term was designed to hurt. If a woman is walking down the street and a man yells out, “Hey Bitch, watch where you’re going!” that is not reclaiming as the term is used as an insult. However, the magazine, BITCH: A Feminist Response to Popular Culture, is reclaiming this term. Here is a
YouTube Video
where the Bitch Media’s co-founder Andi Zeisler talk about the word. Also, visit the website www.bitchmedia.org to learn more. Can all words be reclaimed? Here is one perspective about the word “slut” from Feministing, “an online community run by and for young feminists” (www.feministing.com).
A Few Words About Reclaiming ‘Slut’
Empathy
In the
International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication
(June 27th 2017), Benjamin Broom states that, “In intercultural situations, empathy is more complex and more difficult, but it is a key competency for effective intercultural communication.” The author goes on to describe how empathy is an opportunity to try to imagine the life of another person. That being said, trying to understand the struggles of another is a first step to positive intercultural communication. Statement shirts or clothing such as, “I Can’t Breathe” are attempting to convey a sense of empathy with the plight of African-American males in US society. Seeing another person wearing this shirt might be confusing if one does not ask about it in hope of understanding. Being sensitive to the potential underlying meaning of these kinds of cultural reference can lead to empathy.
Contributions and Affiliations
All rights reserved content
-
Bitch Media cofounder Andi Zeisler on the word Bitch.
Authored by
: BitchMedia.
Located at
: youtu.be/1q-jWBgkNU8.
License
:
All Rights Reserved
.
License Terms
: Standard YouTube License


16.4: An Anthropological View of Sport throughout Time
-
- Last updated
- Save as PDF
- Jennifer Hasty, David G. Lewis, & Marjorie M. Snipes
- OpenStax
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe the anthropology of sports.
- Explain how sports are a form of performance.
- Identify the role that sports can play for young people.
Sports are also deeply intertwined with the human experience. The anthropology of sports is a rapidly developing field that includes specialties such as physiological anthropology and human growth and development. Sports can be quite diverse; picture a Roman gladiator, a modern-day European football (soccer) player, and an ancient or recent Olympic competitor. Another example of a sport is Trobriand cricket, a bat-and-ball game played by Trobriand Islanders that had evolved considerably since its introduction by Christian missionaries at the turn of the 20th century. Sports are expressions of passions and reflections of the human experience. They have been practiced by many cultures throughout time and across the globe. This section will specifically focus on how sports have impacted human culture and how human culture has impacted sports in turn. It will consider the historical foundation of the culture of sports and briefly analyze the way people interact with sports today, examining how human culture and societal practices are influenced by not only individual athletes but also social structures.
The Anthropology of Sports
Anthropologists understand sports as a cultural performance. The term performance can describe a plethora of actions, including any that are artful, active, or competitive—and sometimes some combination of all of these. Anthropologist Ajeet Jaiswal (2019) describes the anthropology of sports as the study of human growth and development. If one conceives of sports as a sort of performance, one also sees that each performance is unique to the performer. Each athlete, even the most impressive and seemingly unique, is a part of a larger performance. Consider your favorite sport or athletic competition. How long has it been in existence? Does it have roots in ancient times? Often, athletes and sports personalities—from Roman gladiators to more recent English footballers, American basketball players, and Olympic athletes—are considered singularly talented at their respective sports; however, without the broader cultural context that has cultivated gymnastics, tennis, soccer, and basketball, these talents would have no stage on which to perform.
Anthropologists who study sports do so within a larger context of sports and society. Interests of anthropologists researching sports might include archaeological research related to sports tools, cultural anthropological research pertaining to how humans interact with sports, or even biological/physical anthropological research on biological maturation or physical growth (Damo, Oliven, and Guedes 2008).
Sports artifacts such as the weapons of gladiators and tools used in old and recent Olympic sports have offered significant contributions to the anthropology of material art. Picture your favorite sport. It likely involves a specific tool that is a representation of that sport. Notable examples of such tools and artifacts include the lacrosse sticks of the Iroquois, hammers from the oldest Olympic hammer-throw competitions, and the modern-day American football uniform, which is designed for safety and decorated to represent affiliation, professionalism, and individual athletes.
Sports have also offered theatrical performances since ancient times. Picture the gladiators of ancient Rome entertaining the wealthy who could afford the best seats or wealthy English footballers entertaining those who are likely less wealthy. The status reversal of sports entertainers and audiences in modern-day sports represents the dichotomous nature of social status and is just one of many examples of cultural change throughout time.
The Evolution of Sports
For most of documented human history, sports have been a significant part of the human experience for both audience and participants. Archaeological artifacts pertaining to sports, including colosseums, weapons, and artistic representations of competition, have been traced back to as early as 2000 BCE in China. These ancient sports featured competitions that tested the strength, stamina, and techniques of performers, such as footraces and physical fights. Today, many nations around the world participate in a version of the Olympic Games that were popular in the ancient Greek village of Olympia. Early events included a marathon run and wrestling. The Olympics were revived in the late 19th century, with the first modern games occurring in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Though rules and regulation may have been less stringent and defined in the sports of previous centuries, competition as entertainment has existed for millennia.
Sports can provide much more than mere entertainment to people and societies. Today, when thinking about modern sports, a person may think of professional athletes such as National Basketball Association (NBA) star Kobe Bryant or National Football League (NFL) great Walter Payton. In early competitions, the wealthy attended sporting events in which the athletes were typically not wealthy or privileged. In modern times, the commercialization of sports has largely reversed this trend, with “common” people attending sporting events to watch wealthy athletes compete. The business of sports has created opportunities for financial and cultural success for people with exceptional athletic abilities. The success of athletes such as Kobe Bryant created opportunities for other athletes, paving the way for the success of people who may not have otherwise thought it possible to experience the fame, notoriety, and financial success of a modern athlete (Chacko 2020).
Youth Sports
Recreational sports for youth are common in various cultures. This can be especially important in marginalized communities, where youth sports are often viewed as deterrents from (or alternatives to) potentially dangerous activities or preventive structures that support youth development and community by focusing on positive actions that reduce adverse social behaviors. Youth sports programs are often community-building initiatives. One such initiative is the NFL’s Play 60 program, which challenges NFL football players to engage in activities with underrepresented communities, encouraging kids of all skill levels to come together to play sports.
Among Indigenous Americans, an aggressive style of basketball called reservation ball, or rezball for short, is prominent in reservation communities. Rezball is different from traditional basketball, as the techniques used encourage relentlessly aggressive play and quick shooting. For youth on reservations, this may be one of a limited number of recreation opportunities. Rezball is documented in the Netflix docuseries Basketball or Nothing and a 2009 ESPN story about the role of rezball in the culture of Native American children.


10.9: Discussion Questions
Find an example of a video of a lean pitch online. What, in your opinion, makes it successful?
2 .Find a company that has made a pivot and explain why the pivot worked.
3 .If you were starting a business and had to create an MVP, what would that MVP be?
4 .Are there any downsides to the lean startup method? If so, what might they be and what sorts of products or companies might fall prey to them?
5 .If you were conducting a lean pitch to investors, which steps of the pitch would you find most difficult and why?
6 .Discuss how you could identify and manage your fears as you start your own business.
7 .What strategies do you think can help women overcome their fear of failure? Relate your answers, if applicable, to a woman you know who has such fear and describe strategies she uses to overcome it.
8 .Discuss how minorities and women can use resources and strategies to deal with their additional challenges as entrepreneurs.
9 .Pick three cons of business ownership and strategize how to turn them into pros.
10 .Now choose three of the pros of business ownership and consider whether any of them could be cons in certain situations.
11 .Discuss how a lean plan allows you the flexibility to change course if something is not working for your business.
12 .Discuss the differences between making changes to a product for growth and creating a new product from scratch.


12.1: Putting It Together- The Individual and the Organization
Let’s return to William and Samantha, whom we met in the introduction to this module. Samantha was struggling to see the professional relevance of a personality test she recently took. William’s last comment to her was that they would be crossing an OCEAN together. Next he explained what he meant.
“Samantha, you’re about to pull together a team to design that new manufacturing tool. What would you say if I told you that the personality type training you just received would enable you to put together a better team?” Samantha looked skeptical, so William continued. “How will you select the members of your team?”
She considered his question and then responded, “Well, I tend to think about the various technical skills we need on the team, and I go find people who have them.” William asked, “And what has your success rate been with that approach?”
After reflecting briefly, Samantha said, “It’s been pretty good. At least it’s as good as the other project managers I know. Some teams perform well, while others have been challenging.”
William nodded his head knowingly and asked, “What makes the difference? Do the successful teams typically have greater technical abilities?”
“No, that hasn’t been my experience. The teams that have done the best just ‘clicked’ as a group. They worked well together and produced amazing results.”
She continued, “I see what you’re getting at, William. Good technical skills are not enough to make a great team. They have to work well together, and understanding their personalities might help achieve that.”
“You’ve got it,” he said. “Do you remember the acronym OCEAN from your personality class? What did it stand for?” She reached for her course notebook and turned to a page with the following diagram:
“Now think about how you might consider these traits when building your next team,” William suggested.
Samantha began to see the potential uses. She realized that if everyone on the team has a high level of agreeableness, then it might be hard to be successful because everyone will be slow to challenge the prevailing opinion. Likewise, if everyone on the team has a high level of neuroticism, they will find it challenging to work together.
As Samantha went back and evaluated teams from her past that were successful, it confirmed her new understanding about a diversity of personalities and how they might shape a team.
You’ve now learned about various theories of personality types along with their uses and limitations. Being aware of how you perceive various personalities will make you more effective as a manager. Likewise, you are now able to see how these factors affect job performance and can help you shape a stronger culture within your organization.
Contributors and Attributions
- Putting It Together: The Individual and the Organization. Authored by : Jeff Heflin and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
- Image: Big Five. Authored by : Aaron Spencer and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
- Image: Personality. Authored by : Vic. Located at : https://www.flickr.com/photos/59632563@N04/6235678871 . License : CC BY: Attribution


4.4.1: The Henderson-Hasselbalch Approximation
The Henderson-Hasselbalch approximation allows us one method to approximate the pH of a buffer solution. The basic equation is as follows:
\[ pH \approx pK_a + \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} \nonumber \]
We have straightforward calculations for strong acids and bases, but the computations behind buffers are rather complex and time consuming. By using the fact that weak acids and bases barely ionize, allowing us to approximate the pH of buffer solutions using initial concentrations. Though the approximation has a few restrictions, it simplifies a lengthy calculation into a simple equation derived from \(K\).
Lawrence Joseph Henderson (1878-1942) was a talented biochemist, among many other titles, who spent most of his career at Harvard. He was responsible for developing the components of the equation after studying equilibrium reactions that took place within blood as a result of respiration (specializing in "fatigue"). His equation was incomplete without the solid calculations into it provided by Hasselbalch.
Karl Albert Hasselbalch (1874-1962) was a chemist who studied pH closely. He also studied blood and reactions that took place with oxygen, to put in the simplest of terms. He eventually modified Henderson's equation by putting mathematical logs into it creating a solid relationship.
Derivation for Buffers from Weak Acids
For a weak acid \( HA \) and its conjugate base \(A^-\):
\(HA + H_2O\leftrightharpoons H^+ + A^-\)
which has an acid ionization constant \(K_a\). The Henderson-Hasselbalch approximation is derived from this acid ionization constant.
\[ \begin{align} K_a &= \dfrac{[H^+][A^-]}{[HA]} \\[4pt] -\log_{10} K_a &= -\log_{10} \dfrac{[H^+][A^-]}{[HA]} \\[4pt] - \log_{10} K_a &= - \log_{10} [H^+] - \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} \\[4pt] pK_a &= pH - \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} \\[4pt] pH &= pK_a + \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} \label{HH1} \end{align} \]
Equation \ref{HH1} is formulated in terms of equilibrium concentrations in solution. Since \( HA\) is a weak acid and weakly dissociates and we can introduce two approximations
\[ [HA]\approx[HA]_i \nonumber \]
and
\[ [A^-]\approx[A^-]_i \nonumber \]
Hence, we can use the initial concentrations rather than equilibrium concentrations because
\[pK_a + \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]_i}{[HA]_i} \approx pK_a + \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} = pH \nonumber \]
Find \([H^+]\) in a solution of 1.0 M \(HNO_2\) and 0.225 M \(NaNO_2\). The \(K_a\) for \(HNO_2\) is \(5.6 \times 10^{−4}\) (Table E1).
Solution
\[pK_a = -\log_{10} K_a = -\log_{10} (7.4 \times 10^{-4}) = 3.14 \nonumber \]
\[pH = pK_a + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{[NO_2^-]}{[HNO_2]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[pH = 3.14 + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{1}{0.225} \right)\nonumber \]
\[pH = 3.14 + 0.648 = 3.788\nonumber \]
\[[H^+] = 10^{-pH} = 10^{-3.788} = 1.6 \times 10^{-4} \nonumber \]
What ratio \( \frac{[A^-]}{[HA]} \) will create an acetic acid buffer of pH 5.0? (\(K_a\) acetic acid is \(1.75 \times 10^{−5}\) (Table E1).
Solution
\[pKa = -log Ka = -log(1.8 \times10^{-5}) = 4.74\nonumber \]
\[pH = pK_a + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\right) \nonumber \]
\[5.0 = 4.74 + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[0.26 = \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[10^{0.26} = \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\nonumber \]
\[1.8 = \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\nonumber \]
Derivation for Buffers from Weak Bases
Similarly, for a weak base \( B\) and its conjugate acid \(HB^+\):
\[B + H_2O \leftrightharpoons OH^- + HB^+ \nonumber \]
which has an base ionization constant \(K_b\). The Henderson-Hasselbalch approximation for basic buffers is derived from this base ionization constant.
\[ \begin{align} K_b &= \dfrac{[OH^-][HB^+]}{[B]} \\[4pt] -\log_{10} K_b &= -\log_{10} \dfrac{[OH^-][HB^+]}{[B]} \\[4pt] -\log_{10} K_b &= - \log_{10} [OH^-] - \log_{10} \dfrac{[HB^+]}{[B]} \\[4pt] pK_b &= pOH - \log_{10} \dfrac{[HB^+]}{[B]} \\[4pt] pOH &= pK_b + \log_{10} \dfrac{[HB^+]}{[B]} \end{align} \nonumber \]
Note that \( B\) is a weak base and does not dissociate completely and we can say \([B] \approx [B]_i\) and \( [HB^+] \approx [HB^+]_i\). Hence, we can use the initial concentrations because
\[pK_b + \log_{10} \dfrac{[HB^+]_i}{[B]_i} \approx pK_b + \log_{10} \dfrac{[HB^+]}{[B]} = pOH \nonumber \]
You prepare a buffer solution of 0.323 M \(NH_3\) and \((NH_4)_2SO_4\). What molarity of \((NH_4)_2SO_4\) is necessary to have a pH of 8.6? The \(pK_b\) for \(NH_3\) is 4.74 (Table E2).
Solution
\[pK_a+ pK_b = 14\nonumber \]
\[pK_a= 14 - 4.74 = 9.26\nonumber \]
\[pH = pK_a + \log_{10} \left( \frac{[A^-]}{[HA]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[8.6 = 9.26 + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{0.323}{[NH_4^+]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[-0.66 = \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{0.323}{[NH_4^+]}\right)\nonumber \]
\[[NH_4^+] = 1.48 M\nonumber \]
What is the pH of a buffer 0.500 moles acetic acid and 0.500 moles acetate ion and the total volume is 5 L when you add 0.350 moles HCl? The \(K_a\) for acetic acid is \(1.75 \times 10^{−5}\) (Table E1).
Solution
\[pK_a = -\log_{10} K_a = -\log_{10} (1.75 \times 10^{−5}) = 4.756\nonumber \]
\[pH = pK_a + \log_{10} \left( \dfrac{[acetate]}{[\text{acetic acid}] + [HCl]} \right)\nonumber \]
note that mole ratio also works in place of concentrations as both the acid and base are in the same solution
\[pH = 4.756 + \log_{10} (0.588)\nonumber \]
\[pH = 4.756 - 0.230 = 4.52\nonumber \]
What is the range of an acetic acid buffer described in problem \(\PageIndex{4}\) without the added \(\ce{HCl}\)?
Solution
The effective buffer range is of magnitude 2 pH units with the \(pK_a\) as the midpoint.
\[pK_a = -\log_{10} K_a = -\log_{10} (1.75 \times 10^{−5}) = 4.756\nonumber \]
Hence, the buffer range would be 3.75 to 5.75.
- \[-1 < \log_{10} \dfrac{[A^-]}{[HA]} < 1 \nonumber \]
- The molarity of the buffer(s) should be 100x that of the acid ionization constant, or K a .
- This equation will give poor or inaccurate results if there are strong acids or bases. pK a values between 5 and 9 will give good approximations, but when we are out of this range there is a strong chance that the pH value will be incorrect. J In other words near the end or the beginning of a titration where the "relative concentrations of the acid or base differ substantially[,]... approximate calculations break down." J
References
- "Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation: Its History and Limitations," Henry N. Po and N. M. Senozan , J. Chem. Educ. , 2001, 78 (11), p 1499
- National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) Biographical memoirs. City of Washington, 1945. Vol. XXIII, 2d memoir.
- Petrucci, et al. General Chemistry: Principles & Modern Applications. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 2007.


2.2: The Process of Becoming an Enterpreneur
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Describe the evolution of entrepreneurship through American historical periods
- Understand the nine stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle
Scholars of business and entrepreneurship have long debated how people become entrepreneurs. Are entrepreneurs born or made? That is, are some people born with the natural skills, talent, and temperament to pursue entrepreneurship? Or can you develop entrepreneurship skills through training, education, and experience? These questions reflect the classic debates known as “nature versus nurture” or “born versus made,” which attempt to explain the determinants of a person’s personality and character.
This debate has been around for centuries. In classical Greece, Plato supported the nature argument, whereas Aristotle believed in the nurture perspective. During the eighteenth-century Enlightenment period, Immanuel Kant (1724–1824; supported the supremacy of human reason) and John Locke (1632–1704; opposed authoritarianism) argued their views. Kant firmly believed that obedience was the expected and desired behavior, whereas Locke believed in allowing some degree of freedom and creativity. The focus of the aspects of this argument changed when late-nineteenth-century psychologists sought to understand how individuals obtain knowledge, and as modern psychologists concentrated on additional factors such as intelligence, personality, and mental illness.
Scott Shane, a professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University, codirected a study using identical twins and fraternal twins as the research subjects. Shane determined that entrepreneurs are about 40 percent born and 60 percent made, meaning that nature—that is, an individual’s DNA—is responsible for 40 percent of entrepreneurial behaviors, whereas nurture is responsible for about 60 percent of entrepreneurial behaviors. 14 Although “nature versus nurture” and “born versus made” are parallel arguments, researchers and experienced entrepreneurs suggest a combined viewpoint. You can unite your natural talents and abilities with training and development to achieve a well-rounded entrepreneurial experience and outcome. Once you determine that entrepreneurship is in your future, the next action is to establish a process to follow, such as identifying useful reading materials, attending classes or workshops, finding a mentor, or learning by doing through simulations or firsthand experiences. Firsthand experiences occur throughout our days and lives as we gain relevant experiences and as we develop a mindset to seek out opportunity-recognition behaviors. Completing coursework, such as reading this textbook, and reviewing the suggested resources provided within this textbook are actions that can support your knowledge and awareness of entrepreneurship as a valid option for your future.
Entrepreneurial Personality Test
Review Bill Wagner’s article “What’s Your Entrepreneurial Personality Type?” in Entrepreneur at this link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/84134 . Then, go to The Entrepreneur Next Door at http://www.theentrepreneurnextdoor.com/ to take the Entrepreneurial Personality Test to find your personality type.
- Think about your results. Are you a generalist or a specialist?
- Once you know this information, what other entrepreneurial personality types do you fit into?
- How can you use this information in your pursuits as an entrepreneur?
- What does this information tell you about selecting members of your startup team?
Historical Perspective
The evolution of entrepreneurship in the United States has spanned centuries. Entrepreneurs have responded to and innovated within the political and economic conditions of their times. The United States’ economic and industrial spirit has inspired generations of entrepreneurial Americans. Understanding this history might help you appreciate the importance of entrepreneurship as you consider your own entrepreneurial journey.
During the late 1700s, the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians lived along the Red River of the North, which flows through North Dakota and Minnesota, and into Canada. European explorers established trading posts in this region and bargained with the Pembina and others for pemmican, a buffalo or fish jerky created by tribes for survival during harsh winters when food was scarce. The Pembina pemmican was exported internationally through trading with French, Canadian, British, and other explorers. 15 The Pembina solved a problem of food scarcity, then leveraged the product to trade for other products they needed that were available through the trading posts.
In the late 1880s, Madam C. J. Walker, an African American hair-care entrepreneur, developed and marketed her products across the United States ( Figure 2.12 ), hiring sales agents and founding the Madam C. J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America and the National Negro Cosmetics Manufacturers Association in 1917. 16 She started her company with a philosophy of “hair culture,” which quickly became popular and eventually led to steady employment for African American women. Another African American, Charles Drew, established the national blood bank in the late 1930s, just before World War II gave rise to the need for quick access to blood. 17 He researched transfusion medicine and saw a need that he wanted to fulfill. Drew applied the ideas from his doctoral thesis to create the blood bank and continued to innovate, developing mobile blood donation stations.
Many innovations and entrepreneurial activities are not achieved by one person acting alone. One example is the invention of the cotton gin in 1794, attributed to Eli Whitney, and possibly based on a design by Catherine Greene and African Americans working as slaves. Some scholars believe that the cotton gin had the unintended consequence of hardening the grip of slavery in the South. 18 Eli Whitney, a descendant of a British immigrant, leveraged his status as the creator of the cotton gin to manufacture muskets for the US government, becoming known as a pioneer of American industry with a focus on standardization. 19
Colonial and Early America: 1607–1776
The earliest concept of an “entrepreneur” can be traced to this era, from the French entreprendre , which translates as “to do something” or “to undertake.” 20 Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832), a French philosopher, economist, and businessman, supported lifting restraints to encourage business growth, a highly liberal view in the late 1700s. “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield,” is a concept attributed to Say, as is the word entrepreneur . 21
Entrepreneurial-minded persons included merchants, landowners, manufacturers in textile-related trades, shipbuilders, explorers, merchants, and world market traders. 22 The first immigrants to the British colonies took advantage of several key inventions developed before this era, such as printing, double-entry bookkeeping, and improvements in ship design and navigational instruments. The first North American patent was granted in 1641 by the Massachusetts General Court to Samuel Winslow for a new process for making salt. The entrepreneurial spirit of the early colonists helped shape an economic landscape that lasted for generations. Some notable pioneering inventors and entrepreneurs are shown in Table 2.2 and ( Figure 2.13 ).
| Inventor or Entrepreneur | Contribution(s) | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1640–1710), French explorer | Founded Hudson’s Bay trading company | Offered bartering of furs for textiles and guns |
| William Penn (1644–1718), colonist | Founded Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a sanctuary for Quakers | Early social entrepreneur |
| Sybilla Masters (1676–1720), inventor | Invented method to clean and refine Indian corn grown by early settlers | Patent for a process for cleaning and milling Indian corn (1715) |
| Thomas Hancock (1703–1764), merchant | Founded trading house that furnished multiple goods | Sought alternative funding sources to finance business interests |
| Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), inventor, publisher, statesman | Established printing franchises and an infrastructure for his apprentices to launch in other colonies | Epitome of an inventor and serial entrepreneur |
As entrepreneurship flourished in the American colonies, the economic structure also began to emerge. The prevailing view of economics was associated with the stockpiling of gold and silver. Colonists perceived imports as a reduction of metal wealth—gold and silver money—and felt that exports channeled these metals back to the colonies. To categorize the economic mindset of the time, the Scottish philosopher and economist Adam Smith (1723–1790) wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). This influential treatise outlined the concepts of free trade and economic expansion through capitalism , a system in which individuals, people, and companies have the freedom to make decisions and own property as well as benefit from their own efforts, with government playing a secondary role in oversight. This book confirmed Smith as the “father of economics” and modern free trade. Among the most significant concepts that Smith proposed were the “invisible hand” theory of supply and demand in the marketplace; the use of the GDP to measure a country’s level of production and commerce; and the self-interest concept, whereby individuals inadvertently help others as they pursue their own goals. 23 The ability to gain personally from entrepreneurial activities is a key factor in supporting entrepreneurial behavior. Smith’s concepts continue to influence modern economics and entrepreneurial activity.
The First Industrial Revolution: 1776–1865
As the colonies expanded, so did opportunities and interest in property ownership, manufacturing, inventions, and innovations. An innovation is any new idea, process, or product, or a change to an existing product or process. The understanding and acceptance of innovation developed around 1730, when the economist Richard Cantillon identified the first academic meaning and characteristics of “entrepreneurship” as the “willingness to bear the personal financial risk of a business venture.” 24 The First Industrial Revolution was notable for the explosion of inventive activities by the “great inventors,” who pursued entrepreneurial opportunities to meet market needs, demands, and economic incentives. 25
An important thing to keep in mind is that dates of inventions don’t necessarily reflect specific launch dates. Development of these inventions may have been ongoing for years or decades before they were considered market-viable products.
A plethora of inventors and their inventions transformed several industries and economic classes across the growing nation. During this era, the country benefited from inventions that created, expanded, or revolutionized industry and increased wealth and expansion. These revolutionary inventors included Eli Whitney (cotton gin, 1794), Elias Howe (sewing machine, 1845), and Samuel Morse (telegraph, 1830s–1840s) ( Figure 2.14 ). Many other people contributed to these and other inventions.
Although he was not an inventor but an industrialist, Andrew Carnegie provides an interesting example. A manufacturer who focused on the value of innovations and how to implement them, Carnegie adopted newly developed techniques to improve steel production. He also was among the first to implement vertical integration , the strategy of gaining control over suppliers of raw materials and distributors of finished products to expand or control the relevant supply chain. He developed a reliable network of suppliers and distributors to support his steel factories. Carnegie also was one of the first magnates to practice philanthropy. He gave away much of his immense fortune to support community and public library systems, concert halls, museums, and scientific research. 26
These entrepreneurial pioneers, and many others like them, sought ways to earn a return on investment on an invention and to protect themselves legally through the patent process. A patent is a legal grant of protection for an inventor over the rights, usage, and commercialization of an invention for a set time period. 27 An early US patent was issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for his process of making potash as a fertilizer ingredient. 28
The innovations of women, African Americans (slaves or free persons), and other marginalized groups were crucial during this era. As we saw earlier, Sybilla Masters invented a method for grinding Indian corn. She received a patent from the English king in 1715. But because women were not allowed to file for patents or even to own property at that time, the patent was filed in her husband’s name. 29 Although the invention of the cotton gin is attributed to Eli Whitney, as we have seen, it may have been based on a design by Catherine Greene and African American slaves. Social and legal discrimination could limit or conceal the identities of actual inventors, especially if they were women or slaves. 30 Most patent applicants and awardees were white males. One exception was Mary Dixon Kies, who in 1809 became the first woman awarded a patent for her process of weaving straw with silk or thread. This was a key innovation for the hat industry, due to an embargo on European goods. 31 Likewise, many slaves were extremely innovative, but laws and prejudice prevented them from filing independently for patents. Because slaves had no rights, many sought patent submissions under their owners’ names but received no recognition or compensation for their efforts. 32 It was not until 1820 that an African American, Thomas Jennings, was granted a patent for a process called “dry scouring” for cleaning fabric. 33 As the successes and failures of inventors and innovations expanded, so did the consumer demand for better-performing products and services. This led to the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Second Industrial Revolution: 1865–1920
Although the First Industrial Revolution had a broad scope and a transformative impact, the Second Industrial Revolution helped shape consumer demand for the latest inventions and innovations developed by small and large businesses. The breakthroughs of this era brought applicable innovations in many fields, from chemistry to engineering to medicine. 34
The nineteenth-century economists Jean-Baptiste Say and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) refined and popularized Cantillion’s definition of an entrepreneur to capture the spirit of their era. Their definition of “entrepreneur” describes someone who creates value by effectively managing resources for better productivity, and someone who is a financial risk taker. 35
After the US Civil War and into the 1870s, many industries flourished with improvements in production organization (petroleum refinery storage, mass production) and technological systems (electricity and the telephone). Additional inventions included improvements in steel production, chemical dyes, transportation (diesel and gasoline engines, the airplane), assembly-line production, agriculture and food-processing improvements (refrigeration), textiles, and the typewriter ( Figure 2.15 ). 36 As entrepreneurial activity, economic prosperity, and productivity demands increased, entrepreneurs and their inventions were highly regarded and sought after, contributing to the belief that the United States was a land of opportunity.
When World War I began, the US economy was in a recession, with Europeans purchasing US materials for the war. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, an economic boom ensued. Unemployment declined from 7.9 percent in 1914 to 1.4 percent in 1918 as the United States produced goods and equipment necessary to support the war efforts of the nation and its allies. 37 From an entrepreneurial perspective, World War I contributed to military-related advancements, communication equipment, and improvements in production processes. The American economic landscape began to shift during this era from small independent companies to big corporations. The smaller businesses in the previous era either dissolved or were absorbed by larger corporations. As the stock market crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s struck worldwide, innovation slowed. Consumer confidence waned as economic confidence and production declined, and unemployment rose.
Visit the History site on the Great Depression or PBS’s American Experience article on the Great Depression to understand the background and circumstances that led to the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, and how the United States rebounded during this period.
After World War II ended in 1945, American society shifted from reliance on the traditional entrepreneur as a resource to reliance on large organizations that offered stability and job security. Corporations continued to buy up small firms to standardize innovative, large-scale mass production of goods, services, and jobs. The idea of being an entrepreneur gave way to the idea of the “corporate man” with job security and health benefits offered by big employers. Although entrepreneurship did not totally vanish, its growth slowed tremendously compared with previous years and shifted to corporate entrepreneurship , whereby large corporations funded the development of new ideas, opportunities, or ventures through formal research and development processes that focused on the corporations’ own strategies and goals. Figure 2.16 lists some of the corporations that emerged during this period.
As economic views and confidence in how the United States might regain economic prosperity shifted, so did the scholarly meaning of entrepreneurship. One scholar and economist, Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950), introduced theories and terminology that continue to influence modern entrepreneurial concepts and practices. He originated two critical phrases: entrepreneurial spirit , which is associated with those individuals who are productive self-starters and make things happen, and creative destruction , which he defined as the “process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.” 38 Schumpeter’s theory that innovation would destroy established corporations to create new ones was not a popularly held or shared view at the time. The thought leaders of this era had different approaches to addressing the rise of corporations as part of the entrepreneurial fabric of the United States. Schumpeter theorized that corporations were better positioned than individuals to support the kinds of research and development that would result in innovations and have economic impact. 39 To complement this view, he also proposed the concept that corporate support of entrepreneurs’ visions would result in a sustainable “capitalistic financial system” to support and expand on the free-market system espoused by Adam Smith. 40 In contrast, the sociologist and journalist William Whyte (1917–1999) argued that entrepreneurial culture had changed because “American business life had abandoned the old virtues of self-reliance and entrepreneurship in favor of a bureaucratic ‘social ethic’ of loyalty, security and ‘belongingness.’” 41
Finally, it is critical to note that the growth of corporations and opportunities expanded beyond the borders of the United States. Corporations faced novel global experiences that supported Schumpeter’s creative destruction theory, as other countries presented new dynamics to address. The annually created Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report is a scholarly examination that examines how a group of nineteen countries benefited from venture-capital investments and the factors affecting those investments for entrepreneurial activity. This study addressed the question of entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurial capacity, and entrepreneurial motivation as parts of the engagement within all industries and the direct correlation between venture-capital investment and high-growth startups. 42 The GEM report is created annually with timely and relevant information related to entrepreneurship and is available at this website: https://www.gemconsortium.org/ . This cultural shift in the American entrepreneurial spirit generated new interest in the training and education of workers, ushering in the knowledge economy.
The Knowledge Economy: 1975 to Today
In the mid-1970s, the promises of corporate life began to lose their appeal to entrepreneurial-minded individuals. One change was established corporations’ shift in focus on innovations from research and development departments to internal entrepreneurial activities by intrapreneurs . An intrapreneur is an employee who acts as an entrepreneur within an organization, rather than going solo. Intrapreneurs contribute entrepreneurial ideas, products, and services, using corporate work time and resources, but on a much less formal basis than past corporate contributions to innovation. Quickly evolving advances in technology have touched every industry, and people with tech know-how have become champions. Firms dominating the technological landscape include Apple, Microsoft, 3M, Alphabet (the parent company of Google), IBM, and Oracle. In today’s David-versus-Goliath culture, these companies once were small startups, but now they command seemingly endless resources. New opportunities have arisen in the world of technology for those willing and able to compete with these giants. All companies, large and small, are interested in a more informed and educated workforce with specialized or advanced degrees in entrepreneurship and business administration. The new entrepreneurs are prepared to develop and lead firms that can become startup superstars. Viewed through our current lens, companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and others have become the new Goliaths, but in their startup days, these companies were the disruptors that fought to create new industries or reshape previously established ones.
The Entrepreneurial Process
Your approach to the entrepreneurial process , or the set of decisions and actions that you might follow (as in Figure 2.17 ) as a guide to developing or adjusting your venture, is fluid, not static. This is because your personal interests, background, experiences, resources, and connections are unique to you—but those areas may change over time. For instance, you and a friend might take an art class together for fun and both discover a hidden talent and eye for creating handcrafted jewelry that everyone loves. One day over lunch, you share some of your frustrations with your friend about an interest in potentially selling your unique creations to a local art gallery. Despite your research, you have few clues about where to start or how to get your art shown in a gallery. During your conversation, you are surprised to learn that your friend has already sold several pieces by following a mentor’s advice. Through several referrals, she figured out that her best option was to create a presence on Etsy, an artisan-focused website for e-commerce , electronic transactions, particularly over the Internet, for the exchange of goods and services. Even though you both started at the same place with similar goals, your results differed because you followed different entrepreneurial pathways. In this case, your friend decided to enter the entrepreneurial process at a different stage than you did. This type of scenario occurs every day and clarifies why ventures differ: The decisions of the entrepreneur or the entrepreneurial team are the heart and success of the venture. Why the entrepreneur is the most crucial resource for a venture will be discussed in more detail in later chapters.
 What is that process? As we discussed previously in the steps of the entrepreneurial journey, you need to think through your goals, prepare and follow an action plan, make sound decisions and adjustments along the way, and persevere through challenges and crises to ensure a successful journey. If that sounds like you have some work to do, you are correct. However, if you follow or recognize the stages in the journey and keep track of the related elements, it could be the most satisfying work of your career. Many people find the entrepreneurial journey fulfilling, in part because they get to define their own paths. The plan to graduate, then find a career working hard to help a company or organization reach its goals, are even more satisfying when you can work for yourself to create your own path and purpose in the world.
Before you create your path, a key action in the entrepreneurial process is developing your entrepreneurial mindset. Recall that an entrepreneurial mindset is about being open, self-reflective, and honest about what you are willing to do and capable of doing to achieve success. For instance, are you comfortable with making sacrifices like spending an evening doing research instead of hanging out with friends or family?
The Entrepreneurial Process: Venture Life Cycle and Product Life Cycle
In general, the entrepreneurial process includes several key stages or some variation of these stages. Keep in mind that these stages do not always follow a sequential pattern, as circumstances and opportunities change. One popular method of understanding and connecting to this entrepreneurial process is to think of your new venture as similar to the human life cycle, the major stages that humans pass through in their life development, and the different growth processes in between.
As we can see in Figure 2.18 and Figure 2.19 , the startup stage is similar to the birth of an infant. During the startup stage, or the birth of the idea, the venture requires resources to support the startup as the entrepreneur develops the idea, creates the prototype, and builds the infrastructure to support production. During the startup stage, cash supports building the venture. Meanwhile, the startup is seldom ready to generate sales. Planning for this situation, knowing that cash is needed but not replenished through sales, is an important consideration.
Just as a child grows rapidly in their early years, often a business venture experiences quick growth as the product or service becomes commercialized and experiences strong demand, reflected through increasing sales and stronger knowledge and access to the target market. Again, this stage requires resources to support growth. The difference between this stage and the startup stage is cash is generated through sales activity. In some entrepreneurial ventures, however, the growth stage is about building the venture, rather than generating sales. For ventures like YouTube, the growth stage entails increasing the inventory of videos as well as an increase in people accessing the videos.
Just as humans achieve maturity during their life cycle, the business might reach a point where growth slows and perhaps moves into a decline stage. In our human experience, we can take actions to improve or lengthen the maturity stage of our lives through better life choices, such as nutritious eating habits and exercise, to increase longevity and delay decline. We can also extend the maturity of the business and even move into a rebirth and a new growth phase through insightful decisions, such as adding new features to the product or service, or offering the product or service to a new target market. The goal in our lives, and in this analogy, is continued growth and success. Products can be altered or enhanced to extend the product’s life cycle, which also extends the life cycle of the venture.
Examples of avoiding the decline and death of a business fit well into the concept of product life cycle and are prevalent in technology-related products such as the television, the personal computer, and the cell phone. For example, black-and-white televisions underwent a growth stage after World War II. Color televisions were introduced in the 1950s. As technology improved, television manufacturers have repeatedly moved through the life cycle and avoided declines in sales with new features and adaptations with options such as plasma, LED, and smart technology. An example of a product that started and then quickly declined into the death stage of the business is the eight-track player, a music player available between the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. The eight-track player replaced the reel-to-reel tape recorder as a more accessible product for installation in moving vehicles, from cars to Lear jets, to offer individual music purchased by the vehicle owner for listening while traveling. Even as the eight-track player was becoming popular, moving from the introductory stage into the growth stage of the product life cycle, the compact cassette was being developed. In the early 1980s, the compact cassette format replaced the eight-track player, abruptly ending the product life cycle of the eight-track player.
Some products lend themselves more easily than others to managing the life cycle. The goal is to manage the product for continuous growth, whereas other products, such as the eight-track player, are based on technology that quickly becomes obsolete when a better option becomes available. Other examples of products with short life cycles are categorized as fads, like the hula hoop and pet rocks—fads from the past that were reintroduced to a new generation of consumers and that moved quickly through the product life cycle into the last stage—the death of the product with sales either nonexistent or so few that the product becomes a novelty item.
The life cycles of the venture and of the product are two different concepts but are closely related. The venture will need different resources during each stage of the cycle to support the growth and success of the venture. Knowing what stage of the life cycle the product is in assists in decision making. For example, a decrease in sales triggers the need to enhance the product’s value to extend and continue strong levels of growth. From the venture’s perspective, managing the product life cycle also supports the continued success of the venture.
A successful venture avoids decline or death with the potential to prepare for either the sale of the venture or a public offering of stock, known as an initial public offering (IPO), which gives the company access to significant funds for future growth. Two entrepreneurial IPOs in May 2019 were Zoom and Uber. Zoom is a company that offers video conferencing, web conferencing, webinars, and cross-platform access. Uber is a ride-sharing company. Both entrepreneurial ventures used IPOs to support their future plans for growth.
Think about some of the friends you’ve known since childhood compared with those you’ve met in recent years. Suppose you plan to work on a project together and want to figure out who should handle which parts of the work. You might learn some information about a newer friend’s past experiences through conversations, observations, or other collaborations. Even so, it would not be possible—or necessary—to learn everything about their childhood and how they learned a specific set of skills or acquired certain connections. You would just start your interaction and work with your friend from the current time. The same is the case for a venture. You might start a venture from the idea-generation stage or from infancy as part of the pre-launch stage. Or you might join the process after someone else has already completed the early stages of the business—for example, by purchasing an existing business or entering into a partnership. You might not have been around when the business was launched, but you can continue with the development of the business from the present moment. Just as each stage of human experience involves different concerns and milestones, the same holds true for your venture. The venture is your responsibility to manage during each stage of the development process.
Figure 2.20 provides an overview of each stage and the associated decisions that you might consider or encounter for the entrepreneurial process.
Stage 1: Startup
In stage 1, startup activities are related to your perceptions about a potential idea, how you develop your idea, and how you might recognize appropriate opportunities. At this stage, the crucial activity is defining the opportunity to develop your concept into a realizable business venture with a strong potential for success. In this stage, you work on developing the idea more thoroughly to determine whether it fits your current and future circumstances and goals. You will also work through exercises to distinguish ideas from viable opportunities. Each of these actions is addressed in greater detail in future chapters. The goal of this section is to introduce concepts for a greater understanding of these stages. Key actions or exercises in this stage include:
- Idea development
- Opportunity recognition
- Identification of a market opportunity
- Research and due diligence , or conducting the necessary research and investigation to make informed decisions that minimize risk, such as ensuring you are not duplicating an idea that already exists
Stage 2: Development
Now that you have confidence in your idea, it is time to develop a structure to determine what type of venture will work best for the idea. In Stage 2, you might select a business model (discussed further in Business Model and Plan ) and pull together a team (discussed in Building Networks and Foundations ) to make your dream venture a reality. The business model identifies how a business will build revenue, deliver value, and receive compensation for that value. Some examples of business models include monthly subscriptions, pre-sale orders, kiosk sales, and other choices. Entrepreneurial decisions in the development stage include many options to consider, including bootstrapping, starting out with limited funds, receiving venture funding from external sources, licensing to receive royalties on a per-item basis, purchasing another business, inheriting a business, franchising either through the purchase of a franchise or building your company with the goal of eventually creating your own franchise, creating a virtual web-based company, using mobile apps that support your business or connect with other businesses, founding a social venture to support a cause, consulting, or freelancing. Choosing among these options or creating your own unique approach to supporting the success of your business will change your results and success level.
Key activities in this stage include:
- Formulation or refinement of your concept
- Design of business model, plan, goals, launch team, and operational structure
- Creation of prototype product to fit market (sample or model for customer feedback)
- Further research and due diligence, as needed
Stage 3: Resourcing
Using knowledge you gained in the first two stages, in the resource stage, you will evaluate the necessary resources to support your new venture. Resources include financial support; support and selection of a manufacturing location or facility (if you are producing a physical product); personnel talents, knowledge, and skills; possible political and community support; and family support, because the new venture will require time commitments that will cut into time with your family. Fundamentals of Resource Planning discusses obtaining resources in more detail.
The key activities in this stage include:
- Gathering pertinent resources, such human and financial capital, investors, facilities, equipment, and transportation
- Establishing connections, networks, and logistics
- Further research and due diligence, as needed
Stage 4: Market Entry
Market entry—the launch of your venture—is often undertaken in a soft launch, or soft open, within a limited market to minimize exposure to unforeseen challenges. As an entrepreneur, you are presenting your new venture to a specific market to see how well it is received and supported. You might make last-minute adjustments at this stage, but the crucial part is to see how the market reacts to your venture. This is an excellent time to scrutinize all aspects of your business for solutions to unexpected problems and improvements in efficiencies, and to track customer reactions to your venture.
One of your most important responsibilities at this point is managing your cash flow , or the money coming into and going out of a business, as cash is essential for the success of the venture. In the early stages of the venture, you will need large amounts of cash to fund the operational activities, because your sales are not yet guaranteed. Production costs, payroll, supplies, inventory, lease payments, and marketing: All of these expenditures involve cash outflows from your venture as part of the startup costs. A successful business needs available cash as well as customers for its products and services, or it will not survive. Key activities at this stage include:
- Assessing management structure and needs, adjusting as necessary
- Managing cash flow
- Launching the entity
- Monitoring progress
- Further research and due diligence, as needed
Stage 5: Growth
The growth stage includes making decisions that support the future growth of your venture. In the growth stage, your decisions reflect the scalability of your venture. There is a big difference between a small-scale venture and a venture that must handle significant levels of sales. At this point, your organizational structure needs an update. You might need new functional levels, such as a finance department, or a human resources department, or perhaps an assistant manager. Other considerations include the size of your facilities. Is the current size, or capacity, appropriate for the growth of the venture? Other questions relate to the appropriateness of your suppliers or inventory providers. Are quality and delivery time meeting your needs? Is the payment system appropriate for your venture? In this stage, you should also monitor the growth of your venture and make appropriate adjustments. For instance, if your venture is not growing as expected, then you might go back to your business plan and see what adjustments you can make. Key actions in this stage include:
- Managing the venture
- Making key adjustments, as needed
- Further research and due diligence, as needed
Stage 6: Maturity
In the maturity stage, your venture has moved into the maintenance phase of the business life cycle. Entrepreneurs monitor how a venture is growing and developing according to the business plan, and its projections and expectations. Is your venture growing faster or slower than you expected? What milestones has it reached? What changes are needed to continue the success of the venture? How can you address those changes? Are you still able to maintain or meet the needs of the venture?
Depending on your situation, you still will need to take action to support the venture. Even if the venture is operating efficiently and in a predictable manner, external changes could compel you to change your venture, for example, by making improvements to the product or service, finding new target markets, adopting new technologies, or bundling features or offerings to add value to the product.
One of the key points to understand at this stage is that ventures can, and often do, fail. Entrepreneurship is about taking calculated risks to achieve a reward. Sometimes your venture may not turn out how you planned. Keeping an open mind and learning from experience presents new opportunities for either changes to the existing venture or even a new venture. Consider these examples of early entrepreneurial failures by people who later went on to achieve great success:
- Bill Gates’s early Traf-O-Data company failed because the product did not work
- Walt Disney was told he lacked creativity and was fired from a newspaper job
- Steve Jobs was once fired by his own company, Apple
- Milton Hershey started three candy companies before he founded the successful Hersey Company
Key actions of this stage include:
- Strengthening market position
- Awareness and willingness to change
- Reaping return on investment (ROI)
Stage 7: Harvest
At some point, your company may outgrow your dreams, ambitions, or interests. At this stage, you are harvesting or collecting the most return on your investment while planning how to retire or make a transition away from this venture. Many entrepreneurs enjoy the excitement of starting and building a venture but are less interested in the routine aspects of managing a company. In the field of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial team creates a venture with the goal of harvesting that venture. Harvesting is the stage when all your hard work and ingenuity are rewarded through a sizable return on the invested money, time, and talents of the startup team, including any investors. During this stage, the entrepreneurial team looks for the best buyer for the venture to achieve both a return on investment and a match for the continued success of the venture. Key actions in this stage include:
- Identifying what the entrepreneurial team, and investors, want out of the venture, their ROI
- Planning for your future: What’s next on your entrepreneurial journey?
Stage 8: Exit
The exit stage is the point at which your venture either has fulfilled its purpose as a harvested success that is passed along to the next generation of business owners or has not met your needs and goals. These two situations give rise to vastly different scenarios. In the harvesting of the venture, you might receive a sizable cash payment, or a combination of cash payment and a minority share of stock in the venture’s buyout. In an exit that reflects the closing of the venture, your option is most likely liquidation of assets, which you would sell to pay off any remaining creditors and investors. In both harvesting and liquidation, the challenge for you as an entrepreneur can be to accept the emotional withdrawal from a venture that has consumed your thoughts, time, and energy. The time has come for you to step out of the picture and allow the venture to be cared for by a new “parent” or to close the venture completely. Key actions in this stage include:
- Exit strategy and plan
- Transition to the next generation of owners
Stage 9: Rebirth
For some entrepreneurs, the excitement of creating a new venture supersedes the financial gain from harvesting a successful venture. The thrill of transforming an idea into a realizable opportunity and then creating a thriving venture is difficult to find elsewhere. In the rebirth phase, the entrepreneur decides to seek out another new venture to begin the process all over again. As an experienced entrepreneur, you can create a new type of venture or develop a new spin-off of your original venture idea. At this point, you have become a serial entrepreneur , an entrepreneur who becomes involved in starting multiple entrepreneurial ventures. Key actions in this stage include:
- Redesigning or creating a new venture
- Bringing in a new entrepreneurial team or the team from the previous venture
“Drop into” Man Crates to learn about this entrepreneurial venture. Who is their clientele? Does this company sell an experience, a product, or both? What life cycle stage is this business in now? Applying your assessment of the company’s life cycle stage, pretend that you are the CEO of the company. What recommendations do you have for the company’s continued success and growth?
Visit the Man Crates site to learn more.


2.3: Focusing the Microscope
- Rotate the nosepiece so that the scanning objective is over the light source.
- Obtain a letter e slide from the instructor. Use the stage clip to secure the slide onto the mechanical stage. Use the stage adjustment knobs to bring the letter e under the scan objective and over the light source.
- Use the coarse adjustment knob to bring the letter e into focus. Once the letter e is in focus, the image can be made sharper by using the fine adjustment knob.
- Move the slide so that the pointer is on the letter e. Rotate the low power objective lens into place and use the fine adjustment knob to bring the slide into focus.
- Focus using the high power objective lens and the fine adjustment knob. Do not use the coarse adjustment knob with the high power objective lens. Record observations on high power.
- Return the slide and use the revolving nose piece to return to the scan objective lens.


Skip to main content
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3.1: Introduction
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3.2: Structure and Composition of the Atmosphere
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The atmosphere acts as a compressible fluid tied to the earth by gravitation; as a receptor of solar energy and a thermal reservoir, it constitutes the working fluid of a heat engine that transports and redistributes matter and energy over the entire globe. The atmosphere is also a major temporary repository of a number of chemical elements that move in a cyclic manner between the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and the upper lithosphere.
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3.3: Origin and Evolution of the Atmosphere
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The atmosphere of the Earth (and also of Venus and Mars) is generally believed to have its origin in relatively volatile compounds that were incorporated into the solids from which these planets accreted.
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3.4: General Circulation
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3.5: Atmospheric Composition
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The atmosphere consists mostly of dry air - mostly molecular nitrogen (78%), molecular oxygen (21%), and Argon (0.9%) - and highly variable amounts of water vapor (from parts per million in air to a few percent). Now we will consider gases and particles in the atmosphere at trace levels. The most abundant of the trace gases in the global atmosphere is carbon dioxide (~400 parts per million), but there are thousands of trace gases with fractions much less than a few parts per million.
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3.6: Biogeochemical reactions in the troposphere
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3.7: Atmospheric deposition
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3.8: Biogeochemical reactions in the stratosphere
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3.9: Models
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Climate models are tools used in climate research. They are attempts to synthesize our theoretical and empirical knowledge of the climate system in a computer code. This chapter describes how climate models are constructed, and how they are evaluated, and it discusses some applications.
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3.10: Impacts
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Climate change impacts not only physical but also biological and human systems. Possible impacts of future climate change are important considerations for current decision making, but they are associated with uncertainties. In this chapter we will discuss future projections with climate models, the main sources of uncertainty for those projections, and some global scale impacts.
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3.11: Summary
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11.6: Future and Present Annuity Factors- Mathematical Formulas
Key : PVAF – Present Value Annuity Factor. FVAF – Future Value Annuity Factor.
Example 1 : R = 0.10 ; N = 5 ; P = 2
Solution 1 : [(1) ÷ (0.10/2)] – [(1) ÷ (0.10/2) (1 + 0.10/2) 5 × 2 ] = 7.72173493
*This multiplier should be the same as in your Present Value Annuity Table.
Example 2 : R = 0.095 ; N = 5 ; P = 2
Solution 2 : [(1) ÷ (0.095 / 2 )] – [(1) ÷ ( 0.095 / 2 ) (1 + 0.095 / 2 ) 5 × 2 ] = Fill in your answer
*This multiplier is not in your Present Value Annuity Table. Compare the two solutions.
Example 3 : R = 0.10; N = 5; P = 2
S olution 3 : [(1 + 0.10/2) 5 x 2 – 1] ÷ 0.10/2 = 12.57789253554883
*This multiplier should be the same as in your Future Value Annuity Table.
Example 4 : R = 0.10 12 ; N = 5; P = 2
Solution 4 : [(1 + 0.1012/2) 5 x 2 – 1] ÷ 0.1012/2 = Fill in your answer
*This multiplier is not in your Future Value Annuity Table. Compare the two solutions .


8.8: Is De-extinction a Solution?
One of the more interesting conservation debates to have emerged in recent years involve efforts to reverse extinction. This field, known as de-extinction or resurrection biology aims to revive extinct species, and eventually to reintroduce viable populations to their original locations (Seddon, 2017). One possible method, called “breeding back”, aims to produce individuals genetically similar to an extinct species by selective breeding of extant species that carry genetic material of their extinct relatives. This is the main method currently being used to revive the aurochs (Bos primigenius, EX), the ancestor of today’s domestic cattle (Stokstad, 2015). Other “breeding back” projects place less emphasis on genetics and more on morphology, by selectively breeding individuals with certain traits to produce individuals that visually appear similar to the extinct species. Such is the case at The Quagga Project, where selectively breeding of plains zebras (Equus quagga, NT) with quagga-like characteristics (reduced striping and brown hues) are resulting in animals (Figure 8.11) that look increasingly like extinct quaggas (Harley et al., 2009).
The second popular method used for de-extinction is cloning. This involves the transfer of viable genetic material from an extinct species to the eggs (or embryo) of a closely related surrogate mother, who will hopefully give birth to an individual of the extinct species. Cloning has been used in selective breeding of livestock for many years, and plans are also currently underway to use cloning to prevent the extinction of highly threatened species such as the northern white rhinoceros (see Box 11.4). Despite the promise that cloning offers for reviving extant and recently extinct species, cloning species that went extinct many years ago has been more challenging. So far, attempts to clone Spain’s Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica, EX) and Australia’s gastric-brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus, EX) have produced individuals that lived for only a few minutes (Ogden, 2014).
Despite the progress made, de-extinction is one of the most controversial and polarising debates to emerge among conservation biologists in recent years. Proponents of de-extinction hope that the early work described above paves the way for the resurrection of extinct species once the threats that drove them to extinction have been managed. Many resurrection biologists have even started establishing banks where genetic material of threatened species is cryopreserved for future use. They also hope that their work will inspire more people to be interested in science in general and especially in conservation. Protected areas with extinct species may even draw tourists that can fund conservation projects, while reintroductions of once-extinct species can revive lost ecosystem services.
Bringing a species back from extinction is, however, highly controversial for several reasons. First, there is the argument that the limited funds available for conservation are better spent on species currently facing extinction rather than on projects with possibly insurmountable technical challenges. Others argue that there is no point in spending millions of dollars to bring back an extinct species if we cannot even solve the extinctions drivers that caused the demise of the extinct species in the first place. Conservationists also wonder how the issues facing small populations will be managed, especially early in the process. Many believe that these small compromised populations will simply occupy valuable space in zoos and protected areas that can be better used for protecting extant species. There are also major misgivings about whether the resurrected species will fill the same ecosystem function as before since they may behave differently; in fact, some worry that unpredictable behaviors may introduce new harmful threats to ecosystems. Many conservationists are also worried that the public’s concern for species currently threatened may fade if there is a perception that we can simply revive the species after the last individual died. Lastly, ethical questions are frequently raised about humans essentially trying to “play God” with these “vanity projects”, and the possibility that this entire field will undermine one of the most important foundations of conservation biology—that we need to act now because extinction is forever. Clearly there are some advantages, but also disadvantages, to de-extinction. Most importantly, much research still needs to happen for this to be a viable idea.