ENTREPRENEUR. - «An entrepreneur is one who professionally carries on an organized economic activity for the purpose of the production or exchange of goods or services» (Civil Code, art. 2082). The figure of the entrepreneur can take different forms: he may be owner, director and worker all at once, like the small merchant, the peasant who owns the land and works it with his own means, helped by his family, or the small craftsman. These are then called small entrepreneurs (art. 2083). He may instead be an owner, or a collector of capital and director of the firm in which he avails himself predominantly of the labor of others; or, as happens more often in large enterprises, neither owner nor manager, but only the manager responsible for the capital raised. This is the class of large and medium entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneur is the soul of the enterprise. His principal functions are: to take the initiative in establishing the enterprise; to gather its material elements and personnel; to regulate its organization; to assume the high direction and the moral and material responsibility. Of these functions only the last, that is, the assumption of responsibility, is truly essential, since the first ones can also be provided for through others, as, for example, through a stockbroker for the raising of capital, through an engineer, a director, a merchant for the technical, administrative and commercial setup. One becomes an entrepreneur a posteriori as a result of the effective and professional exercise of an economic activity.
The concrete exercise of such an activity presupposes, besides the spirit of initiative, special gifts, namely: an exact knowledge of outlets, of the resources available in raw materials and in personnel, of industrial methods; it presupposes a knowledge of the men to be chosen and the art of directing them; strength of intelligence and tenacity in work; and finally uncommon powers of foresight and synthesis.
The stimulus to entrepreneurial functions is profit, that is, the aleatory remuneration of the entrepreneur's activity and risk as such.
The legitimacy of profit in itself considered is beyond doubt. It is indeed just that the entrepreneur too, who is the most active agent of production, and who assumes upon himself the risks of the enterprise, should have an adequate compensation. The theory of Marx and his followers is therefore false, according to which profit is nothing but a misappropriation, unpaid labor, etc. However legitimate profit may be in itself, the severe criticisms leveled against it when the thirst for gain prevails over the ethical norms that should regulate it are not unfounded.
Immoral profits are, for example, those that take their origin from an activity wholly or partly dishonest, such as the organization of debauchery, the opening of certain gambling houses, etc.; or, even in honest enterprises, profits obtained by unjust means, such as the reduction of wages, the exaggerated selling price, the adulteration of goods, the unjustified delay of payment, evasion of the due fiscal taxes, contractual non-fulfillment, unfair competition, etc.
The character of the activities that the entrepreneur carries on is predominantly economic; however, he also has responsibilities toward society and in particular toward those who work in his enterprise. The Italian legislator in the Civil Code of 1942 had determined (art. 2085-11) certain specific legal responsibilities of the entrepreneur. The changed political and trade-union climate, and in particular the abolition of the corporative organization, have caused some of these legal norms to lapse, and others new ones are maturing.
The more specific tasks of the entrepreneur in this new social policy are: a competent organization and direction of the enterprise, so as to put it in a position to give work to the greatest possible number of workers and thus contribute to alleviating the grave scourge of unemployment; the wise choice of personnel, especially of the managerial personnel; the distribution of work according to the aptitudes of the individual employees; care for the worker's physical integrity through provisions of a hygienic character, the reduction of the duration of work and the granting of relief proportionate to the severity of the occupation; respect for contractual conditions; the payment of a just wage that takes into account the worker's needs not only individual but also family needs; compliance with the norms of law concerning the various insurance contributions; the defense of the worker's moral personality through the recognition and respect of his moral and spiritual needs.
It is not enough, however, for the entrepreneur to comply with the mandatory legal prescriptions. A more humane and more Christian conception of work demands first the establishment with the work force of relations of mutual esteem and human fellowship; then, externally, a reform in structure, so that the worker is guaranteed an effective participation both in the government of the firm and in the division of profits. The technical aspect may vary in form (factory councils, profit-sharing, worker shareholding, cooperation, etc.) and according to circumstances.
Often individual entrepreneurs are not in a position to bring about these reforms alone, also out of fear of unfair competition on the part of the dishonest: they could do so more easily if associated. Hence the importance of the various associations of entrepreneurs and managers that are springing up here and there, with the twofold advantage of better meeting the real needs of the workers and of checking an excessive political interference in the world of labor (v. also: CONSIGLI DI GESTIONE; CONTRATTI DI LAVORO; PARTECIPAZIONISMO).
Bibliography9 works
Luigi Morstabilini