ces and influences that can challenge and stimulate individuals so they think more in terms of achievement. Perceptions of the environment can thus become motivating factors in the organization, and McClelland states that an "analytical version of environmental theories would assert that challenges from without can arouse achievement motivation in peoples" (p. 338). The perception of a change motivates the entrepreneur to reshape the organization to meet the challenge.
A number of changes have been perceived in the business environment in recent years, and different theorists have offered their views of how these challenges should be met in the coming years. Peter F. Drucker is an astute observer of the American business environment and extrapolates from the environment of today to predict what will happen in the environment of tomorrow and how businesses can meet the challenge. In his article "The Discipline of Innovation" (1985), Drucker addresses the issue of innovation and whether it is given proper attention by today's managers. Drucker writes:
Innovation is the specific function of entrepreneurship, whether in an existing business, a public service institution, or a new venture started by a lone individual in the family kitchen. It is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth-producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth. (p. 67)
Drucker believes there is confusion today about the definition of entrepreneurship, but for him the heart of the activity is innovation, or "the effort to create purposeful, focused change in an enterprise's economic or social potential" (p. 67). Innovation comes about in response to unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, and industry and market changes. Opportunities also exist in demographic changes, changes in perception, and new knowledge. Every company experiences unexpected successes and failures...