ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: INSIGHTS FROM AN AUTO-ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship, Autoethnography, Business Dynamics, Customer Behaviour, Relationship MarketingAbstract
Entrepreneurship remains a critical driver of innovation, employment generation, and economic development. However, the business environment of the twenty-first century is characterized by rapid technological advancement, evolving consumer behaviour, and heightened market uncertainty, all of which demand new entrepreneurial capabilities. Although previous studies have extensively examined entrepreneurship from economic and managerial perspectives, limited attention has been devoted to understanding these changing dynamics through the lived experiences of entrepreneurs operating in developing economies such as Nigeria. This study adopts an auto-ethnographic research design, integrating the author's entrepreneurial experiences with evidence from contemporary literature to examine the realities of doing business in the twenty-first century. Data were analyzed thematically to identify recurring patterns relating to customer behaviour, entrepreneurial misconceptions, and business resilience. The findings reveal that sustainable business performance depends not only on financial resources but also on entrepreneurs' ability to cultivate customer trust, manage credit prudently, adapt to changing market conditions, leverage digital technologies, and demonstrate emotional intelligence in business relationships. The study further shows that many widely held assumptions about entrepreneurship, including the belief that capital alone guarantees success, are inconsistent with practical business realities. By combining experiential evidence with established entrepreneurship literature, this paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on entrepreneurial resilience and small business sustainability in emerging economies. The study provides practical insights for entrepreneurs, educators, and policymakers seeking to strengthen entrepreneurial performance and improve sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises in volatile business environments.
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