When did we start studying entrepreneurship? A historical case study at the ESCP

This article focuses on the history of entrepreneurship education in business schools in France. Based on a case study of the oldest business school in the world—the ESCP—, we develop a longitudinal historical review in order to trace the evolution of entrepreneurship education in this institution. Our article shows how the ESCP developed courses in entrepreneurship in response to internal and external forces: externally, following market and economic pressure, as well as pressure from alumni; and internally, due to the initiatives of the school management, which sought to find a theme for the school’s 175th anniversary in 1994. The result was the creation of a shared vision of the school through a myth that emphasized the existence of an entrepreneurial orientation since its founding. In the case of the ESCP, this myth was based on the figure of the economist Jean-Baptiste Say. Our study therefore offers a novel perspective, not only by narrating the history of entrepreneurship education since the beginning of the nineteenth century, but also by showing the power of an institutional myth. In our case, the myth legitimates a message, provides a common vision for the school’s ecosystem, and activates a system that consolidates an entrepreneurial academic offering seeking to develop the coherence of this message.