Taming the beast versus nurturing the beast: Rethinking entrepreneurship policy

This paper presents a reflexive policy analysis of entrepreneurship policy, combining insights from scholarly thinking and an empirical examination of India’s Startup India initiative. We contribute to the literature on organisational sponsorship by proposing two new mechanisms, bearing and breezing, to address challenges posed by entrepreneurial experimentation and Knightian uncertainty. By integrating economic and organisational theory perspectives, we highlight gaps in existing policy frameworks, including their limited appreciation of entrepreneurship’s complexity, diversity, and contextual nature. Our thematic analysis of India’s policy instruments identifies an excessive reliance on financial incentives and narrow definitions, offering actionable recommendations for fostering inclusive, dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystems.