Government (and academic) interest in enterprise (including entrepreneurs and small businesses) largely emerged in the early 1980s when unemployment was rising and research suggested that small businesses were the main source of new jobs. Therefore there was a desire to know more about enterprise in order to encourage it but, like any emerging subject, its early understanding was based more on myth and supposition than ‘scientifically’ established facts. Subsequently much of that understanding appears to have become the conventional wisdom about enterprise which is largely taken on trust and not questioned. But, to those who examine it, problems are apparent, not least because policy apparently based on it does not work. Studies of epistemology suggest that this is to be expected and the review of the links between enterprise research and policy indicates that a disconnect is to be expected there also. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to identify the body of ‘knowledge’ that has formed the basis for received enterprise wisdom and examine the hypothesis that:  Policy has been informed, guided and/or justified by this conventional wisdom – but the failure of policy raises questions about its veracity.  This conventional wisdom has not just influenced policy but is also likely to be the foundation for other current thinking about enterprise.  However the ‘conventional wisdom is itself based on, or consistent with, a set of assumptions, often not consciously made and therefore not recorded, but at least some of which may be questionable. The research identifies a set of assumptions and shows that they could have been and were adopted and do seem to provide a basis for the conventional wisdom but, nevertheless, are wrong. It therefore concludes that if enterprise understanding is to improve, and enterprise budgets not wasted, this paradigm needs to be changed.