The tendency to look on entrepreneurs as calculators means that interventionists see prices as given, mere data that works to guide entrepreneurial behaviour. But the case of Masaru Ibuka, and every other entrepreneur for that matter, easily disposes of that fallacy and makes clear the subjective nature of entrepreneurial decision-making. This is a vitally important insight because it brings to light the vital role entreprenership plays in coordinating prices. Too many economists are in the habit of treating prices as if they are inequilibrium. They are not.
Prices are in disequilibrium, meaning that there maladjustments between supply and demand.
Entrepreneurs seek out these maladjustments and by adjusting production to meet consumers wants eliminate them. But by definition this activity must alter prices. Any action by governments that hampers the entrepreneur s production-adjusting function will lower productivity by sabotaging the entrepreneur s coordinating function. Entrepreneurs, acting on price signals and their assessment of the situation and production possibilities, will construct factor combinations that they believe will successfully eliminate maladjustments. Profit, of course, being the measure of success.