Dr Huiyan Fu (PhD, Social Anthropology, University of Oxford) Thursdays, 15-18:00, T-010

Group 1 Alex; Melisa Emily; Kunal

Group 2 Leo ; Annchal Princy; Akshay

Group 3 Lloyd; Ekachai Nadia; Siripa; Jatin Group 5 Omar; Missa Ankit; Amp Nitesh

Group 4 Zaklina; Julia; Ayush; Vissanu

Group 1 Missa; Princy Lloyd; Alex;

Group 2 Nadia; Annchal; Ayush;Vissanu;

Group 3 Ekachai; Akshay Melisa; Amp Jatin

Group 4 Zaklina; Siripa Leo; Nitesh

Group 5 Omar; Emily; Julia Ankit; Kunal

Group 1 Missa; Melisa Alex; Vissanu; Jatin

Group 2 Annchal; Emily Ankit; Ayush

Group 3 Ekachai; Leo Amp; Nadia

Group 4 Omar; Akshay Zaklina; Princy; Nitesh

Group 5 Lloyd; Kunal Julia; Siripa

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1. 2.

Develop an international perspective on entrepreneurship Compare corporate & start-up entrepreneurship

Group Discussion
Consider the following statements. Do you agree or disagree? Please use evidences or examples to support your argument.

Entrepreneurs are born, not made

There is a standard profile or prototype of the entrepreneur

Society or Nation State

Economics
(Business& Management)

Politics

Culture

..Past.............. Present Future..... The success of entrepreneurs depends on a nexus of political, economic & cultural contexts, which differ considerably from society to society , from organisation to organisation and from time to time. Putting entrepreneurship into context: space & time

Entrepreneurial idea generation, its materialisation and sustainable development are: Nation-specific e.g. Organisation-specific; industry/market-specific e.g. Time-specific e.g.

Individual-specific e.g.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3h-T3KQNxU

An event from one point-of-view gives one impression. Seen from another point-ofview it gives quite a different impression. But its only when you get the whole picture you fully understand whats going on.

We can easily misinterpret facts, events and people when we examine them out of context (or solely based on our own assumptions when it comes to understanding other peoples worlds). It is their context that provides us with the clues necessary to enable us to understand them. Context locates them in space and time, as well as the present that we see. It gives us the language to understand them, the codes to decode them, the keys to their meaning.
~ Holistic approach & cross-national comparative perspectives ~

Dispelling the Myths:

o Entrepreneurs are born, not made o There is a standard profile or prototype of the entrepreneur
o o o o o o o o Ignorance is bliss for entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs are extreme risk takers (gamblers) Entrepreneurs must be inventors All you need is luck to be an entrepreneur All entrepreneurs need is money Entrepreneurial people are academic and social misfits Most entrepreneurial initiatives fail Entrepreneurship is unstructured and chaotic

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating value by bringing together a unique combination of resources to exploit an opportunity.

Entrepreneurship can occur in:

Start-up ventures Small firms Mid-sized companies Large conglomerates Non-profit organizations Public sector agencies

Similarities between start-up and corporate entrepreneurship

o Both involve opportunity recognition and definition and require a unique business concept that takes the form of a product, service or process (opportunity-driven) o Both find the entrepreneur needing to develop creative strategies for leveraging resources (put resources together in a unique way) o Both are predicated on value creation and accountability to various stakeholders (create new value, sustainability ) o Both are driven by an individual champion who works with a team to bring the concept to fruition o Both require that the entrepreneur be able to balance vision with managerial skill, passion with pragmatism, and proactiveness with patience o Both find the entrepreneur encountering resistance and obstacles, necessitating both perseverance and an ability to formulate innovative solutions o Both involve significant ambiguity and entail risk and require risk management strategies o Both require harvesting (exit) strategies.

Major differences between start-up and corporate entrepreneurship (Part I)

Start-up Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneur takes the risk Entrepreneur owns the concept or

Corporate Entrepreneurship
Company assumes the risks, other than career-

related risk
Company owns the concept, and typically the

innovative idea
Entrepreneur owns all or much of the

intellectual rights surrounding the concept

Entrepreneur may have no equity in the company,

business
Potential rewards for the entrepreneur

or a very small percentage

Clear limits are placed on the financial rewards

are theoretically unlimited

One mis-step can mean failure Vulnerable to outside influence Independence of the entrepreneur;

entrepreneurs can receive

More room for errors, company can absorb failure More insulated from outside influence

Interdependence of the champion with many

although the successful entrepreneur is typically backed by a strong team

others; may also have to share credit with any number of people

Major differences between start-up and corporate entrepreneurship (Part II)

Start-up Entrepreneurship
Flexibility in changing course,

Corporate Entrepreneurship
Rules, procedures and bureaucracy hinder the

experimenting or trying new directions

Speed of decision-making Little security No safety net Few people to talk to Limited scale and scope initially Severe resource limitations

entrepreneurs ability to maneuver

Longer approval cycles Job security Dependable benefit package Extensive network for bouncing around ideas Potential for sizeable scale and scope fairly

quickly
Access to finances, R&D, production facilities for

trial runs, an established sales force, an existing brand, distribution channels that are in place, existing databases and market research resources, and an established customer base

Corporate entrepreneurs remain in the corporate environment rather than starting their own ventures for three main reasons:

The size of the resource base that they can tap into

The potential to operate on a fairly significant scope and scale fairly quickly
The security they enjoy when operating in an existing company

Organizational politics, management styles & cultural barriers are some of the main reasons corporate entrepreneurs leave the company.

An episode from my fieldwork in Tokyo, 2007

One of my informants was a journalist of a major Japanese newspaper corporation. He fell foul of his superiors by openly criticising the newspapers management style (such as seniority-based promotion and remuneration)* on his personal website. After refusing to shut down the website, he was suspended from his usual duties. The infuriated young man then filed a lawsuit against the newspaper for what he described as a flagrant breach of freedom of speech. Although he lost the case in the end, he found a new purpose for himself as he put it: The Japanese firm is corrupt from within. I felt so suffocated by a number of unreasonable rules and regulations. There is virtually very limited room for individual freedom and development. In my view, the way in which the Japanese firm and the Japanese society operate is essentially communist, albeit under a cloak of democracy. I am now a freelance writer, spending most of my time talking to young people and voicing their concerns on their behalf. The younger generations of workers are most vulnerable to corporate abuse and exploitation. Through my work, I wish to make an impact by revealing the wrongdoing of the Japanese firm. This is, I believe, what a proper journalist should do.

Reading for Next Week

Reading the key textbook: Chapter 3 & 4 esp. case study: Keeping Innovating Alive at P&G (pp82-84)