ENTREPRENEURSHIP Entrepreneurship – Term out of Fashion or Imperative? • Are companies too big to be sustainably developed by some managers?
• Companies have an entrepreneurial spirit, no matter how big they
are. The successful companies introduce new market offerings, build new business units into old or new industries and launch their market offerings into new country markets . They expand because of the Customer Competitors Company itself When is an entrepreneurial mindset needed? Entrepreneur • The term “Entrepreneur” is derived from the Middle Ages: “Entrepreneur“ in Latin “prehendere” evolved into the French term“entreprendre” and can be translated as “to begin”, “to try” or to “get a contract”.
• An Entrepreneur is a person who perceives a business opportunity
and creates an organization around it to pursue this opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled The Entrepreneur and related terms Entrepreneurship with various contents • In a start-up company the Entrepreneur builds new structures as well as in newly founded business units, e.g. in foreign countries, of an established company. In an acquisition of an existing enterprise the Entrepreneur uses existing structures and changes them according to his existing pattern. • In an innovative/technology oriented company structures must be changed constantly according to the situation in the developing environment of the innovative market offering. Improvisation is needed; this is the opposite of bureaucratic behavior in large corporations where people are forced to act within the business processes. However, in a new project in a big corporation, Entrepreneurship may be needed, especially when the company enters into new fields of business or into new geographies. • Family owned businesses are often strongly connected with Entrepreneurship, especially in the first generation where a strong founder started the business. The challenging questions might be: who will succeed him? • In small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Entrepreneurship is needed as these companies are not as specialized as compared to large corporations. This also provides some flexibility which is also an indicator of entrepreneurial businesses. Intrapreneurship or Corporate Entrepreneurship • Entrepreneurship as managerial asset in a company is often called Intrapreneurship or Corporate Entrepreneurship. • More and more companies appreciate Entrepreneurs in their companies, who are able to adapt to the context in fast changing environments. Pre- requisites for intrapreneurship are flat hierarchies; intrapreneurs carry the responsibility and are free in a certain frame, an open communicative culture, also in case of mistakes, and a creative innovative culture. • Intrapreneurship may have some positive effects for the established company Positive effects of intrapreneurship on the established company Types of knowledge Entrepreneurs need 1. The cognitive knowledge (“know-what“) is the basis of every discipline, which is achieved through training and certifications. Mostly this knowledge is not sufficient to solve real challenges in practical life. 2. The capabilities (”know-how“) transfer concepts into practical execution. The ability to transfer the acquired knowledge into a new environment and apply it there successfully. 3. The system understanding (“know-why“) contains the deep understanding about the web of cause- and-effect relations. This allows to solve larger and more complex problems, and is far more than just a transfer of know-how into practical life but creates extraordinary customer value. This is necessary to identify opportunities in the existing business models and help them into more effectiveness. 4. The creative self-motivation (“care-why“) consists of will, motivation, and adaptability for success. Motivated teams often outperform teams with greater resources. The opposite is egomania, which may occur when managers have long periods of success and are getting used to it. It enables the Entrepreneur to adapt to rapid changes and to renew their knowledge, skills and system understanding in order to compete. The Process of Entrepreneurship