The entrepreneurial culture is the rock bed of economic growth and development. It fosters the growth of enterprises/businesses with a vision and accountability for the betterment of a society. Entrepreneurial culture implies a set of values, norms and traits that are conducive to the growth of entrepreneurship.
Introduction to Entrepreneurial Culture
The key to growth is to foster entrepreneurial culture and play a pivotal role in deepening the enterprise/organisation, so that it will contribute to the success of the enterprise.
Indian entrepreneurs will have, therefore, to draw up their futuristic vision by way of redefining their purpose and mission and resetting their attainable objectives, and developing long-term strategy against the background of emerging opportunities and impending threats inherent in domestic and global environments on the one hand and competencies and weaknesses, on the other.
While charting out its future course of action the Indian entrepreneur will have to remember that to get a competitive edge over its rivals on a sustainable basis, five things-are essential — increased productivity, improved quality, innovation in the market, a deep understanding of customer needs and delivery of world class service and only one factor that could provide all these capabilities is ‘knowledge’ and human beings are the drivers of the knowledge juggernaut.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
As such, the primary focus of the strategic management approach of any organisation has to be on effective and efficacious utilisation of human resources. It will, therefore, be imperative to set new paradigms for managing an enterprise and its people so that the human resource function forms an integral part of enterprise policy and strategy and the entrepreneur plays a pivotal role in management of men and in progressive integration of conceptual values with operational values.
The entrepreneurial culture is the rock bed of economic growth and development. It fosters the growth of enterprises/businesses with a vision and accountability for the betterment of a society.
Entrepreneurial culture implies a set of values, norms and traits that are conducive to the growth of entrepreneurship. It is the corporate culture that focuses on the emergence of new opportunities, the means of capitalising on items, and the creation of the structure appropriate for pursuing them. Entrepreneurial culture should be differentiated from administrative culture. Administrative culture is the corporate culture which focuses on existing opportunities, organisational structures and control procedures.
An ideal administrator would ask such questions as “what resources do I control? What structure determines our organisation’s relationship to its market? How can I minimise the impact of others on my ability to perform? What opportunity is appropriate?” On the contrary an ideal entrepreneur would ask very different questions such as ‘Where is the opportunity? How do I gain control over them? What structure is best?”
ADVERTISEMENTS:
An ideal entrepreneur is one who combines values in the market economy; that profits do not somehow preclude ethical behaviour; that growth is possible even if political patronage is not used to bend rules and cut corners, and quite simply that pursuit of wealth can be a grateful and manly one. He takes with him the interest of his people, his country, his natural resources, and the ecology and sees that his enterprise becomes a catalytic agent of development.
There is thus a need for true entrepreneurs, who do not wait for incentives, infrastructure, government support; but build their enterprises, harness the resources and develop. They adopt a responsible value-driven corporate philosophy for their enterprises and/or business activities. As such, there is no dispute among economists and social thinkers about the urgent need for the emergence of an entrepreneurial society as a forerunner of accelerated development of the economy in an integrated manner.
In short, the entrepreneurial culture develops entrepreneurial focus while the administrative culture develops administrative focus.
Characteristics of Entrepreneurial Culture
The most important characteristics of entrepreneurial culture are:
- Strategic orientation, that is, the entrepreneurial kind of managers will be driven by perception of opportunity
- Commitment to seize opportunities will be revolutionary with short duration
- Commitment and control of resources, effective utilisation of resources
Ten Steps to Create Entrepreneurial Culture
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Changing entrepreneurial culture doesn’t require magic. What it needs is down-to-earth action that will set a good example at the top.
The following ten steps will help an entrepreneur to create a culture supportive of change:
- Start at the top. Lead the enterprise
- Attune to a culture of innovation
- Remove the hidden obstacles
- Create an integrated enterprise culture
- Create a marketing culture
- Create a listening environment
- Absorb competing technologies and involve people
- Do not let product innovations fool you
- Be flexible and open for diversification and new ideas
- Always be ready to change cultures
No matter what culture your enterprise has settled into profitably and comfortably, change will eventually come along the jerk your business into a new environment. Be ready for it constantly scanning the developments, the markets and the society for trends, opportunities and innovations (Technological and management), and do not be hesitant to use them when the time comes.