Special issue on entrepreneurship

Citation

Harrison, J. (2011), "Special issue on entrepreneurship", Strategic Direction, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd.2011.05627faa.001

Special issue on entrepreneurship

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic Direction, Volume 27, Issue 6

For this year’s special issue, we are focusing on the topic of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is defined as an action or behavior that individuals or firms take to create, renew, or innovate. What could be more relevant to the field of business strategy?

Our Viewpoint article: “Growing a business and becoming more entrepreneurial”, by Melissa Grafton, partner at Andrum Consulting, focuses on the core traits and skills that successful entrepreneurs should adopt in order to remain competitive in an unpredictable economic climate. Our first review article: “Power to the visionaries” discusses whether or not it is possible to replicate successful business models to provide a kick-start to innovation, and to what extent entrepreneurs are able to exploit potential business opportunities without the support of their existing networks. Our next review: “Analyzing women’s entrepreneurship in Sweden” looks at a case study of Malin Anderson, the founder of a domestic services company in Sweden, to show how individual business circumstances are intimately connected to the larger social, political and economic environments that surround them.

Our next review article: “Social entrepreneurs offer different model”, questions whether a new generation of entrepreneurs is needed, whose view of business contains social and environmental, as well as economic values. It makes it clear that social entrepreneurship is not clear-cut, but offers advice on how to address the issue of entrepreneurship from an ethical standpoint. “Encouraging corporate entrepreneurship”, provides a case study of Indian technology giant: XYZ, analyzing the foundations that they have laid to encourage successful corporate entrepreneurship. The article provides a solid framework for corporations functioning in uncertain market conditions.

“What is an entrepreneur?” poses the question of whether it is possible to have an “entrepreneurial gene”, and whether individuals who display entrepreneurial tendencies can effectively function within a more traditional business environment. This highlights the need for a reappraisal on how entrepreneurs are identified, utilized and incentivized as a key component of business development. “Maori culture maps out governance”, examines the entrepreneurial activity of a social enterprise in New Zealand, carried out by indigenous Maori people to address the emerging crisis of cross-generational alienation. The article suggests that when historical and cultural contextual factors are taken into account, opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurial sustainability will emerge.

“Entrepreneurship and innovation in a cultural framework”, demonstrates some of the factors that both help and hinder innovation and entrepreneurship in different social and economic cultures, looking at business practices within South East Asian families; small business firms in the Ukraine, and the effect of entrepreneurs returning home after periods of living and working abroad. Our final review article entitled: “What does entrepreneurship cost?” focuses on a program run in Northern Ireland which assessed both how to teach students about entrepreneurship and how the students themselves can develop entrepreneurial outlooks, becoming entrepreneurs themselves.

Our interview for this issue is with Duncan Goose, co-founder of Global Ethics Ltd, a not-for-profit organization whose primary remit is to raise funds for humanitarian projects in developing countries. In his interview, Duncan reflects on his experiences as a successful entrepreneur, offering advice for those who are starting a business and highlighting successful business models.

One of the running themes of this issue seems to be the notion of employees-as-entrepreneurs, highlighting that it is possible to behave entrepreneurially within an organizational framework, or as part of a team. With this is mind, there is definitely something to be said for adopting an entrepreneurial spirit, which may help to encourage a culture of innovation within your organization.

Juliet Harrison