1. Strategic Planning for Technology-Based Ventures
A. “Small-Sized Firms Managerial Practices and Entrepreneurship Competencies”
(Summary) In industrial Europe and North America, SME occupies a dominating position in terms of growth and technological innovation. A study of these small-sized firms reveals strategic behaviors of entrepreneurs in response to different situations. Broadly speaking they are categorized into adaptive, innovative and anticipatory behaviors. Studied as a system, entrepreneurship is the context where entrepreneurs interact to opportunities arising from change in a process known as “creative destruction”. The effect of these interactions and activities is the transformation of the economy into an “economy of entrepreneurs”. The firms that anticipate the changes and adapt “their culture, their behaviors, their operation, their structure and their style of management” gain considerable advantage. This process is evident in entrepreneurial firms where the entire organization revolves around the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship has five fundamental dimensions: entrepreneurial vision, human resources management, organization management, resource management and optimization, and finally strategy formulation and implementation. The entrepreneurial vision corresponds to the entrepreneur's vision of the future and his firm's position/role in that future. This vision is closely associated to the firm's mission and the entrepreneur's capacity to anticipate the future. A key factor for the entrepreneurial firm's success is the sharing and adoption of this vision by the entire organization. Another key success factor is good human resource management. The promotion of a culture of innovation and intrapreneurship, along with effective organizational communication and training programs are characteristics of good human resource management. In terms of organization management, the capacities to plan in the long-term, anticipate strategic problems and evolve in response to change have been observed as key success factors. Market, technical and financial expertise are considered essential to management and optimization of resources while innovation, “flexibility, speed of response and adaptation, adjustment and anticipation”, the formation of strategic partnerships and alliances are considered key entrepreneurial strategies.
(Reaction) Entrepreneurial or not, an organization needs a shared vision to effectively utilize its resources. Without a common and clear sense of direction, individual efforts will be diffused and synergy will not be achieved. For a vision to be shared, members of the organization in all levels must be involved (in different ways) in its formulation. They must understand their role in fulfilling this vision and must be empowered to do so. What distinguishes a typical entrepreneurial firm, however, is the agility at which it is able to accomplish this.
B. “Entrepreneurs: Strategic Thinkers In Search of Opportunities”
(Summary) Strategic thinking enables entrepreneurs to recognize business opportunities and exploit them by creating business ventures. Strategic thinking pertains to “sensible ideas, thoughtful analyses, and sound decisions.” Experts believe that strategic thinking is a function of the right-hemisphere of the brain and is responsible for generating brilliant ideas and insights. It complements logical or analytical thinking (thought to be a function of the left-hemisphere of the brain) and allows rapid progress to take place (in the thinking process). It is both “proactive and reflective”. It is deemed necessary for individual who wish to become entrepreneurs as it enables them “to navigate with self-assurance in a dynamic, competitive environment” and manage uncertainties. It also allows entrepreneurs to understand trends, see the big picture, anticipate threats, mitigate risks and take advantage of opportunities enabling them to “identify, assess and undertake a business venture.” The creation of a business ventures is thought of as an “entrepreneurial event” borne out of the “entrepreneurial intention” (i.e. salient forces) or “entrepreneurial potential” (i.e. latent forces). Regardless of the source or motivation, there are three key components that enable an entrepreneur to create of a new business venture: strategic thinking capacity, perception of market opportunities and decision to create a new venture. Noting that the last two are also influenced by the first, it is follows that strategic thinking is the driving component behind business venture creation.
(Reaction) The way I see it strategic thinking is the integration of creative (or lateral) and analytical (or vertical) thinking. The creative aspect is responsible for making connections and seeing how pieces fit together while the analytical aspect is responsible understanding how the pieces work and anticipating scenarios where they might not. Creative thinking is highly intuitive and works simultaneously / in parallel (i.e. threads of thoughts working at once) while analytical thinking is focused, deliberate and sequential in nature. One with the other would either be too slow or too out of control.
No comments:
Post a Comment