In "We Need to Expand our Definition of Entrepreneurship", Hagel(2016) started with relating the story of the beginning of employee society--where workers worked routine jobs--since the time Ford established his company. The society has changed from that time into a more diverse one and thus "the unicorns", youths who quickly become billionaires, will become inevitably rare; despite lower incentives he still encourages entrepreneurship in all layers of society. Entrepreneurs that, in his opinion, are characterized by seeking opportunities, willing to burden risks, and contributing incremental values to the society are the most desirable and by this definition entrepreneur should be in such organizations as NGO, government agency, school, or corporation, where economy of scale and scope can be enjoyed. Hagel concluded that we are moving toward entrepreneurial society that the world, especially developing countries, will potentially benefit from.
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My response
I found this article on one of my friends' facebook timeline. I think the idea is interesting in that I am interested in entrepreneurship and if I had to choose my focus when I study in MBA I'll choose entrepreneurship or start-up.
The article reminds me of the economics class I took years ago. Lecturers talked on and on about Economy of Scale, Economic of Scope and I have to learned how to distinguished them. It was fun. However, when you are a small player in the market then you don't have much of options to promote Economy of Scale nor Economy of Scope. After all you don't have sufficient resources to promote them. Luckily there are always options when you really want it that is to promote economy of scale by outsourcing and give them some portions of your profits if you are willing to do so. On the other hand, you may just let the business run its course and you just desert it and go to transnational corporation, or that of similar scale where you can harness your talent and give a greater incremental value to the society.
I always think myself as an entrepreneur, even though I never actually create any business. However I would always look for the opportunities that I can exploit my skills and talents in adding value to the society. I was once told that life only allow me to master and use only a few skills, but as persevere and obstinate as I am, it would kill me to follow the advice. I would prefer to attain all of my goals rather than cut off one to save the others.
Everyone has his or her opportunity costs, things that we need to abandon as we choose to do the thing we are doing. Although having a family business, I might be better off working in other corporations if they give much more than my marginal work in my family business. Unless the business has to be capable to run by its own, I won't call it a business. This way I can earn greatly outside then use the money I earn to invest into another business with leverage from banks. I think this way of expanding business can be faster and more efficient. This, however, requires me to find someone I can trust and can run the business as good as I do but cheaper than I do.
The article drew me in in that Hagel considered that entrepreneurship can be established in every layer of every form of organization. I think this way of thinking can contribute a lot to the society; unfortunately, the reason some people are still in the company is because they are afraid of coming out taking risks. If we build up a society where everyone are entrepreneurial then perhaps a few are willing to stay in the organization.
In my opinion, not every people can be entrepreneur. If everyone had become entrepreneurs, then I don't think being an entrepreneur will be attractive anymore and the resources will be divided more or less equally. I have an idea in my mind that when everyone want to become an entrepreneur, it might be better to choose the best entrepreneur and work for them. Because everything will eventually converge to equilibrium, when people largely start up their own business, labor force will be scarce and skilled labor will be so rare that compensation will be sufficiently attractive. In my opinion, the society nowadays is not really far from that point.
Where do you think you will be when more and more people have aspiration to start up their own business? Do you agree with Hagel definition of entrepreneurship?
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Reference
My own experience agrees with the suggestion in "The Stresses and Strains of Work" that being self-employed can be more stressful than working for someone else. I've tried starting and running businesses, and on the whole, I did not enjoy the constant worry and need to be making decisions, checking things and so on. Maybe if I'd tried some mindfulness meditation it would have helped.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, one of my old uni. friends thrives on management and starting new ventures, and doesn't seem very upset by impressive failures, another reminded in our reading on stress at work. I rather admire entrepreneurs and risk takers: they are the people who create wealth, including jobs, for society. My friend is much richer than I will ever be, and I think he deserves it all. As he has been creating his own wealth, he has also created great opportunities for others, and since he works in the entertainment industry, he has also brought a lot of joy to many people.