Following our live and archived discussions from last week and tonight, and your research and experience, what light can you shed on this question? Asked in other ways, the question could be:
Are entrepreneurs innovative?
or,
Are innovators entrepreneurs?
Illustrate your comments with examples from industry, providing references and links.
Entrepreneurs may be split as Innovative and Replicative.
“In contrast to the replicative entrepreneurs, the innovators create and commercialize new products, services and business practices.”
source – http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1299
In my opinion, even a replicative entrepreneur is innovative in some ways. May be the way he markets the mundane product to attract new consumers.
Good post, Swathy … PC
I would say the “entrepeneurs = innovation”, these two word co-exist especially in the high tech world.
And well known institutions even reconize this. Look at this link to MIT about their “The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (E&I)”
http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/E_and_I.php
Good link, Roy. PC
I agree with Scott, “entrepreneurs are innovative” would fit the description in a better way. “Innovative entrepreneurs create and commercialize new product, services, and business practices, in contrast to the replicative entrepreneurs – those who open businesses that support a growing population,” such as restaurants like Subway or McDonald’s franchises.
http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1299
Good link, Mirek. PC
Entrepreneurs Are Innovators!!!
Creativity is one of the ways that an entrepreneur will have a constant flow of new products, services, and new markets. They seem to be intoned with the things that people need and the follow through with creating a way to make it possible.
Enjoys challenges – challenges are something that keeps an entrepreneurs mind working. Entrepreneurs will spend a good portion of their time calculating the pros and cons. If there is not a challenge then they will move on to a new project.
http://www.cafe-teatr.com/entrepreneurs-are-innovators/
Being innovative is one of the most important attribute of an entrepreneur. Being creative is being innovative.
Good…PC
Entrepreneurs make things happen! They do so by taking a concept and converting it into reality. This can be done anywhere & everywhere, for good or evil, selfishly or in service to mankind. Innovations are NEW ways to achieve tasks – to make things happen. Therefore, Entrepreneurs practice innovation to achieve their intended goal successfully.
Now, Innovation when it comes to products require research, development, production, marketing and use (feedback/testing). Thus, experience benefits good innovative products. But, with an entrepreneur who most often embarks on trailblazing endeavor, this is not very practical! Therefore, innovation has to come out of introspection and some amount of risk-taking (calculated/modelled). The caveman that shaped the first wheel had no prodcut testing data or customer feedback or even know what the potential applications would be when he (or she, but I lean towards the male based on records of medieval family structure and roles) designed and built the first prototype after the idea sparked in his/her mind.
Innovation is also induced many times due to necessity and economic conditions. This pressure has molded the entrepreneur from another archetypical person/organization due to governmental regulations (ex: environmental restrictions on pollution), labor shortages (mechanized equipment being launched), drought/climate conditions (irrigation innovations), etc, where an individual recognizes the impending future demand and using innovation to grab a chunk of the marketshare and establish themselves (monopolistic) where they end up being successful.
Entrepreneurs do not always have to be the source of innovations, but can channel it with refining and being able to market it well defines their prowess. “It is commonly believed that Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor of the telephone. however,it appears that Bell merely improvised on the efforts of others.” [http://www.helium.com/items/921011-the-history-of-the-telephone] This article reveals how he partnered with the right people while managing to derive maximum recognition (in turn, profits) for himself. This is also a good example for innovation in the nick of time when the world was longing for more effective and faster communication.
A well thought out and well presented post, Jimy. Thanks for sharing this…PC
In my opinion, the phrase “entrepreneurs are innovative” is the better of the two descriptions. As we discussed in class, purposeful entrepreneurs add value and innovation to products and services that are likely already in existence. The example we used was franchising which is not real entrepreneurship.
The first example that pops in my mind about an entrepreneur through innovation is Joseph Juran, one of the most well known quality gurus. The idea of quality had been around quite a while, but Juran added value by making it more than just a statistical idea. He is credited with adding a human element to quality management and innovation through quality planning. Overall, the value he contributed made the principle of quality more practical.
Very interesting and informative, Scott. PC
I agree Scott, “entrepreneurs are innovative” is the better of the two descriptions. Good example to support this.