What is the relationship between Entrepreneurship and Innovation?
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.
Margaux’s comment made me investigate more about Madam C. J. Walker. I feel she is indeed an innovative entrepreneur. She has grabbed the opportunity at the right time and had taken the risk of promoting the hair care product line to the world. She was the first person to investigate about the hair problems of women of that era and introduce the hair care products which had a huge demand. Thanks for the information Margaux.
Good follow-up, Swathy … PC
Entrepreneurs take a measured risk to introduce new products or create a new company. They use innovative ways to fulfill the needs of consumers.
Madam C. J. Walker, who was a beauty entrepreneur, was the first self-made American female millionaire. She popularized the use of the hot comb and created hair care products line in the 1910s. Many women of the era washed their hair only once a month, which resulted in numerous scalp diseases. Madam Walker was innovative enough to fulfill the needs of her customers with her “Wonderful Hair Grower” hair care products.
Click here for information about Madam C. J. Walker
Very interesting and informative, thanks. PC
This is interesting. I was not aware of Madam Walker. Looks like she paved the way for all those that followed in the hair care industry.
Entrepreneur may become successful through developing new innovation within a specific field. An entrepreneur realizes a need within a market and meets this need through innovation. Innovation is the development of new thinking, products, techniques, that are ultimately successful in their endeavor. I believe that entrepreneurs can be innovative but not always. An entrepreneur can be successful without being innovative in developing a new way to accomplish an idea. In comparison an innovator is an entrepreneur due to the fact that they have developed, designed, created something new. The innovator realized a need for this innovation within a market, where as an entrepreneur realized there was void within an existing market and found a way to fulfill this void.
An article published by the ‘Small Business Economics
An Entrepreneurship Journal’ in 2008 supported my assessment that entrepreneurs can be innovating but not all entrepreneurs are innovative. Sections 5 and 6 of this report primarily discuss these facts.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h1×07607786mwq52/fulltext.html
Very good post, thanks, Brad. What about an innovator who does not proceed beyond creating the innovation? PC
So, it seems to be well understood that innovation is largely associated with the creation of new products and/or services while entrepreneurship is associated with bringing these new products or services to market to fill a perceived void.
Can both concepts serve as starting points with equal success? That is, does one look for opportunities and then develop or innovate in an effort to seize the opportunity? Or does one engage in innovation with little to no thought on the entrepreneurial aspects?
How many of us have an iPod? I’m led to believe, based on its sales to date, that it seemingly sold itself. There may have in fact not been a market for it, especially considering the initially high price, but it was just too innovative to not sell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#Sales
Interesting thoughts, Joshua - relates to what Bradr wrote. PC
Innovation and entrepreneurship are two totally different concepts. When I think of innovation, whether it is applicable to a product or a service, I generally think of something “new”. This can be a completely new idea or concept or a new product. Perhaps it is a new way to use an existing product or service [1]. Apple has introduced a multitude of innovative products over the years, from the original MacBook to the iPhone. These products have been truly innovative and have ushered in a new era of computing.
As we’ve learned from or research into the six business archetypes, the entrepreneur is primarily extrospective, focused on external opportunities. The entrepreneur is trying to find areas or markets that have a need for a particular product and service and take the necessary steps to fill them. Entrepreneurs often work together in the context or framework of a new business venture. The innovators will create the new product or service and the entrepreneur will put into place the necessary business structure to offer the product or service.
The iPhone was innovative in that it offered a touch sensitive screen as part of a mobile phone/mobile internet appliance. These technologies were not new but the way in which they were put together were. The success of the iPhone was very much dependent on both successful innovation and successful entrepreneurship. Though truly innovative it could’ve easily been ignored if the market had not been ready for it.
[1] http://www.inddist.com/blog/1340000134/post/1630020563.html
More interesting comments, Joshua - thanks. PC
That MIT E and I program link is indeed a good one, Roy. I wonder if they will ever attempt to add additional creativity and put parts of the program online. I’m sure there are plenty of students (such as myself) who don’t live conveniently close to Universities and can only benefit from online type courses.
Yes, Roy and Scott, judicious use of the Internet offers many benefits, such as this on-line learning format and the current blog discussion… PC