Year: 2016

How Disruptive Can China Be?
by Bill Fischer & Denis Simon

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“China is the world’s second largest investor in R&D with a forecast spending of $396.3 billion for 2016.” It will spend 20.4% of the world’s R&D budget in 2016, compared with the U.S.’s 26.4%. There should be no doubt that China believes in S&T, R&D and innovation!  But, how disruptive have China’s investments in innovation been, and what can we expect for the future?   For some industries in the West, this question will appear somewhat ridiculous. The American textile and apparel industries, for example, will tell you that the evidence is found in the blood on the floor – their blood, on what used to be their floor. Similarly, American and European metals industries […]

Entrepreneurial seed – a new perspective on natural and human networks
by Guido Bosbach

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Have you ever seen a tree start growing beside its parent or have you ever seen trees grow alone in the middle of nowhere in a challenging environment? Both are results of natural entrepreneurial thinking. Both follow very similar rules and principles that organizations (and start-up founders) follow when they try to explore new business opportunities.   The core vision of a tree is not just, as it may seem from a straight forward and efficiency driven human perspective, to grow strong and live long and prosper. Neither is it to use energy and carbon dioxide to produce wood, energy and, as a by-product, oxygen. All that is just the core imperative to fulfill its […]

Management Wisdom: Recovering the Tension Between the Hard and the Soft
by David Hurst

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In The Witch Doctors: Making Sense of the Management Gurus (1996, revised 2011) John Micklethwait (former editor-in-chief of The Economist, now of Bloomberg News) and Adrian Wooldridge (Schumpeter columnist for The Economist) identified four defects in management theory: That it was constitutionally incapable of self-criticism Its terminology confuses rather than educates It rarely rises above common sense It is faddish and bedeviled by contradictions They declared management theory “guilty” on all charges in various degrees, and went on to identify the root cause of the problem as an “…intellectual confusion at the heart of management theory; it has become not so much a coherent discipline as a battleground between two radically opposed philosophies. Management theorists […]

Take This Job and Automate It
by Julia Kirby and Thomas H. Davenport

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Which kinds of knowledge workers are at high risk of job loss thanks to smart machines? Usually we don’t love getting that question, because the answer isn’t the simple one interviewers are seeking. Many jobs include tasks that can and will be automated, but by the same token, almost all jobs have major elements that — for the foreseeable future — won’t be possible for computers to handle. Our advice therefore can’t boil down to a clear “avoid careers in a, b, and c” or “apply for jobs x, y, or z.” And yet, we have to admit that there are some knowledge-work jobs that will simply succumb to the rise of the robots. They […]

Entrepreneur-Driven Innovation Ecosystems and the Circular Economy
by Mark Esposito

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One of the greatest advantages to being a startup is freedom from too many layers of management in order to test ideas and innovate. However, on the flipside, the lack of resources to scale a new opportunity can prevent a meaningful startup idea from taking root and creating more sustainability in the marketplace. This is a particular point of concern when it comes to the circular economy. The circular economy, broadly defined as a no-waste industrial chain that promotes economic growth using the least amount of non-renewable natural resources as possible, is increasingly regarded as a feasible and economic option for meeting the future demands of today’s society. It has been estimated by the Organization […]

Disruptive Entrepreneurship vs. Survival Entrepreneurship: Only one of these can catapult Africa from poverty to prosperity
by Efosa Ojomo

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If entrepreneurship is truly the pathway to prosperity, and if Africa is bustling with entrepreneurs, then why is the continent still devastatingly poor? I am always amazed whenever I read an article that highlights the entrepreneurial prowess of Africans as an asset. Yes, Africans are entrepreneurial but if their entrepreneurialism were as much of an asset as many writers suggest, then Africa – indeed, Africans – should no longer be poor. In April, for instance, The Economist published a Special Report on Business in Africa and highlighted Kinshasa’s Marche de la Liberte, a wholesale market, as evidence of entrepreneurialism, noting that “there is clearly money flowing.” “…Stalls selling mobile phones. You can buy anything here, […]

What do we mean by entrepreneur? Broadening the term.
by Nick Hixson

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The word is overused and misused. I’ve already commented after the last Forum that a session used entrepreneurs and their impact as being the answer to many of our ills, which is at best unlikely. The great majority of businesses have little entrepreneurial characteristics but still should have a valuable place in a modern society. My empirical data, from 30+ years of working with UK SMEs divides business owners into 4 main groups: Type Description Percentage of Businesses Survivors Low income goals, not risk takers, poor management capabilities and poor decision takers. Hungry for advice, seldom implement. 50 Low Growth (LG) Significant income ambition. Potential limited by control. Superb doers, risk-oriented. Poor people managers and […]

The Innovative Coworking Spaces of 15th-Century Italy
by Piero Formica

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To translate educational concepts into an entrepreneurial context requires a meeting of hearts and minds, unfettered by preconceived ideas and outmoded powerbases. There are plentiful public and private initiatives to encourage new businesses in every field. This is matched by increasing activity in academic thought.   A growing number of academics, practitioners and business people are aiming to broaden and as well as deepen their knowledge of how business and economies function. The generalist or polymath, so apparent in the Renaissance, is becoming more prevalent.   This is the context in which coworking spaces are on the rise, from Google’s “Campus” in London to NextSpace in California. Much has been made of these shared workspaces […]