Enterprise Culture in the Organization and Strategy - Essay Example

? Enterprise Strategy Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Enterprise Culture in the Organization 4 Enterprise Culture Model 6 Networking for Small Firms 6 Case Study with an entrepreneur 7 Brief background of the entrepreneur 7 The business model 7 Idea of motivation to start the venture 8 The venture as of today’s date 8 Target segment 9 Difficulty faced for the starting of this venture 9 Business Performance in current times 10 Future of the venture in the upcoming years 11 Right working combination – a self motivated person, or a team of people working together 11 Role of the Entrepreneur within the Organization 11 References 13 Bibliographies 13 Introduction The world, today, is linked as a single entity, thanks to the interconnectivity provided by high speed data services and voice connectivity by the big international telecom corporations. This interconnectivity has brought huge competitions in the marketplace, removing the barrier of geographical boundaries and thereby taking the competition of any market to a global level and making it all the more difficult. Change is inevitable and is the only constant factor that can keep on happening from time to time. Industrial environments change with time, courtesy to a number of macroeconomic factors like the buyer’s power, the influence of technology, political environments and most obviously the performance of the global economy (Grant, 2005, p. 272). To stay ahead in the global competition and sustain itself in the marketplace, global corporations as well as small and medium enterprises have to respond to these changing business environment and are increasingly trying to inculcate innovation among the products and services that they are offering to other business or to the end consumers. Product Innovation for companies offering products in the open market is very essential to survive in the competitive global war zone. Innovation can be radical or incremental in nature. A quick glance at the evolution of today’s highly popular digitized cameras will explain the two concepts in the most perfect manner. Radical innovation happened when old Polaroid cameras were replaced by companies with the highly advanced digital cameras. Companies to keep up with fast pace of consumer demands and in order to cater to whims and fancies of consumers, due to their increased buying power have started to have an entire division of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which will be responsible for providing necessary innovations and modifications within the product offerings by staying within the boundaries of the organization or even trying to develop something on their own, which will be in line with the mother organization’s needs, requirements and objectives. Many a times, it has been found out by various studies that radical and even incremental innovations have happened on the shoulders of an entrepreneurship effort of someone within the organization or even outside the organization. Large corporations and even small and medium enterprises are increasingly encouraging entrepreneurship and motivating current or even ex employees of organization to don the hat of an entrepreneur and work under the company’s brand name, while developing, promoting and marketing their own brands or ventures. Even many a times, it has been noticed that ex employees of large organizations after working in the organization for a lot of years, and developing the required skills, insights and expertise leave the organization in an effort to do something on their own or even to pursue their hobbies or dreams, which people can identify as zeal of an entrepreneurship drive of the individual. Companies are increasingly recognizing employees, who are giving the extra effort to push things forward and trying to being a change agent. Basically, a certain clan of people in each and every organization, who generally put in the shoes of an entrepreneur within the job role, he or she is assigned to by the company. When these groups of highly self motivated people are willing to try something on their own following their dreams or passions, which are in line with the company’s core competency, the companies increasingly push these people to become entrepreneurs, thereby providing them with the financial support, manpower and even other supplementary resources as required by the individual to start and promote their own ventures. Enterprise Culture in the Organization The concept of ‘Enterprise Culture’ evolved during the times of Margaret Thatcher in United Kingdom. The concept promoted a desperate shift from the Keynesian policies in an attempt to promote cultural restructuring in the society at large (Peters, 2001). Enterprise culture is the combination of a corporate enterprise’s mission, vision and values which gets embedded within the employees of any organization. Enterprise culture involves the strategic process that an organization is going to take in the long run, in an attempt to secure its position in the open market in a highly competitive globalized world, while offering and delivering values to the customers. An enterprise culture includes in itself a map for managing of the organization’s production processes and efficiencies besides reflecting the enterprise’s unique personality characteristics as displayed by the employees of the organization from the top level management to the ground level support staff (Enterprise Culture & Enterprise Value, 2011). An enterprise culture also helps in standardizing a sense of ethics amongst the employees of the enterprise and helps in the creation of a corporate image. Developing an enterprise culture helps in boosting the employee morale and motivating them because of the identity they get in terms of association with the enterprise. For example, in the global context, people working for the famed hospitality chain ‘JW Marriott’ has an increased sense of responsibility towards the organization, thanks the values and mission, the enterprise of JW Marriott has tried to inculcate amongst the employees and has been successful in implementing it Another big example can be taken from a world renowned company like General Electric (GE), where the CEO Jack Welsh tried to install a sense of unity among the employees of the organization by providing them a single and personalized copy of the organization’s values (Sims & Quatro, 2005, p. 263). The main objective and value of the organization’s enterprise culture is that it helps to keep the employees of the organization focused on the job and provides them with the motivation to think in line with the organization’s benefits, welfare and development. Many organizations through the process of establishing an enterprise culture brings in the process of Kaizen. Kaizen, which in simple terms, means continuous improvement brings a change in attitude amongst the employees and leads them to focus on the betterment and development of the firm or enterprise’s product or service offerings in order to cater to the needs of the customers in a much better manner. Enterprise culture also includes competitive culture which is inculcated within an organization provided the organization has a clear set of vision and philosophies to attain. A less cluttered philosophy if an organization leads to the executions of faster decision making and it does not get delayed in the organization’s multiple levels of hierarchy and the related organizational politics. It also paves the way for strategic innovation within the organization. Enterprise Culture Model With relation to the enterprise culture model, it has been widely believed that private sector firms are a little more efficient as compared to the public sector, due to high level of competition, possible bankruptcy and no option for government bailouts. Hence, as a matter of fact, successful and newly launched firms should be promoted by adopting favourable macro and micro economic policies that will lead to the faster revenue generation for the organizations, and thereby boosting economic growth. It is also widely accepted as a matter of fact, in newly launched private ventures, flow of new ideas, the need to sustain in the market and outsmart its competitors as well as to maintain a favourable cash flow for the organization, while having significant amount of market share for the products of the company are some of the key responsibility areas and priorities, they focus on (Gray, 1998, p. 17). Networking for Small Firms Various small firms, which are basically upshots of some entrepreneurial venture of an individual, try to overcome their resource limitations by mutual collaboration and networking with each other. These small enterprises enter into a knowledge sharing partnership with each other, thereby being responsible for the mutual welfare and development of the organizations involved in a collective manner. Whereas the big corporations in an attempt to gain competitive advantage over other players in the industry try to hold back information, the mutual sharing of information sharing among small companies provides them with a unique advantage. Through the process of resource sharing, small firms end up saving a lot more as compared to big corporations, in terms of product or service related research and development (Acs, 1999). Case Study with an entrepreneur Brief background of the entrepreneur Samuel Kelvin is a UK based young web entrepreneur, who has co-founded a networking forum for the noble cause of educating the budding entrepreneurs around the globe the hardships that entrepreneurs has to face to successfully run and maintain their own organizations. The business model The business model is very simplistic in nature. It is a web based networking forum which provides young and budding entrepreneurs worldwide, the motivation, courage and confidence to start something on their own, by venturing into the unknown waters and incurring the time, energy and finances in running their ventures. The forum also provides live networking of established and successful entrepreneurs with the young entrepreneurs and tries to establish a learning link among the guru and his/her disciples by implementing a traditional ‘Guru – disciple’ on the internet, an idea which was practiced during the Rig Vedic times of ancient India. Besides that, the forum also posts interviews of successful people with entrepreneurship ventures around the globe, thereby enlightening the budding entrepreneurs by the efforts, challenges and level of difficulties faced by the entrepreneurs to start and run the ventures successfully. Idea of motivation to start the venture The young UK based entrepreneur goes back down the memory lane to talk about how he got his idea to start the venture. As per his version, during his glorious and funny and sunny days in the University, he and his cofounder friend noticed that there are a lot of young people who are very much keen and interested to invest their time, energy and dedication to start something on their own and be successful in their own rights by pursuing their dreams and hobbies. Quite a few of them had great business plans to start off with but they were held back by two simple things. One is the lack of courage to venture into the unknown, while putting their careers at stake. The young people simply don’t want to take the risk of abandoning the careers of getting a plush job in a reputed organization for the heck of venturing into something new on their own. Others, who were from non commerce backgrounds, lacked the very vision and basics of how to hold on to their noble idea and convert it into a successful business venture and simultaneously growing the venture with time and increasing the profitability and turnover of the venture. As per the young UK based entrepreneur, he and his friend identified a perfect business opportunity and came up with the idea to provide these young, enthusiastic yet lost souls some guiding light by providing them the required insights and knowledge that is required to run the business, directly from the horse’s mouth. The venture as of today’s date As per the young entrepreneur, this venture is a one of its kind. This is an extremely new and innovative venture which stands out among the various other business models that gets cluttered through the worldwide web. Through the launching of this new venture, the entrepreneur has himself learnt a lot of insights on running a business from well established entrepreneurs, besides sharing the learning with others visiting his website. The established feels free to share their learning and experiences with the budding entrepreneurs through the publishing of guest articles or even giving guest interviews online or even providing counseling to a pool of budding entrepreneurs. Besides this, the entrepreneur also has developed some influential and powerful contacts, which will help them in terms of financial crisis, by pumping in money by playing the roles of guardian investors. Also, quite a few of the budding entrepreneurs has found sources of initial investment by networking with the established entrepreneurs who provides them with the guidance of where to get and acquire funds, or even providing a certain amount of funds to encourage some of the entrepreneurs to start up on their own. Target segment As per the entrepreneur, they are trying to currently popularize the online platform on a global level and on a mass market basis, without restricting it to any specific geographical location. The reason being, it will promote a lot of cross cultural learnings to people from various parts of the world as well as to young entrepreneurs. It will make the budding entrepreneurs realize that not each and every model can be tried and applied in every context. Building up a successful business plan needs to take into account, the various other factors, which are macro and micro economic in nature. By targeting to the global mass markets, the entrepreneur is trying to promote entrepreneurship as a viable and conscious career option among people of all ages, irrespective of their backgrounds. The main reason for selecting this target segment is simply to promote the idea of ‘Building One’s Own Destiny’. Difficulty faced for the starting of this venture The young entrepreneur quotes the fact that belonging to a middle class background has got some level of reservations even among the family members, friends and relatives. Not everyone supported him on his noble venture. But however, getting the funding for a web based business in order to make the initial investment in the business venture was the most difficult part for him. Besides running into friction with relatives, family members and their girlfriends, the entrepreneurs found it tiring and strenuous to go ahead with the same kind of motivation level as they had in the beginning. But both of them have finally realized it in due course of time, self motivation and patience is the only secret to success. Another important factor that the entrepreneur highlighted is the fact that experience and age matters in certain cases to get the attention of the venture capitalists that generally provides the much needed investment and guidance to the entrepreneurs. So many a times, it was actually the age and experience factor that hindered the path to get the funding for the initial investment for these entrepreneurs. Business Performance in current times The very fact that the business is small and is not directly dependent on any organization or any end target customers is a huge benefit for the entrepreneurs in the current economic situation. As of now, they are trying to make the current economic condition work the most to their advantage. People are finding it difficult to maintain their expenses and as they say necessity is the mother of all inventions, the people are coming out with new and innovative business ideas like never before. The reason being a lot of residents all over the world is facing tremendous uncertainties due to the euro zone turmoil as well as slowing down of the global economy. Quite a few of them is looking for ways to make their lifestyle affordable and well maintained. All they need is a guiding star, and the online platform is providing them the much needed light at the best possible times. Future of the venture in the upcoming years The new businessman gives a very exciting strategy that he along with his co founder is lining for the development of the venture. As per their vision, as of now, the venture is simply an web based platform for interaction between budding entrepreneurs and established and successful entrepreneurs. No live human face to face interaction is involved. The entrepreneurs for this venture have plans for taking it to the next level, by organizing a meet of entrepreneurs all over of the world, in various chapters across various countries, to implement the trend of innovation, entrepreneurship as well as to encourage budding entrepreneurs to take the path less travelled and venturing into the unknown in the quest for building their own destinies. Right working combination – a self motivated person, or a team of people working together As per the entrepreneur, it’s all about having the vision, identifying the opportunity and doing the right thing at the right time. Also, what’s more important is the fact of having the tenacity to learn, struggle and grow with time. It hardly matters whether it’s a team effort or an individual trying to achieve something on his or her own rights and efforts. The entrepreneur finally claims that it’s the vision, patience and passion to excel in life that matters to sustain with a new venture. Many a times, entrepreneurs have to face humiliation when they first propose the idea of their own business venture. But in the business scenario, what seems impossible today is something that is just waiting to happen at a later point of time. Role of the Entrepreneur within the Organization Samuel Kelvin along with his co founder, who is his friend from the days of the University, is currently the owners of the venture of the web networking and collaboration point platform for established and budding entrepreneurs. As the role the interviewed entrepreneur plays, he is generally focusing his energy on entrepreneurship and getting his own venture recognized, well established and acceptable in the market while trying to negate and balance the macro and micro economic factors that hampers the growth prospects of a startup venture in real time. In the bigger picture, he is trying to play an agent of change in the global society by making his own venture of online entrepreneur networking act as a catalyst, and thereby promoting an enterprise culture model in and around the entire globe. References Acs, Z. J., 1999. Are Small Firms Important? Their Role and Impact. Springer. Available at < http://ojs.ml.unisa.edu.au/index.php/EDEQ/article/viewFile/558/428 > [Accessed 18-April-12] China West Products, 2011. Enterprise Culture & Enterprise Value. Available at [Accessed 16-April-12] Grant, R. M., 2005. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. Seventh Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Gray, C., 1998., Enterprise and Culture. Routledge. M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Peters, M., 2001. Education, Enterprise Culture and the Entrepreneurial Self: A Foucauldian Perspective. Sims, R. R. & Quatro .S. A., 2005. Succeeding in the Private, Public, and Not-for-Profit Sectors. Bibliographies Burns, P., 2ND Edition, Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Palgrave. Beaver, G., 2002, Small Business, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise Development. Prentice Hall. Legge, J. & Hindle, K., 2004. Entrepreneurship Context, Vision and Planning. Palgrave. Timmons, J., 2000. Venture Creation. New York :Mc Graw-Hill. Read More