{"id":9782,"date":"2012-06-04T07:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=9782"},"modified":"2012-06-06T10:32:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T17:32:17","slug":"strategy-and-entrepreneurship-are-they-mutually-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=9782","title":{"rendered":"Strategy and Entrepreneurship \u2013 Are they Mutually Exclusive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Recently, a Silicon Valley\/San Jose Business Journal article reported the results of a BrandZ study that Apple\u2019s brand is #1, now estimated $183 billion, followed by IBM at $115.9 billion and Google at $107.9 billion (May 22, 2012).\u00a0 How did these companies achieve the top 3 brand value placements?\u00a0 Was it their strategy or their entrepreneurship?\u00a0 Did these three companies favor one discipline over the other, or were they able to merge the two?\u00a0 Are these two disciplines mutually exclusive?\u00a0 Strategy and entrepreneurship might seemingly sit at opposing mindsets, and may seem mutually exclusive, but they are most effective when businesses apply them together in a continuous process.<\/p>\n

What is strategy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strategy is planning for the future.\u00a0 As defined by IBM, \u201cit is what a company does to sustain and grow its business value into the future.\u201d\u00a0 Strategy is accomplished through various analyses, e.g. gap analyses to assess perceived business gaps or weaknesses.\u00a0 Strategy is also accomplished by scenario building — exploring scenarios to articulate critical success factors in the current and possible future business climates.\u00a0 Further, strategy recognizes predictive patterns in the various market, product and competitive contexts.\u00a0 By itself, however, strategy could risk residing in endless analysis, or exist at the big-picture level never achieving real-time relevance.\u00a0 Strategy is still largely associated with a methodical planning process and thoughtful mindset \u2013 organizations are expected to pause and reflect in the strategic process.\u00a0 It is little wonder that today\u2019s fast-paced, ever-evolving business tends to relegate strategy to an annual process at best, generating little more than a written plan that becomes stale rather than driving business behavior.\u00a0 Because strategy can become a forced activity, it can seem disconnected from everyday issues.\u00a0 It is when strategy is combined with entrepreneurship, that it translates into a business readiness to act, and becomes relevant, current and executable. \u00a0Strategic thinking becomes a consistent part of the business management process \u2013 an ongoing endeavor that yields breakthrough results and continuous improvement.<\/p>\n

What is entrepreneurship?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Entrepreneurship is innovation and movement; a drive towards what is next on the horizon; and an inherent readiness to operate with agility. \u00a0Being entrepreneurial requires flexibility and openness to new concepts and premises \u2013 a willingness to challenge the status quo.\u00a0 By itself, however, entrepreneurship could result in a series of disconnected thoughts and actions lacking overarching purpose.\u00a0 Challenging the status quo must also be strategically driven or risk yielding disruptive consequences.\u00a0 A company singularly focused on entrepreneurial drive may have little perceived time for strategic reflection.\u00a0 Such agile companies may mistakenly bypass strategy altogether, or at best define strategy narrowly as a process to get an idea built and taken to market, but then abandon strategy post-release.\u00a0 What this approach misses is how strategy sustains the stream of breakthrough results and continuous improvement.\u00a0 When strategy is mapped to entrepreneurship, the discipline of analytical assessment and scenario building helps overcome entrepreneurial risks and provides a purposeful context to entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Strategic Entrepreneurship\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A decade ago, Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, S. Michael Camp and Donald L. Sexton wrote about \u201cstrategic entrepreneurship\u201d so this thought is nothing new.\u00a0 Yet, achieving strategic entrepreneurship remains challenging today in the face of uncertain market forces, globalization, competition, and organizational challenges.\u00a0 Lean startups are born out of an innovative spirit, and many successfully operate as agile, adaptive organizations.\u00a0 As organizations grow and become more established, their organizational layers expand and grow.\u00a0 Larger organizational cultures can become more procedural and planned in the interest of streamlining business operational processes.\u00a0 Keeping the innovative pump going can be challenging.\u00a0 Successful companies like Apple, IBM and Google prove their success at the intersection of strategic and entrepreneurial thought. \u00a0The balance is not always 50-50, but achievable.\u00a0 These companies have figured out how to promote and sustain innovation as a core strategic value, and have found ways organizationally to share ideas and create.<\/p>\n

Apple is synonymous with breakthrough products — the company\u2019s intrinsic strategic value is expressed through well-designed, fun and highly functional products. \u00a0The target customer is well defined, and the customer\u2019s expectations are also clear.\u00a0 Once the customer engages with an Apple product and the Apple brand, the customer willingly advocates the product and the brand. \u00a0The customer often brings Apple products into the enterprise, perhaps influencing enterprise adoption of Apple products.\u00a0 Apple has been successful in engaging the customer because of its ability to consistently deliver the brand promise.<\/p>\n

IBM, a truly strategic organization, recognizes the need to drive towards value creation and breakthrough strategy.\u00a0 IBM takes the time to promote forward-looking corporate strategy, finds ways to replicate strategic successes internally, and actively participates in scenario building towards the future.\u00a0 The company also builds collaboration through innovative uses of social networking and social learning internally.\u00a0 This has not only enabled idea-sharing but has also arrived upon breakthrough ideas that generate value for the company.\u00a0 IBM\u2019s disciplined forward-looking strategy has helped the organization grow and evolve through the times, and sustain its brand at the top.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s innovation has galvanized a behavioral revolution online, has led to its ascension as an online search standard, and has established Google\u2019s online dominance.\u00a0 \u201cGoogle it\u201d has found a way into our common language.\u00a0 Google continues to churn out breakthrough products such as Gmail, Google maps, Chrome (which recently surpassed Microsoft Internet Explorer), and the Android OS (the leading Smartphone OS).\u00a0 How does Google fuel its innovation pipeline?\u00a0 Internally, Google consciously fosters creation and collaboration among all ranks of Googlers through small work teams.\u00a0 Googlers are drawn to the company, and continue to thrive there, for the opportunity to create impact.\u00a0 Google actively endorses ideation by allowing its Googlers to allocate as much as 20% of their time to pursue new ideas they are passionate about.\u00a0 Gmail and Google maps, for example, emerged from these \u201c20% projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confluence of strategy and entrepreneurship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strategy is a necessary recurring core process in any business determined to succeed by design rather than happenstance.\u00a0 Without regular strategic planning, managing a business can become an endless series of reactive firefighting and crisis management.\u00a0 Such behavior can further contribute to an inability to address changing business climates.\u00a0 Entrepreneurship is a necessary recurring drive to innovation, to challenge current assumptions, and to meet next-generation requirements.\u00a0 When strategic planning is mapped to entrepreneurial thought, business leaders drive toward future goals with a vision of what\u2019s next on the horizon.\u00a0 When entrepreneurial drive is applied to strategy, businesses change course with agility, respond to new opportunities with openness, and meet changing business landscapes. \u00a0Each discipline strengthens the other.<\/p>\n

Intertwining strategy and entrepreneurial process results in thoughtful vision and nimble business behavior in changing contexts.\u00a0 Successful businesses like Apple, IBM and Google have figured out the interplay between strategic thought and entrepreneurial drive, resulting in effective execution.<\/p>\n

Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n

To enable your business towards successful strategic entrepreneurship:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Think and evaluate yourself strategically
\n2.\u00a0 Explore and promote sharing of new ideas
\n3.\u00a0 Make innovation a core strategy
\n4.\u00a0 Map strategic thought into entrepreneurial drive for results
\n5.\u00a0 Continually repeat the process<\/p>\n

Take a cue from Apple, IBM and Google.\u00a0 To be successful in today\u2019s challenging climate, it is not only possible, but arguably imperative, to be at once both strategic and entrepreneurial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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