1. ENTREPRENEURS STAY ON TOP OF THE WORLD
EXPERIENCE DAY 2013
PROF. HANS CRIJNS, PARTNER

2. © Vlerick Business School
Today’s businesses,
especially the large ones,
simply will not survive in
this period of rapid change
and innovation unless they
acquire entrepreneurial
competences.
Peter Drucker
1985 (!)
AG - The Entrepreneurial Manager
2
200
5

3. © Vlerick Business School
Bron: David Birch, MIT and Cognetics Inc., USA in ‘Dynamic Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe’, 1993.
Job creation Job destruction
Top 500
Big
Small
The economy as a thundercloud

4. © Vlerick Business School
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it
will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle
or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running”.
- Thomas L. Friedman (in “The World Is Flat”) -

5. © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School© Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School
IMAGES OF “ENTREPRENEURSHIP”?

6. © Vlerick Business School
ENTREPRENEURS ?

7. © Vlerick Business School
What is in your view a « good»
entrepreneur?
Important characteristics?
Conditions for a « good idea » ?
7

8. © Vlerick Business School
ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTRIBUTES
 Initiative
 Strong persuasive powers
 Moderate rather than high risk-taking ability
 Flexibility
 Creativity
 Problem-solving ability
 Need for achievement
 Imagination
 High belief in control of one’s own destiny
 Leadership
 Hard work
 N° 1 Predicting value : ????

9. © Vlerick Business School9
(G.B. Shaw)
“The reasonable man adapts
himself to the world,
the unreasonable one persists in trying
to adapt the … to ….
Therefore all progress depends
on the …….. man”

10. © Vlerick Business School

11. © Vlerick Business School
FAILURE?
“The greatest glory in living
lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall."
(Nelson Mandela)

12. © Vlerick Business School
How entrepreneurial is your
organisation/company/business
unit/department… ?
12
E.O. Perception “As is”?

13. © Vlerick Business School
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
13
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
MANAGEMENT
Initial
discovery
Opportunity
refinement
Market
making
Resource
acquisition
(New) co-
ordination
of
(new)
resources
Co-ordination
of old
resources/on-
going activity
Discovery process
Exploitation process

14. © Vlerick Business School
STRATEGY  ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION
An entrepreneurial firm is one that
engages in product-market innovation,
undertakes somewhat risky ventures,
and is first to come up with “proactive”
innovations, beating competitors to the
punch.
A non-entrepreneurial firm is one that innovates very
little, is highly risk averse, and imitates the moves of
competitors instead of leading the way.
 Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) =
 Risk Taking
 Proactiveness
 Innovativeness AG - The Entrepreneurial Manager14
Danny
MILLER
(Canada)

15. © Vlerick Business School
INNOVATIVENESS
“A willingness to introduce novelty through
experimentation and creative processes
aimed at developing new products and
services as well as new processes”
Your score :
1 low 2 medium 3 high

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PROACTIVENESS
“A forward-looking perspective characteristic
of a marketplace leader that has the
foresight to seize opportunities in anticipation
of future demand”
Your score :
1 low 2 medium 3 high

17. © Vlerick Business School
RISK TAKING
“Making decisions and taking action without
certain knowledge of probable outcomes;
some undertakings may also involve making
substantial resource commitments in the
process of venturing forward”
Your score :
1 low 2 medium 3 high

18. © Vlerick Business School
LEO HEO
Stable
Reliable quality
Secure
Risk Averse
Proven Track Record
Continuous improvement
Opportunistic
Dynamic
Out of the box
Risk taking and sharing
New challenges
Drastic change
LEO VS HEO

19. © Vlerick Business School
INGREDIENTS OF E.O.
 Imagination and creativity
 Promoting creation, distribution and usage of
knowledge
 Supporting information and communication
infrastructure
 Social architecture
 Under no circumstances will all innovations
succeed!19

20. © Vlerick Business School
External
environment
Ingredients
of EO
What does
it require?
Entrepreneurial
orientation
EO
Performance

21. © Vlerick Business School
WHAT DOES IT REQUIRE ? (LINK WITH PERFORMANCE !)
 Devise a coherent strategic focus
 Assessment of emerging entrepreneurial opportunities
 Integration entrepreneurial pathways with existing
activities
 Timing of strategic decisions in line with
environmental requirements ( = speed)
 Excellence in project execution : 5% inspiration and
95% perspiration

22. © Vlerick Business School
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
 Executive Master Class in Innovation &
Entrepreneurship (16 October 2013)
 In search of new business opportunities (7
October 2013)
 SME Challenge (3 February 2014)
 SME Excellence (21 November 2013)