Archive for November, 2010

By Rober Hisrich, Ph.D.

 In today’s fluctuating economy, the notions of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurial decision-making is receiving increased attention by citizens, academics, managers and politicians on a global basis. The current global financial crisis has put added pressure on creating new ideas and bringing these to the market resulting in financial fruition, economic development and employment. Being an entrepreneur and creating value by establishing a new organization in both the profit and non-profit sectors in business as well as the arts impacts both economic and social conditions. This creation process takes more time and effort than one can imagine and is by no means easy, with a high failure rate reaching over 70 percent in certain countries.

Since entrepreneurs are found in all professions—education, medicine, research, law, architecture, arts, engineering, social work and distribution—the definition of entrepreneurship in my book Entrepreneurship, 8^th edition (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2010) is relevant: “Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something new with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence.”

Global entrepreneurial leaders create visionary scenarios that assemble and mobilize participants who become committed by the vision to discovery and creation of sustainable value. They have a wide variety of attributes including being a visionary, having a passion for their idea, being a risk-taker, having perseverance, building a team, recognizing opportunities and needs, solving problems, and giving back. Let us look at a few examples.

Leonardo Da Vinci – In addition to his many other titles, Leonardo Da Vinci should be labeled as one of the great global entrepreneurial leaders of all time. It is in fact the breadth and depth of his work, his wide-ranging skills and his lasting impact on both the arts and society that reflect the strength of his entrepreneurial vision. Leonardo created many new and different pieces of art, devices, and ways of thinking that were ahead of their time. 

Edward Teach (Blackbeard the Pirate) – From 1716-1718, Blackbeard the Pirate ruled the seas and was also an entrepreneurial leader who flourished in his trade.

 The pirates who joined Blackbeard’s command often came from the lowest classes of society or were former members of the British Navy, who found the conditions and treatment they received better than life on farms or plantations. All booty taken by the pirates would be divided evenly among the crew, one part each, save the captain’s two.

Peter the Great – Peter I (Peter the Great) ruled Russia from 1682 until his death in 1725, bringing about major modernization to his country.  His global entrepreneurial vision and leadership gave Russia a new position of power as the country was transformed into a western empire; educators, military personnel and businessmen were invited to Russia; the army was modernized; a strong navy was developed; and arts and education flourished.

John Rockefeller – John Rockefeller was an extraordinary American entrepreneur and philanthropist. Through hard work, determination and a strong competitive nature, he became the world’s first billionaire. Rockefeller chose to change his entrepreneurial pursuits away from making money towards giving it away. From his equity position in Standard Oil, a company he co-founded, he felt the need to disperse his wealth to those less fortunate and formed the Rockefeller Foundation; this started the rise of American social philanthropy.

Madam CJ Walker – Entrepreneurs often find opportunities and success in spite of great odds and obstacles. Madam CJ Walker was one such person who identified a gap in the market—hair care products for black women. CJ Walker became the first self-made female black millionaire in the United States. At one point, she employed over 3,000 women and had a wide range of hair and skin care products.

Muhammad Yunus – Muhammad Yunus is an example of a selfless global entrepreneurial leader. After seeing the impact of his first micro-loan and the way in which he was repaid, Yunus began to envision a model that could work anywhere. He found that the poor would often quickly repay their loans with few problems. By the early 1980s, Yunus had expanded to other developing countries and in 1983 formed The Grameen Bank, the institutional home of his micro lending practices both of which were recognized with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Bill Gates – Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ entrepreneurial skills are varied. His company revolutionized the computer industry, ushered in the internet age, and had a deep and profound impact on the daily lives of people around the world. Because of this persistence and risk taking, he shaped the evolution of the information age making Bill Gates the world’s richest man in 1995. In 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was founded with the goal of alleviating many of the problems that are afflicting the world’s poorest people and has grown into one of the premier philanthropic organizations in the world.

The role of global entrepreneurial leaders throughout history indicates the diversity in backgrounds, mindsets and goals that spawn entrepreneurial actions, decisions and leadership. From public sector to private, for-profit to non-profit, in science, arts, religion, medicine, politics and business, and across industries, the variety of forms that entrepreneurial leadership takes is clear.

For the contemporary entrepreneur who actually starts his or her own business, the experience is filled with enthusiasm, frustration, anxiety and hard work. There is a high failure rate due to poor sales, intense competition, lack of capital, or lack of managerial ability. The financial, social and emotional risks are high, as are the rewards.  As history has shown, the individual’s reward can easily set the stage for an accelerated impact on the larger community, region, country, or even the world.

Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D. is the Garvin Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  He is the author of numerous publications and books including the textbook, Entrepreneurship; the most widely used text on the subject, published in nine languages.  A self-described serial entrepreneur, Dr. Hisrich has established and sold numerous companies.

By Steven Stralser, Thunderbird Professor

I’m in Geneva teaching Thunderbird Executive MBAs…we just spent an afternoon at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) for a briefing and presentation by Tamara Nanayakkara (SME Director) and Cathy Jewell, (Senior Information Officer)

One of the interesting—and concerning—research findings our WIPO hosts shared is the fact that the US is falling behind as the innovation leader among well-developed global economies.

In a similar study conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and The Manufacturing Institute (MI) concluded among 110 countries, the U.S ranked eighth in innovation leadership. Singapore topped the list, followed by South Korea and Switzerland.

This deflates the conventional wisdom that, while manufacturing may be moving to China, the US can maintain its global economic competitiveness simply via its innovation engine, in fact, the Asia region is revving up their innovation engines, while the US is downshifting and losing its innovation momentum.

To regain its “innovation mojo” here are some things that U.S. companies may want to think about:

1)        Seek innovation at the margins of the organization—rarely is “real” innovation uncovered at the Home Office…the reality is, innovation is more likely to be found at the branch offices or service centers of an organization…for instance, not much innovation will occur in the 43^rd story corner office at 63^rd and Lexington in Manhattan and more likely to take place at the branch office at Main Street and Oak, in Fargo North Dakota.

2)        Take a page from Anthropologists — who are trained to respect, and learn, from studying culture, behavior, and importantly, observation in situ, vs. robo-call surveys and quantitative methodology. Watch, and listen to your customers for valuable insight into how they use your products, and to better understand innovation they are seeking.

U.S. companies need to think more globally about innovation of their products and services…when US companies are crossing borders with their competencies and innovation, US companies will regain leadership and competitiveness in an increasingly global economy.

Steven Stralser Ph.D. is a clinical professor with the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  He teaches courses in Innovation, Business Planning and Global Entrepreneurship.  Dr. Stralser is the author of MBA in a Day.

By Amanda Bullough, Ph.D.

The other night I was invited to the Mentorfest as a mentor on Social Entrepreneurship.  I teach this course at Thunderbird and the students reached out to me for this event.  I also recommended Laura Libman as an appropriate mentor because she is a perfect example of a social entrepreneur in action, and a Thunderbird alum.  Laura and I commented after the fact that we both enjoyed the evening.  I peeled myself away from a very heavy workload to engage in this event, and I’m glad I did.

The event was organized by the Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Network, the leadership of this student club  Narasimha Reddy, Naomi Gunnels, and their colleagues, did a fabulous job with the event.  Thunderbird students applied to participate in the limited number of  spaces.  The students that chose to join Laura and me and our table were keenly interested in social business and in getting more involved as students on campus in various volunteer capacities.  As they asked questions and we all spoke, they sparked ideas in me. 

The Thunderbird faculty and administration have been trying to think of ways to get the students more involved with our women entrepreneurs in the various developing countries in which we’re working.  One example might be to have some students help me review promising business plans coming out of the ladies in our programs, so that we can help mentor and nurture the process of getting these businesses either launched or into a high growth phase.  Might there be a new course proposal working in my brain for tackling exactly such an initiative…?

Amanda Bullough Ph.D. is the Academic Director for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative and an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and  Management and Organizational Behavior at the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  Dr. Bullough’s research focus is on women and their potential to be economic producers and business leaders in the developing world and social entrepreneurship.

By Amanda Bullough, Ph.D.

Thunderbird has carved out a niche expertise in educating women entrepreneurs in developing countries.  I have specifically been working with our women entrepreneurs programs in Afghanistan and Peru.  We recently had over 20 Afghan women on campus here in Glendale, Arizona for two weeks and I had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with the ladies.  Not only am I the Academic Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women programs in these countries, but I am also doing research on women entrepreneurs operating in adverse conditions. 

 While they were here, I invited the Afghan businesswomen to focus groups interviews of 6 to 7 people each so that we could begin to better understand what makes them tick. Why?  Because, the idea of entrepreneurship as vital for development efforts and for peace-building is a large focus for learning institutions and governmental and nongovernmental communities.  In particular, research on entrepreneurship in adverse conditions is relatively scarce and necessary if we are to be useful as educators and policy makers and increase our understanding of entrepreneurship.

By speaking with these women, I wanted to better understand why they choose to buck the established social norms and start and lead business when it’s so dangerous do so.  Interestingly, in an obvious display of humility and respect for their fellow Afghan women, who have all endured tremendous hardship and challenges, none of the women would acknowledge themselves as special.  However, we know they are, because not all Afghan women do indeed engage in the economy or in leadership. We are in the process of uncovering that these ladies have a unique sense of determination, drive, passion, and a thirst for making their communities and countries better for other Afghan women and for their children.  I stand in awe of them and they have my respect and admiration for their strength. 

The next research question to tackle will be, are Afghan businesswomen actually stronger than women in other countries, because of the hardships they’ve endured?

 In addition to what I learned from these powerful ladies, I will also comment on their demeanor while in our country these weeks, many for the first time.  They carried themselves with the utmost dignity and respect.  They worked together to absorb the business training they were getting from their mentors and the Thunderbird faculty.  They were appreciative and thankful, sweet, inspiring, and all-around positive forces to be around.  These strong and wilful ladies brought smiles to the faces of Thunderbird faculty, staff, and students all over campus, and pride to the whole community when they held their heads high at graduation.  We are a proud community here at Thunderbird to be able to both educate and learn from these remarkable ladies.  

 Amanda Bullough Ph.D. is the Academic Director for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative and an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and  Management and Organizational Behavior at the Walker Center for Global Entrepreneurship at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  Dr. Bullough’s research focus is on women and their potential to be economic producers and business leaders in the developing world.

By Steven Stralser, Ph.D.

When most of us think of entrepreneurial challenges one of the things that usually pops up is the notion of risk… The founder is assessing the risk of whether “the dogs will eat the dog food”…the investor is assessing the financial risk/ return calculus to determine whether to take the entrepreneurial bet…the employee of the startup is assessing the risk that the venture will succeed and so the employee will get their paycheck and possibly some upside stock option gain if the venture succeeds.

But all of these risk scenarios pale compared to the risk of being a woman entrepreneur in Afghanistan, where being a woman with an independent means of economic destiny bears another level of risk, a risk of personal safety and security.

For the past two weeks, 19 courageous Afghan women have spent time in Thunderbird classrooms, learning from Thunderbird faculty and sharing their entrepreneurial vision with Thunderbird student volunteers and with a matched-up mentor who will stay connected to Thunderbird Project Artemis “Fellows” after they return to their businesses and entrepreneurial futures in Afghanistan.

When they return to their country, they will certainly tackle “traditional” entrepreneurial risks, and more, and inspire us with their determination to forge their own economic destiny.

Photo:  An Woman entrepreneur, from Afghanistan at the White House speaking to Ginger Lew, Senior Advisor to the White House National Economic Council at the White House and the SBA Administrator  and Tina Tchen, Executive Director of the White House Council on Women.

Steven Stralser Ph.D. is a clinical professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management.  He teaches courses in Innovation, Business Planning and Global Entrepreneurship.  Dr. Stralser has been the Academic Director of Project Artemis since its inception.

This is the first of monthly blogs that will be posted by the Nail Nuk partners following their entrepreneurial experience.

By Moritz Sticher ’10, partner Nail Nuk

After completing our MBAs from Thunderbird in Spring 2010, we decided to follow our entrepreneurial spirit and founded Nail Nuk LLC.  There are three partners in this business venture: Hector Ledesma, a Peruvian with background in international trade, sourcing, and retail operations; Tracy Shanks, an American who lived in four continents and international strategy consultant; and Moritz Sticher, a German research and project managing engineer in the optical industry.

 The basic idea of Nail Nuk goes back to 2004, when Hector was working in China and first got to know about nail printing technology.  We all took the Global Business Plan class at Thunderbird with Prof. Hisrich; in that class we developed a business model that took us towards a franchise kiosk concept.  The idea is to give women the option to have custom nail sets on the go, in less than 5 minutes.  We offer thousands of designs to choose from our catalogue or customers can bring any digital picture or choose to take a picture on the spot.  Our business concept is all about providing options in an easy, pleasant environment where women and girls create their nail sets in just minutes.

 In September 2010, we launched our online store http://www.nailnuk.com/ and in October 2010, we launched our first pilot kiosk at the Orlando Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, Florida.  Since then, we have been extremely busy training our sales force, improving our kiosk presentation, adjusting our pricing strategy, partnering with celebrities and sport teams, and building new B2B sales channels.  Our challenge is to educate our customers about our product so we can be in their mind next time they think about nails and build a loyal customer base and steady cash flow.   We are facing a steep learning curve and are trying to overcome the day to day challenges.  We are living the entrepreneur life.