NURTURING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE 1

WHAT IS THE CORE ISSUE? 2

THE MATTER AT ISSUE IS NOT EEPRENEURSHIP IS IT ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP OR IS IT ABOUT CULTURE? 3

THE MATTER AT ISSUE IS NOT EEPRENEURSHIP MY ANSWER: IT IS ABOUT CULTURE 4

MY THESIS - ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE CONSEQUENT VARIABLE -CULTURE IS THE ANTECEDENT VARIABLE -ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE RESULT OF CULTURE -TO SOLVE PROBLEM OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP WE MUST ADDRESS CULTURE - IT IS CULTURE THAT DISTINGUISHES A REAL ENTRPRENEUR FROM A NON REAL ENTREPRENEUR 5

WHAT IS CULTURE? - Culture is the attitude, feelings, values and behavior that characterize and inform society as a whole or any social group within it. -culture is a way of life that represents shared values beliefs feelings and behavior of a group or society. - Culture is how we do things here. ( CAN BE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE) 6

WHAT IS CULTURE? - Culture is not something out there. -CUlture resides in our heads and gets expressed tangibly by way of our behavior. It is culture that makes a Malay, Malay, a Chinese, Chinese and an Indian, Indian. There is nothing racial about this. It is just a cultural phenomenon. - There are two distinct components of culture, namely, the latent component that resides in our heads which is unseen, and the manifest component in terms of behavior, which is out there and can be seen. -To change behavior (like developing the entrepreneurship disposition or improve the management skills of VCs) the target of attack is the LATENT and not the MANIFEST. 7

- -It is a mistaken assumption that if you attack behavior per se, you can change culture. -This is because behavior is a manifest phenomenon, a product of the latent phenomenon which resides in our heads. =Mouthing out great motherhood statements like transparency, accountability, transformation, integrity etc without corresponding change in the latent is at best a great rhetorical act. 8

HOW DO YOU NURTURE THE ENTRPRENEURIAL CULTURE? YOU DON’ T PREACH IN ORDER TO NURTURE ENTRPERENUERIAL CULTURE CULTURE CANNOT BE PREACHED CULTURE MUST BE EXPERIENCED CULTURE IS NOT AND CAN NEVER BE TAUGHT. IT IS CAUGHT “CATCHING” IS BY WAY OF TAKING THE APPRENTICE THROUGH THE COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE PACES. 2 WAYS OF DOING IT. THERE ARE OTHER WAYS OF COURSE : THE COGNITIVE & THE AFFECTIVE 9

HOW DO YOU NURTURE THE ENTRPRENEURIAL CULTURE? - THE COGNITIVE AND THE AFFECTIVE ARE THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT THE COGNITIVE DEALS WITH KNOWLEDGE. IT IS ABOUT KNOWING THE AFFECTIVE DEALS WITH INTERNALIZATION. KNOWING ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH BECAUSE IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO GUARANTEE INTERNALIZATION. 10

HOW DO YOU NURTURE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE? - HOW IS IT TO BE DONE. THE COOGNITIVE AND THE AFFECTIVE MUST DEAL WITH CULTURE THE COGNITIVE PART IS DONE BY EXPOSING STUDENTS TO COGNITIVE MATERIALS DEALING WITH THE CULTURAL ASPECT OF THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP. E.G THE STARBUCKS STORY AND THE TOYOTA WAY. THE MATERIALS ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE MEMORIZED AND REGURGITATED AS ALWAYS IS THE CASE AT SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY LEVELS. RATHER, IT IS TO ENGAGE THE THINKNG FACULTIES OF THE STUDENTS USING THE TEXT AS THE BASIS OF INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENT. SECOND IS THE AFFECTIVE APPROACH. PUT THE STUDENTS THROUGH THEIR PACES BY WAY OF THE OCGNITIVE EXPERIECE. DISCUSS THE DOCUMENTED CULTURE BUILDINB INITIATIVE. ADOPT THE CASE STUDY APPROACH SO THAT STUDENTS OBTAIN THE COGNITIVE CULTURAL EXPERIENCE PUT THE STUDENTS THROUGH THEIR PACES AFFECTIVELY. IMMERSE THEM BY WAY OF AN INTERNSHIP IN A REAL EXEMPLARY “CULTURE-BASED” ENTERPRISE”. 11

HOW DO YOU NURTURE THE ENTRPRENEURIAL CULTURE? - THE AFFECTIVE PART IS DONE BY IMMERSING STUDENTS INTO ENTERPRISES THAT ARE STRONG ON CULTURE. UNIVERSITIES MUST DO A LOT OF LEG WORK TO IDENTIFY THE CULTURE-STRONG ENTERPRISES FOR PURPOSES OF INTERNSHIP. DO NOT BE FASCINATED BY GREAT MISSION AND VISION STATEMENTS. ENRON GOT GREAT VALUES STATEMENTS. WHERE IS ENRON NOW? THE INTERPLAY OF THE COGNITIVE AND THE AFFECTIVE ASPECTS IS CRITICAL IN NURTURING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE AMONG THE STUDENTS. THE ROLE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPERS IN THIS REGARD CANNOT BE OVEREMPHASIZED. 12

THANK YOU - 13

THANK YOU - 14