"Can you imagine what would have happened if the founders of Twitter, Haldiram’s or Café Coffee Day had stuck to their original business plans? These brands would never have become the household names that they are today! It was the radical changes that they made to their initial models that helped them become what they are. This makes it clear that there is a growing importance for the pedagogy of entrepreneurship in India today. Why should business schools focus on the field of entrepreneurship? Simply put, focusing on the wide-ranging areas that form an entrepreneurship program could help individuals beat the odds and grow their business (which in turn drives the economy).
Every successful, established or aspiring entrepreneur with every new venture (be it starting something new or adding to an existing company) has a base plan. Being an aspiring entrepreneur myself and having interacted with many entrepreneurs over a period of 5 years, I can safely say that 95% of us believe our base plan will work. I've even gone as far as imagining how I'd look on the cover of Inc. magazine. The truth is - I was almost always wrong.
Entrepreneurship is not just about an "idea"; and an "idea" is not what dictates ultimate success from failure. The ability to design a plan-B after every failure, the ability to morph the initial model into a viable business model is what makes a successful entrepreneur. This is where B-schools play a pivotal role. Knowledge is key, and with a focus on entrepreneurship, B-schools have the ability to arm students with creative and thoughtful perspectives about how to think unconventionally, evaluate situations, overcome obstacles, acquire the know-how to successfully combat and conquer situations, and be in-tune with their environment. Effective entrepreneurship programs allow individuals to retroflex convention, do their own thing, make it rain without letting their income own them, control what’s worth controlling, and not stress about the things that aren’t or can’t be controlled. On a personal note, having studied entrepreneurship atIIPM, I've not only learnt the art of quantitatively addressing key elements while developing business models, but I've also learnt the importance of advocating an operating doctrine based upon agility, assertiveness, cohesiveness and subtlety.
Entrepreneurship is an evolving discipline, and B-schools today should strive to be at the vanguard of that evolution. Programs should be powered by leading-edge technology and breakthrough business research, offering extraordinary opportunities for those wishing to study entrepreneurship. Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurs cannot be born, they have to be made.
Without question, public and private organizations have entered an era of socio-economic globalization. In such a global market un-par quality, competitive and innovative changes are neccesities to survival. Besides, the numerous challenges of our aging populous and poverty driven illiterate rural mass is an ever surging adverse factor. Now or never is the case with B-schools in India to not only implement and sustain innovative strategies to enable growth, but to also adopt an outcome-based approach to mass steer entrepreneurs so that India can sustain its economic growth and social programs to justify Incredible India!
As a final note, B-schools should pay closer attention to the shift in scenario - we had entrepreneurs of the 1990s, followed by the social entrepreneurs of the 2000s. This new decade seems to have set the stage just right for a new breed - cultural creative entrepreneurs."
Posts
Are you being qoted in the issue or will the entire article be carried?
I actually have no idea! Didn't bother asking...been too busy!