C-TIDES

IN DECEMBER last year, three weeks after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and in the midst of the worst global recession since the 1930s, 1,700 bright-eyed Indians gathered in a hotel in Bangalore for a conference on entrepreneurship. They mobbed business heroes such as Azim Premji, who transformed Wipro from a vegetable-oil company into a software giant, and Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys, another software giant. They also engaged in a frenzy of networking. The conference was so popular that the organisers had to erect a huge tent to take the overflow. The aspiring entrepreneurs did not just want to strike it rich; they wanted to play their part in forging a new India. Speaker after speaker praised entrepreneurship as a powerful force for doing good as well as doing well. Click here to continue reading...

John Osher has developed hundreds of consumer products, including an electric toothbrush that became America's best-selling toothbrush in just 15 months. He also started several successful companies, including Cap Toys. He built sales to $125 million per year and then sold the company to Hasbro Inc. in 1997. But his most lasting contribution to the business world just may be a list of screw-ups he jotted on the back of a piece of paper.

John, a 57-year-old serial entrepreneur, came up with an informal list of "16 Mistakes Start-Ups Make"—since expanded to 17—that has been used in a Harvard Business School case study, has been cited in many publications, and has become a part of what he teaches budding entrepreneurs in his frequent university lectures. He also used the list in 1999 when he started Dr. John's SpinBrush to sell a $5 electric toothbrush that quickly became America's best-selling toothbrush. In 2001, Procter & Gamble purchased the company from him for $475 million. Click here to continue reading.

When Jim Jindrick wants to check on the progress of the student teams in his entrepreneurship class, he doesn’t need to make phone calls, send e-mails, or arrange meetings. Jindrick, a mentor- in-residence at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management in Tucson, simply goes online and logs onto each team’s wiki space. There, he can see the full extent of the students’ collaboration on their startups, including their latest research and assignments, meeting agendas and minutes, and updated business plans. He can leave comments on their progress and read the comments of other advisors.

“In the past, there could be a week or two between a document’s creation and its availability to instructors and mentors,” says Jindrick. “With wikis, I can click on any team’s wiki space and see the history of their work and exactly where they are today.” Click here to continue reading

The field of entrepreneurship was described in 1983 as “an intellectual onion”. “You peel it back layer by layer and when you get to the center, there is nothing there, but you are crying.” This description of the field by a senior faculty member at Harvard Business School was given to a young person being recruited into the field. This not so kind advice reflected a long-standing set of complaints (Cole 1968) (Drucker 1985) (Kirzner 1973). In spite of the lack of earlier academic attention, studies have shown the vital importance of new ventures and small business in job creation (Birch 1979, 1987). Silicon Valley, Silicon Alley, Route 128, Austin, and Research Triangle are the envy of the world. There has been a change in the sociology of entrepreneurship in many parts of the world (Thorton 1999). Click here to continue reading