international

TV Interview “Entrepreneurship, Jobs, Econ Growth” Now On YouTube

Untitled design(2)I have received many requests for a copy of a one hour Inside Scoop Virginia syndicated public TV Interview I did on November 21, 2011 discussing entrepreneurship. I am pleased to advise the station posted the interview on YouTube over the weekend.

The interview focused on entrepreneurship and the recent publication of my entrepreneurial management book at that time Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives

In the interview, I reviewed the challenges facing entrepreneurs,  recommended strategies, and entrepreneurial management perspectives. I also made the point, comparing the U.S.  to China and others, that we can be doing much more through creative policies leveraging entrepreneurship to create jobs and drive economic growth.

I also reviewed  the following two proposed entrepreneurship programs I developed and shared my plans for these:

Entrepreneur Empowerment Program (“EEP”) – structured regional economic development program driving economic growth and job creation. The program targeted metropolitan areas with a highly structured and targeted entrepreneurship training, mentoring, and management control methodology to help early stage companies succeed and grow. Founded on two core pillars, entrepreneurship and empowerment, the EEP provides the incentive framework at the local and regional level. Empowerment ensures these are locally driven programs, but pursued under the aegis of standards and guidelines set at the national level.

AEGIS  (Accelerated Entrepreneurial Global Investment System): A new program attracting overseas entrepreneurial firms to the United States to promote job creation, innovation, and economic growth. The program replaces today’s ad-hoc approach to identify, analyze, track and manage new ventures with a highly structured, well-defined program and builds a base of ‘showcase’ companies in targeted sectors (e.g., alternative energy, bio-tech, health care, others) that provides high upside, economic benefits. To support upcoming discussions, highlights of the AEGIS program are now posted on my blog at  AEGIS_Summary 072115

I am now again exploring interest in both of the above programs at both the national and regional levels. When you consider that in the past 15 years, about two-thirds (64 percent) of all new jobs have been created by companies with less than 500 employees, you realize that helping entrepreneurial companies succeed and grow makes good economic sense and creates value as I discussed in the interview.

Many of the points discussed in the  interview and the earlier book  are also  further developed in  my recent book 8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.

If you are interested in seeing the interview, you can check it out at http://youtu.be/toV7VFNnFCs.  

Comments welcomed. I expect to be doing similar interviews in coming months – stay tuned

 
Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

Tagged , , ,

Kodak vs. Fujifilm:Lessons Learned Looking at Winners and Losers- Digital Photography Market

As we all know, the digital photography revolution impacted the traditional film market. which in 2000, accounted for 60 percent of Fujifilm profits.. The film market went to basically nothing, but Fujifilm found new revenue sources and thrived. Kodak was the global leader in the traditional film market but did not survive the technology disruption.

Why?

A recent Economist article www.economist.com/node/21542796 provides excellent insights on strategies both established firms pursued in response to changes in the film market. There are also many lessons we can learn here which I believe help entrepreneurial firms seeking to identify and pursue new opportunities in highly competitive, changing, uncertain, high risk markets.  Here are three  insights that I believe are particularly helpful:

•    When Traditional Markets Change Dramatically, New Opportunities Emerge: Think Out of the Box (or ‘room’ as I noted in my recent book) To Create Winning Strategies

Look at how Fujifilm responded to the demise of the film market. Developed new products (cosmetics, others) leveraging competencies in chemicals and technology; Created film technology for displays, among other ideas. These new directions also create opportunities for agile entrepreneurial firms who embrace a similar
strategic vision, understand where technologies and markets are heading, understand where and how business processes can be adapted to create value and competitive position. What this also implies are new alliance opportunities at all levels including technology, distribution, marketing reach and so on. The starting point is to “think strategically’ which is  an entrepreneurial survival skill in today’s dynamic, global marketplace. Strategy planning matters, and it is a critical entrepreneurial skill worth honing.

•    Avoid the ‘Paralysis By Analysis’ Problem

Kodak was hampered by slow reaction to rapidly changing market and technology shifts. As noted, Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School suggested that Kodak executives “suffered from a mentality of perfect products, rather than the high- tech mindset of make it, launch it, fix it.”  The message here for entrepreneurial firm managers?  Obviously have to balance this with some analysis, but it often “Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission” to successfully pursue new business directions.

•    Disruptive Technology Innovation Always Occurred and Always Will, Only Faster

To see the traditional film market disrupted is really no surprise. Every sector is changing, and many are disappearing due to tsunami- like technology shifts.  We can discuss how long market shifts will take, what new sectors will emerge, who will be
competitors and so on, but the key point is almost all markets will change due to technology disruption .  So it is really no surprise to see the demise of Kodak and many others (e.g., minicomputer manufacturers, large copier companies, Borders, record stores, others)  who either did not fully embrace these radical changes, did not want to “disturb” their current business, or thought their businesses would exist forever. And these changes mean opportunity for agile entrepreneurial firms that understand
the changing competitive dynamics and develop well crafted strategies.

Paul B. Silverman

Author: Worm on a Chopstick : Understanding Today’s Entrepreneurial Age: Directions, Strategies, Management Perspectives http://paulbsilverman.com/books/

Email:            paul@paulbsilverman.com
blog:               http://paulbsilverman.com/blog/
Linked in:      Paul Silverman
Twitter:         globalbizmentor

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,