The Arrival of the Entrepreneurial Revolution
Wednesday, September 28, 2022, by Dr. Hartmut-Heinrich Meyer, Senior researcher and lecturer at the FOM
The existing knowledge to promote entrepreneurship has been developed during political and social stability. Since 1975, the world has witnessed a surge in entrepreneurial activities due to international investments, necessity entrepreneurship, and new trade patterns due to opening markets in Russia and China. Consequently, entrepreneurship could develop in conjunction with the success of multinational enterprises in globalized markets. Competitiveness among the enterprises was based on innovation and creativity. Meanwhile, success in entrepreneurship is determined by the ability of the entrepreneurs to optimize a resourced-based view while developing their key competencies and innovations, and the market-based view as the ability to comply with market standards. The combination of both approaches forms the foundation for growth and profitability. Since 2000, the world society has called for a transformation of value chains due to climate change, digitalization, and migration.
Additionally, economic growth rates were jeopardized as the production and consumption of goods needed to be reviewed in light of the three pillars of sustainability. The pandemic forced entrepreneurs to check value chains and working models and accelerated digitalization. Moreover, the actual geopolitical conflicts demonstrate that access to energy and raw materials will determine future competition. Access to markets appears limited and threatens existing models of specialization. Currently, there exists a global threat of a worldwide depression.
The arrival of a new entrepreneurial revolution calls for a new balance in entrepreneurial thinking between the need for income generation and social responsibility. The traditional method of linear optimization of resources through innovations to create growth and income must be extended to sustainability and resilience. In answering this question, we must combine new creative thinking with innovative ways of production using alternative energy resources and new opportunities in fields such as biochemistry or cyber-based production. In particular, the arrival of the new entrepreneurial revolution requires integrating artificial and human intelligence for new organizational models. Moreover, the latest industrial revolution calls for a new human-machine interface. The digital transformation of value chains focused on creating intelligent factories and called for highly specialized and creative entrepreneurship. Artificial intelligence allows for managing conventional and monotonous tasks more cost-effectively and calls to stimulate human critical and creative thinking.
In particular, the arrival of the new entrepreneurial revolution requires integrating artificial and human intelligence for new organizational models to comply with future consumer behavior. Sustainable and social values will far drive the next generation of entrepreneurs. The new entrepreneurial mindset calls for rethinking the combination of cyber-physical systems, responsible management of resources, and a human-centered society. The information technology-based products will increase productivity in value chains and alter competition on the ground of labor costs. The strategic advantages of developing threshold countries will be reduced as production needs more highly skilled workers for a new human-machine interaction.
Moreover, the decision of production places will be more influenced by the cost of raw materials and energy. Additionally, algorithms and future self-optimization in the planning and performance of production will reduce entrepreneurial risk. Therefore, future success in entrepreneurship will be based on the ability to react highly agilely in response to market changes and leverage their human creativity and operational effectiveness.
The current global challenges support the arrival of a new entrepreneurial revolution that allows for changes and new entrepreneurial chances. These global challenges require breaking the chains of constant self-optimization on the grounds of creativity and human-centered entrepreneurial thinking. Technical systems must be regarded as a tool to answer the questions of sustainability and economic growth. However, they will remain a tool to challenge human creativity rather than replace the workforce. The new entrepreneurial mindset must be based on the sustainable use of resources in employing technical innovations and the social requirement of resilience. This consumption-oriented management of value chains will reduce the input of resources and geopolitical conflicts.
Nevertheless, the world must rethink how to support and regulate entrepreneurship. The drive for self-determination requires a new entrepreneurial mindset to focus on liberalism and economic freedom to let the necessary changes happen. Moreover, it is necessary to reconsider how to share knowledge to boost creativity and innovation in a new set of relationships between advanced and developing economies to allow for local production and global social welfare. By the end of the day, the arrival of the new entrepreneurial revolution will be a humane entrepreneurial revolution based on new technologies.
Article by:
Dr. Hartmut-Heinrich Meyer, Senior researcher and lecturer at the FOM, Fachhochschule für Ökonomie and Management. Board Director of the German Small Business Consultant Association, ICSB Board Member