The book How to Change the World by D. Bornstein proposes a unique approach to the problem of innovation and entrepreneurship, their impact on business and social life. The modern economic landscape is populated with all sorts of business programs: business including is all spheres of life. To understand and comprehend recent changes, Bornstein includes biographies and life stories of the most popular and successful entrepreneurs of our time. The first five chanters selected for analysis demonstrate the concept of entrepreneurship, discuss development over time and examine life stories of successful entrepreneurs.
The first chapter “Restless People” is an introduction to the entire book which determines and explains the main concepts of entrepreneurship. According to P. Drucker “the term ‘entrepreneur’ means ‘one who take into the hand” (cited Bornstein 2). During the 20th century, the world has been jolted by massive corporate restructuring and the transition from a war to a peace-time economy. Some companies that are household names such as IBM and Sears have seen their stock plummet and have laid off thousands of employees; others have been merged, been acquired, or ceased to exist. These changes transformed the consciousness of people and their values. Bornstein underlines that “Social entrepreneur advanced system change, … and shift behavior patterns and perceptions” (Bornstein 2). In this chapter, Bornstein explains the emergence of the global citizen sector and the main drivers of global transformations. Bornstein argues that similar to other innovators, social entrepreneurs bring new ideas and values to the social sector, they develop “new models to create wealth, promote social well-being, and rescue the environment” (Bornstein 9). Self-reliance and the ability to see opportunities are the main characteristics typical for social entrepreneurs.
The second chapter, ‘From Little Arcos Do Great Tress Grow ’ describes the role and importance of change in entrepreneurship. It is devoted to Bill Drayton, the assistant administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency. The established agency, Ashoka, is one of the most powerful organizations aimed to support social entrepreneurs around the globe. The aim of this organization is to monitor and analyze the current activities of social entrepreneurs and support them financially. Primarily, Ashoka promoted ideas of social entrepreneurship and established its agencies in all regions. The most powerful tool of the new movement was entrepreneurship education aimed to teach, educate and support social entrepreneurs from different countries. Drayton states: “Something is deeply wrong in our society. We can create a generation that will be very different. And that’s a revolution” (Bornstein 18). The main entrepreneur concepts, used by Drayton, are the importance of change and the unique vision of social processes.
The third chapter, ‘The Light in My Head Went Out’ is devoted to Fabio Rose, a Brazil entrepreneur who electrified rural areas. Rice production was one of the main sources of income for rural population in Palmares. Thus, lack of water and irrigation deprived most of small farmers a chance to produce high quality crops. One evening, Rosa watched an interview with Ennio Amaral who described his vision and conception of electrification. “With cheap electricity poor farmers could drop wells and irrigate their land” (Bornstein 22). Rosa no longer introduced this method and electrified rural areas. In order to ensure success of this enterprise, he educated and trained workers, “added a credit mechanism so they could take loans to prepare their land” (Bornstein 25). Rosa mobilized political support and available resources, transformed the traditional method of electrification in accordance with needs and demands of rural communities. His role was “to take things beyond theory and find practical solutions” (Bornstein 29).
The forth chapter, ‘The Fixed Determination of an Indomitable Will’ discusses entrepreneur success of Florence Nightingale in a nursing field. Nightingale reorganized military hospitals and improved medical services in Scutari. The remarkable feature of her vision was based on the idea that entrepreneurship involves an action. Whether done by an individual or a team, there is general agreement that entrepreneurship involves an act by a motivated individual who innovates by creating value through recognizing (or developing) an opportunity and converting it into a viable product or service. That is, innovating in a way that produces net economic value. Her method can be described as “stern discipline, rigid attention to detail and the fixed determination of an indomitable will” (Bornstein 43). Innovations mean create something new. As a social entrepreneur, Florence Nightingale created new vision and service standards extremely important during the war time.
The fifth chapter, “The Very Significant Force”, depicts social ideas and the innovative approach to global morality and ethics developed popularized by Bill Drayton. Bornstein pays a special attention to his communication with Ghandi and M. L. King. The main strategy used by Drayton is: “everything the Drayton did he worked to solve fundamentally” (Bornstein 53). New pollution regulations and environmental protection, “the bubble” concept developed by Drayton helped millions of people to reduce population and protect their environment. This creation involved economic well-being and affected physical, social, or cultural environment. The main concepts here are unique vision and fundamental idea of transformations.
The entrepreneurs ideas mentioned above are based on such concepts as unique vision of the problems and their outcomes, self-reliance and global mission. There is a considerable body of knowledge dealing with what constitutes a good opportunity and how to evaluate both its potential and its risks. In the entrepreneurship field, an opportunity is often defined as the possibility to start a new venture. The examples described above portray that only acts that involve the creation of something new can be seen as entrepreneurial. An act must involve both an innovation and a new organization. Although entrepreneurship requires innovation, not all innovation is entrepreneurial. There is also considerable research on innovation and the management of research and development that deals with an end product of ideas or objects whose ability to deliver economic value has yet to be tested. Innovation is coupled with its ability to create economic value. A social position is supported by a combination of resources, and obviously a market position is only sustainable if the underlying resource combination is competitive. The changes in the economy have created major dislocations, discontinuities and uncertainties–all of which are sources of opportunities for new entrepreneurial ventures. As a result, many new companies have burst on the scene, some displaying dazzling growth, and some established companies are recognizing they must develop a capacity for entrepreneurial management to cope with a rapidly changing, highly uncertain business environment.
In sum, innovation and unique personal vision, leadership and change is a necessary condition for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship means dealing with innovative acts that create economic value for society and not just for the individual. An alternative point of view considers an entrepreneurial act as one that only produces economic value for the individual. The examples of social entrepreneurs support this ideas and demonstrate that only creative idea can help to introduce a social change. This contrast between innovation in the large, or societal, sense and innovation in the small, or individual, sense lies at the heart of the different definitions of entrepreneurship. It also highlights the question, as to whether there is as much to be gained from research on firm creating entrepreneurs as there is from focusing on the innovating entrepreneurs whose actions are so important to society. Entrepreneurship can occur in different economic, social, and political environments.
Social innovation can, and does, occur in all of these environments; the fundamental entrepreneurial process can be seen at work, but in different ways and in greater or lesser degrees. Our understanding of entrepreneurship must broaden to encompass these differences. Technology transfer programs, training programs for women and minority enterprises supported new ventures. The presence of profound technological or market knowledge is in many cases a prerequisite for the ability to identify specific opportunities. The knowledge can be accumulated through the other businesses and becomes an important factor behind the identification fo social changes. External resources are not owned, nor under the direct control of a person, but may be used by a person or firm. In the entrepreneurship field, this is considered an essential entrepreneurial management skill. Apparently, the resource requirements in a start-up phase can be limited by using external resources in this way. The ability to use external resources also tends to expand the opportunity space by making more opportunities feasible.
Works Cited
Bornstein, D. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas. Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition, 2003.