The Role of Entrepreneurship in Public-Private Partnerships - Essay Example

Entrepreneurial leadership Lecturer: The 21st century is often considered to belong to entrepreneurs and enterprises as well as the leaders of the world because of the prevailing entrepreneurial revolution (Hogan, 2009). However, evolution from the original entrepreneur with an idea to entrepreneur manager necessitates successful leadership in bringing to fruition the vision of the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is essentially a method as well as mind set of leadership that is useful in leading all forms of organizations. The great changes in the world have given rise to serious doubts with the efficacy of the traditional models of business, which gives way for increased realization of the potential of all forms of entrepreneurship. Living in an increasingly crowded world characterized by increasing divide between individuals who are wealthy and those that are poor, this necessitates the creation of jobs. The divide necessitates creation of jobs needs at a rate not possible with most conventional businesses. The degree of unemployment challenges stems from the basic assumption within the business education that graduates will find job within the corporate sector. However, the prevailing task for organizations is to turn out employment creators instead of employment consumers and this requires more entrepreneurial leadership. Global innovations have the ability to yield both economic and social opportunities and the development of entrepreneurial frontrunners that employ a diverse logic in decision-making grounded on different reasoning for existence of business. Through entrepreneurial leadership, leaders are capable of acting on and shaping opportunities that create value for organizations, stakeholders and the wide society. This is possible because entrepreneurial leadership is driven by the desire to simultaneously find a way for creating social, environmental and economic opportunities. Entrepreneurship leadership is not identical to entrepreneurship but rather a new model for leadership. Entrepreneurs within precise discipline of entrepreneurship focus on the fresh business enterprise creation, while entrepreneurial leaders pursue opportunities beyond the start-up ventures. Entrepreneurial leaders work within established organizations and are capable of introducing fresh products and even processes that lead to expansion of opportunities; besides, the leaders engage in social ventures that enable them to tackle problems ignored by other leaders. Moreover, entrepreneurial leadership engages in social and [political movements making it possible to change the prevailing services and policies within non-governmental organizations and even in governments. Entrepreneurial leaders are challenging, changing and creating fresh ways for addressing social, environmental as well as economic issues through the different organizations because they are linked by their ability to think and operate different in order to improve their companies and the world. Ambiguity in the prevailing business environment means that prediction approach in leadership is never enough because in complex situations with unknown causes and effects the approach needs to be complemented by creation approach that has its basis on action, discovery and development of opportunities. Entrepreneurial leaders through the creation approach are capable of learning a situation through acting and observing and analysing the outcomes of the actions (Greenberg, Mckone-Sweet & Wilson, 2011). Entrepreneurs are usually confronted with issues regarding developing their qualities of leadership in order to grow and their organizations and alter them to a certain degree of professionalism (Hulsing, 2009). Entrepreneurs are considered in three acknowledged dimensions that include business, ownership, the role of decision-making and their ability to identify and even exploit opportunities. Business ownership as well as the role of decision-making within a venture is acknowledged as essential dimension in entrepreneurship. The emerging opportunity-based standpoint in entrepreneurship points out the role of entrepreneurship including establishment and utilization of at least a single business prospect (Ucbasaran, 2008). Owner-manager entrepreneurs apart from being owners are managers and remain essential decision makers that have management control over the business. Entrepreneurs have to decide when to innovate and the forms of innovation to adopt as well as the degree to which they push innovative changes within the business. Entrepreneurial leadership allows these entrepreneurs to acquire and bundle resources in order to develop competitive advantage within the marketplace. Entrepreneurs remain unique economic players because unlike corporate managers and career professionals, they are risk-bearers or owners of the organization. Entrepreneurs are different with regard to their impact on local economies because some start businesses to fulfil their dreams or even pursue a given lifestyle. Such entrepreneurs benefit the community through enhancing the local quality of life that in return boosts regional growth by enhancing the area’s businesses. Other entrepreneurs generate direct economic value with their region through their focus on creation of wealth, income and jobs, which enhance economic growth by identifying and exploiting assets within the area (Walzer, 2007). Entrepreneurship has essential economic function particularly in the use of resources in embracing opportunities presented by external changes in the environment that propel innovation. Innovation is a crucial element in entrepreneurship and often combines with other perspectives to represent development of fresh products and services in the firm. Although leadership is often confused with management, manager often plan, organize, lead and even control organizations in order to attain the goals of the top leadership mainly the executive management team. Leadership involves certain aspects that include commitment to achieving the standard of excellence, satisfaction as a result of success or even satisfaction from being the first to carry out a certain task as well as the ability to solve problems. Leadership encompasses a perspective of being visionary and possessing a long-term orientation as indicated by contemporary leadership approaches that value vision and long-term perspective as main qualities essential for leaders. The contemporary theories base on fundamental approaches that involve transformational and charismatic leadership with transformational leadership attracting attention of various researchers as well as the charismatic approach. The prevailing dynamic business environment coupled with continuous changes propel the need to change rapidly; hence, the need for more entrepreneurial leaders compared to conventional managers who act as supervisors. This notion is at the core of various leadership theories and contemporary leadership; as well, there has been much attention toward interest of follower’s power and responsibilities as well as delegation of authority. New theories show progress with regard to theoretical approaches in leadership that were present in the past, often referred to as transactional leadership (Fahed-Sreih & Morin-Delerm, 2012). Leadership skills involve technical, interpersonal, conceptual and even administrative skills; however, an individual does not become a leader because of possessing various traits but rather the personal traits have to bear relevant relations to the characteristics of goals of the followers. Leadership in successful entrepreneurship is characterized by a strong drive for responsibility and completion of task as well as vigour and persistence in pursuing goals and the ability to venture and being original in solving problems. Skills that differentiate leaders include the adaptability to different situations, orientation to achievement, social environment awareness, degree of assertion, decisiveness, dependability, willingness to accept responsibility and the power motivation among others (Fahed-Sreih & Morin-Delerm, 2012). Entrepreneurs increase societal wealth and the access to it; moreover, global wealth is expected to increasingly rely on development of successful entrepreneurships within transition economies Like the BRIC nations (Brazil Russia, India and China), which are expected to become substantial contributors to worldwide economy. Therefore, entrepreneurial leadership has been is believed to be significant to the process since it is involves the ability to influence others in managing resources strategically in emphasizing both opportunity-seeking and advantage-seeking behaviours. There has been a developing perspective with regard to the development of common entrepreneurial culture because of the increasingly similar global business environment that foster same issues for entrepreneurs across the globe. Hence, the general concept of convergence has its basis on globalization that implies nations and industries and firms would converge to a homogenous organizational pattern (McCarthy, Puffer & Darda, 2010). Entrepreneurship and leadership are intertwined in significant ways; for instance, the needs for leaders have shifted and remain crucial for those who value leadership to agree on the unifying perspectives capable of drawing them together in common purpose (Ives, 2011). Entrepreneurial leadership involves the pursuit of opportunities and advantages through influencing others strategically in resource management. Entrepreneurial leaderships illustrates various aspects that include nurturing of entrepreneurial capabilities, innovations that pose threat to existing models of business, reasonable interpretation of opportunities, questioning of the mainstream logic and rethinking. It is through the combination of entrepreneurship and strategic management that intertwines entrepreneurial mindset to leadership. On the other hand, entrepreneurial leadership develops on the entrepreneurial mindset which is the only way successful entrepreneurship can grow and develop in an organization. Innovations in entrepreneurship can be categorized into destructive or maintenance innovation; however, creativity underpins innovation. Creativity influences the quality and quantity of destructive innovation as well as maintenance innovations and both forms of innovation are drivers of wealth creation in entrepreneurship. Strategic leadership in entrepreneurship involves innovation activities under risks and uncertainties that create a new organization through entrepreneurial opportunities and strategic management of resources in creating profits for entrepreneurs. In creating wealth, some companies seek and develop competitive advantage through strategies and entrepreneurial opportunities while other fail to develop competitive advantage (Hung-Jung & Hsien-Bin, 2013). The increase in entrepreneurship propels joint ventures and alliances that have become a great tool for dealing with economies of scale in order to survive (Wallace, 2004). Entrepreneurship is a public affair, as it is private and its role in public and private partnerships help helps in transforming the private sector ambitions to public accountabilities. Generally, the public nature of entrepreneurship and its leadership shows a great deal of its role that is strongly correlated with social capital. The attributes of entrepreneurship like innovation, leadership and reconfiguration of community characterize the reason for partnerships that tend to have direct economic and social impacts at the local level. Moreover, the public aspects of entrepreneurship are suited to the description of management environment of the partnership as they address the relevant concerns in both public and private parts. Entrepreneurship theoretically and practically suggests synergy between conventional leadership purposes and practices associated public and private sectors (Grossman, 2008). Although entrepreneurship and innovation are intertwined in delivering a new product or service, innovation is very difficult with studies showing that many leaders rate their prevailing efforts of innovation as unsatisfactory. The lack of innovation as indicated by leaders possibly connects to the way innovation is currently conceptualized as an idea occurring to a genius in a flash and as something that happens only to individuals who have exceptional skills (Greenberg, Mckone-Sweet & Wilson, 2011). Nevertheless, an entrepreneur with experience is capable of doing an excellent job of exploiting an opportunity compared to an entrepreneur without experience. Even when the inexperienced entrepreneur is capable of hiring others with the experience they lack, the entrepreneur has to possess sufficient knowledge to enable the selection of the right employees. Moreover, entrepreneurs require certain skills like sales, negotiation, leadership, planning, problem solving, the capability to build a team and good communication skills; hence, these are the challenges facing entrepreneurs. However, entrepreneurs with better skills are capable of doing better job at exploiting an opportunity; hence, more likely to engage in the process of exploitation. Clearly, entrepreneurship involves the ability to assemble resources, develop a strategy, manage and even exploit opportunities. However, certain information and capabilities facilitate the activities such as information regarding labour, product markets as well as skills associated with selling, bargaining, leading, planning, solving problems, making decisions, organizing and communicating. Hence, entrepreneurs with these leadership qualities have the relevant information and skills capable of exploiting opportunities compared to entrepreneurs who lack the leadership qualities. Therefore, education augments an entrepreneurs’ stock of information and skills needed in successfully pursuing an entrepreneurial opportunity; as well, education increases entrepreneurial judgment by offering people an analytic ability and understanding of the entrepreneurial process (Shane, 2003). Growth oriented organizations have to continuously adopt an aggressive mindset that involves innovation and tactical leadership that are greatly valued in attaining successful entrepreneurship. Having a competitive mind set enables firms to identify and completely exploit opportunities that emerge within the competitive landscape with the opportunities emerging primarily from disequilibrium generated by the continuous changes. However, although uncertainty and disequilibrium often result in somehow hostile and strongly rivalry conditions, the conditions have the ability to yield significant product-driven growth opportunity. Therefore, through effective entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurship firms have the ability to adapt their behaviours and take advantage of such opportunities. Although there are various ways of strategically planning a venture, all of them have one element in common that is each is an extension of the entrepreneur’s vision and taking the owner’s concept in the business putting it to action. Although entrepreneurs may not be able to use strategic planning owing to many reasons among them the lack of time, lack of knowledge on planning, lack of expertise in the process of planning and the lack of trust; however, leadership enables entrepreneurs to fully exploit the available opportunities. Through leadership, an entrepreneur can enjoy a number of benefits associated with strategic planning because studies show that firms using this process have better financial performance to those without strategic planning. Moreover, through leadership it is possible for an entrepreneurial enterprise to enjoy the benefits of more efficient resource allocation, improved competitive position, high employee morale and rapid decision making (Kuratko, 2014). Conclusion Throughout it has been clear that the key aspects associated with successful leadership in entrepreneurship include an entrepreneurial mind set, opportunity recognition, entrepreneur awareness and actual decisions. Successful entrepreneurship involves entrepreneurial leadership, decision-making and resource management in order to establish barriers and construction of value chain with maximum differentiation. To achieve the differentiation, entrepreneurship through entrepreneurial leadership relies on creativity, development and innovation that result in competitive advantage. Leadership seems to play a significant role in the management of high growth ventures with terms such as strategic and visionary describing the types of leaders. Studies have shown that the concept behind strategic leadership remains the most effective in growing organizations even entrepreneurial ventures. Strategic leadership in entrepreneurship is considered as entrepreneurial leadership that results as an entrepreneur tries to deal with the fast-paced and growth oriented firm. Leadership in entrepreneurial organization involves the ability to anticipate, uphold flexibility, reason strategically and sustain workmanship with colleagues in an attempt to initiate change that is capable of creating viable future for the firm. The prevailing fast-paced economy creates a competitive landscape coupled with continually and erratically changing events. The changes happen quickly and relentlessly affecting almost all sections within an organization simultaneously resulting in complex changes. Exploitation of opportunities occurs in various ways in entrepreneurship; however, successful entrepreneurial leadership is characterized by decision-making. Entrepreneurial leadership involves more than personal traits in relating to others because the success of entrepreneurial enterprise relies on the ability of operational participants in exploiting the entrepreneurial opportunities. Innovation being an essential function in entrepreneurial organizations, seems to be the only specific function in entrepreneurship because it a means in which entrepreneurs create new wealth-producing resources in an enhanced potential for creating wealth. Innovation allows entrepreneurs to convert opportunities to marketable solutions, which makes it possible for entrepreneurs to be catalysts for change. Hence, through innovation and combination of leadership models and the vision to develop a great idea into a valuable solution enables entrepreneurs to achieve their objectives. 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