This article follows on and is related to the earlier article, “Entreprisingship through Market-ing – Why, What and How?” published by the Asia Marketing Federation journal.
Especially in a RUDE environment (Rapidly changing and at times, Ruthless; Uncertain and at times, Unpredictable; Dynamic and at times, Disruptive; Engaging and at times, Enabling), marketers need to be entreprising because entreprising Marketers can really make a significant difference to any entity, beyond just quantitative results. Marketers with Entreprising mindsets can make the critical difference between a “me-too” and an “outstanding” entity.
A key challenge for all marketing educators is how to help marketers become more entreprising through education and training which is the focus of this article.
Given the complexity and dynamism of entreprisingship, focusing on any one single aspect is not sufficient to meaningfully educate marketers to be more entreprising. Instead, a holistic entreprisingship education and training is needed to help marketers develop an entrepreneurial mindset and entreprising skills.
However, in the first place, a key question is, can entrepreneurship be taught? I still remember very clearly when none other than the daughter of Hermawan, Staphanie who herself is a successful entrepreneur posed this question to me when I was then Director of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre.
While nature no doubt plays an important part for a person to be entreprising, so does nurture. To respond to the many sceptics who doubt that entreprisingship can be developed, one does not have to look far than to take a leaf from none other than the Guru of Management, Peter Drucker who said that “Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. It is a knowledge base… but as in all practices, medicine, for instance, or engineering, knowledge in entrepreneurship is a means to an end. Indeed, what constitutes knowledge in a practice is largely defined by the end, that is, by the practice… innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurship, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced.”
