“Entrepreneurship” is already an integral part of our lexicon, being considered by many scholars and international institutions (such as the OCDE or the European Commission) one of the greatest engines of economic and social development, contributing to the generation of wealth, employment and well-being.
Before moving forward, however, it is worth defining what we mean by entrepreneurship. “Entrepreneurship” designates the process of identifying and exploring a new opportunity, an opportunity that may be a new business, a new project or a new line of product or service. It is closely related to innovation, so the production of “something” new is at the heart of “entrepreneurship”. Therefore, there are many benefits associated with the development of entrepreneurship: by being innovative, organizations become differentiated and more competitive in the market, offering unique and distinctive products and/or services that attract new consumers. Employees also benefit from seeing their ideas implemented and mainly from being recognized for the “good work done”.
Development of an entrepreneurial culture
Given these added values, more and more organizations are investing in the development of an entrepreneurial culture, implementing a system of human resource management practices (PGRH) that positively reinforces behaviors such as “exploration” of new ways of doing things, “experimentation”, without fear of error, or the testing of new prototypes.
Example from the 3M group:
As an example, we can mention the 3M group (famous for launching the post-it note), which is considered by many to be one of the most enterprising corporations in the world.
In terms of PGRH, 3M invests in innovative practices, such as R&D activities (in which the “performance assessment” includes R&D objectives for employees), delegation of responsibilities (employees now having great autonomy and being held accountable), or the “15% rule” (in which each employee is encouraged to dedicate 15% of their working time to developing their own ideas). And there have been many innovations produced, starting with the post-it itself, which arose from an “error”, in which the collaborator, instead of hiding it and throwing it away, was left thinking about possible other applications and shared it with the group and with the leader.
In conclusion, companies and organizations must increasingly invest in an entrepreneurial culture, which encourages innovation and novelty, in favor of their competitive advantage, the motivation of their people and the community itself, which sees the company’s differentiating image in the market and the company also wants to “be part” of it.