Making Waves

This book takes a practical and revealing look at innovation and entrepreneurship by asking a wide sample of proven global entrepreneurs 'how they did it'. There are always critics who claim that such an approach is too subjective, the findings cannot be generalized across the greater population, or there may be issues of validity and reliability. In response to such arguments I can only shrug and point in the direction of authors such as Robert Yin (2003) and David de Vaus (2002) who have written eloquently on this topic. Stephen Jay Gould (1989), once made the following observation, 'the surfaces of planets and moons cannot be predicted from a few general rules. To understand planetary surfaces, we must learn the particular history of each body as an individual object - the story of its collisions and catastrophes, more than its steady accumulations, in other words, its unpredictable single jolts more than its daily operations under nature's laws'. Similarly we argue that the life of an entrepreneur must be studied, including the shocks and calamities, as well as their personalities and characteristics. Only then can we really understand the forces and influences that shaped them into what they have become. This book is an attempt to do exactly that. Our entrepreneurs have been honest and candid when talking about the bad times as well as the good. A romanticized view of entrepreneurship helps no one. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurship is comprised of a convergence between specific personal attributes and various environmental elements and opportunity factors - none of which match those described by Kets de Vries and Goss. Not everyone has these personal attributes and not every environment is conducive to entrepreneurial behaviour, but after reading this book you will agree that entrepreneurship is far less mysterious than many authors would have us believe. You will also agree that entrepreneurship is not an outcome of psychotic tendencies. We set out to demystify the entrepreneurial act by (1) documenting a number of entrepreneurial journeys - providing inspiration to those seeking the motivation to venture into the unknown, and (2) providing a decision aid that can act as a stop/go framework to test your readiness to proceed with a business idea. This framework highlights knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes needed to be an entrepreneur, and it integrates important environmental factors that link the entrepreneur with his or her business venture. We interviewed entrepreneurs from Vietnam, Australia, China, New Zealand and Mongolia who described the manner in which they recognized and exploited business opportunities and overcame obstacles in their path to success. Traditionally such studies have concentrated on Anglo-American entrepreneurs. Our approach is different. We interviewed entrepreneurs from the various countries who represent business people from developed to transition economies that are striving to achieve economic and business growth against many hardships and obstacles. We included the developing nations as they are becoming increasingly reliant on this economic and business expansion (i.e. via migration, trade in commodities and resources and business links). The perspectives gained from this study attempt to describe contemporary entrepreneurial behaviours in the context of rapidly expanding economic systems. The authors examine the entrepreneurial phenomenon using inspirational case studies that describe the journey's and challenges of real, and quite ordinary people who have achieved extraordinary outcomes with their business ventures. These examples of business success are set in a variety of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Mongolia, and China.