Wellington
There's a host of entrepreneurial type courses available around most of New Zealand'suniversities these days, and VictoriaUniversity Wellington 's also in the game.
VUW's relatively new Professor of International Entrepeneurship,
The Englishman has based most of his academic career on examining the characteristics ofentrepreneurial success, and though one of the outcomes was to spruik the varsity's course, theaudience gained some insights from 'Seizing Opportunities: Lessons from InternationalEntrepreneurs'.
Among Crick's points:
•Firms that go internationally tend to be more productive
•Domestic firms with a global view understand the international market, e.g. competition fromoverseas
•At the micro level - firms don't make decisions, but individuals in them do
Firms/entrepreneurs need to ask themselves some fairly basic questions Crick argues:
•There may be a product or service, but is it needed?
•Is the demand domesticallyand/or overseas, to make it viable?
•What is the track record of the team and is it exportready?
Crick says part of the entrepreneurial spirit is recognising personal limits and building a goodteam.
He used the term 'effectuation' to describe the bringing into being that an entrepreneur carriesout.
Entrepreneurs facing a similar yet evolving situation behave differently:
•Startwith your means - don't wait for the perfect opportunity
•Set an affordable loss -evaluation opportunities' downside and upside
•Leverage contingencies - flexible surprisesfrom uncertain situations
•Crazy-quilt principle - network and form partnerships withstakeholders
•Cycle -effectuation isn't a one time exercise and life is far from static
Common characteristics among successful international entrepreneurs are:
•Knowingcustomers
•Possessing insight
•Risk takers
•Innovative
•Recognisingpersonal limitations
Crick's evaluated many different forms of government 'help' for international entrepreneursaround the world. From what he's seen, NZ Trade & Enterprise does a pretty good job!