Bristol Cars

I always had a passion for cars since I was child and especially for sports cars. Usually people think sport cars are fast and look attractive and catch people´s eye with their design but there is a British sports cars brand with a completely different mentality, Bristol Cars.

Bristol Cars was started was started around 60 years and since then have been producing hand made sports cars. They claim to be the last wholly British cars since the owners are British and the production is still made in Bristol near London.
One of the characteristics of this brand is the absence of promotion of their cars, there are no car dealers selling Bristols and they are not involved in racing competitions, the only way to buy a Bristol car is to contact the company directly.
Another characteristic of these cars is the simplicity of the design, rather than copying the aggressive sport design of other brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche they focus their design on engineering perfection and dynamics. The result is that the cars look like a common car but with an exclusive touch.
The customers of Bristol automobiles appreciate this "Britishness", this willingness to be different from other sports cars, the fact that the cars are hand made and mostly the exclusivity of the brand. They are actually proud of not being famous at all like their slogan says: "Nicely understated, never underrated". Only connoisseurs know about Bristol cars and driving them in the streets does not mean having everyone looking at you. This is why the buyers are ready to pay over £200,000 for a car.

The reasons stated above are the reason why I love this brand. They are the proof that you can be different, somewhat eccentric, and yet be successful. The company does not provide information about their production or financial results but the fact that they have been around for more than 60 years is an evident success. This success was achieved in the automobile sector, a mature and very competitive market, and this was done against the conventions of the market. These cars do not look stunning yet they have this charm and difference which make them so special and, in my opinion, the most exclusive cars in the world.

References:

Bristol Cars official web page, information retrieved on the 25-09-08 at: http://www.bristolcars.co.uk/index2.htm

Wikipedia.org, information retrieved on the 25-09-08 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_(automobile)

My flatmate is an entrepreneur

The other day I found out that one of the students on my floor had a software company at the Science Park. His name is Jesús Escandon Bolaños and he is from Mexico.
He started this company around three years ago with two friends who came to JIBS to study.
What really impressed me is that he also owns four other companies in Mexico but they are ran by friends and siblings so that he can focus on the one at the Science Park.

When I asked him what were the main reasons why he became an entrepreneur, he told that the main reason was family. His parents also run a business so he basically grew up in an entrepreneurial environment. The support from his parents when he started his first business, an internet café, was essential, mostly because he was only nineteen and still studying at the university.
The second reason why he opted for an entrepreneurial life is because of an internship at Johnson & Johnson he did. He was given some managerial tasks to execute and even though he enjoyed it and learned a lot, he found out that working for you and not for someone else was what he really appreciated. So after this experience he created a software company which turned out to be quite successful.

I find his example quite interesting because even though he already started a few businesses already he is still thinking about opening new ones, actually he is about to open a shop selling Mexican jewelry. He always says that opening a business is not hard, it is all about finding a good opportunity. But he also admits that the support from his parents, especially at the beginning, was vital. It is also good to get his point of view about the support he is receiving from the Science Park, the way they help him get in contact with companies in Sweden, in other words what the guests lecturers explained us during the guest lecture.

Not so weird rules

The article from the creativity module which interested me most is "The weird rules of creativity" by Robert I. Sutton. What struck me most in his paper is the originality of the ideas he proposes, sometimes completely opposite to managerial conventions.

The fact that he suggests that employees should pursue their ideas even when their manager disagrees with them is certainly a strong statement. I don´t know if I would be able to act like this since I have been taught to follow the rules since I started studying. However the explanations the author gives in order to explain his point are quite convincing. Innovation, in order to be obtained and successful requires commitment

The idea of not punishing failure but only inaction also makes sense to me. You will only know if an idea is good and will work if you explore it completely. Sometimes, according to the author, often these ideas will eventually fail but from this failure new ideas can emerge and one of them can become successful. This is why I agree with the author on this point. It is true that these "failures" cost money and time but on the other hand inaction is more expensive since it will produce nothing.

"One of my most well-supported ideas for managing creativity is that you should find some happy people and then get them to fight" (Sutton 2001). This is, in my opinion, the most provocative point in the article. My view of a good group meeting is of one where my team mates and I agree on most points and reach a final consensus at the end. Well according to him disagreements are more productive and more ideas will come out of this "fight". I agree partially with this idea, I believe that in the end the manager should decide which point of view the group should follow and get the team work in the same direction. The manager should also act as a trained facilitator, like Thomson suggests in his article "Improving the creativity of organizational work groups", to avoid wrong behaviours and make sure the brainstorming or meeting remains productive. Using other techniques like the 6 thinking hats is also a good way to keep a meeting productive. Someone with the Blue hat would ensure the good conduction of the meeting while other members could wear Green and Black hats and discuss with each other freely.

References:

Sutton, I., R., "The weird rules of creativity" (2001) Harvard Business Review.

Thompson, L., "Improving the creativity of organizational work groups" Academy of Management Executive, 2003, Vol. 17, No. I

Managing the personnel

The first thing I would do if I were a manager would be to implement a code of conduct.
I believe that there should be limits within the company in terms of behaviours, expectations regarding work or schedule and once all the workers are aware of this code they will know what is expected from them. The example of Andy´s behaviour in Sarah Cliffe's article "What a star, what a jerk" and the difficulties for Jane, the manager of the department, to control and punish Andy's attitude are a good example of the benefits a code of conduct could have.

A relaxed environment at work and flexibility with the working hours can be good measures to improve creativity in my opinion. I think that employees should feel as well in their offices as they do at home and that everything should be done to facilitate their life so that they can concentrate only on work and not worry about other things. For example, having a nanny to take care of the employees´children, hiring a person to buy the groceries or take of the people´s laundry can be good measures to make the employees stay longer at work or at least make sure they have time to just relax while they are not working.
Being flexible with working hours is also important according to me. Some employees might prefer to start working later than 8 a.m and stay at night while others will prefer to start early and go home sooner to spend time with their family maybe. Some will prefer to work intensively on a project for a period of time until it is finished and take holidays after that to relax whilst other would rather do only their obligatory working hours and have their weekends. A manager should be aware of these needs and try to find the best solutions for his employees.
The Google company is a good example to illustrate the measures I mentioned above in this paragraph. At Google everything is made to facilitate the life of the employees and the success of the company cannot be contested. I am not saying that this is the only factor behind the company´s success but I think it plays an important role.

In his article "Improving the creativity of organizational work groups" , Thompson suggests that a flatter organizational structure encourages creativity. I agree with this point to some extent because I also believe that a completely flat structure might end up in a total chaos and in the end ineffectiveness. The manager should also make sure that the guidelines he gave to the staff are respected and that everything is being done to achieve the goals he set. When it is not possible for him to be present at the office he should delegate these responsibilities to someone he trusts in order to make sure there is always someone "ruling" the place.

References:

Cliffe, S., "What a star, what a jerk" Harvard Business Review, (2001)

Google official web page, retrieved on the 13th September 2008 at: http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=benefits.html

Thompson, L., "Improving the creativity of organizational work groups" Academy of Management Executive, (2003), vol. 17, No 1.

Entrepreneurship in Portugal

The other day I read an article which stated that Portugal was the country which had done more reforms to improve doing business (World Bank 2008).
In spite of that there is still a lot to do to improve the situation. According to the European Innovation Scoreboard, Portugal was only ranked 18th out of the 25 countries of the European Union. The article outlined that the main reason behind this poor result were related to education and the lack of skilled workers.

The perception I have of entrepreneurship in Portugal is that it is quite rare to find someone willing to start his own business. For example among the students who graduated with me I cannot remember one of them who had created his company or was thinking of doing so in the near future. The main goal for graduates in Portugal is to find a safe job within a company rather than create their own business. I believe the Educational system is largely responsible for this situation, like the E.I.S (European Innovation Scoreboard) mentions. During the four years of my bachelor degree, Entrepreneurship was a topic which was addressed almost any times and none of the Master Programs offered at my university were related to this topic. A reform of the programs of the Bachelor and Master degrees are inevitable in my opinion in order to improve the situation and change the mentality of graduates. As it has been mentioned in previous lectures creating your own business involves a lot of risks and no incentives and support are offered the situation will not evolve.

To conclude I believe that the Portuguese Government´s efforts should be praised and are a good effort towards the improvement of the Entrepreneurship in the country. Universities and other Public organisms should follow this example since the Government itself cannot do everything.

References:

- European Innovation Scoreboard (2006) retrieved at:
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/5&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
on the 3rd September 2008
- The World Bank (2008) "Doing Business 2008" retrieved at: http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK=469372&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000310607_20071226165245
on the 3rd September 2008

First Impressions of Entrepreneurship

The idea I have of an Entrepreneur is the one of a man running a company. I guess this impression I have is largely influenced by the examples of entrepreneurs I have in my family.
My father was an electrician and owned his company. The company only consisted of two persons, him and an employee and was located in Lyon, France.
Another example of entrepreneur I have in my family is my grandfather who owns a wood cutting factory. He does not deal with suppliers and customers anymore, the company is now run by two of my uncles, but even though he is already 83 years-old he still goes to his office every day and wants to know everything that is happening in the factory.

If I had to associate a word to Entrepreneurship it would be control. When my dad had his company he was in charge of everything, and the workload he had was enormous. I remember he would even have to take care of his paperwork during the weekend. The same goes for my grandfather, he wanted, and still wants to take all the important decisions and be the one who decides.
In his first lecture Jonas told us that Entrepreneurship is the sum of Innovation and Business Creation. In the case of the entrepreneurs I know the Business Creation part is more important than the Innovation one. When my father created his company there were already many electricians in that area, the same goes for my grandfather, there were already wood factories when he started.