Entrepreneurial culture

Interpersonal relationships in entrepreneurial companies are usually very strong. This is unsurprising, since almost everyone has been hired by the founder and usually shares his or her sense of mission. The employees also usually exhibit a sense of loyalty to the founder and the company that gives them the incentive to work harder (if not smarter ). 

The chemical industry in particular, in the past two decades, has seen some of its largest firms decide they would become life science companies, divesting some or all of their base businesses (such as plastics) and then realizing— too late— they were not big enough or did not have the requisite technology base to compete successfully against existing life sciences companies. 

The result has been the disappearance from the plastics scene of some of the industry s oldest names, such as Hoechst and Monsanto. 

---

SYSCO s entrepreneurial culture is historically based. The company was created by John F. Baugh, an entrepreneur, who convinced eight other foodservice entrepreneurs to merge all their companies on a partial earn-out basis to create the beginnings of his novel idea - a national foodservice distribution company created to meet the future needs of the projected high-growth out-of-the-home cooked meal business. 

SYSCO s entrepreneurial culture is emphasized on a daily basis in the following ways. 

This entrepreneurial culture is further evidenced by an open door policy, transparency, information-sharing within and across business units, and by a best-practices mentality. All of this leads to the industry s best retention rates of 82% for sales people and drivers, which are the key customer-facing positions. At the officer level, retention rates exceed 99% with an average tenure greater than twenty years. 

SYSCO s entrepreneurial culture is further evidenced by the fact that six of its top seven executives are former line operators of its business units. They know the intimate details of the business operations. These executives are 90% internally and operationally focused on a daily basis. 

This entrepreneurial culture produces three important results (1) an entrepreneurial iterative do-it-better mentality (2) an openness to change - Tom Lankford, the president, calls this NIHBIDITA - Not Invented Here, But I Did It Anyway and (3) a passionate focus on the details of execution day in and day out. 

Dahles, H. and Bras, K. (1999) Tourism and Small Entrepreneurs Development, National Policy, and Entrepreneurial Culture Indonesian Cases. Sydney Cognizant Communication Corporation. 

The financial information in alchemical contracts went beyond salaries and bonuses, however it also reveals the extent to which courtly alchemy was embedded in the same entrepreneurial culture of investment as princely mining enterprises in the sixteenth century. The contracts specified the financial stakes involved, clarifying the relationship between risk and profit in alchemical projects. The contract that Michael Heinrich Wagenmann vom Hoff signed with Duke Friedrich of Wiirttemberg on 23 December 1598, for example, was a remarkably compact document of financial responsibility ... 

In other words, what integrated and diversified chemical companies need now is bold action aimed at turning them into focused entrepreneurial organizations. Those seeking to make such a transition should first focus on key product or market segments, and then consolidate at the business unit level or below. Once companies have taken these steps, they should use their new platform as the basis for an ambitious growth plan. If they are to execute each step successfully, however, companies will also need to create a more entrepreneurial culture. The result will be an industry that looks very different from toda/s. 

In this chapter, I intend to describe the possibilities available within the domain of biotechnology and biological drug discovery research and development from the perspective of my own life experiences. I hope to give you an idea of how personal self and career paths might evolve. I would especially like to address the entrepreneurial culture within biotechnology and drug... 

Following the closure of the LMCP, various associations of wine, milk and beer producers expressed their support to the laboratory praising its services, but they were unable to join forces and fund this laboratory or create another of the same kind on a private basis, a move which was not part of the Portuguese entrepreneurial culture, in contrast with various private initiatives of this kind taking place in other European countries. The contributions, impact and reasons behind the end of the LMCP still deserve further investigation, but the impact of its closure prompted Ferreira da Silva to launch a new strategy which was to materialize in the creation of the SCP. 

BP had a short-term focus, and its decentralized management system and entrepreneurial culture had delegated substantial discretion to US refinery plant managers without clearly defining process safety expectations, responsibilities, or accountabilities. 

Technology cultures flourish in R D organizations, such as many start-up specialty polymer companies. In larger firms, they are often a subculture within the organization, unless they are fused with the entrepreneurial culture present in a high-tech start-up company that has expanded past the start-up phase. There are some parallels between industrial technology cultures and the cultures found in academic science and engineering departments, where work is often performed by small teams of professionals rather than by individuals. 

Technology cultures are, by definition, more focused on scientific and engineering development than on manufacturing or marketing. In some businesses, this is not unremarkable, since these latter functions usually follow, rather than lead, the development of unique or dominanf fechnology. Since technology cultures are often associated with entrepreneurial cultures, they are seldom found in older, larger companies wifhin fhe plastics industry. 

---