Conclusion
Cultural diffusion becomes intuitive in the creative enterprise. It works by combining the enacted values of innovation, emotional engagement and responsibility to people, with the 'feel' and 'approach' which the audience responds to. In a creative enterprise, the success of cultural diffusion depends on the interplay between the community of fans who provide the audience, the commercial activity which provides the revenue stream, and the creative producers. This fusion of creative and commercial strategies, which channels individual creative effort into commercial applications, is vital for success in the creative enterprise. Creative production alone has no intrinsic value, so finding opportunities to exploit it is essential. There may be tensions between creative activity and commercial exploitation, but only a minority of creative enterprises produce 'pure' or 'high' culture. Most apply a repertoire of creative ideas and discourse to exploit commercial needs and opportunities. The ability to do this successfully and to attract the chosen audience are vital aspects of creative entrepreneurship.
There is a quality of shared emotional engagement and energy in creative businesses which goes beyond rationality. People talk about their work using such words as 'buzz', 'excitement', 'fun' and 'passion'. The language,' practices and repertoire of creative enterprises express the identities, emotional energy and abilities of the producers of creative work. This distinctive quality of creative businesses is culturally diffused and shared with the audieoce. The radio disc jockey, games designer, actor or musician, all share their creative production and emotional engagement with the audience. Their performance needs to be consistent and consonant with the ongoing expectations and values of the audience, aiming to gain attention, to entertain and in a marketing sense to result in a decision to buy.
to result in a decision to buy.
Cultural diffusion engages the customer as an active participant, not simply a passive consumer. It offers the audience a narrative conversation of ideas and language through creative media, requiring new ideas to attract and maintain their interest. Innovation is a negotiated process which meets cultural needs in a different way, drawing customers with it, and distinguishing one enterprise from others. Cultural value is generated in the symbolic exchange between producer and consumer, and just as the producers are giving something of themselves, so the customers identify with the enterprise. The cultural identity of the enterprise is formed and enacted through the interactions between it and the groups with which it engages. Participating in selected networks, influencing opinion-formers, and being 'talked about' in the 'right' way are significant aspects of entrepreneurial working in the creative economy.
Although every creative enterprise is unique in some aspects, they face similar challenges in forging a business from cultural tastes and discretionary spending. This transformation of creative discourse into economic and social activity is more complex than simple 'production and consumption'. Cultural diffusion provides a practical and conceptual means of understanding the negotiated, interactive, informal and relational aspects through which the creative enterprise is enacted. Enterprises which enact the