But in its strength lies its weakness. The metaphors and dances become
difficult to sustain after the leader departs (or simply loses energy).
Then another form of management may have to take over, if it
can. (After Sam Steinberg died, his three daughters eventually inherited
control of the voting stock. They quarreled, and subsequently sold
the company to a financial operator with no experience in the supermarket
business. The firm went into bankruptcy.)
CONCEIVING A NEW VISION IN A GARMENT FIRM.* Where does vision come
from? How do entrepreneurial leaders pick up signals in the environment
that allow them to trigger major shifts in strategic perspective?
Another study provides some clues.
Canadelle produced women's undergarments, primarily brassieres
and girdles. It too was a highly successful organization, although not
on the same scale as Steinberg's. Things were going well for the company
in the late 1960s, under the personal leadership of Larry Nadler,
the son of its founder, when suddenly everything changed. A sexual
revolution of sorts was accompanying broader social upheaval, with
bra-burning a symbol of resistance. For a manufacturer of brassieres,
the threat was obvious. Moreover, the miniskirt had just come to dominate
the fashion scene, giving rise to pantyhose. The girdle market
was declining at 30% a year. ("The bottom fell out of the girdle business,"
they liked to say.) The whole environment—long so receptive
to the company's strategies—seemed to turn on it all at once.
At the time, a French company had entered the Quebec market
with a light, molded garment called "Huit," using the theme, "just like
not wearing a bra." Their target market was fifteen- to twenty-yearolds.
The product was expensive, but it sold well. Nadler flew to France
in an attempt to license it for manufacture in Canada. The French firm
* Adapted from Mintzberg and Waters (1984).
142 STRATEGY SAFARI
refused, but, in Nadler's words, what he learned in "that one hour in
their offices made the trip worthwhile." He suddenly realized what it
was that women wanted, especially younger women: a more natural
look, not no bra but less bra.
This led to a major shift in strategic vision. "All of a sudden the idea
forms," Nadler said. Canadelle reconfirmed its commitment to the
brassiere business, and sought greater market share while its competitors
were cutting back. It introduced a new line of more natural
brassieres for younger customers, which required the firm to work out
the new molding technology as well as a new approach to promotion.
We can draw on Kurt Lewin's (1951) three-stage model of change—
unfreezing, changing, and refreezing—to explain such a gestalt shift in
vision. The process of unfreezing is essentially one of overcoming the
natural defense mechanisms, getting past the established "mental set"
of how an industry is supposed to operate. The old "industry recipe"
(Grinyer and Spender, 1979; Spender, 1989) no longer holds. "There
is a period of confusion," Nadler told us. "You sleep on i t . . . start looking
for patterns . . . become an information hound, searching for [explanations]
everywhere."
Change in this magnitude seems to require a shift in mindset before
a new strategic vision can be conceived. If this case is indicative, just
one or two key insights—even trivial ones—seem necessary to stimulate
the creation of a new concept. Continuous bombardment of information
may prepare the mind for the shift, but it is those sudden
insights that seem to crystallize it—to bring all the disparate elements
into one "eureka"-type flash.
Once the strategist's mind is set, then the refreezing process begins.
Here the object is not to read the situation, at least not in a global
sense, but in effect to block it out. It is a time to work out the consequences
of the new strategic vision.
Tom Peters (1980:12-16) has claimed that obsession is an ingredient
in effective organizations. That certainly seems to be the case in this period
of refreezing, when the organization must pursue the new orientation—
the new mindset—with full vigor. The organization now knows
where it is going; the object of the exercise is to get there using all the
skills at its command, many of them necessarily formal and analytic.
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SCHOOL 143
Of course, not everyone accepts the new vision. Those steeped in
old strategies may resist it (as was the case at Canadelle). Then the refreezing
of the leader's mindset has to be followed by the unfreezing,
changing, and refreezing of the organization. But when the structure is
simple, as it is usually in the entrepreneurial organization, that problem
is relatively minor. Not so in the big bureaucracy, as we shall see in
Chapter 11, where the job of the visionary leader is "turnaround."
Premises of the Entrepreneurial School
We summarize the premises that underlie the entrepreneurial view of
strategy formation briefly below.
J. Strategy exists in the mind of the leader as perspective, specifically a
sense of long-term direction, a vision of the organization's future.
2. The process of strategy formation is semiconscious at best, rooted in
the experience and intuition of the leader, whether he or she actually
conceives the strategy or adopts it from others and then internalizes it in
his or her own behavior.
3. The leader promotes the vision single-mindedly, even obsessionally,
maintaining close personal control of the implementation in order to be
able to reformulate specific aspects as necessary.
4. The strategic vision is thus malleable, and so entrepreneurial strategy
tends to be deliberate and emergent—deliberate in overall vision and
emergent in how the details of the vision unfold.
5. The organization is likewise malleable, a simple structure responsive to
the leader's directives, whether an actual startup, a company owned by
an individual, or a turnaround in a large established organization
many of whose procedures and power relationships are suspended to
allow the visionary leader considerable latitude for maneuver.
6. Entrepreneurial strategy tends to take the form of niche, one or more
pockets of market position protected from the forces of outright competition.
Contribution, Critique, and Context of the Entrepreneurial School
The entrepreneurial school has highlighted critical aspects of strategy
formation, most notably its proactive nature and the role of personalized
leadership and strategic vision. It is especially in their early years
144 STRATEGY SAFARI
that organizations benefit from such a sense of direction and integration,
or "gestalt." Visionary strategies stand in sharp contrast to the alltoo-
common "me-too" strategies that result from uncreative or
detached managements.
But the entrepreneurial school also exhibits some serious deficiencies.
It presents strategy formation as all wrapped up in the behavior of
a single individual, yet can never really say much about what the
process is. This has remained largely a black box, buried in human cognition.
So for the organization that runs into difficulty, this school's
central prescription can be all too obvious and facile: find a new visionary
leader.
Moreover, the entrepreneurial school has never really come to grips
with the fact that behaviors described as glorious and energizing by
some of its writers were seen as pathological and demotivating to others.
Are these simply differences among writers, the pessimists who see
the glass of entrepreneurship as half empty, the optimists as half full?
Also, as discussed, many entrepreneurial leaders, especially visionaries,
go over the edge. Is it merely some personal excess that does this? Or
do conditions change so that what functioned so well before suddenly
becomes dysfunctional—in other words that the organization simply
has to move on, get past its obsession with "the great one"? Clearly we
can answer all of the above questions in the affirmative. What we really
have to know is when entrepreneurial and visionary leadership is
needed and how do we get it.
Under entrepreneurship, key decisions concerning strategy and operations
are together centralized in the office of the chief executive.
Such centralization can ensure that strategic response reflects full
knowledge of the operations. It also encourages flexibility and adaptability:
only one person need take the initiative. On the other hand,
the chief can get so enmeshed in operating details on the ground that
he or she loses sight of strategic considerations. Alternatively, the
leader may end up in the clouds, enamored of a vision that has lost its
roots. The more routine operations may then wither for lack of attention
and eventually pull down the whole organization. Both problems
occur frequently in entrepreneurial situations.
Stacey (1992) has pointed to a number of "harmful consequences of
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SCHOOL 145
vision." First, "the advice to form a vision is neither concrete enough
to be useful, nor is it possible when the future is unknowable." Second,
visions can fix managers too tightly in one direction: "If you insist that
managers should all share a common view of their future without question,
you invite them to persist with what they already know how to
do. Or, you encourage them to pursue what could be a disastrous new
idea in a lemming-like dash to destruction, and while they are doing
this, they will inevitably overlook other changes."
Third, Stacey believes that the current quests for vision place "a
tremendous and unrealistic burden on the 'leader'." A vision-driven
philosophy "perpetuates the myth that organizations have to rely on
one or two unusually gifted individuals to decide what to do, while the
rest enthusiastically follow. This advice perpetuates "cultures of dependence
and conformity that actually obstruct the questioning and complex
learning which encourages innovative action."
Finally, Stacey suggests that the advice about vision "distracts attention
from what people are really do
But in its strength lies its weakness. The metaphors and dances becomedifficult to sustain after the leader departs (or simply loses energy).Then another form of management may have to take over, if itcan. (After Sam Steinberg died, his three daughters eventually inheritedcontrol of the voting stock. They quarreled, and subsequently soldthe company to a financial operator with no experience in the supermarketbusiness. The firm went into bankruptcy.)CONCEIVING A NEW VISION IN A GARMENT FIRM.* Where does vision comefrom? How do entrepreneurial leaders pick up signals in the environmentthat allow them to trigger major shifts in strategic perspective?Another study provides some clues.Canadelle produced women's undergarments, primarily brassieresand girdles. It too was a highly successful organization, although noton the same scale as Steinberg's. Things were going well for the companyin the late 1960s, under the personal leadership of Larry Nadler,the son of its founder, when suddenly everything changed. A sexualrevolution of sorts was accompanying broader social upheaval, withbra-burning a symbol of resistance. For a manufacturer of brassieres,the threat was obvious. Moreover, the miniskirt had just come to dominatethe fashion scene, giving rise to pantyhose. The girdle marketwas declining at 30% a year. ("The bottom fell out of the girdle business,"they liked to say.) The whole environment—long so receptiveto the company's strategies—seemed to turn on it all at once.At the time, a French company had entered the Quebec marketwith a light, molded garment called "Huit," using the theme, "just likenot wearing a bra." Their target market was fifteen- to twenty-yearolds.The product was expensive, but it sold well. Nadler flew to Francein an attempt to license it for manufacture in Canada. The French firm* Adapted from Mintzberg and Waters (1984).142 STRATEGY SAFARIrefused, but, in Nadler's words, what he learned in "that one hour intheir offices made the trip worthwhile." He suddenly realized what itwas that women wanted, especially younger women: a more naturallook, not no bra but less bra.This led to a major shift in strategic vision. "All of a sudden the ideaforms," Nadler said. Canadelle reconfirmed its commitment to thebrassiere business, and sought greater market share while its competitorswere cutting back. It introduced a new line of more naturalbrassieres for younger customers, which required the firm to work outthe new molding technology as well as a new approach to promotion.We can draw on Kurt Lewin's (1951) three-stage model of change—unfreezing, changing, and refreezing—to explain such a gestalt shift invision. The process of unfreezing is essentially one of overcoming thenatural defense mechanisms, getting past the established "mental set"of how an industry is supposed to operate. The old "industry recipe"(Grinyer and Spender, 1979; Spender, 1989) no longer holds. "Thereis a period of confusion," Nadler told us. "You sleep on i t . . . start lookingfor patterns . . . become an information hound, searching for [explanations]everywhere."Change in this magnitude seems to require a shift in mindset beforea new strategic vision can be conceived. If this case is indicative, justone or two key insights—even trivial ones—seem necessary to stimulatethe creation of a new concept. Continuous bombardment of informationmay prepare the mind for the shift, but it is those suddeninsights that seem to crystallize it—to bring all the disparate elementsinto one "eureka"-type flash.Once the strategist's mind is set, then the refreezing process begins.Here the object is not to read the situation, at least not in a globalsense, but in effect to block it out. It is a time to work out the consequencesof the new strategic vision.Tom Peters (1980:12-16) has claimed that obsession is an ingredientin effective organizations. That certainly seems to be the case in this periodof refreezing, when the organization must pursue the new orientation—the new mindset—with full vigor. The organization now knowswhere it is going; the object of the exercise is to get there using all theskills at its command, many of them necessarily formal and analytic.THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SCHOOL 143Of course, not everyone accepts the new vision. Those steeped inold strategies may resist it (as was the case at Canadelle). Then the refreezingof the leader's mindset has to be followed by the unfreezing,changing, and refreezing of the organization. But when the structure issimple, as it is usually in the entrepreneurial organization, that problemis relatively minor. Not so in the big bureaucracy, as we shall see inChapter 11, where the job of the visionary leader is "turnaround."Premises of the Entrepreneurial SchoolWe summarize the premises that underlie the entrepreneurial view ofstrategy formation briefly below.J. Strategy exists in the mind of the leader as perspective, specifically asense of long-term direction, a vision of the organization's future.2. The process of strategy formation is semiconscious at best, rooted inthe experience and intuition of the leader, whether he or she actuallyconceives the strategy or adopts it from others and then internalizes it inhis or her own behavior.3. The leader promotes the vision single-mindedly, even obsessionally,maintaining close personal control of the implementation in order to beable to reformulate specific aspects as necessary.4. The strategic vision is thus malleable, and so entrepreneurial strategytends to be deliberate and emergent—deliberate in overall vision andemergent in how the details of the vision unfold.5. The organization is likewise malleable, a simple structure responsive tothe leader's directives, whether an actual startup, a company owned byan individual, or a turnaround in a large established organizationmany of whose procedures and power relationships are suspended toallow the visionary leader considerable latitude for maneuver.6. Entrepreneurial strategy tends to take the form of niche, one or morepockets of market position protected from the forces of outright competition.Contribution, Critique, and Context of the Entrepreneurial SchoolThe entrepreneurial school has highlighted critical aspects of strategyformation, most notably its proactive nature and the role of personalizedleadership and strategic vision. It is especially in their early years144 STRATEGY SAFARIthat organizations benefit from such a sense of direction and integration,or "gestalt." Visionary strategies stand in sharp contrast to the alltoo-common "me-too" strategies that result from uncreative ordetached managements.But the entrepreneurial school also exhibits some serious deficiencies.It presents strategy formation as all wrapped up in the behavior ofa single individual, yet can never really say much about what theprocess is. This has remained largely a black box, buried in human cognition.So for the organization that runs into difficulty, this school'scentral prescription can be all too obvious and facile: find a new visionaryleader.Moreover, the entrepreneurial school has never really come to gripswith the fact that behaviors described as glorious and energizing bysome of its writers were seen as pathological and demotivating to others.Are these simply differences among writers, the pessimists who seethe glass of entrepreneurship as half empty, the optimists as half full?Also, as discussed, many entrepreneurial leaders, especially visionaries,go over the edge. Is it merely some personal excess that does this? Ordo conditions change so that what functioned so well before suddenlybecomes dysfunctional—in other words that the organization simplyhas to move on, get past its obsession with "the great one"? Clearly wecan answer all of the above questions in the affirmative. What we reallyhave to know is when entrepreneurial and visionary leadership isneeded and how do we get it.Under entrepreneurship, key decisions concerning strategy and operationsare together centralized in the office of the chief executive.Such centralization can ensure that strategic response reflects fullknowledge of the operations. It also encourages flexibility and adaptability:only one person need take the initiative. On the other hand,the chief can get so enmeshed in operating details on the ground thathe or she loses sight of strategic considerations. Alternatively, theleader may end up in the clouds, enamored of a vision that has lost itsroots. The more routine operations may then wither for lack of attentionand eventually pull down the whole organization. Both problemsoccur frequently in entrepreneurial situations.Stacey (1992) has pointed to a number of "harmful consequences ofTHE ENTREPRENEURIAL SCHOOL 145vision." First, "the advice to form a vision is neither concrete enoughto be useful, nor is it possible when the future is unknowable." Second,visions can fix managers too tightly in one direction: "If you insist thatmanagers should all share a common view of their future without question,you invite them to persist with what they already know how todo. Or, you encourage them to pursue what could be a disastrous newidea in a lemming-like dash to destruction, and while they are doingthis, they will inevitably overlook other changes."Third, Stacey believes that the current quests for vision place "atremendous and unrealistic burden on the 'leader'." A vision-drivenphilosophy "perpetuates the myth that organizations have to rely onone or two unusually gifted individuals to decide what to do, while therest enthusiastically follow. This advice perpetuates "cultures of dependenceand conformity that actually obstruct the questioning and complexlearning which encourages innovative action."Finally, Stacey suggests that the advice about vision "distracts attentionfrom what people are really do
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
