What?is?entrepreneurship?

什么是創(chuàng)業(yè)精神？

You probably think that the answer is obvious, and that only an academic would bother to ask this question. As a professor, I suppose I am guilty of mincing words. But like the terms “strategy” and “business model,” the word “entrepreneurship” is elastic. For some, it refers to venture capital-backed startups and their kin; for others, to any small business. For some, “corporate entrepreneurship” is a rallying cry; for others, an oxymoron.

或許你認為，只有咬文嚼字的教授才會問這種多余的問題。但實際上，和“戰(zhàn)略”、“商業(yè)模式”等詞匯一樣，“創(chuàng)業(yè)精神”的涵義并不固定。說到創(chuàng)業(yè)精神，有人會想到風投打造的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，另一些人則用它談論一般小公司?！熬哂袆?chuàng)業(yè)精神的企業(yè)”對一些人來說是鼓舞人心的口號，另一些人則認為這個說法本身就自相矛盾。

It was formulated by?Professor Howard Stevenson, the godfather of entrepreneurship studies at HBS. According to Stevenson,?entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled.

哈佛商學院創(chuàng)業(yè)研究領(lǐng)域教父霍華德·史蒂文森（Howard Stevenson）將“創(chuàng)新精神”定義為：追尋現(xiàn)有資源范圍以外的機遇。

“Pursuit”?implies a singular, relentless focus. Entrepreneurs often perceive a short window of opportunity. They need to show tangible progress to attract resources, and the mere passage of time consumes limited cash balances. Consequently, entrepreneurs have a sense of urgency that is seldom seen in established companies, where any opportunity is part of a portfolio and resources are more readily available.

“追尋”指絕對專注的態(tài)度。創(chuàng)業(yè)者能察覺轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的機遇，在有限時間內(nèi)展現(xiàn)實力，吸引外部資源。時間一分一秒過去，真金白銀不斷流失，因此創(chuàng)業(yè)者有一種緊迫感。而成熟公司擁有穩(wěn)定的資源，面臨機遇時選擇更多，往往缺乏緊迫感。

“Opportunity”?implies an offering that is novel in one or more of four ways. The opportunity may entail: 1) pioneering a truly innovative product; 2) devising a new business model; 3) creating a better or cheaper version of an existing product; or 4) targeting an existing product to new sets of customers.

“機遇”指在以下一個或多個方面有所作為：

1）推出創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)品；

2）設(shè)計全新商業(yè)模式；

3）改進已有產(chǎn)品，使其質(zhì)更優(yōu)、價更廉；

4）發(fā)掘新客戶群。

These opportunity types are not mutually exclusive. For example, a new venture might employ a new business model for an innovative product. Likewise, the list above is not the collectively exhaustive set of opportunities available to organizations. Many profit improvement opportunities are not novel–and thus are not entrepreneurial–for example, raising a product’s price or, once a firm has a scalable sales strategy, hiring more reps.

創(chuàng)業(yè)者完全可能兼顧這些方面，例如用全新商業(yè)模式推出一款創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)品。以上列舉的這些并未窮盡企業(yè)可能把握的機遇。企業(yè)仍可通過提價或靈活雇用更多銷售代表提升利潤，但這些手段并無新意，與創(chuàng)業(yè)精神無關(guān)。

“Beyond resources controlled”?implies resource constraints. At a new venture’s outset, its founders control only their own human, social, and financial capital. Many entrepreneurs bootstrap: they keep expenditures to a bare minimum while investing only their own time and, as necessary, their personal funds. In some cases, this is adequate to bring a new venture to the point where it becomes self-sustaining from internally generated cash flow. With most high-potential ventures, however, founders must mobilize more resources than they control personally: the venture eventually will require production facilities, distribution channels, working capital, and so forth.

“現(xiàn)有資源之外”指突破資源限制。初創(chuàng)企業(yè)剛起步時，創(chuàng)始人只能掌控現(xiàn)有的人力、社會和財務資源。很多創(chuàng)業(yè)者主張自力更生，節(jié)衣縮食，萬事不求人。固然，有些新創(chuàng)企業(yè)可以僅憑一己之力生存下來；但為了長遠發(fā)展，創(chuàng)始人必須設(shè)法引進生產(chǎn)設(shè)備、分銷渠道、營運資本等外部資源。

Because they are pursuing a novel opportunity while lacking access to required resources, entrepreneurs face considerable risk, which comes in four main types.?Demand risk?relates to prospective customers’ willingness to adopt the solution envisioned by the entrepreneur.?Technology risk?is high when engineering or scientific breakthroughs are required to bring a solution to fruition.?Execution risk?relates to the entrepreneur’s ability to attract employees and partners who can implement the venture’s plans.?Financing risk?relates to whether external capital will be available on reasonable terms. The entrepreneur’s task is to manage this uncertainty, while recognizing that certain risks cannot be influenced by their actions.

創(chuàng)業(yè)者不斷追求新機遇，但缺少必要的資源，因此面臨四大類風險：

需求風險：消費者可能對創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)品或服務不買賬；

技術(shù)風險：創(chuàng)新方案能否得到技術(shù)支持；

執(zhí)行風險：創(chuàng)業(yè)者能否聚攏執(zhí)行力強的團隊；

財務風險：能否合理引入外部資金。

創(chuàng)業(yè)者應承認風險存在的客觀性，同時力圖駕馭各種不確定性因素。

Entrepreneurs face a Catch-22. On the one hand, it can be difficult to reduce risk without resources. For example, outside capital may be required to develop and market a product and thereby demonstrate that technical and market risks are limited. On the other hand, it can be difficult to persuade resource owners to commit to a venture when risk is still high. Entrepreneurs employ four tactics in coping with this Catch-22:

創(chuàng)業(yè)行動容易陷入死循環(huán)：控制風險需要資源，資源卻更傾向于進入低風險區(qū)域。例如，若想開發(fā)推廣一款產(chǎn)品，需要向投資人證明技術(shù)和市場風險可控，但降低風險本身就需要外部資金投入。為避開這個死循環(huán)，創(chuàng)業(yè)者有以下四種對策：

• Lean experimentation allows them to resolve risks quickly and with limited resource expenditure, by relying on a “minimum viable product,”?that is, the smallest possible set of activities required to rigorously test a business model hypothesis.

• Staged investing allows entrepreneurs to address risks sequentially, expending only the resources required to meet a given milestone–before committing the resources needed to achieve the next milestone.

• Partnering allows entrepreneurs to leverage another organization’s resources and thereby shifts risks to parties better able/more willing to bear them. In a variation of this tactic, entrepreneurs rent resources to keep costs variable and to avoid the big fixed outlays associated with resource ownership.

• “Storytelling” by entrepreneurs–conjuring a vision of a better world that could be brought about by their venture–can encourage resource owners to downplay risks and in the process commit more resources than they would if they had not been inspired. Steve Jobs, for example, was famous for his mesmerizing “reality distortion field,” through which he impelled employees, partners, and investors to go to extraordinary lengths to help fulfill his dreams.

1、精益測試，采取最小規(guī)模的行動，以最低代價迅速評估風險、測試商業(yè)模式可行性。

2、分階段投入，將困難各個擊破，在實現(xiàn)階段目標之前，不占用計劃外資源。

3、建立合作伙伴關(guān)系，借用其他公司的資源，將風險轉(zhuǎn)移給承受風險能力更高或意愿更強的盟友。同理，新創(chuàng)企業(yè)可以放棄購買資產(chǎn)，通過靈活租賃資產(chǎn)，將高額固定成本轉(zhuǎn)化為可變成本。

4、掌握“講故事”的藝術(shù)，向投資人展示，自己的事業(yè)能讓世界變得更好。如果投資人被你的故事打動，他們將甘冒風險，支持你的事業(yè)。喬布斯就是最著名的例子：他特有的“現(xiàn)實扭曲力場”俘獲了眾多員工、合伙人、投資人，讓他們一往無前跟隨他追逐夢想。

So, does Stevenson’s definition of entrepreneurship matter, in practical terms? I’d argue that it does, for two reasons. First, it sees entrepreneurship as a distinctive approach to managing rather than a specific stage in an organization’s life cycle (i.e., startup), a specific role for an individual (i.e., founder), or a constellation of personality attributes (e.g., predisposition for risk taking; preference for independence). In this view, entrepreneurs can be found in many different types of organizations, including large corporations. That should be encouraging if you believe that entrepreneurship is an engine of global economic development and a force for positive change in society.

或許你會問：史蒂文森對創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的定義有現(xiàn)實意義嗎？在我看來，答案是肯定的。原因有兩點。

首先，他把創(chuàng)業(yè)精神理解為一種獨特的整體管理觀念，而非將其限定于企業(yè)發(fā)展的某個特定階段（如初創(chuàng)企業(yè)）、某種個人角色（如創(chuàng)始人），或某類精神氣質(zhì)（如激進、獨立）。按照這個定義，各類企業(yè)，包括大型企業(yè)，都可能孕育創(chuàng)業(yè)精神。如果你相信，創(chuàng)業(yè)精神是全球經(jīng)濟增長的引擎、社會改良的動力，這無疑是個好消息。

Second, the definition provides a guidepost for entrepreneurial action; it points to tactics entrepreneurs can take to manage risk and mobilize resources. One of my former students put it well when asked to give?advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “For me, ‘pursuing opportunity beyond resources controlled’ sums up perfectly what I do day-to-day. You need to be inventive, creative, opportunistic, and persuasive, because you rarely have enough resources. Embracing this definition helps me in my role.”

其次，這個定義為創(chuàng)業(yè)行動指明了方向，創(chuàng)業(yè)者可據(jù)此控制風險，調(diào)動、利用資源。我的一位學生曾被要求為積極進取的創(chuàng)業(yè)者提出建議，他的回答很精彩：“因為資源極其有限，你必須具有創(chuàng)新精神，善于把握機會，并且掌握說服的藝術(shù)。‘追尋現(xiàn)有資源范圍以外的機遇’概括了我日常工作的方方面面，鞭策我不斷前行?！?/p>

托馬斯·艾森曼(Thomas R. Eisenmann) | 文

托馬斯·艾森曼是哈佛商學院工商管理Howard H.Stevenson教席教授。

王晨 | 譯? ? 安健 | 校