THE BOOK
9ENTREPRENEURISMS
Sri Vadrevu and Anwar Jumabhoy had two reasons for writing this book:
Firstly, they both believe there is a better way to structure and run a large company and that is through incorporating the principles of entrepreneurship.
Secondly, they have both witnessed first-hand failure of several companies. Failure hurts the shareholders, moreover having the employees shoulder most of the suffering. Employees who have devoted years of their lives to the company find themselves cast off, through no fault of theirs – but the fault of management.
Poor management compounded by dated practices has ruined too many decent companies and stakeholders have unnecessarily lost out.
We hope readers of this book will learn to recognize the early signs of mistakes by management and strive to put in place a new management infrastructure. It is silly for management to complain about the increasingly difficult and changing business landscape and then to rely on historical data or practices for a solution. You are the solution to the problem the way your company has chosen to operate. If you can’t get them to change, then we suggest you bail out in good time!
We have interlaced entrepreneurial stories which have shaped our thinking in the book and we do hope they also contain nuances that you might not be familiar with.
Change is an imperative for all large companies and this book will serve as a catalyst for change; in the Board room as well as outside — in the manner you conduct your daily activities.
chapter summary
Self-efficacy
Some founders take the bootstrap road. Very few don’t raise VC funding but manage to go right through to an IPO. CEO, Ivan Teh self-funded Fusionex and took it to an IPO on AIM-UK market in 2012. His struggle was the common one faced by startup companies – how do you get customers when the company lacks a track record? Teh had to leverage his personal credibility and like other entrepreneurs work extra hard. He says, “With zero track record back then, it was tough to get customers used to dealing with the likes of Oracle or SAP to opt for Fusionex”.