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Leveraging entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship to compete

A recent report, Leveraging Entrepreneurial Ambition and Innovation, by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) concludes that while competitiveness matters for entrepreneurship, the most competitive economies are not the ones with the most new business creators. It may seems counterintuitive, but a high rate of early-stage entrepreneurial activity does not necessarily equate to high-impact outcomes. In fact, this type of activity is found most in economies with low competitiveness. The study compared countries on key variables of entrepreneurship, with Chile and Colombia coming out on top. As well as the ranking, the study shares analysis and recommendations for policy-makers seeking to leverage the impact of entrepreneurs on their economies.

An interesting take-away from all this is that the strongest economies are home to companies that harness the ideas of their employees. In other words, economies where more employees choose to be entrepreneurial for their employers, rather than create stand-alone entrepreneurial enterprises, tend to be more competitive and prosperous. This intrapreneurship is a staple of the world’s most competitive economies. Intuitively this makes sense. Think about the Google way of motivating employees. Google organizes its entire company to support and cultivate unplanned creative activities. For companies and economies, intrapreneurship may become a secret agent of change as well as a competitive advantage.

Are you ready for Generation Z?

As millennials become the largest portion of the workforce, focus is shifting to Gen Z, a group born after the mid 1990’s that accounts for two billion people worldwide and a quarter of the North American population. They have grown up immersed in technology and social media and in the midst of the Great Recession and subsequent recovery. With the oldest of the group now about to enter the workforce, it’s important that to understand how they differ from previous generations.

Last year, Northeastern University conducted a study of young people aged 16-19 across the United States to provide insight into Generation Z as future post-secondary students, employees, and leaders. The study, as with others, found Gen Z-ers are highly entrepreneurial, although many do intend to go to traditional college and feel it’s important for post-secondary institutions to teach entrepreneurship. What’s surprising is that Gen Z-ers seem to prefer face-to-face interaction, despite being digital natives, and would prefer a traditional undergraduate experience, although 79 % favor integrating internships with education programs. Along with sketching a profile of Generation Z, the Northeastern study also highlights some higher education and policy recommendations of interest for those in workforce development.

As for businesses looking to attract Gen Z workers, it’s essential to be visible on social media. In terms of how to manage these educated, industrious, and collaborative young workers, some experts suggest they may be more loyal, less motivated by money and more socially conscious than millennials. Recent research by sparks & honey, a marketing agency, provides some useful insights for those seeking to understand and connect with Generation Z in the workplace.

The world's happiest country is...

The most recent edition of the World Happiness Report was released recently by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, with some interesting findings on happiness and well-being around the world. The World Happiness Report grew out of a project in Bhutan to measure Gross National Happiness. For summaries of the previous studies check out the TINAN articles on the 2012 and 2013 reports.

The study is based on a Gallup poll that surveyed up to 3000 people in each country studied. Based on the results of the study, Switzerland ranked as the happiest country, followed by Iceland, Denmark and Norway, Canada in fifth place (up from sixth position in the 2013 report), Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. The United States ranked 15th.

The report was written by John Helliwell, Lord Richard Layard, and Jeffrey Sachs, three leading experts in happiness economics. Helliwell, Layard and Sachs suggest that three-quarters of the differences between countries can be accounted for by differences in six key variables: GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support, trust, perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity.  

While this report looks at happiness on a national scale, it’s important to note a key theme identified: all measures of well-being, at both the individual and national level, are strongly influenced by surrounding social norms and institutions, including personal relationships and trust and empathy at the community or neighbourhood level. This means that community development work done at the local level has a significant role to play in creating happier people, communities and nations.

Taking agriculture to new heights

It is estimated that by 2050 our planet will need to feed upwards of 10 billion people, with the majority living in urban centres. In order to actually feed all those people given current farming techniques global food production will have to increase by 70%-100% from current levels. This is a monumental task, especially as the vast majority of land around the world that is suitable for growing food is already in use and may even be decreasing due to effects of land degradation and climate change.

The global agriculture sector is in need of new directions. The encouraging news is that companies like Urban Barns (Quebec), TruLeaf Smart Plant Systems (Nova Scotia), and Vertical Harvest (Wyoming, USA) think they have the solution – growing food in vertical greenhouses in urban centres. This idea is quite a departure from the current forms of agriculture that feed our cities, with farms laid out over vast acreages outside of cities growing crops and then transporting food in for sale. Vertical farms on the other hand, rethink how a city accesses food, building off of existing indoor hydroponic growing techniques by combining the “vertical stacking” of crops with the latest technologies and scientific precision. By stretching farms upwards, producers are starting to realize the unbelievable harvest potential that vertical farming offers compared to traditional forms of agriculture (Urban Barns, for example, will soon be growing 300 heads of lettuce per square foot compared to a typical farm that can grow two heads in the same space).

There are a variety of design ideas for these vertical farms, each more imaginative and futuristic looking than the last, from a building designed to look like a dragon fly wing (complete with a translucent membrane) to buildings powered by algae bioreactors with growing modules operated by robotic arms. As well as transforming the relationship our urban environments have with food, vertical farming offers some interesting new economic development opportunities for the agriculture sector.