Date post: | 01-Dec-2014 |
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Political Entrepreneur: Time Has ComeBy Dr. Sreenivas Rajan
Introduction
• Political Entrepreneur has to face uncertainty like any other entrepreneur (Nohria and Anand,2001)
• From ideas to execution, the pressure is on the political entrepreneur
• Insititutions, people and power are the hallmarks
• Sophisticated People Strategy
• Information technology, Social media and social movements are key to success
Introduction
• Bangalore and the outsourcing revolution are political opportunities.
• Political workers and their ability to influence the poor and needy
• Political entrepeneur has to influenced by great traditions of India.
• Political Entrepreneur has to use to the organization to leverage political issues.
• Fundraising and financing is very important to the entrepreneur.
Introduction
• Quality of campaigning, quality of interaction with workers, quality of delivery to voters, quality of political process.
• Feedback to the party and learning about the voters requirements is a key asset of the political entrepreneur.
• Strategies and plans to win in the face of competition is important to the political entrepreneur.
Characteristics of the Political Entrepreneur
• Hubris is the cause of the fall of many political leaders.
• Teamwork and humility is required in the modern days.
• Every Krishna has his Sudama, an humble friend who is a reminder of the problems of the voter.
• The ego of the entrepreneur like Gandhi should be in the service of the nation
Characteristics of the Political Entrepreneur
• Run a vast network of contacts to get first hand information of the country.
• Cultivate contacts at the government and get information , energy and policy tips which will help the government programs and the entrepreneur
• Various regions in India and various institutions, Entrepreneurs has to maintain contacts and use social media to raise resources for the people
Characteristics of the Political Entrepreneur
• Resources (resource based view of the firm) are very important to the entrepreneur. Financial resources, human resources are required.
• Core competence is required in raising unique political capital and approach to issues.
• For example, Narendra Modiji is able to raise resources by offering a unique mix of religion and development.
The population ecology of politicians
• Cautionary note on the failure of most entrepreneurs including political entrepreneurs.
• Inertia and not responding to voters and changes in the constituency are key culprits in the failure of political entreprenuer
• Some politicians like AK Raja misuse office for power and corruption and criminalisation lead to the failure of political entrepeneurs.
Entrepreneurial Action: The need of the hour
• In the days of illiteracy, rigging and corruption, the voter had no choice, Political entrepreneur has to offer the choice to voters.
• The voter has seen some development and the entrepreneur has to mobilise the voters for more development
• Uncertainty, ambiguity and doubt plague the voters, and the entrepreneur has to send clear signals about the growth of country
Entrepreneurial Action: The need of the hour
• Action has to be clear/ Indecisiveness and little action are seen negatively by voter
• Action on security and economic fronts is required.
• Right to Education has been recognised but raising the resources and implementing the decision requires political skill
• Action is required against corruption and neptoism, moral challenges are to be faced with strict action
Where to Begin: The long road to success
• Incomplete thoughts have to be broadbased by feedback to have impact on the voters
• Quality of ideas should be improved by leveraging schools of thought in universities
• For e.g Barack Obama has benefited from the Chicago school of economics
• Ideas should be expressed in the media and expanded on until they are accepted by the voters
Where to Begin: The long road to success
• Baseless allegations and media rigging has to be countered by the entrepeneur
• Foreign powers such as CIA could well try dirty tricks and entrepreneurs should counter these dirty tricks
• Gandhi said that India lived in the villages. (Gandhi 2011) Political entrepreneurs are very much required to advance rural isssues.
• Promises have been made and the entrepreneur should deliver them
Where to Begin: The long road to success
• Entrepreneurs have different styles such as creative, softspoken or hardhitting
• Entrepreneurs such as Ronald Reagan are known for communication of complex issues such as Star Wars to the American public
• Ideas should be inclusive. Ideas that favour one group only should be avoided. The broad range of society should benefit.(Campbell,07)
• Leadership is required such as projects that put man on the moon
Ideas and Action
• Swami Vivekananda urged the nation to stop not until the goal is reached
• The entrepreneur should achieve credible progress using internet and social movements
• The idea of green utopia should be matched by practical action on the environmental front.
• The Ganga Action plan is a success but more action is required on the environmental front
• Similarly women empowerment requires action such as the setting up of women courts
Ideas and Action
• The promise of egovernance requires action and to take advantage of the success of mobile phones to launch mobile governance (Gupta and Chaturvedi, 2008)
• Microfinance, Microbusiness and micromarketing can help launch the next generation of business for the masses
• Security of the country requires ideas such as national counterterrorism and preparation of citizens against security threats such as rape
Institutions and the Political Entrepreneur
• Institutions are value based and are the bulwark of the country.
• For development, political entrepeneur should take advantage of institutions such as IDBI Bank, World Bank and United Nations
• The Aadhar project launched by UIDAI is a major initiative to enable the masses.
• NSSO, CRISIL, CMIE and other statistical institutions provide the political enterpreneur the knowledge about the economy
Institutions and the Political Entrepreneur
• Educational Institutions such as IIT and IIM are catalysts for the higher development of the country.
• EDI is another institution that can support microfinance activities with entrepreneurship training and increase revenue of people
• Exim bank and various export councils are important to benefit from trade and globalization.Cities such as Surat and Bangalore benefit from globalization.
Institutions and Action
• Managing the mammoth insitutions to achieve performance for the poor is challenge.There is lot of inertia.
• Corruption and apathy should be targeted by motivated and integrated efforts.
• Our courts are jammed with millions of cases. Fast track courts, Lok Ayuktas and ecourts can speed up the judicial logjam.
• Political Entrepreneur has to deliver justice and democracy in terms of fair elections
Institutions and Action
• Institutional reform and Institutional effectiveness are required to be faced by the political entrepreneur.
• System requires feed back and institutions such as media and CAG should help the entrepreneur to hold institutions accountable.
• The vast r&d system of the country including CSIR, DRDO and IITs should be upgraded and capacities increased to unleash technological revolution.
People and the Political Entrepreneur
• People of the country include farmers, soldiers, woman, brahmins, the underprivleged, the villagers.
• Parties that cater to regional aspirations and parties that cater to underprivileged such as BSP are drawing the political capital.(Swain 2002)
• Right education and a mix of modern and traditional systems are to be harnessed by political entrepreneur.
People and Action
• People are to be united through media and the internet and collective action should be unleashed.
• The energy of the people should be productively harnessed and the frustration of the people addressed.
• Action is required against forces that are against people including woman and political entrepreneur should make use of the private sector.
Leadership and the Political Entrepeneur
• Leader comes up with an appropriate method to solve the problems of the people
• For E.g. Manmohan Singh brought several reforms in the country to face the currency crisis.
• Anna Hazare took action of fasting to fight corruption
• Leaders should not kowtow to criminal interests and morals should guide the political entrepreneur
Leadership and Action
• This is the 21 st Century and leadership of the political entrepreneur should suit the current times.
• For e.g. Rajiv Gandhi found out that funds meant for development were diverted.
• It takes many years to debate policies and many years for results to show once policy is implemented.
• The long term interests of the country should guide the political entrepreneur.
Thank You