XXV Symposium of Technological Innovation Management
"Innovation, Culture, and Entrepreneurialism"
Hotel Grand Bittar
Brasília / DF
October 22 to 24, 2008
It is with great satisfaction that we make a call for papers for the XXV Symposium of Technological Innovation Management and we invite students and professionals from Brazil and abroad to present the results of their studies and experiences about the various themes listed in this document.
The XXV Symposium will be held in the city of Brasilia, DF and it is sponsored by ANPAD. The central theme chosen is Innovation, Culture, and Entrepreneurialism.
Focus theme
Surveys show that even in the beginning of the XXI Century that the mortality rate of small Brazilian companies continues to be high. Paradoxically, international studies show Brazil as having a high level of entrepreneurialism. What you see, however, are simply new businesses, generally mere reproductions of small (because accessible) previous success stories. Without planning, without strategic management, only with traditional management techniques, with business plans whose mechanics are supported in paths already tread, and few are the cases where entrepreneurialism presents as a process that involves new knowledge and products that with support from the market could be called innovative.
This reality is reinforced by a recent study carried out by IPEA based on PINTEC, pointing out the profile of the Brazilian industry. Based on this extensive survey with Brazilian companies, it became clear that only 1.7% of them have characteristics that could be categorized as innovative. From the estimate of 70,000 companies, this represents less than one thousand!
Taking into consideration the culture, the entrepreneurial process, and the innovation of the Brazilian context, it was possible to trace a parallel somewhat concerning. The apparent absence of an entrepreneurial culture, which is an attitude necessary for innovation, has brought negative consequences for the development of the country. There doesn't seem to be, at least in a significant portion of business owners, executives, and businessmen of this country, strong evidence of what Schumpeter once defined as an entrepreneurial spirit, or what could be called a culture of entrepreneurialism and innovation fully incorporated into the strategic decision making processes. Actually, quite the opposite seems to be the case. Conservative and pessimistic business owners continue to populate the national scenario.
What is happening on the national scenario after all? What is the logic for creating new businesses? What is the perception of the Brazilian businessperson about innovation and entrepreneurialism? Is it possible to stimulate new innovative businesses? What cultural traits, what behaviors, and what attitudes are necessary for a Brazilian entrepreneur to be innovative? What is necessary for us to have innovation?
What there seems to be, though timid, is the rise of a "new entrepreneur". Company leaders that win, internally and in the international market, and these entrepreneurs have a clear vision of the future and resolute actions toward innovation. In the various sectors, the years of consolidation of an industrial base, of the drive for productivity and quality, guided some companies toward competitive success via innovation.
We urge, therefore, that a debate be done related to entrepreneurialism associated with the debate on entrepreneurial culture with a specific focus on innovation. If the culture helps to draw basic traits of an attitude focused on schumpeterian entrepreneurialism, then innovation is the concrete proof of success of every entrepreneurial effort.
Based on the assumption that entrepreneurialism and innovation are concepts intrinsically connected, it can be presupposed that this XXV Symposium of Technological Innovation Management could be the scientific forum for bringing researchers, business owners, and public administrators together for the purpose of reflecting and discussing this theme as related to the following elements:
• The relation between national and organizational culture, innovation, and entrepreneurialism
• The thoughts of the Brazilian entrepreneur about entrepreneurialism and innovation
• The relations and interfaces of entrepreneurialism with innovation
• The needed change in the Brazilian institutional framework
• The role of internationalization, of open innovation, and the circulation of entrepreneurial cultural resources
• The policies for stimulating a entrepreneurial culture and innovation
• The configuration needed of a new standard of relations between universities & research centers, government, and companies
• The expenses with R&D and the "operational" profile of the new businesses
