Despite the long-established belief that an entrepreneur is a single person who founds and meads an organization or small business, this is not always true in the real business world. Indeed, entrepreneurship is viewed as an endeavor of an individual who wants to own and run his or her business and implements one’s ideas in terms of operations, supply chain, recruitment, and organizational performance. However, multiple successful contemporary companies, such as Apple, Google, and many others, demonstrate that entrepreneurial teams are more effective in terms of boosting organizational success, fast growth, and continuous competitive advantage in the market.
Overall, an entrepreneurial team is a group of two or more individual entrepreneurs who combine their efforts in launching a business organization. Working in a team has long proved to be a more effective way of achieving successful results in comparison to individual work. Although it might not always be the case, there are some significant advantages of entrepreneurial teams in terms of their effect on successful organizational performance.
First of all, entrepreneurial teams allow for diversity of opinion, which is crucial in business. Indeed, with more than one perspective on how to implement a business idea or launch a new project, a company is more likely to find the most effective method. To illustrate this idea, one might refer to brainstorming, which, when conducted with two or more people, produces more valuable options than that of only one person. Secondly, entrepreneurial teams are essential when it comes to innovation since this aspect of modern business is based on the generating of new solutions or merging of former ones.
Teams are likely to increase the effectiveness of innovation, which ultimately adds to organizational performance. Thirdly, by means of proactive thinking which is fostered by entrepreneurial teams, an organization can foresee risks and challenges and design solutions for them beforehand. In such a manner, the company reduces the chances of monetary and non-monetary losses, gains a competitive advantage, and stimulates growth and profit. Finally, entrepreneurial teams yield collaborative decision-making, which guarantees risk mitigation and creativity. Thus, working in teams proves to be a major contributor to a successful company functioning.
At the same time, for organizations to function effectively and successfully, the organizational culture should favor entrepreneurial teams. Without specific guidelines and conditions created for entrepreneurial teams, their functioning will not yield the expected results. Therefore, it is essential for a company that seeks a competitive advantage in the contemporary business world to foster an entrepreneurial team on the level of the corporate culture. In this regard, the leadership might practice open-minded managing approaches that would celebrate and encourage creative thinking and sharing of business ideas in teams. Project work is one of the ways that might increase the opportunities for talented employees to apply their skills and try their ideas.
Overall, the entrepreneurial culture in an organization leads to multiple growth opportunities for the organization itself. For example, at Google, employees are given the freedom to work on their own projects during their working hours. Such a corporate culture element increases the innovative potential of employees and enhances their productivity, creativity, and accomplishment opportunities. In the long-term perspective, such talented employees contribute to the company by generating new solutions and profitable ideas that guarantee Google a competitive advantage through entrepreneurship.