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