Week 14: reading reflection

I'm a dork. Ethics fascinate me so I've been waiting for this reading, particularly after reading some of Farrukh Siddiqui's blog. How many of us have thought about ethical considerations, social responsibility, while developing our ventures? Dr. Pryor has framed our venture creation through the lens of problem solving, but aren't we all thinking about potential profitability?

We'll get back to that. Right now, I want to know why Kuratko used the term bootlegging. What does it mean to say you should "expect clever bootlegging of ideas?" I don't think "secretly" working on new ideas on company time (as well as personal time, as if that makes it okay) qualifies as bootlegging, nor do I think it should be expected in an innovative environment. Isn't collaboration encouraged? Anyway, I understand what he was doing there--cute, Kuratko--but bootlegging didn't have to be brought into this. Are all innovative environments to be anarchal?

And did anyone else get the sense that Chapter 3 helped form the backbone of our course? Promoting intrapreneurship through experimentation and developing collaboration between intrapreneurial participants? Check out the mission and vision figure and tell me it doesn't ring a bell.

We're still on the topic of failure. I think the section on learning from failure is a nice reminder and encouraging.

I was a little surprised by the think big start small concept (EBO rules). I think my surprise lies in my inexperience. Throughout school, we talk about big business. This is the first course that's touched on start-ups, and obviously with a start-up you start small with big dreams. Duh.

Kuratko brought up hiring the right people. I want to take the opportunity to ask Kuratko what process he would use to vet employees for a) socially responsible business and b) innovative business. It seems like all the pieces are there for him to address this unless he already did, and I'm brainfarting. All my classes are starting to blend together, which is great and awful.  

In Chapter 4 I found more support for the reading creating our class. I wonder if we were intended to be social/civic entrepreneurs or influenced in that direction.

Oh! One final note, was anyone else offput by Kuratko's ethics of caring, saying that caring was a feminine alternative to traditional masculine ethics? Why did things have to be gendered, Kuratko?