Department of Management and Marketing

Peter Mellalieu introduces a new course in February 2012 comprising part of the Unitec Master of Business, MBus.

• What is innovation? What do we need innovation? … Is innovation more than inventing an unconventional product, or creating a new service or process?
• How do innovations get created? … What are the factors associated with success and failure?
• What are the roles of leadership, enterprise, creativity, and design in the process of innovation?
• Do you have ‘the right stuff’ to innovate an enterprise? …. Are you motivated to ‘make a difference’?

This short video (3 min) introduces several propositions that begin a journey towards answering these questions.

 If these propositions ‘strike a chord’ with you, then come join Peter’s learning adventure!

Enrol in course APMG 8118 Enterprise Creativity, Innovation & Design at Unitec Institute of Technology.

Next course commences 28 February, 2012.

Course tutor Dr Peter Mellalieu. http://about.me/peter.mellalieu

Enrolment link: http://www.unitec.ac.nz



Course link (for 2012-2-28): APMG 8118



The course is an ELECTIVE in Unitec’s Master of Business, MBus

Related articles

• How can we create ‘good jobs’? Book review of Clifton’s “The coming jobs war” (thedomm.com)
• Lastest Masters of Business Research (Work in Progress): Actual Adolescent & Alumni Behaviors in an Entrepreneurial Education Programme – A Longitudinal New Zealand Study by Daniel Peter Hunt PG Dip Business (2010) (thedomm.com)

Sir Paul Callaghan recently at the Unitec-Falkenstein professional development sessions for secondary school business teachers (Wellington) presented his strategy for economic growth (via the knowledge economy: 100 companies, 100 inspired entrepreneurs). Here are the short bites of the summary slide taken directly from his presentation with permission.

Whole of government commitment to strategy: “A country where talent wants to live”

Commitment to education

1. Tell the stories of the job opportunities for New Zealand kids at home  (Get the kids and teachers visiting the smart businesses)
2. Significantly boost science and mathematics education in schools
3. Build school programmes in entrepreneurship
4. Boost university engineering and science capability
5. Refine PBRF to reward commercialisation work

Commitment to R and D

1. Boost science and engineering research from 0.52% GDP to 0.70% GDP (a mere $300 million)
2. Enhance R and D credits to the knowledge sector
3. Compel CRIs to give IP share of benefit to employees and allow employee spinout
4. Help establish incubators, business/engineering/science synergy

Commitment to Branding

1. Understand the value of the conservation estate, liveable cities, quality of life
2. Identify and “call out” phony environmentalism and “science-phobia”
3. Market NZ as the “smart country, a place where talent wants to live”

Commitment to Leadership and vision

1. Bipartisan approach
2. Evidence basis for decisions-understand what works for us

Reviewed by Peter Mellalieu. Peter teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at Unitec Institute of Technology.

How can we create ‘good jobs’?

This is the most urgent question New Zealand, America and all other nations face. According to Jim Clifton, the answer lies in the spirit of free enterprise — not central or local government policy-making.

In my opinion, this book should be compulsory reading for all political candidates and all those public servants busily preparing ‘Briefings to the Incoming Minister’ due for delivery after the forthcoming November election!

In his book ‘THE COMING JOBS WAR‘, Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton argues that job creation happens when start-ups and young companies flourish in cities. Local and central government can assist job creation, but Clifton argues that primary attention should focus on local business and city leaders. He advocates these leaders must:

• Invest in entrepreneurs, not innovation
• Double the number of engaged employees
• Encourage small-business start-ups
• Be smarter at winning global customers than anyone else
• Put prevention at the centre of healthcare policy
• Wage war on the school dropout rate

The cities and countries that act first — that focus everything they have on creating good jobs — are the ones that will win.

Invest in entrepreneurs, not innovation. Reason: it is entrepreneurs (and intrapreneurs) who grow existing businesses and start new businesses. It is their businesses that create the wealth from innovation, research, and science. Furthermore, it is the wealth creation from these businesses that enables more people to be employed in ‘good jobs’, redeployed from low-contribution under-employment and unemployment, and enables re-investment in innovation and growth. A virtuous circle.

Double the number of engaged employees. Reason. Engaged employees add value to both new and existing customers through their creative response to customer needs. They help a business grow sales revenues, profits, and support the commercialisation of innovative ideas.

Encourage small-business start-ups. Reason: Most employment growth arises from start-ups and the growth of small-medium enterprise. Large businesses are often large employers, but they are not the source of employment growth.

Be smarter at winning global customers than anyone else. Reason: In New Zealand, we will never have the local market that provides the scale for supporting the specialised businesses we need to create for the jobs we need (See earlier postings on this blog by Paul Callaghan). America’s automobile industry rested on its laurels for decades whilst Japan, Europe, and Korea improved their product performance, process technologies, and productivity. The decline of Detroit and bankruptcy of well-known American motor companies was the result.

Put prevention at the centre of healthcare policy. Reason: Gallup’s data provides support for substantial deployment of ‘behavioural economics’ to reward those people who improve their health status and thereby work productivity through personal attention to diet and exercise.

Wage war on the school dropout rate. The recent report from the New Zealand Institute (Boven et al,2011) highlighted how our country’s dysfunctional educational system fails in terms of both relevancy to emerging workplace skill requirements, and student engagement in the educational process. Both facets are crucial in providing young job-seekers with the correct skills, with the correct talents and attitudes to undertake a ‘good job’.

What is a ‘good job’?

A ‘good job’ is a job in the formal economy. It is a job with security, with a pay check, good prospects, and a manager willing and capable of developing your job engagement and talents. A full-time good job is thirty hours or more.

Why do we need to create ‘good jobs’?

There are several reasons:

• There is a world-wide shortage of ‘formal jobs’. The shortage is estimated by Gallup to be 1.8 billion jobs. Currently, just 1.2 billion of the world’s 7 billion people possess formal jobs. See Figure 1.
• ‘Good’ formal jobs give rise to: improved income per capita; improved customer satisfaction, market growth, and profitability; and innovation.
• Persistent underemployment and unemployment reduces personal wellbeing, physical health, and reduces net national tax revenues. Excessive underemployment leads to social unrest, chaos, and ultimately revolution.
• If we fail to grow the number of good jobs in our business, or our city, then our most skilful and enterprising job-seekers and business builders will relocate else where. That relocation will contribute to a vicious downward spiral of rising unemployment, declining taxes and rates, and city-wide decline.

Figure 1: Distribution of available and required jobs (world-wide, billions of people). Based on Clifton, 2011.

The book

Related articles

• Conversation with Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup Organization: Part 1 (zanesafrit.typepad.com)
  Deepak Chopra: Why People Need Good Jobs (huffingtonpost.com)
  Jim Clifton, Author of The Coming Jobs War, Interview: Part 2 (zanesafrit.typepad.com)
  Jim Clifton, Author of The Coming Jobs War, Interview: Part 3 (zanesafrit.typepad.com)
• Cities: Where Good Jobs Are Created (corpperformance.wordpress.com)
• The Coming Jobs War (800ceoread.com)
• It Looks the Same but Something Has Changed (firedoglake.com)
• Students Want to Become Business Owners But Lack Training (usnews.com)

References

Courses at Unitec

I love graduation! I love meeting my previous students. What are their plans? Where are they working?

At graduation yesterday I found one of my Chinese students is returning to China to work in her father’s factory. The factory manufactures motorcycles and quad cycles for an international brand name. Later, she intends to work in the USA as part of the distributor’s retail chain. Always asking the ‘green’ question, I asked if the factory manufactured electric motorcycles? “No”…. I suggested she might consider launching a ‘new venture’ project to start manufacturing electric cycles – either within her father’s factory, or in her own venture. In encouragement, I mentioned my previous Chinese student had returned to China, worked briefly for her father’s clothing company, and then left to set up her own clothing factory…. hopefully as a supplier to the the clothing company in New Zealand where she undertook her Industry Based Learning project on Safety and Health.

Peter Mellalieu teaches Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Unitec Institute of Technology. Course BSNS 5391

Related articles

• Greening your business with Enterprise GreenWorks™ (thedomm.com)
• Welcome to ‘Innovation and entrepreneurship’ – Unitec BSNS 5391 commencing August 2011 (pogus.tumblr.com)

Today the New Zealand Institute releases its first discussion paper focused on social well-being.

The paper is intended to contribute to resolving one of New Zealand’s Top 10 Issues: “Can New Zealand reduce the disadvantages suffered by young people in a way that contributes to New Zealand becoming a successful multicultural society?”

The main messages from the paper are:

New Zealand has very high rates of 15 to 19 year old unemployment compared with other OECD countries. High unemployment leads to high rates of other social issues. New Zealand youth have high rates of criminal offences, teenage births, suicide, obesity, cannabis use and hazardous drinking. Disadvantage is strongly concentrated in Mâori and Pacific ethnic groups.

New Zealand has one of the highest proportions of disengaged 14 to 18 year old students, and the lowest median age of leaving initial education compared to other OECD countries. Improving engagement in schools and the school to work transition will reduce youth unemployment.

E-learning delivers engagement, better learning and lower unemployment:

• All students attend school so can be reached;
• More engaged students stay at school longer and get better qualifications; and
• Better qualified youth compete more successfully for jobs reducing youth unemployment.

Improving the school-to-work transition will help youth into jobs:

• Build pipelines to work instead of operating schools, tertiary and employment as silos;
• Match supply of youth skills to future workforce needs;
• Increase employer involvement in education and training; and
• Establish individual education and training plans for all students informed by interests, aptitude and opportunities.

Improving outcomes will provide three important benefits:

• Lower harm and costs while the youth are young;
• Establishing the youth on better trajectories for the remainder of their lives; and
• A better start in life for their children.

Click here to read the executive summary or download the full report.

Related articles

• Innovation in the Bachelor of Business: Maori and Pacific Business Elective Course (BSNS 5550) (thedomm.com)
• How fair is Australia’s welfare state? (clubtroppo.com.au)
• Sustainable economic growth for New Zealand: An optimistic… (pogus.tumblr.com)
• TTL: Youth justice (theglobeandmail.com)
• Digital Literacy / OECD / PISA: Korea tops the new OECD PISA survey of digital literacy (skillsinfo.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Welcome to ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship‘ (Unitec BSNS 5391).

This course introduces you to the systematic processes of innovation management, creativity, new venture creation, and entrepreneurship. These processes are essential for the successful growth and development of a variety of organisational forms including: corporates, small-medium enterprise (SMEs), and start-up ventures. Consequently, this course presumes that the skills of a entrepreneur are required as much within a corporate setting as in a stand-alone start-up venture. Furthermore, this course is ABSOLUTELY NOT about administering a small business.

The course is also unique in helping you identify the strengths and talents that you possess for working within an enterprising team – as innovator, entrepreneur, leader, or team contributor. Consequently, by the course’s conclusion, you will have created a personalised action plan and learning agenda that will guide the progress of your future academic studies and professional development.

Innovators and entrepreneurs imagine and create the future. They create the future by making new things happen. They act and think differently compared with most “normal” people. Sometimes they are the brightest kids at school. They are equally likely to be the “troublemakers” who are invited to leave school as early as the ‘laws of the land’ permit! Until recently, they rarely studied formal courses in entrepreneurship! You will meet many of these kinds of people in this class.

How do the most successful entrepreneurs learn? Many entrepreneurs take great risks: many fail. Reason: they don’t know what they don’t know. However, skilled entrepreneurs with “the right stuff” pursue risky, but well-managed ventures that most “normal” people would avoid. In the long-run, these entrepreneurs succeed. They succeed creating new venture after new venture. In consequence, these ‘serial’ entrepreneurs and innovators “do good” for the world and/or create massive wealth. What is “the right stuff” that entrepreneurs possess? Can you also acquire “the right stuff” – or recognise it in others? These are questions we will explore in this course.

New Zealand’s political and business leaders inform us that our country faces two challenges as a nation to “catch up with Australia by 2025”. First, we must increase our nation’s productivity. Second, we must increase our rate of innovation. Most nations are “running hard in the same race”. Can we ever catch up with the Australians? The Swedish? The Chinese? The Americans? How?

The smartest innovators ask “Can we run in a different race? … a better race? … a race with rules to our advantage?” These radical innovators join new venture teams to make their dream come true. In some cases, these teams may be lead by an entrepreneur.

In many cases, the innovator works within a corporate or not-for-loss enterprise with new venture leaders. For instance, these corporate teams launch new products, new services, expand to new geographic markets, introduce new technological processes or work practices. Consequently, learning how to work with those people who unleash their passion for innovation is an essential requirement in all modern organisations.

To enrol in the course

Visit Unitec’s website, and search for BSNS 5391 here: http://www.unitec.ac.nz

Course tutor

Peter Mellalieu, http://about.me/peter.mellalieu

Related postings about BSNS 5391

Online learning site for BSNS 5391 (Video) – YouTube. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD8TlEhQQC4&feature=youtube_gdata_playerMellalieu, P. J. (2011, July 18).

Course handbook for Unitec BSNS 5391 Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Video). Retrieved July 18, 2011, from http://vimeo.com/26564519

Related articles

• The Art of Small Business Entrepreneurship (businessinsider.com)
• The innovative business (customerthink.com)
• Course Review: Entrepreneurial Intention and New Venture (entrepreneurshiphegfr.wordpress.com)
• Recipe for success (bbc.co.uk)
• Greening your business with Enterprise GreenWorks™ (thedomm.com)
• Malama Solomona presents at Samoa II Conference on Entrepreneurship and Vanuatu (July 2011) (thedomm.com)
• A learning adventure: Exhibit the ‘secrets of success’ of ONE of New Zealand’s top technology companies (pogus.tumblr.com)

Image: Notable writers on the the topic of entrepreneurship. (Ohtamaa). Image via Wikipedia

Last evening 20 people engaged in spirited conversation about radically

different ways to manage learning. Not so radical if you teach on a high

school YES programme already, but radical for most secondary and tertiary

teachers.

Thanks to Rob Ayres (Te Puna Ako) and Yong Liu (Tech wiz & camera operator)

the conversation was webcast live on http://www.livestream.com/txxb and the

almost 2 hr video is available in the Video Library on that site (you will

need extension speakers to crank up the volume because the sound levels are

low).

Special guest Arran Caza reported that quantitative research (to be

published soon) into the results of wide ranging application of Roger

Putzel’s XB model of classroom management conclusively show the benefits for

Organisational Behaviour students. The only aspect of performance that they

don’t outclass conventionally educated students is in conventional exams.

There they equal the conventionally educated students’ performance.

We heard of valiant experiments in alternative methods by others in the

room: stories of successes, failures and barriers. Stories of how student

collaboration and teacher “absence” produce extraordinary learning.

There were stories from business of how shifting control and discretion from

manager to managed is radically effective in other learning contexts such as

within firms and supply chains operating in uncertain commercial

environments.

Then the conversation focused on the main issues for change leaders: There

seem to be four main ones

1. The assessment system is designed for synchronised,

standardised performance and administrative transparency.

2. Peer pressure from most teachers believing (or at least

accepting) that student conversation (noise) and diverse activity (chaos)

indicate professional incompetence and are counterproductive to learning.

3. Schools management metrics assume and expect straight line

learning progress rather than exponential learning curves typical of

learning through high-performing teams. Managers judge their reports on that

basis (and they in turn are so judged)

4. Students’ (and their parents) expectations and perceptions

around “work” and “learning”: it is stuff that you are made to do. Learning

is about receiving instruction and successfully replicating technique or

recounting information.

When conversation moved to action, there was discussion about just how much

and how fast change could be achieved in the bureaucratic, administratively

dominated “system”; and what the “mavericks” need to lead and achieve the

change that is increasingly widely acknowledged as imperative.

The main thing needed seemed to be support of a community of like-minded,

like-impassioned teachers who each risk being different, risk change; who

strengthen each other and build resilience through regularly, openly sharing

their stories of successes and failures, with each other. In other words,

collaborate to create room and build courage to initiate and achieve the

change.

The loose consensus was that there in the room were 20 people already who

could collaborate. There are another 20 -30 that we know of who weren’t in

the room. . . . . . . . . . . . .some in other nations.

What do you think?

Jeanius – Young Enterprise Scheme Regional Winner 2010: Lynfield College

Here is the regional winner. The Department of Management and Marketing are happy to be the regional co-ordinator. Listen to their story on Radio Ponsonby.

Media Release: Unitec and the Young Enterprise Scheme will help New Zealand improve it’s GDP

Supporting our enterprising young people is the key to improving New Zealand’s GDP according to Unitec Institute of Technology’s Head of Department or Management and Marketing, Associate Professor, Dr. Robert Davis.

A report out yesterday from the 2025 Taskforce shows that New Zealand is no closer to Australia in terms of its GDP figures. On the same day the winners from 20 Regions around the country are gathering for the YES National Awards which are being held at Wellington’s Duxton Hotel.

Unitec is a regional co-coordinator for the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) which is a scheme that supports high school students to create businesses. “Unitec is unusual in that it is only tertiary institute acting as a regional coordinator with YES,” says Robert Davis.  “We are taking a very hands-on approach getting out and about in the schools helping all the teams,” he says.

“It is these kinds of initiatives that will make the difference to the New Zealand economy in the future as it is encouraging the business leaders of the future to come up with ideas and begin running successful operations,” says Davis.

In the running to win is Jeanius, a team from Lynfield College took out the top award for the West Auckland Region for their business based on up-cycling old denim into trendy distressed denim fashion. Jeanius were unusual amongst the entrants for having already started exporting to fashion outlets in Australia as well as selling online in NZ.

Amanda Drabble, Managing Director for Jeanius put their success down to recognising an opportunity and having the organization and teamwork to meet their business goals.

After all the work the team had put in it was amazing to win the regional award she says and the team was very excited about the  National YES Awards ceremony.

The Jeanius team has done 10 production cycles between March and September this year, purchasing second hand jeans ripping, bleaching, labeling and marketing them.

In total since start up in March they have made $5035 with a net profit of $3222.

“It’s been absolutely amazing after all the effort we have put in to be named regional winners for YES,” says Drabble.

“Working with a team of 13 has taught them all a huge amount about team work and leadership plus some valuable new skills,” she says.

Drabble says the team plan to pursue Jeanius next year and aim to double the number of garments they produce now that they have made a name for themselves. The team is supported by the Dean of Business Studies at Lynfield College, Raneeta Prasad.

In addition to these activities Nick Kearns is also one of the ministry Education writers for NCEA Business Studies, a subject being released into secondary schools from 2010 onwards. NCEA Business Studies will put business into the mainstream of school study for the first time as the assessment of it will be using achievement standards, as for other mainstream academic subjects.

Business Studies is an exciting add-on to the schools subject menu as it provides for a strong entrepreneurial experience alongside a thorough learning of business basic such as management and marketing.

The Department of Management and Marketing at Unitec is right behind the new subject and is looking to provide ongoing training and resourcing of teachers to teach the subject, beginning on November 17 this year at Unitec in Mt Albert when our first conference takes place, funded by the Falkenstein-Unitec Trust, a benevolent fund established by entrepreneur Tony Falkenstein who has been working with Unitec to promote NCEA Business Studies.

“The work by Jeanius is exactly the sort of result that Unitec wants to see from this initiative” said Associate Professor Robert Davis, Head of the department of Marketing & Management. We are in this for a long term and to get a result so early is very encouraging. Watch this space”.

Great work Jeanius and Team.

-Ends-

For further information or interviews with Robert Davis, Nick Kearns or Amanda Drabble please contact: Andrea Rush on andrea@360connect.co.nz, DDI 09 918-7712 or mobile 021 962 349

DoMM has been delivering teacher training courses in Napier, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin over the last two weeks as part of the secondary school strategy in which DoMM engages with both staff and students in the arer of business education st school.

Most who attended were upskilling before introducing NCEA business Studies to their schools in 2011.

. .  watch this space . .