Entrepreneurial creativity and innovation

Abstract

Creativity and innovation by definition involve the creation of something new which, according to Barringer and Ireland (2006) “is central to the entrepreneurial process” (p. 15). Creativity and innovation are considered to be inseparable from entrepreneurship, which is in turn manifested in the act of starting up and running an enterprise. Pretorius, Millard and Kruger (2005) maintain that “creativity is clearly part and parcel of the entrepreneurial skills required to successfully start a venture” (p. 56). Entrepreneurs and their start-ups are considered to be “important agents of innovation” (Bosma & Harding, 2007, p. 16), not simply in terms of the products and services they provide, but also in terms of the technologies and processes that they utilise (Bosma & Harding; Watson et al., 1998). Start-up entrepreneurs could thus be argued to be, by their very nature, the essence of creativity and innovation. This study explores ways in which start-up entrepreneurs are creative and innovative. Data was collected by means of a combination of in-depth interviews and telephone questionnaires with entrepreneurs who started up an enterprise in Malta between January 2002 and June 2007. Results indicate that the start-up entrepreneurs in this study display high levels of creativity and innovation and these are reflected in several ways. These entrepreneurs generate, develop and implement new ideas for their start-ups, foster a climate that is conducive to creativity and innovation, provide top-down support for creativity and innovation in their organisations, and offer innovative products and services through innovative methods of production and delivery.