Globalisation and enterprise culture in developing economies: a preliminary assessment

The global environment has been susceptible to changes for centuries. In recent years, the process which have moved the world towards "global interdependence and exchange' have been known as globalisation (Mazuri, 2002). Globalisation led to changes in the social and economic environment, and in both developed and developing countries experienced opportunities for economic growth. This was an uneven process but provided opportunities for new entrepreneurial activities. According to Schumpeter (1934), entrepreneurial activities are the result of combinations from discovering new markets, new raw materials, new suppliers and new production methods. These entrepreneurial activities would enable opportunities to be exploited and also contribute to economic growth. This encouraged developed and developing countries to acknowledge the relevance of entrepreneurial activity and its role in developing a economy effective enough to compete in a global environment. In the past, entrepreneurial activities developed naturally within the existing market environment. With the opportunities and threats presented by globalisation, governments realised the need to stimulate an increased level of entrepreneurial activity to counteract the impact of global competition in their own markets and encourage their own local entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities in other markets. Through changes in public policies, governments strove to form an environment conducive to entrepreneurial activities and thus develop an enterprise culture which encouraged self employment activities among citizens. However, the concept of enterprise culture is different when the analysis is concentrated on developing countries. I will explore the relevance of enterprise culture and its impact on developing countries. I will sketch out the contours of the evolution of the concept and drawing on the Indian experience, suggests that the concept is too narrow - it fails to incorporate critical social and cultural factors in its permutation, characteristics which are critical idioms in developing countries.