Hi, guys, welcome to Entrepreneurial Strategic Management.
I'm Doug Thomas from the University of New Mexico.
And I'm very excited to be working with you again on this new MOOC.
This is the sixth module or sixth week MOOC.
And we will be talking all about one key question,
which is trying to understand how you can create and
maintain success in a small or medium or even a large size business.
And that's why we call it entrepreneurial strategic management.
I have been teaching a class related to these subjects for many years.
And the way that I always approach it is to focus in on this one key questions,
which is company success.
What are the factors that lead to
a company being more successful than another?
I like to ask that question in several ways.
One way to ask it is to say, why are some companies more successful than others?
Why do some companies fail?
I also like to focus sometimes on all organizations,
not just for profit businesses.
But all types of entities that exist, even in the nonprofit sector.
But what we're trying to understand is success.
And what we'd like to be able to do, is come up with a formula or
a model that we could use, that we could teach to you.
That would help you start, and then maintain success in your business.
I think any of us who've ever started a business, and I've started
several would love for someone to tell us if you do this, this, this, and this.
If you have these factors in line,
you will be able to start and run a successful business.
The reality is, no such formula exists.
Business in some ways is much more of an art than a science.
We can't tell you with 100% predictive ability if you do this, this and
this, follow these steps, follow this recipe, you will be guaranteed success.
What we normally do, in fact, is look at back in history and
look at other businesses and what they've done.
And tried to come up with frameworks or models or
explanations of this all important question, company success.
There are a lot of people, by the way, who claim to give you answers
that are 100% successful at predicting company success.
You'll find sometimes, these models or answers being advertised on TV.
They tell you to come pay money and come to a hotel conference room,
and they'll explain to you for
several thousand dollars this 100% guaranteed model for success.
Or maybe you've seen it late at night,
an infomercial where they offer the same type of service.
Think about that for a minute, if there was one model or
one answer that existed that you could just write down in a book.
Would I be on this camera right now recording this class,
giving you that answer?
Probably not, right?
If someone had such an answer they would not give it away so inexpensively.
They probably would guard that formula very close, and
would probably use it themselves to dominate the business world.