An entrepreneurial logic for the new economy

Abstract

Managers and entrepreneurs are increasingly being challenged to respond to a world where it is harder to effectively make and implement their decisions. Over half the decisions managers make are never implemented. We have observed entrepreneurs and managers in a wide range of situations in various countries, who illustrate a different set of assumptions for making decisions. They illustrate an entrepreneurial logic, a process of creatively defining and taking action to make sense out of situations which require new frameworks, assumptions and understandings. They assume that many challenges are not predictable and controllable. Certain control‐oriented attitudes and behaviors inhibit people from thinking this way, such as attempts to make decisions without fully understanding the right question, and overly relying on statistics. Certain reframing attitudes and behaviors – diversity in thinking, asking the right questions, and reframing and adapting quickly – illustrate ways to make sense of the paradoxes and uncertainties in the new economy.