66 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Another type of creativity is modification. Modification occurs when a thing or a process is
improved or gains a new application. A modification can be quite small—a change in design, a
new floor plan for an office, a new way to solder electrical connections along an assembly line.
Clearly, no heroic acts are needed for a modification, and therefore creativity is within the reach
of all people, and is in fact a natural part of all human experience.
Analogy is the creative act of seeing how one thing is like another. It enables us to take an
action or use a product that was originally meant for one purpose, but has other purposes as well.
For example, a common screw is also a propeller. A television commercial is like a little movie,
and so is a music video. There are many instances of one industry borrowing a practice or prod-
uct from another and putting it to effective use. The people who think of these transfers are
doing so by making an analogy—seeing how the problem they face is like a problem that was
faced by others in the past.
Creativity and the Resource-Based Theory
What are the links between creative entrepreneurship and competitive advantage? Because cre-
ative ideas are based on imagination, they are hard to duplicate, rare and intuitive, and not easi-
ly substituted with expert systems and artificial intelligence. Creativity has always been of inter-
est to researchers and practitioners in the field of new venture creation, not because it is magical
and metaphysical, but because economic advantage can be derived from creativity. The require-
ment that creative behavior be of value (as opposed to simply weird) is clearly in line with our
resource-based model. A creative act is not valuable in and of itself unless it is appropriate to the
situation; here the situation is the creation of a new product or process. The creative act must
therefore in some way contribute to the new venture’s objectives of gaining revenues or lower-
ing costs (which encompasses all the nuances and permutations that can be included in the firm’s
revenue and cost functions).
All humans have creative abilities to some extent; the evidence is in our dreams. But creativ-
ity is rare in organizations because organizations have elements that suppress creative thinking,
creative behavior, and the use of creative programs and processes. The barriers to innovation and
creativity in large organizations are quite real, for the repressing side of “big business” has a
decided slant toward uniformity. Inventors and entrepreneurs need longtime horizons, flexibil-
ity, incentives, and motivation to succeed. In large organizations, the forces against creativity
may be so strong that separate business units may be required.
Creativity is one of the most important resource advantages because it is so difficult to dupli-
cate. Its elusive nature has stumped philosophers and entrepreneurs since the beginning of
recorded time. Attempts have been made to stimulate the creative impulse, from meditation
techniques to computer simulations. Not only should the entrepreneur covet and encourage cre-
ative impulses in him- or herself and others, he or she needs to engender a culture that trans-
forms creative energy into economically (as opposed to psychologically) rewarding forms.
Creativity Techniques
An individual can learn to be more creative by understanding the process of creativity and mas-
tering a few simple techniques. These techniques can be used by a single person working on a
problem that calls for a creative solution, or they can applied within a group setting. The key to
using these techniques is to overcome the linear thinking and the traditional linkages between
things and events, and employ lateral thinking, which encourages innovation by challenging con-