Demographic changes led policy makers to adopt new strategies to meet the new challenges in the
labor markets and this phenomenon is observed in the developed as well as in the labor shortaged
emerging countries such as Malaysia or in the GCC (Gulf cooperation council) countires. This also
facilitates the access to employment of visible minorities (Bassin, 1988; Levine, 1987; Raudsepp,
1988 & White, 1999). In this context, few countries have implemented a policy of diversification by
inviting workers from different cultural backgrounds by introducing equity policy regardless of race,
religion and color in employment opportunities. Therefore, the labor markets of most developed as
well as comparatively dynamic emerging countries are becoming increasingly multicultural and
multiethnic. A strategic response to these changes is to manage this diversity by focusing on efficient
use of all workers capabilities (Thornhill, Lewis, Millmore, & Saunders, 2000) regardless of cultural
backgrounds. Performance factors in terms of Moral, legal and economic values become the types of
organizational goals that can be achieved by managing diversity (Cox, 1993). In these circumstances,
many companies have developed and implemented a set of strategies for managing diversity in
order to be more efficient and competitive in the global marketplace as well as in multi-cultural
markets in manpower importing countries. Cultural management issue is a very much related topic
of sociology or political science field. The managerial implication of cross-cultural management
appeared to be an ensuing challenge for global firms when they are extending their businesses as a
result of rapid pace of globalization (He & Liu, 2010). But recent increases in low-cost labor and
accelerated professional mobility have increased the room for debate on the impact of cultural
diversity in workplace, which led researchers to study and advance their research in the field of
cultural diversity. Despite this irreversible trend, only recently have researchers begun to seriously
study the diversity management at firm level (Cox & Beale, 1997). This growing interest in the
management of cultural diversity research is due to the concurrent organizational challenges.
Yingying Joaquín (2012) asserted that although the definition and concept of culture differs and the
term are utilized in diverse occasions and circumstances with considerable diversity, it has become
one of the most critical and relevant issues in the globalizing business world. Therefore, it has
become a necessity for managers to understand the depth of the cultural diversity and to be able to
implement strategies to fit individual identities within the collective group to ensure a harmonious
relationship in organizational framework to achieve the organizational goal. Moreover, managers
need to implement management systems that can lead cultural diversity to contribute effectively to
the competitiveness of the company. In the literature, the most common attributes of this
competitiveness consists of five key factors commonly called the 5C; human Capital, innovation
Capital, organizational Capital, customer Capital and reputational Capital. Currently, general trend is
to study the effect of cultural diversity management (CDM) on organizational performance.
The concept of "cultural diversity" is both specific and contextual. Cultural diversity plays a critical
role in organizations at the international context (Reddy, 2011) which has become a pivotal topic of
concern among managers, researchers, and policy makers. Many contemporary researchers consider
cultural diversity as an important difference distinguishing one individual from another, a description
that covers a wide range of obvious qualities and hidden capabilities (Ivancevich & Gilbert, 2000;
Nkomo & Cox, 1996). To understand the importance of managing cultural diversity, it seems
important to grasp the concept of culture. According to Adler (1994), culture is an acquired
behavioral aspect assigned to a person and his group by which the individual is identified, expressed
and transmitted through symbols, distinguishing mark, its values and beliefs. Among the attributes,
such as backgrounds, experiences, values and beliefs about each culture, the latter determines the
perception of an individual's behavior, his ideas, and his way of thinking (Laine, 2004 in Côté, 2006).
Culture, in its broader meanings, includes a rich set of principles and perceptions which, once
expressed, can be juxtaposed with those from a different culture and creates confrontations for
constructive learning. Organizations that cultivate the virtues of diversity are predisposed to better
integrate the global dynamics of the labor market dominated by increasingly multiethnic and
multicultural force of that market (Jain & Verma, 1996). Managing the diversity of the workforce has
become an important issue for both governments and private entrepreneurs for public and private
organizations. Its importance has increased mainly as a result of relative liberalization of labor
market due to globalization, the development of migration and the fight for human rights carried out
by certain minority groups who feel excluded from equitable job market. The concept of "managing
diversity in the workforce" has recently emerged mainly due to fulfillment of the approach of "equal
opportunities" for all. The proactive strategy tends to gradually replace the reactive approaches. It is
increasingly accepted that the heterogeneity provided by the cultural diversity can be an engine of
growth for the efficiency of the organization in this competitive world (Nkomo & Cox, 1996; Jackson
& Ruderman, 1995). Organizations that promote diversity within them and are deemed by their
diversity management are likely to attract the best talented staff (Carrel & Everett, 1995). Diversity
in this sense is seen as a systematic and planned commitment of organizations to recruit, retain,
reward, and promote a heterogeneous mix of employees (Gilbert, Stead, & Ivancevich, 1999). In
concrete terms, cultural diversity in the workplace, exercised through the coexistence of workers
from different backgrounds. Management of cultural diversity requires, therefore, a type of
organizational culture in which every employee can continue his career unimpeded by gender, race,
nationality, religion, or other factors which are not relevant to performance (Bryan, 1999). It,
therefore, requires establishing the means for diverse workforce to be fully integrated in an
equitable workplace where no group is privileged over another (Torres & Brussels, 1992). The issue
of cultural diversity is debated not only in business world but also increasingly, becoming the
cornerstone of discussions in political circles and justice (Williams & O'Reilly, 1998). As a result,
agency managers have to understand, predict and manage the fascinating nature of the diverse
workforce. Management of cultural diversity is often related to competitive advantage. Numerous
studies have helped to show that it can create competitive advantage for a company. The potential
benefits of managing cultural diversity include better decision making, greater creativity and
innovation, greater success in international marketing activities and with local minority ethnic
communities, a better distribution of economic opportunities (Cox, 1991; Cox & Blake, 1991). In the
long term, according to Watson, Kannales, and Michaelsen (1993), compared to homogeneous
groups, culturally diverse groups are more effective both in social interactions at the level of job
performance. At the empirical level, according to Taylor (1995), a number of large companies in
Canada, such as Petro-Canada, Bank of Montreal and Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins, recognized
the positive contribution of cultural diversity to promote competitive advantage in their businesses.
The model created by Hofstede in 1970 became a cornerstone for cross-cultural research, providing
an extremely popular method for the study of cultural differences in a wide range of disciplines,
including international management (Michael & Hofstede, 2011). It seems that it is already an
established phenomenon pointing the robustness of cross-cultural literature. However, many
researchers are still debating the theoretical perspectives that exert the benefits of cultural diversity
(Palich & Gomez-Mejia, 1999) by highlighting, among others, that diversity can create dissatisfaction
and a decline in business performance (Milliken & Martins, 1996). Others, more moderate, having
emerged in context of globalization, but classic studies (Hall, 1959 &1960, Lawrence & Lorch, 1967;
Hofstede, 1980) posited that the cultural diversity management of an organization provides benefits
if and only if, it’s well managed. According to Philip Iribane (1998), it is to establish a good mix
between the different cultures in a business because every gesture, every word is an axiom that can
not be challenged and we must put them in a cultural context. If the cultural diversity is mismanaged, it can be the source of negative impact because many people would feel threatened by
working with people of diferent age, sex or cultural backgrounds. Therefore, this in-security can have
a negative impact on overall productivity. Therefore, it is essential for a manager to identify the
cultural specificity of a group to understand the way to react and solve the problems it faces
(Trompenaars, 1993). Encouraging diversity in organizations may stimulate creativity; improve the
representativeness and access to the distinctive capabilities of minorities in an era of accelerating
aging population in the developed countries. This will also ensure equity in employment/affirmative
action and contribute to the human rights of the visible minorities in the country. A multicultural
workforce with its collective intelligence and knowledge can produce higher quality goods to meet
customer needs more satisfactorily. A multicultural work environment contributes to internal team
work by transforming the workplace into a place of learning, practice of new ideas and behavioral
testing and application of new rules and organizational processes for greater competitive advantage
of the company. For example, people of color in the United States as a group today buy goods and
services more than some of their international trading partners. Cox and Blake (1991) indicate that
minorities prefer to work for an employer that values diversity as well as to buy goods and services
from such companies. This literature review has allowed us to highlight the importance of managing
cultural diversity to enjoy all the skills of the workforce in order to create firm level competitive
advantage. But to the best of our knowledge, none of these studies is based on a qualitative content
analysis of previous work that shows the relationship between the management of cultural diversity,
organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage. In the following section, we shall be
describing the methodology used to answer our research question and then shall be proceding with
data analysis. This research question is to ask, from the existing literature, if the management of
cultural diversity has an impact on the competitive advantage of the company.
It appears, then, that the management model of cultural diversity (CDM) takes place through a
process taking into account several key aspects. One of the fundamental prerequisites for better
management of cultural diversity is to become aware, develop consciousness of the problematics of
CDM for the leader and accepting the existence of cultural diversity. Therefore, it is necessary to
promote the cultural diversity within the organization. Without the awareness of this proposition,
we can not develop an integrated and effective management system of cultural diversity. According
to Gardenswartz and Lowe (1995), diversity can be understood as a scale at three levels: the internal
dimensions, external dimensions and organizational dimensions. The internal dimensions are
essentially within the person and are very much intrinsic (un-changeable). This denotes the age,
gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc. The external dimensions, in turn, refer to religion,
education, personal habits, experience, marital-parental status and so on. Last but not the least,
organizational dimensions refer to the function of the individual in the organization, professional
affiliation, its unity, division or department, its age, type of management and so on.
However, this is not enough to become aware of the existence of cultural diversity in the workplace
and to identify the various internal and external dimensions. Leadership is one of the leading
determinants of the management of cultural diversity and it is also necessary to have a
transformative leadership position to bring the seeds of cultural diversity which can provide a
competitive advantage of the company. Leadership is the type of interpersonal influence by which
an individual leads another individual or group to perform the task that he wants to lead to a
positive term or end (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2002). His role is crucial in the management of
cultural diversity in order to help mobilizing various actors around the pyramid to build the cultural
diversity. Leadership also plays pivital role in creating an organizational culture. Schein (1992)
defines organizational culture as a set of basic assumptions, invented, discovered or developed by a
group dealing problems with external adaptation and internal integration. This problems have
largely been verified and to be considered and seen as valid and correct ways to think or behave so
as to face the organizational problems. Organizational culture plays a dual role. In one hand, it refers
to the external adaptation which comprises of the mission, core objectives, and means of the
organization and on the other hand it refers to the internal adjustment that carries out through the
collective mobilization and cohesion of the members of that organization. To address the problems
associated with the group of cross-cultural differences, it may play a role in the management of
cultural diversity by considering each particular culture as an asset to align the objectives and
strategies of the organization. The task of integrating different cultures is primarily the noble task of
the leader who is the ultimate architect and the builder of the organizational culture.
The cross-cultural diversity management has a significant impact on achieving organizational
effectivenss and competitive advantages which happens to be possible only in a ‘Conductive Work
Environment’ (CWE). According to Hackman (1999) and Jackson, Joshi, and Erhardt (2003), the
environment or context is the place where the teams, departments and organizations evolve
(Hackman, 1999; quoted by Jackson et al., 2003). In other words, the organizational contexts include
competitive strategy, patterns of social integration, social climate and organizational culture, and the
history of diversity and so on (Jackson et al., 2003). As part of the management of cultural diversity,
multiple devices can be set up to make the environment conducive. These include, among others,
creating cultural synergies, intercultural cooperation and even the conditions for cultural learning
(Loth, 2006). Moreover, skills development of all employees, the balancing of public and privacy
domains and the employee recognition are also a part of organizational context where cultural
diversity is on practice (Chasserio & Legault, 2009). These devices thus promote intercultural
combination which is the basis for the management of cultural diversity. From the literature review
we came to know that few researchers have described in their articles about the notion of
competitive advantage in multicultural organization. According to Chasserio & Legault (2009),
competitive advantage is measured in terms of individual creativity and innovation in the
organization. In addition to that, Palich and Gomez-Mejia (1999), advocates the concept of "firm
Efficiencies" as synonymous with competitive advantage. In all cases, the articles we have reviewed
are full of notions and expressions which boost the intelligent concept of competitive advantage. As
per Prahalad and Hamel (1990), marketing and skills are two key elements of competitive
advantages. The core competent factors such as assets, capabilities, processes, information,
knowledge, etc. are also seen as organizational resources (Barney, 1991; Al-Azad et. al., 2010) which
allow the company to invent and carry out effective strategies. At this point it is worth stating that
our model considers the management of cultural diversity as a process with a set of interrelated
stages to create sustainable competitive advantages. And at this context, the evaluation of the
management of cultural diversity is essential. Once the cultural diversity is on screen the evaluation
can be done in an ex ante (upstream) way and continue to strive to manage it. It is, therefore,
necessary to study the potential benefits of establishing a managerial and organizational system for
managing cultural diversity. It is also necessary to study the potential barriers which may limit its
effectiveness. The ex-post evaluation, in turn, would also reflect in our research if the targets are
actually achieved which examines the differences between the agreed targets and outcomes.
Innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to competitiveness, job creation, and economic
growth (Praag & Versloot 2007). They can also aid in developing solutions to societal
challenges ranging from climate change to social inequality (Seelos & Mair 2017). For
individuals, innovation and entrepreneurship can be a source of meaningful work and wellbeing (Helzer & Kim 2019, Stephan 2018). Considering these benefits, many policy makers are
interested in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship and often refer to the need to
create an entrepreneurial culture to do so.
Levels of innovation and entrepreneurship vary substantially across countries. These
differences tend to be stable over time and can only partly be explained by formal
institutions and economic development (e.g., Freytag & Thurik 2010). This points to culture as
an important explanation, because culture—the shared values, norms, and practices of a
society—is considered slow to change (House et al. 2004).
The search for a link between culture and innovation and entrepreneurship can be traced
back to Max Weber's (1930) work on the values, norms, and practices associated with the
Protestant work ethic that, he suggested, underpinned the rise of capitalism. When crosscountry harmonized data on innovation and entrepreneurship became available, researchers
used key cultural frameworks (e.g., Hofstede 2001, House et al. 2004) to relate culture to
innovation and entrepreneurship.
Yet, the last review of cross-cultural innovation and entrepreneurship research concluded
that findings are inconsistent (Hayton & Cacciotti 2013), calling the value of cultural
explanations into question.
DEFINITIONS: INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND
CULTURE
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The term innovation refers to attempts “to develop and introduce new and improved ways of
doing things” (Anderson et al. 2014, p. 1289). Often, creativity as the generation of new and
useful ideas is differentiated from innovation, which concerns the implementation of these
ideas to enhance procedures, practices, or products (Anderson et al. 2014). Entrepreneurship
refers to “new entry,” typically through the creation of an organization through which an
individual or team seeks to realize a new venture idea (Davidsson 2015). Entrepreneurs are
individuals who work for their own account and at their own risk (Gorgievski & Stephan 2016).
Both innovation and entrepreneurship are proactive, self-starting behaviors that initiate
change (Frese & Gielnik 2014). They share the need to experiment in the face of uncertainty,
for instance, uncertainty about whether a new product, service, process, or business idea will
be successful. Such experimentation necessarily implies setbacks and failures through which
innovators and entrepreneurs learn and adapt their ideas.
Innovation and entrepreneurship differ in terms of personal responsibility. Individuals and
teams engaged in innovation typically work in organizations that are owned and controlled by
someone else. By contrast, entrepreneurship combines ownership and control; in other
words, entrepreneurs are personally and legally responsible for all aspects of their business.
Finally, not all entrepreneurs are innovators, and not all innovations can be commercialized.
Culture: Definition, Approaches, and Frameworks
Culture refers to the shared values, norms, and practices of a society, thus characterizing
collectives or groups of individuals (House et al. 2004). Culture evolved to enable these
collectives to survive, live together productively, and successfully navigate their environment
(Schwartz 2006). Different frameworks and dimensions of culture exist, and navigating them
can be challenging. For instance, Hofstede (2001), Schwartz (2006), and the Global Leadership
and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project (House et al. 2004) all consider
individualism as a dimension of culture. These three frameworks alone include four different
conceptualizations and eight different indices of individualism; GLOBE offers parallel indices
of individualism values and practices.
Cultural values.
A long tradition in cross-cultural research views shared values as the defining feature of
cultures (Hofstede 2001, Schwartz 2006). Cultural values “express shared conceptions of what
is good and desirable in the culture, the cultural ideals” (Schwartz 2006, p. 139). The
measurement of culture from a values perspective proceeds in several steps. First, individuals
are asked to rate their values, such as how important having sufficient time for personal or
family life is in their ideal job (example individualism item in Hofstede 2001) or the degree to
which being “independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient)” is a guiding principle in their life
(example cultural autonomy item in Schwartz 1992, 1994). Second, the country means of
each individual value item are computed and factor-analyzed to arrive at a country-level
factor solution of cultural dimensions.1 The GLOBE study shifted the reference from the
individual to society and, in line with the notion of values as cultural ideals, asked
respondents how their culture (ideally) “should be.” An example item is: “In this society,
people should be encouraged to be: very concerned about others—not at all concerned
about others” (humane orientation values in House et al. 2004; emphasis in original).
Benefitting from methodological advances, House et al. (2004) statistically verified cultural
sharedness and employed multilevel factor analyses to derive cultural dimensions.
Cultural practices/norms.
Research in recent decades has identified cultural practices and norms as a further approach
to culture (Gelfand et al. 2011, House et al. 2004). This approach locates culture in
respondents’ intersubjective shared perceptions about their social environment (Chiu et al.
2010). Culture in this perspective is anchored in the patterns of common behaviors that
structure societal interactions and that provide members of a culture with a “dominant logic
of action” (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). Culture is measured through perceptions of common
practices describing culture “as is” (the way people typically act) and sharedness is verified
statistically. Typical item referents are “in this society” or “in this country.” Example items
are: “In this society, people are generally: very concerned about others—not at all concerned
about others” (humane orientation practices in House et al. 2004) and “People in this country
almost always comply with social norms” (cultural tightness–looseness norms in Gelfand et al.
2011).
Cultural values versus practices/norms.
The distinction between cultural values and practices/norms is important (Frese 2015). First,
cultural practices/norms are more consistently related to objective, behavioral, and
observational outcomes, whereas cultural values relate more consistently to attitudinal
measures (Gupta et al. 2004). Second, cultural values and practices/norms are on average
negatively correlated in the GLOBE study, which is the only study that assessed both
simultaneously (House et al. 2004). This negative correlation has been interpreted as a
deprivation effect, such that societies practicing, for example, high levels of uncertainty
avoidance desire less of it, and vice versa (Javidan et al. 2006). The exceptions to this pattern
are gender egalitarianism, where values and practice correlate positively, and in-group
collectivism, where they do not significantly correlate (Javidan et al. 2006).
Four frameworks of culture.
The four frameworks differ in how they were developed and in the samples used to generate
the cultural indices for countries. Hofstede (2001) conducted a factor analysis of survey data
collected from IBM employees at the end of the 1960s/beginning of the 1970s to derive four
dimensions of cultural work values: individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance,
and masculinity. Subsequent studies collected data from different types of samples. Taras et
al. (2012) provided a meta-analytic summary and updated time-adjusted country scores for
the four indices. From today's perspective, the content validity of the items used by Hofstede
can seem questionable, and most dimensions contain a mix of value, attitude, and
practice/norm questions (see the next section).
Schwartz (1992, 2006) conceptualizes values as guiding principles in peoples’ lives. He
elaborated separate individual- and culture-level value theories on the basis of samples of
students and teachers, surveyed at the end of the 1980s and 1990s. He later developed
different questionnaires, and data are now regularly available from populationrepresentative samples through the European Social Survey program. The seven Schwartz
cultural value dimensions are defined in Table 1. Data on the Schwartz cultural value indices
are available for 80 countries (Schwartz 2008).
The GLOBE project built on prior research and conceptualized a total of nine dimensions,
each measured as values and practices. Most dimensions carry labels similar to the Hofstede
framework [masculinity–femininity in Hofstede's framework conceptually maps onto four
dimensions in the GLOBE framework (Peterson 2004). GLOBE surveyed managers from local
organizations in three matched industry sectors across 62 societies from 1995 to 1997
(House et al. 2004). GLOBE practice/norm measures (“as is”) are frequently used in research.
GLOBE value measures (“should be”) are less frequently used and have been criticized as
ambiguous in terms of whether they capture projections of personally or socially desired
values (Smith 2006). The GLOBE 2020 project to update data on cultural practices is
underway.
Gelfand et al. (2006) developed a theory of cultural tightness versus looseness that considers
the strength of social norms (for an overview, see Gelfand 2019). Tightness–looseness
country scores are based on data collected between 2000 and 2003 from matched samples
composed of approximately 50% university students and 50% working adults from 33
countries (Gelfand et al. 2011).
Relationships Among the Four Cultural Frameworks
Highlighting conceptual similarities among the four frameworks. Yet there are also
unexpected empirical relationships, which are due to differences in the content of similarly
labeled dimensions and the measurement approach (values versus practices/norms). It is
important to understand these differences because they can explain diverging findings and
help researchers design meaningful robustness checks.
The Hofstede and Schwartz frameworks converge in their respective indices of
individualism/autonomy–embeddedness and power distance/hierarchy–egalitarianism. The
correlations are stronger among measures of individualism, which are value based in both
frameworks. By contrast, Hofstede's (2001, pp. 85–86) power distance index is based on one
value and two practice items. The latter capture perceptions of typical leader–subordinate
relationships. Correlations among other indices from the two frameworks are weak or
insignificant.
Despite similar labels, the Hofstede and GLOBE cultural indices often correlate only weakly or
in unexpected ways (e.g., strong correlations across different indices). Because the Hofstede
and GLOBE indices are often used as substitutes for one another, I discuss differences in the
content of the indices and their relationships in more detail.
On the basis of item analysis, Brewer & Venaik (2011) suggest that Hofstede individualism is a
measure of cultural values prioritizing self- versus work orientation (see also Bond 2002) and
that GLOBE in-group collectivism is a measure of family collectivism, whereas GLOBE
institutional collectivism reflects institutional choices supporting collective action, resource
sharing, and risk sharing. Hofstede individualism values correlate positively with GLOBE ingroup collectivism practices but not with values (nor with institutional collectivism practices
or values). Brewer & Venaik (2011) suggest that national wealth might confound the
relationship between Hofstede individualism values and GLOBE in-group collectivism
practices, as both indices correlate substantially with national wealth. An alternative
explanation is that Hofstede values (assessed mostly in the 1960s and 1970s) may have been
effective sources of guidance that led societies to adopt individualistic practices by the mid1990s, when GLOBE collected its data.
Hofstede uncertainty avoidance, or UA, is best understood as a measure assessing collective
levels of stress originating from uncertainty (Hofstede 2001, Sully de Luque & Javidan 2004),
leading Venaik & Brewer (2010) to suggest labeling it UA-stress. By contrast, GLOBE's UA
captures rule orientation; that is, it emphasizes rules, procedures, and norms as a means to
avoid uncertainty (Sully de Luque & Javidan 2004). These differences in content help explain
the high negative correlation between Hofstede UA and GLOBE UA practices despite
Hofstede UA giving greater weight to practice over value items (Venaik & Brewer 2010). In
summary, it seems that countries with high GLOBE UA (rule orientation) practices create
predictability that helps alleviate stress (low Hofstede UA-stress).
For power distance, the Hofstede index is moderately positively correlated with GLOBE
power distance practices and not correlated with GLOBE power distance values. These
relationships are expected, considering that Hofstede power distance captures mainly
practices, as discussed above. That the relationship is not stronger is likely because GLOBE
assesses power distribution in society in general, including, but not limited to,
manager/leader–employee relationships, as in the Hofstede index.
Hofstede masculinity does not significantly correlate with the four GLOBE indices that assess
aspects associated with it, namely gender egalitarianism, performance orientation,
assertiveness, and humane orientation (Peterson 2004). The Hofstede masculinity index is
based on eight work goals that include both “social” (feminine nurturance, cooperation, and
friendliness) and “ego” work goals (masculine assertiveness, achievement, and challenge
striving) (Hofstede 2001, p. 284). The corresponding GLOBE dimensions are more narrowly
conceptualized (focused on gender, performance/achievement, and assertive versus friendly
cooperative interaction, respectively) and broader (referring to society in general) than the
Hofstede work goals. These differences likely explain the low correlation.
The Hofstede dimension of long-term orientation conceptually maps onto GLOBE's future
orientation values, yet the indices are weakly negatively correlated. Both are value indices
but have different foci (Venaik et al. 2013). Hofstede long-term orientation is a bipolar
dimension contrasting past-tradition values with valuing savings for the future (thrift). GLOBE
future orientation is a unipolar measure that emphasizes planning for the future relative to
an orientation on the present (rather than the past; Venaik et al. 2013).
Gelfand and colleagues’ tightness norms correlate in expected ways with GLOBE cultural
practices, positively with in-group and institutional collectivism and negatively with gender
egalitarianism practices and assertiveness. Tight cultures often have a history of threat, which
requires members of these societies to rely on one another for survival (Gelfand et al.
2011, Roos et al. 2015). This typically goes along with maintaining traditional social
hierarchies, including gender inequality. Similar relationships are observed with Hofstede
individualism (cultural tightness is positively related to collectivism) and high power distance,
as well as with the equivalent dimensions of embeddedness–autonomy and hierarchy–
egalitarianism in the Schwartz framework (Gelfand et al. 2011).
Other methodological issues are salient in cross-cultural innovation/entrepreneurship
research. First, national wealth/affluence, typically measured as gross domestic product
(GDP), shows substantive relationships with culture. Researchers disagree about whether
culture should be regarded as a driver of national wealth or whether national wealth leads to
the development of individualistic, more egalitarian, rule- and future-oriented cultures
(e.g., House et al. 2004, Inglehart 2006, Schwartz 2006). Practically speaking, many studies
control for GDP to assess whether culture has explanatory power beyond GDP, which is
considered a more parsimonious explanation (Leung & Wang 2015).
Second, range restriction may lead to biased explanations and underestimation of the effect
of culture. Researchers should be mindful of the diversity of cultures in their study. For
instance, the effects of collectivism may be underestimated because data are more easily
available for more affluent countries, which are more individualistic. Range restriction can
occur for all cultural dimensions.
Third, cross-cultural research is inherently multilevel and can suffer from unique biases. The
disaggregation bias (or ecological fallacy) warns that relationships at the level of countries
may not generalize to individuals. Conversely, the aggregation bias (or reverse ecological
fallacy) highlights that individual-level relationships may not generalize to the country level
(Hofstede 2001, Smith 2002). An example of aggregation bias is the assumption that
individualistic cultures are more innovative or entrepreneurial solely on the basis of research
that observed such a link for individuals. This assumption was prevalent in early research on
culture and entrepreneurship (Mueller & Thomas 2001, Thomas & Mueller 2000). It is true
that individuals high in openness to change produce more innovate work (for a review,
see Arieli et al. 2020) and that entrepreneurs across cultures endorse similar values related to
self-direction, achievement, and power (McGrath et al. 1992, Noseleit 2010). Yet, cultures are
more than “king sized” individuals (Hofstede 2001). For instance,
noninnovators/nonentrepreneurs in a culture may not behave individualistically when they
support innovators/entrepreneurs to implement their ideas. I next discuss different
theoretical perspectives on this issue.
FOUR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HOW CULTURE AFFECTS
INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Culture fit, culture misfit, cultural social support, and culture as a cross-level boundary
condition are four different theoretical explanations of how culture affects innovation and
entrepreneurship. The culture fit perspective emphasizes the alignment and congruence of
cultural characteristics with characteristics of innovation/entrepreneurship (Davidsson
1995, Davidsson & Wiklund 1997, Tung et al. 2007). There are two versions of culture fit. First,
congruent cultures may produce more innovators and entrepreneurs, termed the aggregate
trait (Davidsson 1995) or supply-side view (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010, Taylor & Wilson 2012).
The greater supply of innovating/entrepreneurial individuals in a country will, in the
aggregate, lead to more innovation/entrepreneurship in that country. For instance,
individualistic cultures are assumed to facilitate innovation/entrepreneurship because they
are home to more individuals with individualistic values, some of whom will engage in
innovation/entrepreneurship. This aggregate trait argument aligns with the cultural values
approach.
Second, congruent cultures may support innovation/entrepreneurship because in these
cultures innovative/entrepreneurial actions, work, and careers are regarded as desirable and
worthwhile—that is, legitimate. This version of the culture fit perspective is termed societal
legitimation (Etzioni 1987) or demand-side view (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010, Taylor & Wilson
2012). For instance, funders, suppliers, and customers may be more likely to provide
financing to, contract with, and buy from innovative firms/start-ups in cultures where
innovation and entrepreneurship are more legitimate. Legitimacy is a sociological concept
(Suchman 1995). Cultural values and practices/norms map onto different forms of legitimacy.
Cultural values can be understood as injunctive norms that confer moral legitimacy (i.e., what
is good and desirable), while cultural practices represent descriptive norms based on
observations of typical behavior (Frese 2015, Stephan & Uhlaner 2010) and which confer
cognitive legitimacy (i.e., how things are done is taken for granted; Suchman 1995).
The culture misfit perspective emphasizes misalignment of culture with characteristics of
innovation/entrepreneurship and implies compensation. For instance, individuals may
innovate or start a business because they are different, or face needs that are different, from
the culture that surrounds them. Thus, their actions compensate for what their cultural
context cannot provide. This perspective often emphasizes individual dissatisfaction with
existing conditions such that individuals innovate because they have needs that mainstream
products or services do not cater for (von Hippel 1986), or they start businesses because they
find work in mainstream organizations in uncertainty-avoidant cultures too rigid and rule
oriented (Wennekers et al. 2007). The focus on misfit with current conditions aligns with
cultural practices (how things are typically done).
The cultural social support perspective proposes that innovation and entrepreneurship thrive
in a societal climate in which people in general are friendly and cooperative and support one
another (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). It refers to cultural practices/norms of social support and
highlights two complementary explanations that are anchored in different literatures. First, it
aligns with the concept of culture-level social capital as used in political science and
sociology, that is, as an instantiated informal norm that promotes cooperation (Fukuyama
2001, p. 7; Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). In supportive cultures, it is easier for
innovators/entrepreneurs to draw on the informal support of others, including “others” who
are strangers.2 This support includes access to new information and feedback, informal
capital, and emotional social support to overcome setbacks. In summary, supportive cultures
are rich in so-called weak-tie social capital, which enables entrepreneurs and innovators to
access nonredundant information from distant others (Granovetter 1973). The cultural social
support perspective is a specific case of culture misfit because it emphasizes cultural norms
of kindness and cooperation, whereas innovators and entrepreneurs are viewed as
individualistic, competitive individuals.
Second, the cultural social support perspective aligns with the concept of psychological safety
in organizational research, that is, shared perceptions of whether it is safe to take
interpersonal risk (Edmondson & Lei 2014). Psychologically safe environments help foster
innovation by mitigating the social risks associated with experimenting and failing (Baer &
Frese 2003). It is easier for individuals to speak up and try out new things in psychologically
safe environments, as mistakes are treated as an element of experimentation rather than as
personal failures. Conversely, entrepreneurs worry about the social stigma that failing in their
efforts may carry (Cardon et al. 2011).
Rather than conceptualizing culture as a direct antecedent to innovation and
entrepreneurship, the theoretical perspective of culture as a boundary condition views
culture as a moderator of other relationships, typically as a cross-level moderator of
individual- or firm-level relationships. Culture can amplify or suppress other relationships,
and the nature of the moderation effect might be theorized from the culture fit, the culture
misfit, or the cultural support perspective. For instance, research drawing on the culture fit
perspective finds that being located in uncertainty-tolerant cultures allows firms to derive
greater performance benefits from engaging in variance-inducing strategies such as
innovation (Mueller et al. 2013) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (Saeed et al. 2014).
Uncertainty tolerance is thought to legitimize and enable the flexibility and experimentation
on which these strategies rely, resulting in a stronger relationship between these strategies
and firm performance.
OVERVIEW OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON HOW CULTURE
AFFECTS INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Of the four theoretical perspectives discussed in the previous section, empirical research
started from a culture fit perspective to understand how culture affects
innovation/entrepreneurship and focused on the cultural dimensions of individualism,
uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity (Hayton et al. 2002, Nakata &
Sivakumar 1996, Shane 1993). Individualistic and uncertainty-tolerant cultures were argued to
benefit innovation and entrepreneurship, because the latter create novelty and uniqueness
(congruent with individualism) and entail experimentation and risk (supported in uncertaintytolerant cultures). Innovation and entrepreneurship may also be aided by equality and flat
power structures (versus power distance) that enable the exchange of ideas.
Entrepreneurship researchers expected that masculinity, especially its achievement- and
performance-oriented facet, would encourage entrepreneurship (e.g., Hayton et al. 2002). By
contrast, innovation researchers (e.g., Nakata & Sivakumar 1996) argued that femininity
(versus masculinity) would aid the development of ideas by creating a supportive social
climate for exchange and experimentation (Baer & Frese 2003). The latter argument is
consistent with the cultural social support perspective (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). Research
on cultural norms of tightness also alluded to culture fit predictions (Harrington & Gelfand
2014). Generating new ideas or businesses would be more legitimate in loose (versus tight)
cultures, which tolerate deviant behaviors and experimentation rather than emphasize
conformity with social norms.
Empirical research, however, did not support the culture fit perspective as the single
explanation of how culture affects innovation and entrepreneurship. Instead, as the overview
of empirical evidence in this section shows, different theoretical perspectives received
support contingent on the phase of the innovation/entrepreneurship process that the
research focused on. Innovation/entrepreneurship can be understood as a process from
generating ideas to implementing them, followed by a phase of sustaining performance
(Nakata & Sivakumar 1996, Shepherd et al. 2019). Critically, each phase involves specific
demands, tasks, and requirements, which help illuminate the distinct effects of culture in
each phase. For instance, while individualism can help stimulate individual creativity,
collectivism aids the coordination of resources and employees so as to derive performance
benefits from the introduction of new offerings.
The first, originating phase involves individual and team creativity to generate new ideas and
identify new opportunities. The second, implementing phase involves turning ideas into
products/services, processes, or operating businesses, which requires mobilizing resources
and influencing others to engage and support the new solution/business and build legitimacy
for it. In the third, performing phase, an organization needs to coordinate its employees and
influence stakeholders and customers in order to be able to sustainably deliver and sell a new
offering for a surplus. The fourth phase, persisting or exiting, involves adapting offerings to
sustain performance or disengaging from an innovation/business.
Measures of Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Originating and Implementing Ideas
Measures of innovation used in cross-cultural research reflected the originating phase. They
were typically indicators of inventiveness and new knowledge creation, such as the national
per capita rates of patent or trademark registrations or of scientific publications in peerreviewed journals. Some recent research used the two output pillars of the Global Innovation
Index (Dutta et al. 2018). One of these integrates patent registrations with related measures
(e.g., high-tech exports, information and communication technology services as share of
trade); the other, the creative output pillar, includes trademarks as well as online and cultural
creativity.
Measures used in cross-cultural entrepreneurship research typically reflect the implementing
phase, in which ideas are implemented through launching a business. They included the
national rate of new business registrations, the national self-employment rate, and most
frequently indicators of “new entry” from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
(Reynolds et al. 2005). GEM conducts annual population-representative surveys to identify
the share of the adult population that is taking steps to set up a business (nascent
entrepreneurship), has recently started a business (up to 3.5 years old; new
entrepreneurship), or is running an established business (similar to the rate of selfemployment). Numbers of nascent and new entrepreneurs are sometimes combined into a
total early-stage entrepreneurship rate. This rate can be problematic, because it can reflect
high numbers of nascent entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs, or a balance of both, with
different implications. High numbers of nascent (relative to new) entrepreneurs imply an
inefficient business creation process in which many people are trying but failing to set up a
business. In contrast, high numbers of new (relative to nascent) entrepreneurs indicate an
efficient business creation process in which most succeed in creating a business (Bergmann &
Stephan 2013).
Originating Ideas: Cross-Cultural Innovation Research
Figure 1a summarizes the findings discussed in this section. They were broadly consistent
with the culture fit perspective, wherein innovation thrives in individualistic (versus
collectivistic), uncertainty-tolerant (versus -avoidant), and loose (versus tight) cultures.
Additionally, research investigated how to innovate in cultures that hamper innovation (e.g.,
uncertainty-avoidant and tight cultures). This research in combination with experimental
evidence indicated important cultural differences in the understanding and nature of
innovation itself. I first discuss research using cultural values followed by research using
cultural practices as well as cultural differences in the understanding of innovation.
Innovation and cultural values.
Aligned with the culture fit perspective, the most consistent finding across studies
considering cultural values was that individualistic cultural values facilitate innovation. There
was also evidence that uncertainty/stress-tolerant cultures and, to a lesser extent, egalitarian
(versus power-distant) cultures aid innovation. Innovation was measured predominantly as
national rates of new knowledge generation (e.g., patent rates), raising concerns about
potential confounding effects of formal institutions. Yet findings were mostly replicated in
studies using surveys of consumer innovativeness and championing of innovation at work. In
terms of theoretical explanations, studies referred to both versions of the culture fit
perspective (aggregate trait and societal legitimation): They hypothesized a greater supply of
innovators in individualistic, uncertainty-tolerant, and egalitarian cultures and proposed that
innovative actions are encouraged because they are regarded as desirable and legitimate in
these cultures. However, no studies tested these mechanisms. This research relied mostly on
the Hofstede framework, occasionally using Schwartz values for robustness checks.
Early studies investigated the Hofstede dimensions individually in relation to innovation
across 33 diverse countries3 (Shane 1992, 1993). Individualistic, more egalitarian (low–power
distance) and uncertainty/stress-tolerant societies had higher rates of patent and trademark
registrations. Masculinity had no effect. Efrat (2014) replicated that uncertainty/stress
tolerance facilitated higher rates of innovation (including patents, scientific publications, and
high-technology exports) across 35 developed countries. Effects for the other three cultural
indices were less consistent. Similarly, Rinne et al. (2013) replicated the positive relationship
of individualism, but not the other indices, with two creativity measures across 43 diverse
and 23 European countries.
Other research considered only individualism and replicated its positive relationship with
innovation across 62 (Taylor & Wilson 2012) and 83 (Bennett & Nikolaev 2021) diverse
countries, using sophisticated measures of innovation (e.g., citation-weighted patents). The
findings were replicated for Schwartz cultural autonomy and embeddedness and the metaanalytically updated Hofstede individualism scores (see Supplemental Appendix 2 for details).
Patent rates were the most frequently used measure of innovation. They are an objective
indicator, but they can be protected and commercialized only when strong formal institutions
(intellectual property rights and the rule of law) exist, because patent information is publicly
available. Since individualism correlates with economic development and the quality of
formal institutions (Hofstede 2001), positive effects for individualism may be confounded by
facilitating effects of formal institutions. Cross-cultural studies of individual-level innovation
can sidestep these confounding effects. Two studies corroborated the positive effects
especially of individualistic and uncertainty/stress-tolerant cultures for individual innovation
of consumers and organizational employees. First, Steenkamp et al. (1999) surveyed 3,283
consumers from 11 European Union countries about their innovativeness. Consumer
innovativeness is an individual consumer's propensity to deviate from established purchasing
patterns to trying new products/services (Steenkamp et al. 1999). Individualistic,
uncertainty/stress-tolerant, and masculine cultures facilitated consumer innovativeness.
Power distance was not investigated.
Second, culture can shape employees’ preferences of idea championing, that is, how new
ideas should be introduced to minimize resistance and increase adoption. Shane
(1995) surveyed employees in 68 diverse countries and found that, in uncertainty/stresstolerant cultures, employees preferred innovation champions to facilitate networks, engage
in transformational leadership, and bypass organizational norms and control/monitoring
mechanisms. An earlier version of this study spanning 30 diverse countries found that specific
innovation championing strategies aligned with specific cultural dimensions (Shane 1995).
High power distance aligned with preferences for seeking support from authority,
uncertainty/stress tolerance aligned with preferences for a flexible autonomous approach
(versus conforming to norms), and collectivism was weakly related to preferring championing
strategies that appealed for cross-functional support.
In related research on workplace innovation, two meta-analyses considered the crosscultural effectiveness of leadership styles on employee innovation using Hofstede indices
(Lee et al. 2020, Watts et al. 2020). Both investigated culture as a boundary condition, unlike
the research discussed above that focused on direct effects. These meta-analyses offer
insights into how leadership behavior can mitigate the effects of cultures detrimental to
innovation. They found compensatory effects (culture–leadership misfit) such that high
uncertainty/stress avoidance (Watts et al. 2020) and, to a lesser extent, high power distance
(Lee et al. 2020, supplementary material in Watts et al. 2020) rendered leadership more
consequential for employee innovation. Watts et al. (2020) specifically considered
transformational leadership in their meta-analysis of 81 effect sizes across 17 diverse
countries. Uncertainty/stress avoidance and high power distance strengthened the effect of
transformational leadership on employee innovation. In uncertainty-avoidant and powerdistant cultures, innovation is particularly stressful and risky and may challenge power
structures. Transformational leaders can compensate for this negative effect of culture by
providing direction, support, reassurance, and a positive vision of the future, thereby
mitigating employees’ uncertainty and stress (Watts et al. 2020). Lee et al. (2020) investigated
different leadership styles but considered fewer primary studies and countries than did Watts
et al. (2020) and found fewer moderating effects of power distance.
Innovation and cultural practices/norms.
Research on cultural practices/norms and innovation departed from the assumption of
culture fit. Specifically, innovation as a variance-inducing activity that involves
experimentation and is driven by individual agency would be more legitimate in cultures
practicing individualism and in cultures with loose social norms that tolerate deviance.
Overall, the findings were consistent with this perspective: Innovation thrived in cultures
practicing in-group individualism (just as it did in cultures that valued individualism) and
where cultural norms were loose (rather than tight). Evidence that some innovation was
nevertheless possible in tight cultures points to culturally appropriate types of innovation and
cultural differences in the understanding of innovation. I next outline findings on
individualism practices followed by research on cultural tightness. I return to cultural
differences in the nature of innovation in the following section.
Only one study investigated GLOBE practices. Taylor & Wilson (2012) used GLOBE practices as
a robustness check for their findings, reported above, that Hofstede individualism benefitted
innovation. They found that in-group individualism (versus collectivism) practices facilitated
innovation equally. Unexpectedly, institutional collectivism practices that encourage societal
risk sharing also supported innovation. This may be because innovation often entails wider
benefits for society in addition to generating returns for the innovator.
Four studies reported evidence that cultural looseness (versus tightness) aided innovation
(Chua et al. 2015, 2019; Harrington & Gelfand 2014; Jackson et al. 2019). Harrington & Gelfand
(2014) found that tightness correlated negatively with per capita rates of patents and fine
artists across 50 US states. Similarly, decreasing cultural tightness in the United States from
1800 to 2000 was related to increasing innovation (Jackson et al. 2019), although whether
changes in cultural tightness preceded changes in innovation was unclear (Jackson et al.
2019).
Research by Chua and colleagues replicated these innovation-facilitating effects of cultural
looseness in the context of international crowdsourcing contests4 (Chua et al. 2015) and for
radical innovation across Chinese provinces (Chua et al. 2019). These studies additionally
offered insights into the underlying mechanisms of culture fit (self-selection, legitimacy,
aggregate trait view). First, in the crowdsourcing study, tightness led to self-selection:
Innovators residing in tight cultures were less likely to engage and succeed in idea contests.
Second, the same study found that new ideas/innovations were less legitimate in tight
cultures: Audiences (companies) based in tight cultures were less receptive to foreign ideas.
Third, the study of innovation across 31 Chinese provinces reported evidence aligned with
the aggregate trait view: Individuals living in tighter provinces scored lower on a measure of
trait creativity than those living in looser provinces.
While cultural looseness generally aided innovation, Chua and colleagues showed how
cultural tightness could also support innovation. First, crowdsourced ideas were more
acceptable when both the innovator and the adopter audience were from tight cultures
(Chua et al. 2015). Second, tightness benefitted incremental (as opposed to radical)
innovation. Specifically, in culturally tight Chinese provinces, gradual improvements were
preferred over radical changes (Chua et al. 2019). These findings point to cultural differences
in the understanding and nature of innovation.
Cultural differences in the nature and understanding of innovation.
A line of experimental research (see Leung & Wang 2015 for a review) demonstrated that
implicit theories of innovation vary across cultures. Asian cultures emphasize the usefulness
of ideas (important for implementation and diffusion of innovations), whereas Western
cultures value the generation of novel ideas over idea usefulness (Loewenstein & Mueller
2016, McCarthy et al. 2018). This observation accords with meta-analytic findings that idea
generation is more strongly related to idea implementation in cultures practicing in-group
collectivism (Sarooghi et al. 2015). In collectivist cultures, individuals and teams may generate
more useful ideas, which should be easier to implement. Additionally, collectivism facilitates
coordination within a team or organization, which should help its members work together
more effectively to implement ideas.
Further research explored how culturally contingent understandings of innovation are primed
and reinforced by the situational context to discern how changes to work settings may nullify
or reverse cultural differences in innovation (Erez & Nouri 2010). In an experiment, Nouri et
al. (2015) manipulated social context as working alone (individualistic), in a team
(collectivistic), or in the presence of a supervisor (power distant). American but not Chinese
participants produced fewer ideas and elaborated them less when they worked in a group,
which does not match the American cultural preference for individualism and triggers
concerns about social loafing. Chinese but not American participants produced fewer original
ideas in the presence of a supervisor, because the supervisor acts as a prime for power
distance, making idea usefulness, rather than novelty, a salient norm. Similarly, Liou & Lan
(2018) found that Asian–Western differences in innovation were evident only when cultural
norms were made salient by asking individuals both to select/evaluate (versus generate)
ideas, thereby priming usefulness (versus novelty) considerations, and to work in a group
(versus alone), thereby priming collectivism (versus individualism). Future research could
explore how work design itself (the organization of tasks for individuals and groups) may be
shaped by culture (Erez 2010) to further unpack cultural differences in innovation.
Implementing Ideas: Cross-Cultural Entrepreneurship Research
Figure 1b summarizes the findings discussed in this section. Specifically, there were no
consistent findings for research on cultural values and entrepreneurship, for both
methodological and substantive reasons, outlined below. By contrast, consistent findings
emerged for cultural practices, especially in line with the cultural social support perspective.
There was some evidence for a specific form of culture fit. I first discuss research using
cultural values and then turn to cultural practices/norms.
Entrepreneurship and cultural values.
Researchers applied the Hofstede, GLOBE, and Schwartz theories of cultural values. There
were no consistent findings overall for how cultural values related to entrepreneurship. For
instance, there was evidence for a negative, no, and a positive relationship with individualism
and uncertainty avoidance, even for studies using the same cultural framework. The
methodological reasons for this divergence include (a) differences in the diversity of country
samples (developed/affluent versus diverse countries), (b) varied measures of
entrepreneurship (self-employment, nascent and new entrepreneurship alone or combined),
and (c) use of original versus updated Hofstede indices. Methodological issues aside, one
study suggested that values as cultural ideals may not relate directly to entrepreneurship but
instead may shape intervening causal processes (Stephan & Pathak 2016). I next describe
research on cultural values and entrepreneurship in more detail.
Three studies used the Hofstede indices of culture. Harms & Groen (2017) employed metaanalytically derived updated indices (Taras et al. 2012). Across 29 diverse countries,
individualism was positively related to a country's rate of new entrepreneurs, in direct
contrast to an earlier study (Pinillos & Reyes 2011) that found a positive relationship of
collectivism with total early-stage entrepreneurship and with opportunity and necessity
entrepreneurship across 52 diverse countries. Harms & Groen (2017) also reported a negative
relationship for uncertainty avoidance; in contrast, Wennekers et al. (2007) found a positive
relationship of uncertainty avoidance with self-employment across 22 developed
countries. Harms & Groen (2017) found no significant relationships of masculinity and power
distance with the rate of new entrepreneurs and, furthermore, no relationship of culture
with high growth and social entrepreneurship.
The study by Pinillos & Reyes (2011) illustrates the importance of considering a diverse
sample of countries, both economically developed and developing, to avoid concerns about
range restriction in culture. While Hofstede collectivism related positively to
entrepreneurship across 52 diverse countries, GDP moderated this relationship, such that
individualism was positively related to entrepreneurship in more developed countries and
collectivism in less developed countries. Thus, considering solely developed countries can
lead to different, even opposite conclusions about the role of culture in entrepreneurship.
Two multilevel studies related Schwartz's cultural values to entrepreneurship. They identified
opposing effects for cultural values related to power distance. Whereas Morales et al.
(2019) found a positive effect of egalitarianism across 28 European countries, De Clercq et al.
(2013) identified a positive effect of hierarchy on entrepreneurship across 32 diverse
countries. Again, the opposing findings are likely due to the different countries considered
(mainly affluent European countries versus a mix of developed and developing countries),
although the two studies also used different measures of entrepreneurship (self-employment
versus total early-stage entrepreneurship). In addition, Morales et al. (2019) identified
positive effects of high mastery, and De Clercq et al. (2013) found a positive effect of high
embeddedness.
The study by Morales et al. (2019) was one of the few that directly tested the culture misfit
perspective by examining the (mis)alignment of personal and cultural values through crosslevel interaction effects. Individuals holding personal values associated with entrepreneurship
(high openness to change and self-enhancement) were more likely to be entrepreneurs in
countries where cultural values were stacked against entrepreneurship (low mastery and low
egalitarianism). Therefore, individual entrepreneurial values appeared to compensate for the
lack of entrepreneurial cultural values, suggesting that in more adverse cultural environments
only individuals who are strongly motivated by their values select into
entrepreneurship. Liñán et al. (2016) observed similar relationships across Spanish regions.
However, this culture misfit effect appeared to be specific to individual values. De Clercq et
al. (2013) found evidence of culture fit for individuals’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy related more strongly to being a start-up entrepreneur in more
individualistic and egalitarian cultures (low embeddedness and low hierarchy). There were no
similar alignment effects for individuals’ social or financial capital.
Two studies employing multilevel research using GLOBE cultural values found either no effect
(for in-group and institutional collectivism, rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance, performance
orientation, and assertiveness values; Autio et al. 2013) or a positive effect for rule-oriented
uncertainty-avoidance values and no effect for in-group collectivism values (Stephan & Pathak
2016). Both studies examined 42 diverse countries and used GEM entrepreneurship
indicators. Furthermore, Stephan & Pathak (2016) demonstrated that cultural values are
indirectly related to entrepreneurship via the shaping of cultural leadership ideals that
legitimize entrepreneurs as leaders. In contrast, the corresponding cultural practices had
direct effects on entrepreneurship. These authors suggested that cultural values reflect
societal ideals and aspirations that do not necessarily guide specific actions or translate into
practices (recall that cultural values and practices are typically negatively related).
Entrepreneurship and cultural practices/norms.
Unlike research on cultural values, research on GLOBE cultural practice and entrepreneurship
offered more consistent findings across studies and measures of entrepreneurship. With one
exception, these studies used GLOBE cultural practices. The exception was a study of cultural
tightness–looseness (Harms & Groen 2017), which found no relationship between tightness,
either on its own or in interaction with the Hofstede indices, and different types of
entrepreneurship. It seems too early to draw conclusions about cultural tightness on the
basis of only one study. In light of the consistent findings for tightness and innovation (see
the previous section), one explanation is that most entrepreneurship may not deviate
strongly from existing norms and thus may benefit from medium levels of tightness.
Studies of GLOBE cultural practices and entrepreneurship typically considered diverse
countries. Across studies, the first and clearest pattern of findings was that, in line with the
cultural support perspective, socially supportive cultural practices facilitate entrepreneurship
in its different forms. There was also some evidence supporting the proposed mechanisms
through which socially supportive culture facilitates entrepreneurship (e.g., enhanced
experimentation). Second, some evidence was also consistent with the culture fit
perspective: Performance-based culture was related to the quality of formal institutions and
to formal entrepreneurship. This may explain why performance-based culture showed no
relationship with GEM entrepreneurship measures that include both formal and informal
entrepreneurship. Third, evidence from cross-level studies helps us better understand this
culture fit. Findings indicated that, to succeed in individualistic, performance-based cultures,
starting entrepreneurs need a strong sense of personal agency and confidence
(entrepreneurial self-efficacy). Fourth, more women were self-employed in cultures
practicing gender egalitarianism and medium levels of in-group collectivism.
GLOBE cultural practices were used in two ways, both designed to avoid multicollinearity
arising from the correlations among the nine cultural practice dimensions. Researchers either
selected a small number of practice/norms dimensions guided by theory or used two higherorder dimensions of cultural practices. The two higher-order dimensions were derived from a
second-order factor analysis of GLOBE cultural practices by Stephan & Uhlaner (2010),
building on research by Peterson & Castro (2006). The first factor, performance-based
culture, relates to cultural norms that reward individual accomplishments (versus
relationships or position) and view future-oriented planning as a way to achieve high
performance (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). Performance-based culture combines high future
and performance orientation with high rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance, low power
distance, and low in-group collectivism practices. The second factor, socially supportive
culture, describes “a positive societal climate in which people support each other” (Stephan
& Uhlaner 2010, p. 1351) and combines high humane orientation5 with low assertiveness.
Performance-based culture correlates positively with Hofstede individualism and negatively
with Hofstede power distance and stress/uncertainty avoidance. Socially supportive culture
does not correlate substantially with the Hofstede dimensions.
Consistent with the cultural social support perspective, highly socially supportive cultures can
help entrepreneurs mobilize informal support and resources. They also help make
entrepreneurs feel safe to experiment and thereby empower them to take the risk of setting
up a business. Country-level and multilevel studies found that socially supportive cultures
facilitate (different types of) entrepreneurship as measured by GEM, including new
entrepreneurship, established business ownership, innovation-oriented entrepreneurship,
independent-opportunity entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship [e.g., across 42
diverse countries (Autio et al. 2013), 40 diverse countries (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010), 26
diverse countries (Stephan et al. 2015), and 52 diverse countries (Thai & Turkina 2014)].
In these studies, performance-based culture was not consistently related to these forms of
entrepreneurship, but it was related to formal entrepreneurship (i.e., the per capita rate of
newly registered firms as reported by the World Bank; Thai & Turkina 2014), which requires
future-oriented planning. It also fits with evidence that performance-based culture shapes
the quality of formal institutions supporting entrepreneurship (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010).
One mechanism through which cultural social support is presumed to influence
entrepreneurship is by encouraging experimentation (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010). Laskovaia et
al. (2017) tested this argument in a study across 24 diverse countries. In mediation analyses,
they found that socially supportive cultures positively influenced new venture performance
through stimulating entrepreneurs to use effectual decision-making characterized by
experimentation and flexibility. By contrast, performance-based cultures were negatively
related to venture performance mediated by enhanced causal decision-making, which
involves future-oriented planning. Stephan & Uhlaner (2010) tested additional mechanisms
and found that socially supportive cultures help increase the legitimacy of entrepreneurship,
suggesting that such cultures are more inclusive of nonmainstream career choices.
Turning to studies examining specific cultural practices, Autio et al. (2013) found that
performance orientation was positively related, and rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance and
institutional collectivism were negatively related, to new entrepreneurship. They controlled
for several variables, including in-group collectivism and assertiveness practices. Only
institutional collectivism was related positively to new entrepreneurs’ expectations to create
new jobs (high-growth entrepreneurship), which the authors suggest is due to the greater
willingness for collective risk sharing in these cultures, in which stakeholders recognize the
societal value of new job creation and therefore are more willing to support high-growth
entrepreneurs. However, high-growth entrepreneurship has low stability over time (Stephan
2020), suggesting that formal institutions, rather than stable differences in culture, may drive
cross-country variation in high-growth entrepreneurship. Future research could test these
competing explanations of formal versus informal institutions, especially as institutional
collectivism also includes an assessment of perceived formal institutions.
In an extension of research by Autio et al. (2013), Wennberg et al. (2013) found that
institutional individualism (versus collectivism), rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance (versus
tolerance), and high performance orientation strengthened the positive relationship of
entrepreneurial self-efficacy with being a start-up entrepreneur. The effects were less
pronounced or not significant for fear of failure. This reflects notions of culture fit: To
succeed in individualistic performance-based cultures, starting entrepreneurs need to have a
strong sense of personal agency and confidence. Recall that De Clercq et al. (2013) reported
similar effects for individualistic and egalitarian cultures (assessed through Schwartz values),
whereas Hopp & Stephan (2012) found similar results for self-efficacy- and performancebased community cultures.
Across countries, gender stereotypes of entrepreneurship are masculine (Gupta et al.
2009). Bullough et al. (2017) found that gender egalitarian cultures facilitated women's selfemployment across 44 diverse countries. Additionally, medium levels of in-group collectivism
practices enabled women's entrepreneurship by allowing them to draw on support from
their families without requiring that they prioritize family ties over their own goals. This
relationship was visible in countries with either very high or very low institutional
collectivism. At medium levels of institutional collectivism, a country may have institutions
that balance potential drawbacks of high and low in-group collectivism.
Performing: Firm-Level Cross-Cultural Innovation/Entrepreneurship Research
Variance-inducing firm strategies such as innovation and EO (a strategy combining innovation
with risk-taking and proactivity; Lumpkin & Dess 1996) enhance firms’ competitiveness and
performance (Mueller et al. 2013, Rauch et al. 2009). Firms pursuing variance-inducing
strategies innovate to develop new offerings, become more efficient by innovating processes,
and are more proactive and take more risks in exploring new markets and opportunities.
They often capitalize on first-mover advantages, as they are quick to introduce new offerings
to markets, yet this comes with a risk of also being quick to fail, which would give rise to
increased variance in firm performance. How effective variance-inducing strategies are in
boosting firm success can depend on the national culture in which firms operate. This is the
focus of cross-cultural research on performing, which investigates national culture as a
boundary condition of the firm-level relationship between a firm's use of variance-inducing
strategies and its performance. The cross-cultural studies on performing discussed in this
section investigated mainly individualism and uncertainty avoidance. Other cultural
dimensions (e.g., power distance) were less frequently studied, and evidence was less
consistent.
Across studies, collectivism (versus individualism) strengthened the relationship of varianceinducing strategies with firm performance. This enabling effect of collectivism was found to
be independent of how collectivism was assessed (by either Hofstede or GLOBE practices of
in-group or institutional collectivism). Collectivist cultures appear to enable firms to generate
higher returns from variance-inducing strategies by enhancing collaboration within the firm
and with external stakeholders. This enhanced coordination and feeling of mutual obligation
among the firm's stakeholders arguably help create efficient processes, mobilize resources,
and support stakeholder adoption of the firm's innovative offerings (cf. Nakata & Sivakumar
1996). The enabling effect of collectivism appears to align with a culture misfit explanation
and contrasts with the innovation-facilitating effects of individualism in the originating phase.
Yet the enabling effect of collectivism is consistent with the different demands and tasks in
the performing versus originating phase: turning ideas into reliably delivered offerings for
high firm performance versus creating novelty.
Studies also supported culture fit arguments for uncertainty avoidance, suggesting that it was
easier for firms to derive performance benefits from variance-inducing strategies in
uncertainty-tolerant cultures. Uncertainty-tolerant cultures allow firms more flexibility, and it
would be more legitimate for firms to introduce novelty in uncertainty-tolerant (versus avoidant) cultures. For instance, customers would be more willing to try new
products/services and stakeholders would be more supportive of innovative and
entrepreneurial firms that frequently introduce new offerings in new markets, experiment,
and take risks. Moreover, implementing and commercializing innovations may require
generating new ideas to overcome obstacles and setbacks as well as flexibility in adapting
one's approach (Bledow et al. 2009), which is easier in uncertainty-tolerant cultures. The
findings were consistent whether uncertainty avoidance was assessed as Hofstede stress
tolerance (versus avoidance) or GLOBE rule flexibility (versus rule orientation).
In terms of methodology, it is difficult and expensive to conduct primary studies of firms and
firm performance across diverse cultures. Thus, evidence in this section stems primarily from
meta-analyses that integrated primary studies conducted in different countries and were
therefore able to test moderation effects of culture. To do so, each primary study included in
a meta-analysis was assigned a culture score on the basis of its country of data collection.
Moderation effects of culture were assessed via meta-regressions or median splits (e.g.,
comparing low- and high-individualism cultures). Studies discussed in this section often
considered only one cultural index and a limited number of countries, and typically did not
control for alternative explanations (e.g., national wealth).
Turning to the specific findings, Rosenbusch et al. (2011) found that the performance of small
firms benefitted more from innovation in Hofstede collectivist (versus individualist) cultures.
Their meta-analysis synthesized 36 effect sizes across 15 mostly developed countries. Mueller
et al. (2013) extended these findings to all types of firms, not just small firms, and used
GLOBE practices. They found that radical (explorative) and incremental (exploitative)
innovations mattered more for firm performance in rule-flexible, uncertainty-tolerant (versus
rule-oriented) cultures. Additionally, institutional collectivism and high power distance
strengthened the relationship of radical but not incremental innovation with firm
performance. Thus, the performance benefits of incremental innovations were less
contingent on culture than were those of radical innovations. The latter are riskier projects
that likely benefit from enhanced collective risk sharing and cooperation in institutionally
collectivist countries as well as from top-down resource allocation to high-risk projects in
power-distant cultures. Mueller et al. (2013) analyzed 46 and 42 effect sizes and controlled
for alternative explanations but included little information about the countries included.
A primary study of 857 business owners/managers across five countries also used GLOBE
practices and found similar effects for collectivism but not for uncertainty avoidance (Rauch
et al. 2013). Innovation was more closely related to the growth of small firms in (in-group)
collectivist and nonassertive cultures. Higher cultural rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance
also strengthened the innovation–firm growth relationship. Power distance had no effect.
This study's findings for rule-oriented uncertainty avoidance were the opposite of those
obtained in Mueller et al.'s (2013) meta-analysis, likely due to the smaller sample (of cultures
and firms) and, therefore, the inability of Rauch et al. (2013) to control for alternative
country-level explanations.
Further research considered EO, a firm's strategic orientation to innovate, be proactive, and
take risks (Lumpkin & Dess 1996). In small firms, the EO of the firm is often a reflection of the
entrepreneur's personal approach (Rauch et al. 2009). The first meta-analysis on EO and firm
performance identified heterogeneity of effect sizes across countries and thus suggested (but
did not test) moderating effects of culture (Rauch et al. 2009). Saeed et al. (2014) expanded
the meta-analysis by Rauch et al. (2009), synthesizing 177 effect sizes across 41 diverse
countries and analyzing the moderating effects of GLOBE practices. They found that the EO–
firm performance relationship was stronger in cultures that were more in-group collectivist,
more rule flexible (uncertainty tolerant), and more egalitarian (low power distance).
First, culture can shape the effectiveness of drivers of innovation. In an extension of the
results on collectivism described above, Saeed et al. (2015) found that Hofstede collectivism
enables firms to better mobilize ideas internally and externally for innovation, suggesting that
the coordination-enhancing effects of collectivism help firms source and translate ideas into
new offerings. Specifically, both firms’ internal capabilities and firms’ orientation toward
external stakeholders and customers were more consequential for firm innovation in
collectivist (versus individualistic) cultures. A meta-analysis by Eisend et al. (2016) focused on
organizational culture as one important firm internal capability for innovation. It found
evidence for specific culture fit: Firms saw higher innovation success when their
organizational culture aligned with the national culture (assessed with Hofstede indices). For
instance, cohesive organizational cultures (so-called clan cultures) led to greater innovation
success in collectivist national cultures and flexible “adhocracy” organizational cultures in
uncertainty/stress-tolerant national cultures.
Second, culture can strengthen the impact of efficiency-oriented strategies on the
performance of small and entrepreneurial firms but not on resources. In their metaanalysis, Brinckmann et al. (2010) found that business planning, an efficiency-oriented
strategy, had a stronger positive impact on small-firm performance in uncertainty/stresstolerant (versus -avoidant) cultures (assessed with the Hofstede index). This is similar to the
enabling effect of uncertainty-tolerant cultures for variance-inducing strategies. In
uncertainty-tolerant cultures, planning is likely more adaptive as opposed to rigid, enhancing
its benefits for small-firm performance. In another meta-analysis, Rosenbusch et al.
(2013) found no moderating effect for Hofstede uncertainty/stress avoidance on the
relationship between venture capital investment and firm performance. Their finding is
similar to that by De Clercq et al. (2013), reported above, wherein culture did not moderate
the relationship of individual financial resources and engagement in entrepreneurship. This is
consistent with the notion that financial resources are a significant constraint for
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial businesses and thus a “strong” situation (Mischel 1977),
leaving little scope for culture to shape behavior.
From Cross-Cultural to Multicultural Experience and Cultural Diversity
While my overview has centered on cross-cultural comparative research, the multicultural
experience of individuals—their exposure to other cultures—and cultural diversity in teams
can also stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship. Much research has elaborated on how,
when, and what type of multicultural experience aids innovation (e.g., requiring a certain
length and depth of exposure to another culture that is substantially different from one's
own and being willing to process and learn from that experience; Gocłowska et al.
2018, Leung et al. 2008). Moreover, a meta-analysis found that team innovation benefitted
from deep-level cultural diversity in values, perspectives, and cognition; from culturally
diverse teams being co-located; and from working on interdependent, complex, and
intellectual tasks (Wang et al. 2019). By contrast, there were fewer or even detrimental
effects for teams that were diverse on the surface level (i.e., in country and ethnicity/cultural
backgrounds) but that were not co-located, worked independently, and worked on simple or
judgmental tasks (Wang et al. 2019). In summary, diversity benefitted innovation when it led
to an exchange of divergent perspectives and integrative joint problem-solving.
By contrast, there was little research on how multicultural experience may benefit
entrepreneurship. Promising evidence indicated that multicultural experience can aid
opportunity recognition in the start-up process (Vandor & Franke 2016) and help ventures
internationalize (Reuber & Fischer 1997). Understanding the role of multicultural experience
can offer insights into the potential strengths of refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs, with
important implications for societal cohesion in light of increasing global migration (United
Nations 2021).
Best Practices
More rigorous research helps prevent misleading conclusions about the role of culture, and
thus the impressions of inconsistent findings that the last review noted (Hayton & Cacciotti
2013). This review has illustrated that conclusions about the role of culture can differ if
cultural values or practices/norms are investigated and if different cultural dimensions are
tested across studies. The challenge is to consider multiple cultural dimensions and
potentially their interactions while avoiding multicollinearity. Theory should guide the choice
of cultural approach (values versus practices/norms) and cultural dimensions, and the
dimensions chosen should offer nonredundant information. For instance, the Hofstede
individualism and power distance dimensions overlap significantly (Bond 2002). At the same
time, the two higher-order dimensions of GLOBE practices, performance-based and socially
supportive culture (Stephan & Uhlaner 2010), are designed to sidestep multicollinearity for
research on cultural practices/norms. To enhance the robustness of cross-cultural research,
robustness tests could be included to provide evidence that findings replicate across cultural
frameworks. For instance, some of the Hofstede dimensions mix values and practices; thus,
robustness checks with Schwartz cultural values and GLOBE practices can help us understand
whether values or practices/norms are driving the results. Robustness checks with the metaanalytically derived updated Hofstede indicators (Taras et al. 2012) can alleviate concerns
about Hofstede measures not reflecting current culture.
Analyses should apply appropriate controls for alternative explanations. As discussed above,
the most salient alternative explanation is the level of economic development (GDP), which
covaries with several dimensions of culture and implies different levels of resources.
Depending on the research question, formal institutions such as the rule of law and
regulations may be alternative explanations for the effects of culture, or they may interact
with or be shaped by culture (Williamson 2000).
When multilevel data are available (e.g., innovations within countries, individuals within
countries), they should be analyzed with multilevel methods to avoid biases and erroneous
conclusions (Peterson et al. 2012). Multilevel modeling also offers opportunities for new and
interesting research questions, such as multilevel moderation (Wennberg et al. 2013) and
mediation tests (Stephan & Pathak 2016) or tests of misfit arguments via frog-pond models
(Kozlowski & Klein 2000).
When moderation analyses are conducted, they should be theoretically motivated rather
than aiming to test for all possible moderation effects, which can lead to spurious findings.
Previous meta-analyses were often constrained by a small number of primary studies and
tested moderating effects of culture with bivariate sample split analyses (e.g., comparing
effect sizes for high- versus low-individualism countries). Once more primary studies are
available, meta-analytical regression analyses (MARAs) with control variables should be
performed to rule out alternative explanations (Combs et al. 2019).
Practical Implications
Approaching culture from a values versus practices/norms perspective yields different
practical implications. Values are stable. Short-term value changes (e.g., in response to crises
or shocks) are temporary; rather, values change over generations, in line with institutional
changes and resource levels (Manfredo et al. 2017). Thus, seeking to enhance
innovation/entrepreneurship through the instigation of widespread value change seems
futile. By contrast, cultural practices/norms can be relatively easier to change, as I discuss
further below.
Instead of aiming at value change, researchers must understand a country's existing cultural
values to be able to devise strategies for innovation/entrepreneurship that leverage or adapt
to this cultural context. An example is the research on different cultural understandings of
innovation, which revealed an emphasis on usefulness (versus novelty) in Asian and collective
(versus Western and individualistic) cultures. Usefulness is critical for innovations to be
implemented and adopted and, thus, to yield business and societal benefits. Similarly,
individualism facilitates originating ideas, whereas collectivism aids performing (i.e.,
commercializing innovations for firm success). Organizations and entrepreneurs could
leverage this knowledge through internationalizing (i.e., setting up collaborations or joint
ventures across cultures). Teams or firms focused on creating novel solutions would be based
in individualistic cultures, and teams or firms based in collectivistic cultures would focus on
developing useful solutions and on implementing and commercializing innovations.
Moreover, I have discussed research showing that altering work and task settings (e.g., team
versus individual work, task focus on idea generation versus evaluation) can temporarily
prime and override effects of culture, and that transformational leadership can compensate
for the detrimental effect of uncertainty avoidance on individual and team innovation. These
findings imply that organizations and entrepreneurs could temporally alter their work design
or leadership style to compensate for detrimental culture effects in a particular phase of the
innovation process (e.g., enhancing collectivism if the focus is on commercializing innovations
and the organization/entrepreneur is based in an individualistic culture).
Crowdsourcing offers another mechanism to harness the strengths of different cultures
(Chua et al. 2015). Organizations and entrepreneurs could make targeted efforts to solicit
ideas from individualistic cultures to obtain novel ideas and from collectivistic cultures to
obtain useful ideas. Yet organizations, entrepreneurs, and crowdsourcing platforms should
not only consider culture in terms of the supply of ideas but should also be mindful that
evaluators of ideas within their organization may apply similarly culturally informed
templates in selecting ideas. Training could raise awareness of such templates to maximize
the beneficial effects of culture.
Policy makers seeking to instill a “culture of innovation and entrepreneurship” (EESC 2013)
may build on insights from research on cultural practices/norms. These practices are rooted
in collective patterns of behaving and acting, which are relatively easier to change than
values (Manfredo et al. 2017). Change efforts may target educational settings (e.g., schools,
universities), for example, to develop generalized norms of kindness and cooperation in line
with the cultural social support perspective. Alternatively, they could take the form of
training or utilize media campaigns to alter perceptions of what is legitimate and common
behavior. For instance, campaigns could use the findings in this review to reframe
entrepreneurship, which is often regarded as a solitary, well-planned, “heroic” pursuit, by
demonstrating that it typically involves experimentation and relies on the support of others.
This may also help attract more talent into entrepreneurship, especially in more
individualistic and performance-oriented cultures, rather than reinforcing the self-selection
effects documented in these cultures, where mainly people with high self-efficacy dare to
start a business. Corporate communication campaigns may communicate the beneficial
effects of uncertainty tolerance identified in research on the originating and performing
phases to enhance innovation. Campaigns in uncertainty-avoidant cultures could reframe the
stresses associated with innovating in these cultures as indicating challenge and as a normal
part of the innovation process. This reframing could be supplemented by training to help
innovators and entrepreneurs manage stress.
Firms seeking growth are increasingly turning their attention to export markets when
domestic markets saturate. However, firms need to decide whether to offer the same products
and services regardless of borders, or to attempt new ideas and come up with new products
and services to better satisfy customers' needs outside domestic markets; the latter calls for a
decision to focus on a customer-centric strategy and innovativeness. Indeed, to achieve
superior performance in an international market, a venture needs to develop capabilities that
create value for foreign customers via products and services that satisfy their needs (Lu and
Beamish, 2001). For example, a study of technological exporters shows that firms need to
focus simultaneously on the development of innovations and on understanding current and
future customer needs to achieve high export performance (Hortinha et al., 2011). Therefore,
to quote Peter F. Drucker (1954): organizations require two essential basic functions:
‘marketing and innovation’, which applies especially to exporters.
Since the 1990s, a plethora of research examines different strategic orientations and their
performance effects in different business contexts (Grinstein, 2008). However, more research
is needed on how different strategic orientations or a combination of these affect business
performance especially in international markets (Cadogan, 2012).
Also, the relationships between different strategic orientations are far from coherent or
unresolved in literature (Im and Workman, 2004; Tajeddini, 2010). This causes complexity in
exporters' decision-making: how to balance between different strategic marketing orientations
in international markets?
Firms may pursue different strategic orientations (e.g. market, sales, brand, technology,
entrepreneurial and employee) or a combination of these. According to the strategic choice
perspective, there is no universally beneficial strategic choice, and strategic orientations
therefore require development that considers external opportunities and threats (Zhou et al.,
2005). Consequently, different environments may need a specific strategic resource
deployment that results in superior business performance (Venkatraman and Prescott,
1990). For exporters, which strategic choice they invest in is a crucial decision, especially as
international marketing decisions are critical for international marketing success
(Hughes et al., 2019). When pursuing their goals, international entrepreneurial firms decide
about how to effectively balance strategic orientations to mobilize resources (Oviatt and
McDougall, 1994; Li, 2013) which, however, is often a mixture of rational planning and
intuitive improvisation (Hughes et al., 2018). For an effective identification and exploitation
of international opportunities, it is necessary to have strategic orientations that support the
sensing of opportunities with respect to target markets (Navarro et al., 2010) and engage in
proactive exploration of opportunities by strengthening activities that help a firm achieve
consistently superior customer experience and long-lasting customer relationships (Payne and
Frow, 2005).
We argue that together with customer orientation customer relationship orientation constitute
a strong customer-centric view of marketing strategy that aims to “make the best use of
customer information to better manage customer value and firm profitability” (Aksoy et al.,
2008). Customer-centric marketing strategies originate in customer and market orientation,
which takes customer preferences into account in value creation (Sheth et al., 2000). This is
essential, especially among companies operating in international markets, because customer
orientation enables firms to enter new markets successfully (Park et al., 2017; Jantunen et al.,
2005). Indeed, customer and market knowledge may become critical for shaping international
marketing strategy, because they also enable firms to make better decisions regarding the
standardization or adaptation of international marketing programs (Katzikeas et al.,
2006; Boso et al., 2012). Decision making regarding marketing mix standardization vs.
adoption in international markets has become a subject of significant debate because of its
antecedents and performance outcomes (Theodosiou and Leonidou, 2003).
However, this study argues that focusing solely on identifying and satisfying customer needs
may not be enough; instead, firms should also pay attention to the culture, values and
activities that enable them to build long-lasting customer relationships. Such a strategic
emphasis on the relationships of a firm refers to customer relationship orientation
(Jayachandran et al., 2005). Recent literature proposes that the interactions between the buyer
and seller are considered the most valuable channel of customer knowledge that firms may
utilize in decision making (Tseng and Wu, 2014; Salojärvi et al., 2015).
This study further suggests that the performance effects of customer-centric strategies may
fully materialize only in association with mediators such as innovativeness. The literature
suggests that customer relationships bring about ideas which may then facilitate the
development and decision making of product innovations (e.g. Walter et al.,
2001; Salojärvi et al., 2015) that are regarded as a necessity to enjoy enhanced business
performance, especially among export firms in highly competitive international markets
(Boso et al., 2013; Efrat et al., 2016). Along with market orientation, innovativeness is one of
the key strategic orientations in the marketing literature. Although customer orientation is
widely perceived as a driver of innovation (Wang et al., 2016), previous studies also find
conflicting results concerning whether there is a significant relationship between customer
orientation and innovativeness (Tajeddini, 2010). It is therefore necessary to test whether the
relationship marketing paradigm challenges the traditional models of innovativeness and
performance (see e.g. Woodside, 2004; Hurley et al., 2005). For export firms, the critical
question regarding decision making is: is it worth adopting a customer-centric strategy, and
how does it affect business growth?
To the best of our knowledge, customer orientation and customer relationship orientation
have not been examined simultaneously on innovativeness and performance in export
markets. This study seeks to establish whether customer relationship orientation together with
customer orientation enables innovativeness that in turn enhances growth among exporters.
The role and effectiveness of customer orientation or customer relationship orientation on
innovativeness and performance remains unknown or has not been consistently demonstrated
in previous empirical findings (e.g. Noble et al., 2002).
This study therefore contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, it provides
evidence concerning how customer-centric strategies contribute to innovativeness and
business growth among exporters. Second, it further studies the role of innovativeness
between the effects of the customer and customer relationship orientations on the business
growth which researchers have called for (e.g. Joshi, 2016; Chen et al., 2018). Third, this
study provides evidence that the two different orientations forming customer-centric
strategies, namely customer orientation and customer relationship orientation, are empirically
distinct concepts, and that they simultaneously affect innovativeness and firm performance.
Against this background, the rest of the paper proceeds as follows. First, it introduces the
study's theoretical background and research concepts. Second, it develops the conceptual
model and research hypotheses. The third section describes the questionnaire, data collection
and methods. Fourth, the paper reports findings and draws conclusions. Finally, it discusses
limitations and potential directions for future research.
Theoretical background
Since the 1990s, the paradigmatic shift from transactional to relationship marketing has
revealed the importance of customer knowledge and interaction in the creation of business
value. However, the creation of profitable customer relationships often assumes the need for
more versatile customer information than traditional transactional marketing can provide
(Davenport et al., 2001; Gebert et al., 2003; Rollins et al., 2012). Several studies
(e.g. Gustafsson et al., 2005; Rust and Zahorik, 1993) report that satisfaction positively
affects customer retention, which in turn yields a positive impact on a firm's financial gains
(Edvardsson et al., 2000). It is thus evident that such customer-centric strategies may also
provide valuable customer insights for exporters and various business development purposes
such as product innovation (Camarero, 2007; Walter et al., 2001).
The emphasis of customer relationship management (CRM) on satisfying and retaining
customers requires that firms actively work toward understanding and fulfilling customer
needs, and constantly evaluate and invest in customer relationships (Grönroos,
1994). Consequently, satisfying and retaining current customers represent the fundamental
objective of relationship marketing (Ahmad and Buttle, 2001; Grönroos,
1994; Gustafsson et al., 2005). Firms exhibiting high levels of customer relationship
orientation should therefore be able to retain their customers, given that the entire
organization is oriented toward such a goal.
Customer relationship management activities help a firm collect and use customer and market
data to build a consistently superior customer experience and long-lasting customer
relationships (Payne and Frow, 2005). Various knowledge management technologies and
CRM tools can be applied in gathering information, and for marketing and sales purposes,
which also enables more individual interactions with customers (Shoemaker, 2001). As a firm
grows larger, more resources are available to build this database and related analytical tools,
which can be used for customer profitability analysis and to calculate the lifetime value of a
customer (Dowling and Uncles, 1997).
Customer orientation can be considered a search routine that incorporates customer
expectations and preferences in new product development and product (offering)
modifications (i.e. innovativeness). It also promotes closer interactions with customers,
enhancing incremental improvements that move products toward optimal levels of quality,
features and costs (Voss and Voss, 2008). Firms' relationships with customers thus have
innovation and scout functions that help them develop process and product innovations by
obtaining ideas from customers and having access to information about how markets are
developing (Walter et al., 2001).
Hence, the development and implementation of customer information into CRM activities are
keys to developing customer-centric and innovation capabilities. It follows that the effective
use of market information with the organization could directly affect the CRM (Javalgi et al.,
2006). Customer focused organizations emphasize the increasing importance of customer
satisfaction and loyalty, which stimulate firms to seek organizational ways to better serve
their customers. Therefore, CRM helps a firm develop strong ties with customers and achieve
customer loyalty. Hence, loyal customers are more profitable than disloyal customers
(Dowling, 2002). In their work, Javalgi et al. (2006) contend that the interrelationships
between satisfaction, loyalty, retention and profitability are consequences of strong customerorientated capabilities.
Customer orientation and customer relationship orientation
Customer orientation is an organization-wide philosophy that sets
customer needs and interests first (Deshpandé et al., 1993). As one of the
three components of market orientation, customer orientation involves
the activities of gathering customer information and disseminating it
throughout the organization (Narver and Slater, 1990). It is rooted in firm
processes and management practices as it covers a variety of activities
related to generating and processing information regarding existing
customer needs (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). Customer orientation thus
refers to an organization-wide focus on assessing and meeting customer
needs (Green et al., 2007; Appiah-Adu and Singh, 1998), with the
emphasis on customer understanding and satisfaction (Appiah-Adu and
Singh, 1998).
Previous studies analyze customer orientation at the organizational
(e.g. Strong and Harris, 2004) and individual (e.g. Macintosh, 2007) levels.
Studies at the organizational level are associated with market orientation
and firms' behavior regarding their customers, while at the individual
level, the focus is on the interpersonal contact between employees and
customers and on employees' customer-oriented behavior and attitudes
(Stock and Hoyer, 2005). Such studies show that high levels of customer
orientation precede entry into international markets (Dess et al.,
1997; Jantunen et al., 2005; Ripollés et al., 2012). To do this, customeroriented firms constantly scan and monitor the customer needs of
international markets for new opportunities and strengthen their
competitive positions in them (Covin and Miles, 1999; De Clercq et al.,
2005). Customer orientation may thus assist decisions regarding the
standardization or adaptation of international marketing strategy
(Katzikeas et al., 2006). According to Vrontis (2003), customer orientation
may encourage firms to use an adaptation strategy, because this enables
firms to respond more easily to export customer needs and preferences,
thus allowing them to benefit from market tailoring.
In line with Salojärvi et al. (2015), we argue that customer and customer
relationship orientation are two distinct concepts. Customer relationship
orientation refers to an organizational culture that considers customer
relationships as valuable assets (Jayachandran et al., 2005). It is rooted in
the organization's mindset, values and norms, and affects every
interaction a firm has with its customers (Day, 2000). It also focuses on
shared values that are consistent with CRM and related to the
organization of the firm around customers and their needs, as well as the
incentives that help the firm focus on CRM (Jayachandran et al., 2005). In
this sense, customer relationship orientation enables CRM activities. In a
customer relationship-oriented firm, employees acknowledge the
importance of customer retention, share customer information freely and
serve customers slightly differently according to the potential value they
are expected to bring to the firm in the future (Day, 2003).
While we argue that customer and customer relationship orientation are
two clearly separated concepts, they are strongly linked. Customer
relationships are focal in a marketing concept, which in turn forms the
foundation of market orientation (Grönroos, 1989). Yet, the relational
perspective is missing from the dominant conceptualizations of market
orientation (Helfert et al., 2002), and hence of customer orientation as a
component of it. However, customer orientation forms one of the
philosophical bases of CRM (Ryals and Knox, 2001) that is considered an
effective approach for gathering, analyzing and converting customer
information into managerial action (Ernst et al., 2011).
Customer orientation is an enabler of customer relationship tasks
because it focuses on understanding customer needs and committing to
customers (Helfert et al., 2002). Moreover, customer information is focal
in building and maintaining customer relationships (Jayachandran et al.,
2005). Consequently, the general belief is that customer orientation
should foster stronger relationships (Macintosh, 2007). However, in the
customer relationship-oriented approach, managerial actions are not
based on distant market research studies, but direct customer feedback
available in longer-term relationships offers an even more valuable
channel of customer knowledge (Salojärvi et al., 2015). The emphasis of
customer relationship orientation on satisfying and retaining customers
necessitates that firms actively work toward understanding and fulfilling
customer needs, and constantly evaluate and invest in customer
relationships (Grönroos, 1994).
Customer orientation, customer relationship orientation and
innovativeness
This study further hypothesizes that customer orientation and customer
relationship orientation enhance innovativeness. Innovation refers to the
generation, approval and realization of new ideas, products and services
and processes (Calantone et al., 2002). Hurley and Hult (1998) suggest
that innovation consists of two components, namely innovativeness and
the capacity to innovate. Innovativeness refers to the aspect of a firm's
culture that relates to its openness to new ideas. Meanwhile, the capacity
to innovate refers to the firm's ability to successfully adopt or implement
new ideas, processes and/or products or services. This study focuses
mainly on the aspect of innovativeness. According to Lumpkin and Dess
(1996), innovativeness reflects a firm's willingness to support new ideas,
creativity and experimentation in the development of offerings to
customers (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Furthermore, organizational
innovativeness is the degree to which a firm deviates from existing
practices in creating new products and/or processes (Deshpande et al.,
1993).
For example, Wang et al. (2016) state that customer orientation is a driver
of innovation. As firms pursue a better knowledge of their customers and
subsequently use this information to provide them with the products and
services that best meet their needs, they probably need to focus on
innovating to achieve this goal – that is, their current processes, products
and services may be enough to satisfy current customer needs, but
quickly fall short when needs change and grow more complex. A better
understanding of customers therefore serves as an incentive for
developing innovativeness to keep up with customer needs. While there
are also conflicting results (Tajeddini, 2010), the findings of Theoharakis
and Hooley (2008) show that customer orientation consistently leads to
higher levels of firm innovativeness across countries. Moreover, prior
research shows that customer orientation positively affects service and
product innovations in service and manufacturing firms (Wang et al.,
2016), and the innovativeness of international joint ventures (Park et al.,
2017). It also serves as an enabler of Born Globals' innovativeness
(Kim et al., 2011). In particular, for firms operating in turbulent
international environments, nurturing customer relationships is
particularly important (La Rocca and Snehota, 2014; Navarro et al.,
2010), because an effective product/service development can
complement international customer relationships by enhancing mutual
understanding and benefits in customer relationships (Ngo and O'Cass,
2012; Smirnova et al., 2011).
Furthermore, besides the firm coming to appreciate the need for
innovativeness due to its own active study of customer needs, customers
can similarly be active in encouraging firms to focus more on innovating.
For example, Walter et al. (2001) note that firms' relationships with
customers have innovation and scout functions that help them develop
process and product innovations by obtaining ideas from customers and
accessing information about how the markets are developing (see
also Alam, 2006; Battor and Battor, 2010). The recent literature has also
suggested the mediating role of innovations between customer
relationships and business performance, especially in services
(Chen et al., 2018). Ernst et al. (2011) found that CRM has a strong positive
impact on new product performance which in turn acts as a mediator
between CRM and firm's financial performance.
Innovativeness and business growth
This study also includes business growth in its conceptual model. It
represents a financial performance measure, and this study uses it to
indicate change in annual turnover. Weinzimmer et al. (1998) argue that
change in turnover is the most neutral approach when the data at hand
include firms from different industries and with different characteristics.
Turnover growth may result from various sources such as higher prices
charged to customers, increased market share or a greater share of the
wallet, or all these together. Importantly, higher prices, for example,
allow firms to grow in terms of sales, although employees or assets
remain the same (Weinzimmer et al., 1998).
The basic objective of innovation is to achieve a sustainable competitive
advantage by creating innovations that include important and attractive
elements, while excluding those that are trivial and undesirable in
potential customers' value chain (Lengnick-Hall, 1992). Empirical research
by Calantone et al. (2002), Agarwal et al. (2003) and Theoharakis and
Hooley (2008), among others, shows that firm innovativeness is positively
related to business performance. Specifically, innovativeness helps a firm
to better respond to the needs of its customers. It also shows them that it
actually utilizes customer information and strives to use this information
for the customers' benefit. Innovating based on customer information is
likely to enhance customer retention and ensure customer satisfaction.
Innovations also help in acquiring new customers. In turn, this should
show in the bottom line.
Discussion and conclusions
Although significant progress has been made in understanding how different strategic
orientations affect growth (and performance) of internationally oriented firms
(see Cadogan et al., 2002; Doblinger et al., 2016; Su et al., 2015), we still know little about
how different strategic orientations in combination (i.e. customer orientation, customer
relationships orientation and innovativeness) affect business growth in international markets.
The study implies that – in line with the environment – strategy co-alignment and strategic
choice perspectives – effectively combining strategic orientations can help a firm to (1) sense
opportunities in international markets (Navarro et al., 2010; Pinho and Martins, 2010), (2)
strengthen activities related to building superior customer experience and long-lasting
customer relationships (Payne and Frow, 2005) and (3) introduce highly innovative
products/services (Sarasvathy et al., 1998; Li, 2013).
In this study, we tested how customer orientation and customer relationship orientation
affected firm innovativeness and business growth among export firms. First, we find that
customer orientation strongly affects customer relationship orientation, and both these
orientations foster firm innovativeness, which in turn boosts business growth. These results
suggest that customer-centric strategies are a source of innovations for export firms. This
lends further support to previous findings in the literature, showing that customer orientation
consistently leads to greater levels of firm innovativeness across countries (e.g. Theoharakis
and Hooley, 2008) and the importance of customer orientation in the creation of innovations,
which in turn contributes to performance (Kankam-Kwarteng et al., 2019). As a response to
proposals in the earlier literature (e.g. Woodside, 2004; Hurley et al., 2005), the results of this
study also demonstrate the contribution of the relationship marketing approach to
innovativeness and performance research.
Second, the empirical data support this study's theoretical reasoning that customer orientation
and customer relationship orientation are two distinct constructs of a firm's more generic
customer-centric strategy. While customer orientation focuses more on customer needs and
preferences, representing more the traditional marketing orientation perspective (Narver and
Slater, 1990), customer relationship orientation addresses the relationship marketing
approach, focusing on building customer relationships and retaining current customers
(Jayachandran et al., 2005). The previous literature suggests that customer relationships may
spark ideas that may then facilitate the development of product innovations (e.g. Walter et al.,
2001; Salojärvi et al., 2015). We therefore argue that both these studied orientations play an
essential role in the development of firm innovativeness.
Third, this study re-examined the research on the effectiveness of customer orientation on
innovativeness and firm performance, especially as the previous studies suggested that the
empirical findings did not consistently demonstrate a relationship between customer
orientation and firm performance (e.g. Noble et al., 2002). While some studies report a direct
positive relationship between customer orientation and business performance (e.g. Zhou and
Nakata, 2007), some studies report both direct and mediated effects (e.g. Alteren and
Tudoran, 2016), while others suggest only an indirect effect (e.g. Laukkanen et al.,
2016). The findings of this study suggest that customer orientation and customer relationship
orientation do not directly affect business growth, but that a customer-centric strategy
requires innovativeness to materialize as business growth in export firms. Indeed, the results
of this study support previous findings showing that innovativeness is an essential driver of
business growth among export firms (Calantone et al., 2006; Lages et al., 2009). In general,
the relationship between export performance and its antecedents is inconsistent, because this
may be affected by a firm's strategic capabilities, marketing mix decision and macroenvironmental factors (Hultman et al., 2009). Customer-oriented export firms constantly scan
and monitor the customer needs of international markets (for new opportunities) and
strengthen their competitive positions in their international markets (Covin and Miles,
1999; De Clercq et al., 2005). Exporters therefore need to utilize customer information by
developing products and services that satisfy customer needs (Reichheld, 1993). We add to
this, suggesting that customer knowledge may also help in the creation of enduring customer
relationships. Indeed, the findings advocate a customer-centric strategy for exporters that may
greatly benefit from a focus on building customer relationships and retaining current
customers. The customer insights across different markets may become increasingly
important in international marketing strategic decisions such as exporters' product and market
development purposes, because they foster the success of innovations. In turn, this
contributes to exporters' business growth.
Finally, the effects of our control variables also suggest that the growth of exporters benefits
from the greater number of employees and B2B markets: the results show that larger firms
and those firms operating in B2B markets perform better than smaller firms and those
operating in B2C markets. Previous studies have also found a positive relationship between
firm size and export business performance (e.g. Wagner, 1995; Chetty and Hamilton,
1993), although some controversial results also exist (e.g. Moini, 1995). It may be that larger
firms have more resources to systematically monitor customer needs and satisfaction, build
customer relationships and use customer information to innovate and grow. This is in line
with the notion of Majocchi et al. (2005), who suggest that firms must grow sufficiently to
gain international market share to be able to properly manage their foreign customers as well.
In international marketing research, firm size is often associated with a standardized
international strategy (Tan and Sousa, 2013). However, Schilke et al. (2009) have not found
evidence that standardization of international marketing strategy would be stronger for firms
operating B2B vs. B2C markets. Although the results of this study do not directly indicate the
strategic direction between standardization and adaptation, customer-centric strategies have
generally been attached more specifically to marketing adaptation (Vrontis, 2003). This could
be taken into a consideration in further studies that could investigate whether B2B firms are
associated stronger in adaptation strategy in comparison to B2C firms. Furthermore, because
B2B markets often involve fewer customers than B2C markets, it may be easier for B2B
firms to monitor customer needs and satisfaction, build long-lasting customer relationships in
export markets, and thus use this information for innovative and pursuit growth, than it is for
the exporters operating in B2C markets.
Managerial implications
The results of this study imply suggestions for practicing managers of international firms on
several fronts. We offer insights how a strong customer focus of a firm may benefit the
organization to make competitive decisions in export markets.
First, managers need to realize that to create a strong customer relationship orientation, a firm
needs to develop a customer-orientated culture within the organization. Because of strong
customer–firm relationships, the organization gains first-hand information about changing the
customer needs and preferences of international markets that help a firm innovate and
provide tailor-made products and services to customers, which in turn positively affects
business growth. A firm that is good at developing and maintaining relationships with its key
customers is therefore in a good position to satisfy their needs through a successful new
product/service development.
Second, the study results highlight a clear distinction between customer orientation
(i.e. focusing on customer needs and preferences) and customer relationship orientation
(i.e. building long-lasting customer relationships). Our results suggest that managers of
export firms should first invest in developing a strong customer orientation within an
organization, because it significantly contributes to customer relationship orientation and firm
innovativeness. This implies that to implement successful growth strategies, it is essential to
understand customer needs and preferences in export markets and build strong relationships
with them, which requires distinct attention and resources allocation within the organization.
Third, the results of this study imply that strong customer orientation and relationship
orientation are necessary, but not sufficient, capabilities for organizational success; however
they should be combined with innovativeness so that the firm is able to achieve growth
objectives. Managers should also understand that to achieve high growth via customer-centric
strategies and firm innovativeness, a firm requires extra resources (i.e. sufficient human
capital) that support the deployment of the former capabilities. Finally, understanding the
relationship between different strategic orientations enables firms to find a balance that helps
them achieve growth in international markets.
Creativity and innovation are topics of discussion that are particularly relevant in
research work which are seen as important factors in the creation of competitive
advantage. Innovation has almost become a requirement in today’s global business
environment, regardless of a company’s market reach. Drawing on more than a
decade of OECD (Box, 2009) research, this report provides a general overview of
what we know about excellent policy approaches for innovation. It also discusses
recent developments in innovation processes and patterns, outlines rising degrees of
internationalization, and compiles early thought on the role of innovation in
addressing global environmental concerns. This is due to the new reality that every
company’s rivalry reaches well beyond its local market. Entrepreneurs and
companies that realize this early on bring innovation to the market. Innovation is
the secret to entrepreneurship and the productive development of the competitive
edge. The foundation for innovation is creativity. However, while creativity is needed
for innovation, it is not always sufficient. The implantation of creative inspiration is
innovation. For some industries, the capacity to generate continuous innovation has
not only become a key success factor, but also a requirement for survival.
Importance of Creativity and innovation aid in the development of new ways to
improve an existing product or service to maximize profits. This also encourages
entrepreneurs to think outside the box and look for answers that aren’t standard.
Through this opportunity, a new, intriguing, potentially lucrative, yet adaptable idea
emerges. Moreover, it helps in the sustainability and long-run performance of all
kinds of companies (Baykal, 2018).
The economic and social consequences of today’s global challenges affect societies
and the entire world. Many governmental and philanthropic efforts are failing to
achieve the social change that communities around the world demand and key social
sector institutions are frequently considered inefficient in resolving social
concerns (Fields, 2016). Many entrepreneurs regard creativity and innovation as
critical elements, there continues to be a lack of understanding of the factors that
affect these elements, as well as the management of relevant processes (Finkle,
2013). Recently, an economic transition has been established. The economy is
shifting away from knowledge-based activities and toward activities that require
creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and imagination (Oke et al., 2009; Fillis and
Rentschler, 2010).
More business opportunities have arisen as a result of increased globalization and
technological effects, but the marketplace has also become more crowded, resulting
in increased competition (Jain, 2019; Edralin et al., 2019). Creativity also allows the
entrepreneur to act on these opportunities in ways that will give the company a
competitive advantage. It can serve as a foundation for creativity and business
development, as well as have a positive effect on society as a whole (Ballor and
Claar, 2019). Entrepreneurship can be seen in all forms and sizes of businesses,
from small local businesses to multinational corporations.
Entrepreneurship, according to Clow (2008), is the process of mobilizing and
sacrificing resources (land, capital, and human resources) to use a business
opportunity or execute an idea in a way that meets society’s needs for products and
services, creates employment, and benefits the venture’s owner. Both new and
established businesses are involved in this process, but the focus is usually on new
products or services and new businesses. Therefore, for a country to prosper and
enjoy continued economic growth, creativity and innovation have to be injected into
the entrepreneurship development agenda has to be pursued.
Creativity and innovation can also be extended to things like coming up with
business ideas, such as what to manufacture to satisfy customers, finding
investment opportunities, deciding how to capitalize on those opportunities,
formulating corporate goals and objectives, and conducting market research in both
urban and rural areas. Creating an enterprise, starting real business operations,
selling and promoting an organization’s products and services, planning and
managing human and material capital for the achievement of the enterprise’s goals,
risk and uncertainty management, creativity, and diversification (Gontur et al.,
2016).
Consequently, the case of Nigeria is different. The Majority of Nigerian entrepreneurs
today need a practical way of combining the needed resources and opportunities in a
variety of ways. Their level of creativity is not as high as that of the Western World.
They have failed to engage in adequate preparation, scheduling, staffing, managing,
and directing, as well as the opportunity to take a commensurate risk with their
capital and other resources in new business projects from which they anticipate
significant rewards.
Most small and medium businesses in Nigeria lack prudent management decisions,
ideas, originality, and foresight on what to produce when to produce it, and how
best to produce it to satisfy their customers and make a profit. These would have
been improved if the entire management team adopted sound creativity and
innovation practices.
In support of the above, innovation has been defined by (Okpara, 2007) as the
addition of something new to an existing product or price that has already been built
from the ground up and proven to work fairly well. The study established a positive
relationship between creativity, innovation, competitive advantage, and
entrepreneurship growth in Nigeria. Therefore creativity can be thought of as the
creation of raw material, then the invention process can be thought of as the
transformation and development of that material into something concrete, such as a
process or a product. The relationship between creativity and innovation is neither
simple nor straightforward. This problem lies in the fact that this confusion may
introduce non-optimal process management of both. This uncertainty causes
ambivalence among researchers and practitioners, as well as confusion about the
conditions that promote creativity and innovation, as well as the effects of
established practices on individuals and the environment in general. Efficiency in
these processes is a key competitive advantage in industries that demand constant
creativity and innovation from their employees. Continuous innovation of certain
companies deemed creative is particularly interesting, given some fundamental
paradoxes such as the routine/creativity couple (Fillis, 2010).
According to (Byers, 2017), the generation of innovative and potentially useful ideas
can be applied to several strategic areas of the business, such as products, services,
processes, and procedures. Ideas are considered innovative if they are distinct from
other ideas currently available in the industry, and may also be considered useful if
they have the potential for direct or indirect benefit to the business in the short or
long term (Barroso-Tanoira, 2017). Given the above means that the tenets of
creativity have to do with the production and application of ideas, or simply put the
transformation of ideas into a particular organizational element, such as a product or
a method.
In outlining the distinction between creativity and innovation, Byers
(2017) successfully demonstrated the causality relation between creativity and
innovation. Creativity-can be described in a way to generate ideas which, will be
utilized in the innovation mechanism as they are selected, assembled, rearranged,
and synthesized toward the emergence of output or a novel. Innovation can be
defined as radical or gradual, as a product or a process. The degree of radicalization
or incrimination is strongly dependent on previously used methods, both in terms of
creativity factors and structuring mechanisms, in terms of creativity variables and
structuring processes (Roopsing and Nokphromph, 2017).
The above proposition indicates that creativity and innovation are mutually
dependent, go hand-in-hand or are intertwine. As a rule, the resulting innovation is
associated with either a form of product or process that is new or
improved (Antonites and Van Vuuren, 2014). These resources, facilitating factors,
transformation mechanisms, tensions, and their results are different in each case.
However, we also recognized that the outcomes of the creative process serve as
essential tools for the process of innovation.
Consequently, these two concepts are used to accomplish distinct but
complementary goals. Creativity is used to produce ideas, which are then structured
and concretized as part of the innovation process to become tools for solving
technical issues and increasing productivity while conferring an added value to the
products (Acs and Audretsch, 2005).
Accordingly, the difficulty here is not about strategic ways of thinking and injecting
innovative ideas to secure a competitive advantage within the business environment
which will then translate into the development of the entrepreneurial sector and
eventually boosting economic growth. Since it is evident in literature that lack of
corporate innovation is the most basic and logical cause of Nigeria’s slow
entrepreneurial development (Okpara, 2007) lack of trust, apprehension, and
anxiety, as well as the environment and poor management, over-reliance on self-
ability, lack of preparation and organizing in terms of technical and innovativeness
and creativity, are all factors that have contributed to Nigeria’s slow rate of
innovation and creativity.
The Concept of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Creativity and Innovation describe as the heart and the soul of enterprise. It entails
attempting to carry out tasks in a specific way or to conduct a variety of activities to
provide the entrepreneur with a unique mix of value. The benefit of creativity and
innovation is that it allows state entrepreneurship to deliberately seek out
opportunities to do new things or to do old things in innovative ways. As a result,
whatever new paths are dictated by market conditions and consumer desires,
creativity and innovation inspire and drive excellent entrepreneurship in guiding
organizational operations, delighting customers to the benefit of all stakeholders. In
entrepreneurial terms, this becomes a value creation (Korsgaard and Anderson,
2011). The implementation of creative inspiration is described as Innovation.
Hence, a competitive advantage for all businesses to thrive and means of
anticipating and satisfying consumer needs, and the method of using technology,
are built on innovation. Information gleaned from new connections, experiences
gained from journeys to other disciplines or locations, and active and collegial
networks all fosters innovation. The philosophy of innovation, described as the use
of an idea to produce a new commercial product or service, is the driving force
behind the development of new demand and, as a result, new wealth, according
to Schumpeter (1934). Entrepreneurs bring innovative products to the market, and
creativity generates new demand established markets will be disrupted, and new
ones will be created, which will be destroyed by even newer products or services.
The results of creativity are about coming up with new ideas, and new
technology (Klein, 2008). Creativity is described as the ability to invent or otherwise
bring something new into being, whether it’s a new approach to a problem, a new
method or device, or a new object or form of art. On the other hand, Sart
(2013) describes creativity as something unique and useful. Creativity is the act of
seeing something that everyone else does but connecting it in ways that no one else
has. Creativity is shifting from the familiar to the unfamiliar. According to Weigel et
al. (2014), culture harms creativity.
In terms of economics and structure, there are three key characteristics of
entrepreneurs. This involves taking risks, innovating, and launching new business
ventures for profit. Entrepreneurship is a multidimensional term encompassing
multiple dimensions. Due to the Multi-dimensional nature of entrepreneurship,
scholars have been forced to think about it in a variety of ways and from various
perspectives. It’s also worth noting that entrepreneurship has evolved as an
ideology over time and that its definition has changed as well. Entrepreneurship, for
example, was once used to describe a person’s ability to handle massive production
projects (Bélanger et al., 2016). This way, the focus is on the individual’s ability to
handle projects with limited resources, and his willingness to take the risk in other to
make a profit.
As a result, a typical entrepreneur in the middle ages was someone in charge of
overseeing large architectural projects such as the fortification of cathedrals,
abbeys, and public buildings. When people began to associate entrepreneurship with
risks in the 17th century, their views change. During this time, an entrepreneur was
described as a person who was hired by the government to provide a specific
product or perform a service, and who received a profit or loss as a result of the
contract. According to Aydin (2015), an entrepreneur is a risk-taker who can buy
goods at a certain price and sell them at a different price. Farmers, merchants,
craftsmen, and other sole proprietor’s exemplified entrepreneurs during this era,
according to this view.
Entrepreneurs were viewed as venture capitalists later in the 18th century. This
perception shifted somewhat in the 19th and 20th centuries when entrepreneurship
was perceived mostly through the lens of economics and was not differentiated from
management. As a result, an entrepreneur is described as a person who operates
and manages a business for personal benefit and who pays prices for materials used
by the business, as well as for the use of property, resources, and personal services
provided. This individual accepts the risk of making a profit or losing money due to
uncontrollable and unexpected circumstances (Gholami and Karimi, 2014). The
element of innovation was introduced to the description of entrepreneurship in the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Today, entrepreneurs are viewed as individuals with the potential to revolutionize
production patterns by using innovation (Antonites and Van Vuuren, 2014). An
entrepreneur is a businessperson who starts (builds), develops, and manages a
business enterprise to make a profit or benefit from it. Similarly, Fedorowicz et al.
(2008) defines entrepreneurship as a person who uses his or her attributes, such as
risk-taking, creativity, innovation, and the ability to organize and schedule activities,
to put ideas into action to achieve a specific goal.
Culture is one of the major factors that affect entrepreneurship, as revealed by
Institutional Economic Theory. Culture is made up of elements that define a culture
and decide how people behave in that society (Amabile, 1988). Culture affects
societal entrepreneurial activity by shaping corporate actions of individuals,
according to Amabile (1988) , social institutions, especially norms and culture, have
been described as dimensions of entrepreneurship because of their effect on how
individuals perceive the social position of entrepreneurs and how individuals develop
the motivation to become entrepreneurs (Amabile, 1988). Entrepreneurial activity is
socially adaptive and responsive to a variety of cues from that context.
Creativity and Innovation in Businesses
Innovation and creativity are essential skills for success in any form of enterprise. To
solve a management challenge, one requires creative insights. Creativity is
described as an individual’s ability to come up with fresh and original ideas to
achieve a purpose. The application of creativity to find a solution to a problem is
known as innovation (Neely and Hii, 1998). This simply means that creativity is a
means to problem-solving. It is the application of a new approach, new concept,
product, or method to increase a system’s effectiveness or performance. It
encourages imagination by encouraging others to view a problem from a different
perspective. It involves dismantling and reorganizing our understanding of a subject
to obtain a new viewpoint and new insights. People and method are the two most
important elements (Neely and Hii, 1998). It is focused on the process of assisting a
person or organization in finding a solution to an issue (Ibbotson, 2008). The
resource that responds is people. Creative people use this inventive method to find
new ideas and issues, approach problems from new viewpoints, and develop
theories about the issue (Neely and Hii, 1998; Roopsing and Nokphromph, 2017).
Entrepreneurial spirit keeps businesses afloat and flourishing.
According to Nnadi (2014b), creative and innovative businesses excel by
encouraging creative problem solving, driving innovation forward, improving
problem-solving, increasing efficiency, and providing a competitive advantage to a
company. Innovation benefits business transformation, transition, performance,
management, and overall sustainability. It’s also a lever for people to be
empowered, engaged, and encouraged to make major improvements to structures,
cultures, people, goods, and processes. It contributes to improved organizational
productivity, scope, and participation, as well as faster business growth and greater
value (Nnadi, 2014b).
Theoretical and Conceptual framework: Creativity and Innovation, and
Entrepreneurial Development
For a better understanding of creativity and innovation and entrepreneurial
development, the research draws on the theory and research on innovation and
entrepreneurship development. The creation of a perspective is a crucial part of the
creative process Creativity follows a semi-formal process. Both intuition and
creativity are examples of creativity that can be improved. It may be questioned,
given the variety of elements that determine market success whether or not
innovation is a key component of entrepreneurship. Pure or unadulterated creativity
is not a sufficient factor of entrepreneurship; it must be supplemented with general
business knowledge first sense or foresight to ensure innovation’s success (Barnard
and Herbst, 2018).
The conceptual view from the concept of creativity and innovation, and
entrepreneurial development as framework-specific philosophy served as a guide for
the research. The rationale is to understand the interactional relationships between
the construct items. The conceptual perspective of creativity and innovation was
concluded by drawing the link between creativity and innovation for entrepreneurial
development and theory and research on entrepreneurship development which has
been conceptualized and explained as an approach to solving entrepreneurial
problems and sustainable economic development.
The whole idea of creativity and innovation is to make it a management tool for
entrepreneurship development and serving as a crucial driver for economic success,
and sustenance of economic regions. The creative thinking and innovative ability of
entrepreneurs coupled with government support can serve as grounds and
necessary conditions for sustainable development and economic prosperity. Hence,
positioning this concept as a strategic approach for solving entrepreneurial
challenges and facilitating entrepreneurship development.
In a large society, each company is considered a miniature society
(Mawere 2011). Similar to large societies with large cultures, small societies
also need to build their own cultures. A culture is influenced by many
factors and determines if it is a great culture. Corporate culture requires
both the attention to the efficiency of production and business and to the
relationship among people in the organization closely (Bhagat et al. 2012).
Regardless if it is a large or a small organization, it must encounter issues of
cooperation among individuals and groups. There are many factors leading
to the success of business process re-engineering in higher education
(BPR), the main four elements are culture, processes, structure, and
technology. Culture is listed as number one (Ahmad et al. 2007). Hence,
culture becomes the most important factor to the success of the
development of a business. Organizational culture is the set of shared
beliefs (Steiber and Alänge 2016), values, and norms that influence the way
members think, feel, and behave. Culture is created by means of terminal
and instrumental values, heroes, rites and rituals, and communication
networks (Barman n.d.). The primary methods of maintaining
organizational culture are through the socialization process by which an
individual learns the values, expected behaviors, and necessary social
knowledge to assume their roles in the organization. In addition, (Gupta
and Govindarajan 2000) and Fig. 1 in (Ismail Al-Alawi et al. 2007) illustrates
that culture was established by six major factors, such as information
systems, people, process, leadership, rewarding system, and organization
structure. Therefore, there is a wide variety of combined and sophisticated
cultures in the workplace, especially in big corporations like Google,
Facebook, Proctor & Gamble, etc. Each organization tends to have a
common goal, which is to create a culture that is different from other
companies and to promote their teams to be creative in developing a
distinctive culture (Stimpson and Farquharson 2014).
This part shows how Google became famous in the world and its culture
and subcultures made it a special case for others to take into consideration.
Google is one of the few technology companies which continue to have one
of the fastest growth rates in the world. It began by creating a search engine
that combined PageRank system, developed by Larry Page (ranking the
importance of websites based on external links), and Web search engine,
created by Sergey Brin (accessing a website and recording its content), two
co-founders of the company (Jarvis 2011; Downes 2007). Google’s
achievements absolutely do not come from any luck. Google has made extra
efforts in creating an index of a number of websites, which have been up to
25 billion websites. This also includes 17 million images and one billion
messages to Usenet group (Downes 2007). Besides searching for websites,
Google users are able to search for PDF files, PostScript, documents, as well
as Microsoft, Lotus, PowerPoint and Shockwave files. Google processes
nearly 50% of search queries all over the world. Moreover, it is the number
one search option for web users and is one of the top five websites on the
Internet, which have more than 380 million users and 28 billion visits
every month, and more than 50% of access from countries outside the US
(Desjardins 2017). Google’s technology is rather special: it can analyze
millions of different variables of users and businesses who place
advertisements. It then connects them with millions of potential
advertisements and gives messages of advertisement, which is closest to
objects in less than one second. Thus, Google has the higher rate of users
clicking advertisements than its opponent Yahoo, from 50 to 100%, and it
dominates over 70% market share of paid advertisements
(Rosenberg 2016). Google’s self-stated mission: “to organize the world’s
information and make it universally accessible and useful (Alves n.d.).”
Nowadays, it is believed that people in the world like “Google” with words
“the useful-lively information storage”.
Company culture
Researching Google’s culture, we would know Laszlo Bock, Head of People
Operations at Google, the equivalence of Human Resources (HR) Director
at other companies. “People operation” is a combination of science and
human resources where Google looks at everything from a perspective of
data (McAfee and Brynjolfsson 2012; Cukier and MayerSchoenberger 2013). As a result, Google is always in the top companies
throughout the last time.
Operating HR is obviously a field of science at Google. They are constantly
experimenting and innovating to find the best way to satisfy employees and
to help them work effectively. They do everything based on collecting and
processing of collected data, using data to evaluate staff and to help them
improve their work efficiency (Davenport et al. 2010). If an organization
wants to hire talented people who cannot be recruited in cash, they must
focus on building a great working culture. This includes working
environment, meaningful work, and employees’ freedom (Meek 2015).
Google is really touched by this philosophy, not just planning it out loud.
They constantly experiment it, then improve it because it is paramount to
the success of the company. For whichever company, all things start with
people. A great company needs great people. One way to attract and retain
such people is to make their work interesting. Mark Twain said: “Work and
play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions
(Emmerich 2009).”
Before heading to know about the culture, as well as subcultures, it is
necessary to understand explicitly what cultures and subcultures are. At
page 27 in (Schein 2009), “culture is a pattern of shared tacit assumptions
learned or developed by a group as it solves its problems of external
adaptation and internal integration that have worked well enough to be
considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct
way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” How about
subcultures? The author, Schein claimed that the bigger an organization is,
the more subcultures it contains because it is explained that “when
organizations grow and mature, they not only develop their own overall
cultures, but they also differentiate themselves in many subcultures based
on occupations, product lines, functions, geographies, and echelons in the
hierarchy” (Schein 2009). According to (Петрушенко et al. 2006;
Eliot 2010; Zimmermann 2015; Martin 2004; Yergler 2013), needless to
say, that Google exists with a special culture and a wide variety of
subculture because of its non-stop development. Thanks to the video clips
(see at “Culture inside Google”; “Google Culture”; “Google’s organizational
culture”), as well as a myriad of websites on the Internet mentioning the
culture of Google, it facilitates us to understand more about Google’s
culture and learn more lessons about the different ways to manage this
company by the establishers.
Predominant culture at Google
The dominant culture in the organization depends on the environment in
which the company operates the organization’s objectives, the belief system
of the employees, and the company’s management style. Therefore, there
are many organizational cultures (Schein 2017). The Exhibit 3.1 at page 39
in (Schein 2009) provides what culture is about. For example, employee
follows a standard procedure with a strict adherence to hierarchy and welldefined individual roles and responsibilities. Those in competitive
environments, such as sales may forget strict hierarchies and follow a
competitive culture where the focus is on maintaining strong relationships
with external parties. In this instance, the strategy is to attain competitive
advantages over the competition. The collaborative culture is yet another
organizational way of life. This culture presents a decentralized workforce
with integrated units working together to find solutions to problems or
failure.
Why do many large companies buy its innovation? Because its dominant
culture of 99% defect-free operational excellence squashes any attempts at
innovation, just like a Sumo wrestler sitting on a small gymnast
(Grossman-Kahn and Rosensweig 2012). They cannot accept failures. In
fact, failure is a necessary part of innovation and Google took this change
by Oxygen Project to measure the abilities of their multicultural managers.
This means that Google itself possesses multiple different cultures (see
Google’s clips). Like Zappos, Google had established a common,
organizational culture for the whole offices that are distinctive from the
others. The predominant culture aimed at Google is an open culture, where
everybody and customer can freely contribute their ideas and opinions to
create more comfortable and friendly working environment (Hsieh 2010a).
The fig. 2.1 in chapter two of (Schein 2009) and page 17 in part one of
(Schein 2017) provide us three levels of culture which are Artifacts,
Espoused values and Underlying assumptions helping us to understand
the culture at Google. At page 84, in (Schein 2009), the “artifacts” are
identified such as dress codes, level of formality in authority relationships,
working hours, meeting (how often, how run, timing), how are decisions
made, communication, social events, jargon, uniforms, identity symbols,
rites and rituals, disagreements and conflicts, balance between work and
family. It seems that Google is quite open in these artifacts by showing a
respect for uniform and national culture of each staff individually and
giving them the right to wear traditional clothes.
Working at Google, employees enjoy free food served throughout the day, a
volleyball court, a swimming pool, a car wash, an oil change, a haircut, free
health care, and many other benefits. The biggest benefit for the staff is to
be picked up on the day of work. As assessed by many traffic experts, the
system set up by Google is considered to be a great transport network. Tad
Widby, a project manager and a traffic system researcher throughout the
United States, said: “I have not seen any larger projects in the Bay Area as
well as in urban areas across the country” (Helft 2007). Of course, it is
impossible for Google to “cover up the sky”, so Yahoo also started
implementing the bus project for employees in 2005. On peak days,
Yahoo’s bus also took off. Pick up about 350 employees in San Francisco, as
well as Berkeley, Oakland, etc. These buses run on biofuels and have Wi-Fi
coverage. Yet, Danielle Bricker, the Yahoo bus coordinator of Yahoo, has
also admitted that the program is “indirectly” inspired by Google’s initiative
(Helft 2007). Along with that, eBay recently also piloted shuttle bus
transfers at five points in San Francisco. Some other corporations are also
emerging ideas for treatment of staff is equally unique. Facebook is an
example, instead of facilitating employees far from the workplace; it helps
people in the immediate neighborhood by offering an additional $10,000
for an employee to live close to the pillar within 10 miles, nearby the Palo
Alto Department (Hall 2015).
When it comes to Google, people often ask what the formula for success is.
The answer here is the employees of Google. They create their own unique
workplace culture rules to create an effective work environment for their
employees. And here are the most valuable things to learn from Google’s
corporate culture (Scott 2008) that we should know:
Tolerate with mistakes and help staff correct
At Google, paying attention to how employees work and helping them
correct mistakes is critical. Instead of pointing out the damage and blaming
a person who caused the mistake, the company would be interested in what
the cause of the problem was and how to fix it as quickly and efficiently as
possible.
Also as its culture, we understand that if we want to make breakthroughs in
the workplace, we need to have experimentation, failure and repeat the test.
Therefore, mistakes and failures are not terrible there. We have the right to
be wrong and have the opportunity to overcome failure in the support of
our superiors and colleagues. Good ideas are always encouraged at Google.
However, before it is accepted and put into use, there is a clear procedure to
confirm whether it is a real new idea and practical or not?
Exponential thought
Google developed in the direction of a holding company - a company that
does not directly produce products or provide services but simply invest in
capital by buying back capital. In the company, the criteria for setting the
ten exponential function in lieu of focusing only on the change in the
general increase. This approach helps Google improve its technology and
deliver great products to consumers continuously.
The talent
Of course, every company wants to hire talented people to work for them.
However, being talented is an art in which there must be voluntary work
and enthusiasm for the work of the devotees. At page 555 in (Saffold 1988)
illustrated that distinctive cultures dramatically influencing performance
do exist. Likewise, Google, Apple, Netflix, and Dell are 40% more
productive than the average company which attracts top-tier employees
and high performers (Vozza 2017). Recognizing this impact, Google created
a distinctive corporate culture when the company attracted people from
prestigious colleges around the world (West 2016; Lazear and Gibbs 2014).
Build a stimulating work environment
When it comes to the elements that create creativity and innovation, we can
easily recognize that the working environment is one of the most important
things. Google has succeeded in building an image of a creative working.
Google offices are individually designed, not duplicated in any type of
office. In fact, working environment at Google is so comfortable so that
employees will not think of it as a working room, with a full area of work,
relaxation, exercise, reading, watching movies. Is the orientation of
Google’s corporate culture to stimulate creativity and to show interest in
the lives of employees so that volunteers contribute freely (Battelle 2011)?
Subculture is also a culture, but for a smaller group or community in a big
organization (Crosset and Beal 1997). Google, known as the global company
with many more offices, so there are many subcultures created among
groups of people who work together, from subcultures among work groups
to subcultures among ethnic groups and nations, multi-national groups, as
well as multiple occupations, functions, geographies, echelons in the
hierarchy and product lines. For example, six years ago, when it bought 100
Huffys for employees to use around the sprawling campus, has since
exploded into its own subculture. Google now has a seven-person staff of
bicycle mechanics that maintains a fleet of about 1300 brightly-colored
Google bikes. The company also encourages employees to cycle to work by
providing locker rooms, showers and places to securely park bikes during
working hours. And, for those who want to combine meetings with bikeriding, Googlers can use one of several seven-person (Crowley 2013).
Leadership influences on the culture at Google
From the definition of leadership and its influence on culture; so what does
leader directly influence the culture existed? According to Schein, “culture
and leadership are two sides of the same coin and one cannot understand
one without the other”, page three in (Schein 2009). If one of us has never
read the article “Google and the Quest to create a better boss” in the New
York Times, it is listed in a priority reading. It breaks the notion that
managers have no change. The manager really makes a difference
(Axinn 1988; Carver 2011). In fact, a leader has a massive impact on the
culture of the company, and Google is not an exception. The leaders of
Google concerned more about the demands and abilities of each individual,
the study of the nature of human being, an appreciation their employees as
their customers. At Google, the founders thought they could create a
company that people would want to work at when creating a home-like
environment. It is real that they focus on the workplace brings the comfort
to staff creatively and freely (Lebowitz 2013).
In my opinion, a successful business cannot be attributed solely from a
single star; that needs the brightness of all employees. It depends very
much on the capacity and ability to attract talented people. It is the way in
which the leader manages these talents, is the cornerstone of corporate
culture. One thing that no one can deny is that a good leader must be a
creator of a corporate culture so that the employees can maximize
capabilities themselves (Driscoll and McKee 2007; Kotter 2008).
To brief, through the view of Google’s culture, BoDs tended and designed to
encourage loyalty and creativity, based on an unusual organizational
culture because culture is not only able to create an environment, but it also
adapts to diverse and changes circumstances (Bulygo 2013).
Company growth and its impact
“Rearrange information around the world, make them accessible
everywhere and be useful.” This was one of the main purposes set by Larry
Page and Sergey Brin when they first launched Google on September 4th,
1998, as a private company (Schmidt and Rosenberg 2014). Since then,
Google has expanded its reach, stepped into the mobile operating system,
provided mapping services and cloud computing applications, launched its
own hardware, and prepared it to enter the wearable device market.
However, no matter how varied and rich these products are, they are all
about the one thing, the root of Google: online searching.
1998–2001: Focus on search
In its early years, Google.com was simply one with extreme iconic images: a
colorful Google logo, a long text box in the middle of the screen, a button to
execute. One button for searching and the other button are “I’m feeling
lucky” to lead users to a random Google site. By May 2000, Google added
ten additional languages to Google.com, including French, German, Italian,
Swedish, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish, etc.
This is one of the milestones in Google’s journey into the
world. Google.com is available in over 150 languages (Scott 2008;
Lee 2017).
2001–2007: Interface card
A very important event with Google around this time was the sale of shares
to the public (IPO). In October 2003, Microsoft heard news of the IPO, so it
quickly approached Google to discuss a buyout or business deal.
Nevertheless, that intention was not materialized. In 2004, it was also the
time when Google held a market share of 84.7% globally through
collaboration with major Internet companies, such as Yahoo, AOL, and
CNN. By February 2004, Yahoo stopped working with Google and
separately stood out for engine search. This has led Google to lose some
market share, but it has shown the importance and distinctness of Google.
Nowadays, the term “Google” has been used as a verb just by
visiting Google.com and doing an online search (Smith 2010). Not stopping
at the homepage search, Google’s interface tag began to be brought to
Gmail and Calendar with the links at the top of the page. Google homepage
itself continues to use this style.
In 2006, Google also made an important acquisition to buy YouTube for
$1.65 billion (Burgess and Green 2013). However, the company decided to
keep YouTube as a separate brand and not to include it in Google Video
search. Thanks to the backing of an Internet industry giant, YouTube has
grown to become the world’s largest online video sharing service (Cha et
al. 2007).
2007–2012: Navigation bar, Google menu, Google now
Google began to deploy a new navigation bar located at the edge of the
screen. It includes links to a place where to look for photos, videos, news,
maps, as well as buttons to switch to Gmail, Calendar, and other services
developed by the company. In the upper left corner, Google added a box
displaying Google + notifications and user accounts’ image. Google Now not
only appeared on Android and it’s also brought to Chrome on a computer as
well as iOS. All have the same operating principle, and the interface card
still appears as Android it is.
2013–2014: Simplified interface
Google has moved all of the icons that lead to its other applications and
services to an App Drawer button in the upper right hand, at the corner of
the screen. In addition, Google.com also supports better voice search
through the Chrome browser. Google has experimented with other markets,
such as radio and print publications, and in selling advertisements from its
advertisers within offline newspapers and magazines. As of November
2014, Google operates over 70 offices over 40 countries (Jarvis 2011;
Vise 2007).
2014–2017: Chrome development and facing challenges
In 2015, Google would turn HTTPS into the default. The better website is,
the more users will trust search engine. In 2016, Google announced
Android version 7, introduced a new VR platform called Daydream, and its
new virtual assistant, Google Assistant.
Most of Google’s revenue comes from advertising (Rosenberg 2016).
However, this “golden” business is entering a difficult period with many
warning signs of its future. Google Search is the dominant strength of
Google and bringing great revenue for the company. Nonetheless, when
Amazon surpassed Google to become the world’s leading product in the
search engine in last December, this advantage began to wobble. This is
considered a fatal blow to Google when iOS devices account for 75% of their
mobile advertising revenue (Rosenberg 2016).
By 2016, the number of people installing software to block ads on phones
has increased 102% from 2015. Figure 1 illustrates that by the year’s end,
about 16% of smart phone users around the world blocked their ads whilst
surfing the web. These were also two groups having the most time on the
Internet, high-earners and young people; however, these people have
disliked ads (see Fig. 1).
Figure 2 shows the young people have the highest ad blocking rates. It is
drawing a gloomy picture for the sustainable development of the online
advertising industry in general and Google in particular. Therefore, in early
2017, Google has strategies to build an ad blocking tool, built into the
Chrome browser. This tool allows users to access ads that have passed the
“Coalition for Better Ads” filter so as to limit the sense of discomfort (see
Fig. 2).
For the company impact, the history shows that speedy development of
Google creates both economic and social impacts to followers in a new way
of people connection (Savitz 2013). In this modern world, it seems that
people cannot spend a day without searching any information in Google
(Chen et al. 2014; Fast and Campbell 2004), a tool serves human
information seeking needs. Even though when addressing this paper, it is
also in need the information from Google search and uses it as a supporting
tool. Nobody can deny the convenience of Google as a fast and easy way to
search (Schalkwyk et al. 2010; Jones 2001; Langville and Meyer 2011).
This project began in 2009 known as “the manager project” with the People and Innovation
Lab (PiLab) team researching questions, which helped the employee of Google become a
better manager. The case study was conducted by Garvin (2013) about a behavior
measurement to Google’s manager, why managers matter and what the best manager s do. In
early days of Google, there are not many managers. In a flat structure, most employees are
engineers and technical experts. In fact, in 2002 a few hundred engineers reported to only
four managers. But over time and out of necessity, the number of managers increased. Then,
in 2009, people and team culture at Google noticed a disturbing trend. Exit interview data
cited low satisfaction with their manager as a reason for leaving Google. Because Google has
accessed so much online data, Google’s statisticians are asked to analyze and identify the top
attributes of a good manager mentioned with an unsolved question: “Do managers matter?” It
always concerns all stakeholders at Google and requires a data-based survey project called
Project Oxygen to clarify employees’ concern, to measure key management behaviors and
cultivate staff through communication and training (Bryant 2011; Garvin et al. 2013).
Research −1 Exit Interviews, ratings, and semiannual reviews. The purpose is to identify
high-scoring managers and low-scoring managers resulted in the former, less turnover on
their teams, and its connection (manager quality and employee’s happiness). As for “what the
best managers do”, Research-2 is to interview high and low scoring managers and to review
their performance. The findings with 8 key behaviors illustrated by the most effective
managers.
The Oxygen Project mirrors the managers’ decision-making criteria, respects their needs for
rigorous analysis, and makes it a priority to measure impact. In the case study, the findings
prove that managers really have mattered. Google, initially, must figure out what the best
manager is by asking high and low scoring managers such questions about communication,
vision, etc. Its project identifies eight behaviors (Bulygo 2013; Garvin et al. 2013) of a good
manager that considered as quite simple that the best manager at Google should have. In a
case of management problem and solution, as well as discussing four- key theoretical
concepts, they will be analyzed, including formal organizational training system, how culture
influences behavior, the role of “flow” and building capacity for innovation, and the role of a
leader and its difference from the manager.
Analysis
Formal organizational training system to create a different culture: Ethical culture
If the organizational culture represents “how we do things around here,” the ethical culture
represents “how we do things around here in relation to ethics and ethical behavior in the
organization” (Key 1999). Alison Taylor (The Five Levels of an Ethical Culture, 2017)
reported five levels of an ethical culture, from an individual, interpersonal, group, intergroup
to inter-organizational (Taylor 2017). In (Nelson and Treviño 2004), ethical culture should be
thought of in terms of a multi-system framework included formal and informal systems,
which must be aligned to support ethical judgment and action. Leadership is essential to
driving the ethical culture from a formal and informal perspective (Schwartz 2013; Trevino
and Nelson 2011). Formally, a leader provides the resources to implement structures and
programs that support ethics. More informally, through their own behaviors, leadership is a
role model whose actions speak louder than their words, conveying “how we do things
around here.” Other formal systems include selection systems, policies and codes, orientation
and training programs, performance management systems, authority structures, and formal
decision processes. On the informal side are the organization’s role models and heroes, the
norms of daily behavior, organizational rituals that support or do not support ethical conduct,
the stories people tell about the organization and their implications for conduct, and the
language people use, etc. Is it okay to talk about ethics? Or is ethical fading the norm?
The formal and informal training is very important. The ethical context in organizations helps
the organizational culture have a tendency to the positive or negative viewpoints (Treviño et
al. 1998). The leader should focus on providing an understanding of the nature and reasons
for the organization’s values and rules, on providing an opportunity for question and
challenge values for sincerity/practicality, and on teaching ethical decision-making skills
related to encountered issues commonly. The more specific and customized training, the
more effective it is likely to be. Google seemed to apply this theory when addressed the
Oxygen Project.
How culture influences behavior
Whenever we approach a new organization, there is no doubt that we will try to get more
about the culture of that place, the way of thinking, working, as well as behavior. And it is
likely that the more diverse culture of a place is, the more difficult for outsiders to assess its
culture becomes (Mosakowski 2004).
Realizing culture in (Schein 2009) including artifacts, espoused valued and shared underlying
assumptions. It is easier for outsiders to see the artifacts (visual objects) that a group uses as
the symbol for a group; however, it does not express more about the espoused values, as well
as tacit assumptions. In (Schein et al. 2010), the author stated: “For a culture assessment to be
valuable, it must get to the assumptions level. If the client system does not get to
assumptions, it cannot explain the discrepancies almost always surface between the espoused
values and the observed behavioral artifacts” (Schein et al. 2010). Hence, in order to be able
to assess other cultures well, it is necessary for us to learn each other’s languages, as well as
adapt to a common language. Moreover, we also need to look at the context of working, the
solution for shared problems because these will facilitate to understand the culture better.
According to the OCP (Organizational Culture Profile) framework (Saremi and Nejad 2013),
an organization is with possessing the innovation of culture, flexible and adaptable with fresh
ideas, which is figured by flat hierarchy and title. For instance, Gore-Tex is an innovative
product of W. L. Gore & Associates Inc., considered as the company has the most impact on
its innovative culture (Boudreau and Lakhani 2009). Looking at the examples of Fast
Company, Genentech Inc., and Google, they also encourage their employees to take
challenges or risks by allowing them to take 20% of their time to comprehend the projects of
their own (Saremi and Nejad 2013). In (Aldrich n.d.), it is recorded that 25%–55% of
employees are fully encouraged and giving a maximum value.
The famous quote by Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for Breakfast” at page 67 has
created a lot of interest in (Manning and Bodine 2012; Coffman and Sorensen 2013;
Bock 2015). Despite we all know how important culture is, we have successively failed to
address it (O'Reilly et al. 1991). The organizational research change process from the view of
Schein (2009); it is a fact that whenever an organization has the intention of changing the
culture, it really takes time. As we all acknowledge, to build an organizational culture, both
leader and subordinate spend most of their time on learning, relearning, experiencing, as well
as considering the most appropriate features. Sometimes, some changes are inevitable in
terms of economic, political, technological, legal and moral threats, as well as internal
discomfort (Kavanagh and Ashkanasy 2006; Schein 1983). As the case in (Schein 2009),
when a CEO would like to make an innovation which is proved no effective response, given
that he did not get to know well about the tacit implications at the place he has just come. It is
illustrated that whatsoever change should need time and a process to happen (Blog 2015;
Makhlouk and Shevchuk 2008). In conclusion, a new culture can be learned (Schein 1984),
but with an appropriate route and the profits for all stakeholders should be concerned by the
change manager (Sathe 1983).
It is true that people’s behavior managed by their types of culture (Kollmuss and
Agyeman 2002). All tacit assumptions of insiders are not easy for outsiders to grasp the
meaning completely (Schein 2009). It is not also an exception at any organization. Google is
an example of the multicultural organization coming from various regions of the world, and
the national or regional cultures making this multicultural organization with an official
culture for the whole company.
In this case, the organizational culture of Google has an influence on the behaviors of
manager and employee. In addition, as for such a company specializes in information
technology, all engineers prefer to work on everything with data-evidence to get them
involved in the meaningful survey about manager (Davenport et al. 2010). Eventually,
Google discovered 8 good behaviors of manager, which effect to the role of “flow” also
(Bulygo 2013; Garvin et al. 2013).
The role of the “flow” and building capacity for innovation
More and more people are using the term of “patient flow”. This overview describes patient
flow and links to theories about flow. Patient flow underpins many improvement tools and
techniques. The term “flow” describes the progressive movement of products, information,
and people through a sequence of the process. In simple terms, flow is about uninterrupted
movement (Nave 2002), like driving steadily along the motorway without interruptions or
being stuck in a traffic jam. In healthcare, flow is the movement of patients, information or
equipment between departments, office groups or organizations as a part of a patient’s care
pathway (Bessant and Maher 2009). In fact, flow plays a vital role in getting stakeholders
involved in working creatively and innovatively (Adams 2005; Amabile 1997; Forest et
al. 2011). An effective ethical leader must create flow in work before transfer it to employees
for changing the best of their effort to maintain, keep and develop “flow” in an engineering
job, which job be easier to get stress. Definitely, Google gets it done very well.
Role of a leader and its difference from a manager
In every social interaction, whether we are aware of it or not, we function as a leader. We not
only reinforce and act as part of the present cultural dynamics but also influence it when
introducing new cultural elements based on our values, beliefs and associated actions and
behaviors (Gifford and Peter 2008). Over time, these new elements have the ability to
strengthen and enhance culture or eroding and weaken it. A “leader” and a “manager” is
separated (Ibrahim and Cordes 1996). A leader is a person gives a clear strategic vision to get
a manager does (Bertocci 2009), and a manager is a person supports a leader to plando/develop-control-evaluate-improve/adjust tasks given to employee (Jones and Hill 2012)
and has formal influence (Les Dlabay 2016). In deeper perspective, there is a difference
between these two terms. However, how leader’s and employee’s behaviors at every level
influence on cultures and subcultures that arise, as well as how the total system does function
as a whole (Kollmuss and Agyeman 2002). When the responsibility for creating and
preserving organizational culture ultimately lies with a senior leadership, it is important to
recognize that every employee plays a unique role as culture creator, evolver, manager, and
leader (Aldrich n.d.; Schein 1983). At Google, it must be admitted that they, founder, leader
and manager all channel to create a comfortable place completely and a dynamic culture for
getting the creativity of their engineers; as a result, the employees feel free and really enjoy
their works (Scott 2008). There is no longer barrier, concrete hierarchy between employers
and employees, managers and engineers (Garvin 2013). The head thing is to flow in work to
produce the best product for the users. This is a leader who can help all followers achieve the
comfort and reap benefits for Google.
The proficient technical knowledge cannot help an individual create a good manager: A good
engineer with 10-times higher productivity cannot make him the best manager. Having good
technical knowledge is very important, but it is also the lowest of eight criteria set by Google.
Discussion
It cannot be denied the interplay of culture creation, reenactment, and reinforcement creates
interdependency between culture and leadership. Schein (Schein 2009) conveyed that culture
exists in a group of a community; it reflects people’s belief, lifestyle, as well as norms of that
group. It is not easy for outsiders to grasp all assumptions of the culture of a group. It seems
that culture is with us in all facets of our life, it controls and determines people’s behaviors
and it is likely that culture in each individual is accumulated gradually during the course of
their lifetime. Cultures, as well as subcultures among different groups, are not identical.
Cultures and subcultures are considered as the norms for all members’ behavior in that group.
Culture resides within each individual, on the other hand, in each organization or community,
there seems to be a hidden force to lead and instruct the ways that organization performs,
which is called culture.
Culture is created, reenacted, as well as reinforced through time. For example, as a new
leader of an organization, he or she is the one to create and build on the norms for his or her
group. Although each individual in that group comes from other small subcultures, working
together in the new group, they have to follow and adapt to the new principles that are
required by the leader. However, there are some situations in which the leader is from another
culture and move to manage in a deep-rooted cultural group, he or she is expected to adapt to
the new environment, given that it is not easy to change the culture of a group quickly and
completely. In a nutshell, in order to be more successful in managing organizational culture, a
leader should take the establishment and development of stakeholder’s cultures into careful
consideration. In chapter one of Notes towards the Definition of Culture (Eliot 2010), the
author gave three senses of “culture” and its applied difference based on the distance in
relation to the individual, the group, and society with its consciousness to develop a culture. It
means that culture has different associations in different organizations or subjects (an
individual, a group or class, a whole society). Furthermore, Adler and Gundersen (Adler and
Gundersen 2007) indicate that: “the more culturally self-aware we are, the more able we are
to predict the effect our behavior will have on others”. This means that self-awareness of
culture is directly related to individuals, groups and societies behaviors, as well as their
cultural background (Mor et al. 2013). Subsequently, that would reflect existing conceptions
of the culture shape (Sackmann and Phillips 2004). The knowledge of cultural self-awareness
is to understand one’s cultural identity, principles, and prejudices. As we develop our selfawareness, not only can we express our own cultural identity, principles, and prejudices, but
we can also start moving from enjoying our own perspective about that culture to being
comfortable with a new perspective. The consciousness of culture takes us to a further growth
step of seeking the similarities to the complexities of the culture based on the differences of
other cultures (Quappe and Cantatore 2005). Despite small and medium or large enterprises,
human development is a factor of corporate culture. A leader, the most important individual
of an organization, is the most responsible for building the corporate culture. They, therefore,
must be the example of building a corporate culture. They must make wise decisions in
building a culture of values and must be a successful leader in achieving the goals set out to
motivate the members of the company. Then, a new culture of a business can explore and
discover the potential of all members (Schein 1983). However, each leader brings a different
way of behavior, and thinking, which includes working among subordinates. When a leader
would like to change the tradition, the norms in working relationships and principles rooted
by the previous leader, the employee must adapt a new way of thinking, behaving and
working. In some cases, it may be a challenging time for some followers and conflicts may
emerge given misunderstandings in the different tactics between the new leader and the
follower. Hence, in order to obtain a successful culture change, the change manager should
have an obvious plan for his culture change strategy (Kavanagh and Ashkanasy 2006). In
“Internationalization of services brands: The role of leadership during the internal brand
building process” (Vallaster and De Chernatony 2005), Vallaster and Chernatony argued
about a leadership role in building a strategy for an organizations culture, which was based on
the capacity to leverage cognitive, effective, and communicative differences among
culturally-diverse staff. It means that the culture that a leader creates play an instrumental
role in the success of the business.
The existence of subcultures has been discussed in many papers (Howard-Grenville 2006).
Subcultures can be shaped in the organization around levels of hierarchy (Riley 1983) or
around the uniqueness of the roles and structure of the business, such as departments
(Hofstede 1998), function, and occupation (Van Maanen and Barley 1984). Also, subcultures
can be distinguished around private contacts, networks, and individual differences, such as
ethnic groups and gender groups (Martin 2001). In contrast, a variety of approaches build the
subsequent expectations on the correlation between the corporative agreement of stable
development and organizational culture, including various subcultures can exist within an
organization and various attitudes of participants of each subculture.
In comparing leaders of Google Inc. with other leaders, we look at Tony Hsieh, an internet
entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and founder and CEO of Zappos’ Inc., an online shoe, and
clothing store (Staley 2013; Zhang 2008; McNeill 2017). Hsieh regularly displayed happiness
to create his own company’s culture in a different way of “happiness to culture”. Hsieh
explains living by these core values to create an authentic culture within Zappos.com. These
values took over a year to be developed and were revisited annually through the utilization of
employee insight and reflection. To build his company’s culture he listened to feedback from
customers, staff, and even competitors.
Zappos takes the importance of culture fit in their hiring. The candidate is never asked about
their knowledge of Zappos’ when applying or interviewing for a job. Zappos wants them to
apply to become “Zappos Insider” (Hsieh 2010b). This recruiting strategy gets people to be
closer to Zappos than others. Therefore, they can study more and talk with the employer
about their abilities and interests. It seems that Zappos cares about and want to know the
candidate, who may become a part of the team in the future. In stark contrast, Google is
different in its hiring and workplace culture by building a network of “culture clubs” and
locals. It has allowed them to maintain the company culture in each of over 70 offices around
the world with rules which included: “trust the employees; recruit only those are better than
you; do not confuse development with managing performance” (Meek 2015).
It is really inspiring to live and work in the Zappos environment where all employees are
encouraged to be themselves. It took Tony Hsieh a long time to find out these core values in
order to build a successful organizational culture. With his hard work in this area, he really
deserves the success. He has succeeded in creating a working place where all employees feel
extremely comfortable. In reviewing the three video clips, ten core values, Footnote1 Tony Hsieh,
CEO of Zappos,Footnote2 and featured on 20/20,Footnote3 we can enjoy the creative, friendly, free,
and above all, inspiring atmosphere at this working place. We can feel that all employees are
not coming here to work, but to enjoy the journey to their ultimate creativity and bring back
the real and wonderful shoe products for their customers with their distinctive flow. These are
things leaders should consider if they would like to set up a successful and efficient
organizational culture.
In his textbooks (Hsieh 2010a; Hsieh 2010b), Hsieh cued some ways of cultural assessment,
such as through individual and group interviews, surveys and questionnaires, problem
solutions, cultural assumption identifications and subculture concerns. In fact, it is not easy to
evaluate a culture due to the fact that culture is deep, stable, and complex. Culture is the
underlying assumptions of each individual and group; never can these instruments like
questionnaires or surveys determine its identity. However, identifying cultural assumptions at
a certain level can facilitate the process of cultural assessment. Moreover, it is believed that
understanding the process can also be a preparation for each individual to evolve or change
culture even.
Although Google and Zappos do business in different fields, they share the same point of
establishing an organizational culture to bring the best for their employees. Tony Hsieh
highlighted: “your culture is your brand”, so to make employees feel happy and enjoy the
working environment (Hsieh 2009). Zappos creates a culture of happiness (Hsieh 2010b) and
Google creates a motivating place to work (Crowley 2013; Garvin et al. 2013). Google builds
a workforce which reflects and understands the needs of all employees.
The question is raised, what cultures are you a member of? Which has the greatest
influence on you day-to-day?
From our research, the notion of culture has been improved a lot. It is not as simple as we
originally thought. There are many different ways of living, beliefs, and core values, and
what we witness cannot fully express the culture of a group or an organization. If we want to
understand explicitly what culture is, we must get to know the backgrounds and histories of
the insiders from that cultures, as well as subcultures.
From what we know so far, every group or community has their own group culture. Schein
said “Culture is a property of a group. Whenever a group has enough common experience, a
culture begins to form. One finds cultures at the level of small teams, families, and work
groups” (Schein 2009). Moreover, the culture is sometimes considered to be similar, but there
is always a particular distinctive discrepancy that differentiates the culture of this group from
others and one is believed to belong to more than one kind of cultures during the course of
their life. Therefore, we could be working under multi-positions, as well as some other kinds
of societies such as class, professional club etc. We are a member of some kinds of
subcultures and enjoy the culture of our country.
Organizational cultures have a big influence on our day-to-day practices. For example, for
those working as a representative of the government, as a bridge between authority and
people, among customers, partners, staff, leaders, and managers, understanding your partners’
cultures brings positive outcomes. These cultures require us to try hard to improve our
interpersonal communication, as well as boost our own identity in society. Although the
norms from the subcultures may have impacts on our behavior to a certain extent, we find
that they all accumulate to supplement for our diversity and we can compare them to choose
the best practices to serve our followers.
Those considering a new job, their roles and responsibilities at the place
they work and its organizational culture will be at the top of the list of
employees’ consideration (Schmidt and Rosenberg 2014). The results of
Project Oxygen explore the performance of Google’s best technical
managers, the most instrumental element found was “making that
connection” between manager and employee. The connection between
them is vital, but it is only a part of the study. This paper first recognizes
that employees who give their best efforts and align their behaviors with
organizational goals, frequently use the word “connection” to describe why
they are so devoted; culture and subculture would play a crucial role in
business achievement, for a smooth operation.
In the case study, it is obvious that the feeling of connection among
management, employees, and customers accommodate a competitive
advantage. Whenever we approach a new organization, there is no doubt
that we will try to know more about the culture of that place, the way of
thinking, working, as well as behavior. And it is likely that the more diverse
culture of a place is; the more difficult for outsiders to assess the culture of
that place becomes. The achievements of Google and Zappos proved that
they clarify ways they apply to assess an organizational culture successfully.
They create a good connection among their stockholders, partners,
followers, customers, and newcomers. So, what is the fantastic connection?
Chapter one in (Stallard 2009), the connection is what transforms a dogeat-dog environment into a sled dog team that pulls together. It is implied
that leaders should encourage to organizing open events for employees as
often as possible to give them opportunities to interact, as well as get to
know each other’s culture. In addition, a leader must not create a barrier
between him and employees. Instead, a leader should be the opener and
more harmonious in their relationship so that subordinate can feel at ease
when they would like to comment or share their opinions. We totally agree
with this point because of the fact that if a leader does not set the tone first,
no employees dare to express their issues. It will make it difficult for a new
organizational culture to become common and cultural boundaries will be
difficult to solve. All in all, a leader is a key feature in fostering the
organizational culture or connection culture. The core factors of a
connection culture that fit these human needs are vision, value, and
voice.
This paper also interested in the point is something called “cultural
intelligence”. In this modern world, with the development of science and
technology, multinational companies, multicultural unit, each person
experiences more than one culture during the course of their life, it is vital
for each of us to be trained to become a culture expert in some extent. The
most common set of diverse culture is at the workplace, we must
communicate with different people from different culture, diverse ways of
thinking, behaving, working as well as feeling, people should be wiser to
realize that diverse cultures and deal well with them to avoid cultural shock.
Google and Zappos are the places of connection culture. Multinational
people come and work together, so culture intelligence is a necessary
quality for a more successful future leader. He or she not only learn it for
himself or herself but also for his or her followers. It is his or her
responsibility to coach and chooses which culture is the most suitable for
his or her organization. This is really useful and noteworthy for other
businesses, tomorrow leaders, and all of us in an attempt to help us to
survive be harmonious in this world.
From what we know so far, every group or community has their own group
culture. Schein said “Culture is a property of a group. Whenever a group
has enough common experience, a culture begins to form. One finds
cultures at the level of small teams, families, and work groups”
(Schein 2009). Moreover, the culture is maybe sometimes considered to be
similar, but there is always a particular distinctive discrepancy that
differentiates the culture of this group from others and one is believed to
belong to more than one kind of cultures during the course of their life. We,
therefore, could be working under multi-positions, as well as some other
kinds of societies, such as class, professional club, etc. We are a member of
several of subcultures and enjoy the culture of our country.
Reflecting on the personal and working experiences and on the research we
have read, we discovered eight important points that Google reflects:
1. A good company is a company run by a distinctive culture and
subculture.
2. Organizational culture is a key factor in every company’s success and
everlasting. Why is culture management a vital issue for a business?
Companies, especially, big ones, nowadays attract many labors from
various areas with a variety of education, specialty, consciousness,
social relation, etc., which create a diversified and complicated
environment, along with keen competition of market economy and
globalization trends, they must research and find out reasonable
changes to develop and exist. What do companies do to be viable? We
think every company builds and maintains its own different culture to
make their employees performs well their duties and focus on
company’s development.
3. A good leader must create a corporate culture that boosts employee with
value shared.
4. A good manager is a good coach.
5. “Connection” culture varies enormously across organizations based
upon local culture and leadership.
6. Culture is not fixed, it’s up to the situation, environment, historical
circumstances, relationships etc., the culture will be gradually adapted.
7. The better culture is, the much more working environment is creative,
innovative and competitive for a common company’s development and
employee’s career development.
8. The comfortable working environment encourages and gives people
opportunities to interact as well as get to know about each other’s
culture.
Innovation is widely considered the most important factor for growth and progress (Kohn &
Wewel, 2018). Because creativity is essential for innovation (Amabile, 1997), researchers of
different fields are interested in the creative industries and their actors, who master creativity
and pioneer innovations. Creative entrepreneurs are forerunners in creating innovative output
and inspire other organizations to innovate (Bergamini et al., 2018). These spillover effects
help stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in other sectors (Lampel & Germain, 2016).
But who drives innovation in small entrepreneurial ventures within the creative industries?
Research suggests that it is the entrepreneurs themselves, as their attitudes, behaviours and
motivations drive a new venture's success (Chen & Tseng, 2021). Already during the
founding phase, entrepreneurs strongly influence their venture's development by imprinting
the overall strategy and alignment according to their preferences and personality (AbecassisMoedas et al., 2021). Thus, what the entrepreneur seeks to find during the founding phase
seems to shape the venture's characteristics, strategies and capabilities, including
formalization, decision-making processes and growth strategies in the long run (AbecassisMoedas et al., 2021). As a result, organizations retain aspects of the founding environment
that the entrepreneur provides during the founding phases (Abecassis-Moedas et al., 2021;
Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). Because individual orientations and motivations are crucial in
understanding entrepreneurs' decision-making processes, they may be key indicators for
predicting later innovation outcomes (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). Accordingly, this study
focuses on the creative entrepreneurs and their unique influence on the venture's innovation.
The innovation process in the creative industries received increased research attention,
showing that innovation is often highly contextual and individual-dependent (Wijngaarden et
al., 2019). As creative actors create new products, they need to decide between two
seemingly opposing sides: art and market. Both polarities impose different obligations on the
respective actors and result in different orientations (Bergamini et al., 2018; SchulteHolthaus, 2018), which leads to a paradox between sustaining creativity and economic
considerations. Both orientations partly reflect creative entrepreneurs' dilemmas
(Caves, 2000). Creative entrepreneurs' motivations to act are heterogeneous (Chen &
Tseng, 2021). Thus, the question is which intrapersonal orientations of the founder lead to
innovation and what long-term influence do they have on the venture?
The advantage of an orientation towards the market (business) is that it favours rational and
strategic decisions, potentially supporting long-term survival. Contrarily, an orientation
towards art (creativity) fosters unconventional thinking and groundbreaking impulses. The
contrast between business and creativity becomes apparent when considering innovations'
impact, as innovation outcomes define the artistic identities but also provide their economic
foundation and viability. In this sense, new products need to address competitiveness in the
market (Kock et al., 2011) and, at the same time, meet aesthetic and artistic expectations
(Jones et al., 2015). Switching between two opposing poles is cognitively straining (Rosing &
Zacher, 2017). Consequently, creative entrepreneurs find themselves in a constant negotiation
and decision-making process, leading to constant tensions over which objective to prioritize.
Especially in small firms, the entrepreneur represents the firm's core resource with a high
degree of decision-making authority and responsibility (Jacobs & Cambré, 2020). In this
sense, more profound knowledge is crucial to understanding the multifaceted innovation
process, helping entrepreneurs to strategically excel in this negotiation process (Bergamini et
al., 2018).
Despite the growing number of studies investigating the creation process within the creative
industries, empirical knowledge shows an important gap. Creative entrepreneurship research
mainly focuses on the macro-level, such as organizational structure and industry
characteristics (Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2012; Sok & O'Cass, 2015), which fuelled a call to
investigate the micro-level (Wijngaarden et al., 2019). For instance, Abecassis-Moedas et
al. (2021) focus on the imprinting dynamic of the founder's entrepreneurial motivations on
the characteristics of the venture. Their qualitative findings suggest that these microdeterminants have a defining and long-lasting effect on the organization. However, the study
does not specifically address the impact on innovation processes and strategies. Also, earlier
research indicates that the founder takes a central role in the venture because the creative
industries consist of many loosely connected individual actors (Konrad, 2013), the primary
organizational form is an ‘organization of one’ (McKeown, 2015, p. 122) and entrepreneurs
often have to deal with everything by themselves. Consequently, the individual entrepreneur
is at the heart of the innovation process (Cnossen et al., 2019), and the locus of the innovation
process is at the individual level (Reijonen, 2008; Sarooghi et al., 2015).
Yet the literature falls short on quantitative investigations of the founders' imprinting effect
on the their venture's innovation processes within the creative industries. Knowledge is
specifically scarce about how individual orientations towards the market or art and their
interplay affect innovation. Generally, extant literature does not sufficiently capture the
complexities of what happens in the minds of creative people (Chaston & SadlerSmith, 2011), making it fruitful to analyse innovation's microfoundations (Castañer &
Campos, 2002; Jones et al., 2016). Therefore, we pose the following research question: How
do the creative and business orientation of a founder in the creative industries interact in
their influence on innovation?
To address this question, we build on the paradox theory (Smith & Lewis, 2011), concerning
contrary logics—specifically the resulting implications of handling them—and the distinction
between art and market (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007). The paradox approach offers a lens to
look at the recurrent tensions creative entrepreneurs face, classified as tensions between
rationalization and creativity (Parmentier & Picq, 2016). We consider entrepreneurs'
orientations as micro-determinants of innovation. In response to the call of Granados et
al. (2017) to better understand solutions for the trade-off between market and arts at the
micro-level (Mellander & Florida, 2011), we combine the paradox theory with the
entrepreneur's individual orientations. We differentiate the orientations into creative and
business orientation, representing both sides of a creative entrepreneurial mindset. By
examining both opposing orientations, we can understand if the creative innovation process is
influenced by mutually exclusive or dynamic, interwoven polarities. Thus, this study
investigates the polarities separately and their interactive relationship on innovation, as it is
not yet understood whether one side prevails in its impact or whether there is a symbiotic
connection of both poles that work in combination.
Our research contributes to the literature in creative entrepreneurship and innovation by
investigating the creative innovation process with its elements of market and art. Focusing on
the entrepreneur and his or her orientation, the empirical analysis uses a sample of 149
independent self-employed individuals and firm owners in the German cultural and creative
industries, surveyed in two waves 5 years apart. This study investigates the individual's
imprinting effect on the venture and its innovative outcome over the last 5 years by utilizing a
time-lagged approach.
Our results indicate that the goals founders set for their venture are decisive and imprinted for
later innovations, indicating long-term effects of orientations as microfoundations for
innovation. Further, the results suggest that creative orientation aids in not only generating
but also implementing ideas. Additionally, different compositions of the two orientation poles
appear to be associated with varying degrees of innovation. Thus, we also contribute
empirical evidence to the paradox theory and the dynamics between opposite poles
(Bergamini et al., 2018), emphasizing a strong effect of the creative side over the business
side on innovation. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs with a high degree of business orientation do
not depend on high levels of creative orientation to drive innovations that are carried out at
the firm level. Therefore, a general statement about which orientation is supportive for
innovation must be considered in the light of the degree of innovation and the respective
combination of both orientations. The negative interaction effect reveals that radical
innovations can benefit from a strong creative orientation of the founder, whereas in the case
of incremental innovations, business and creative orientation substitute for each other to a
certain extent. In this sense, the empirical results suggest a substitutional effect that
challenges the imperative for a balanced trade-off. Finally, research on entrepreneurs in the
creative industries can provide important insights relevant to mainstream research on
strategy, management and organization (Schulte-Holthaus, 2018), as intersectoral approaches
may provide the template for new and modern management structures beyond the creative
industries.
Innovation in the creative industries: Creative entrepreneurs
challenged by paradoxical demands
In the cultural and creative sector, creative agents act entrepreneurially by generating,
producing and commercializing creative and cultural products (Konrad & Fronz, 2016).
Creative entrepreneurs are creative individuals who move between creative self-realization
and economic imperatives, always on the border between the tangible and the indescribable
(Abecassis-Moedas et al., 2021; Kohn & Wewel, 2018). Their playing field, the creative
industries, is fragmented and highly dynamic (Sok & O'Cass, 2015). For example, the
German economic statistics divide them into 11 different subsectors, but in fact, a large
number of small independent actors still form an interrelated group (Konrad, 2013). The
creative industries are composed of a majority of micro-businesses, a small number of small
ventures and a few medium-sized enterprises (European Commission, 2018). They are
dynamic because consumers constantly desire novelty with highly unpredictable demand,
causing unique innovation challenges for entrepreneurs (Landoni et al., 2020). Similarities
between the creative and other industries may also generalize to other sectors, like those that
rely on knowledge workers, such as the high-tech (e.g., research and biotechnology) and
professional (e.g., medicine and law) industries.
Understanding innovation in the creative industry requires defining what innovation entails
and how to measure it. Innovation demands novelty (Kock et al., 2011): Wijngaarden et
al. (2019) describe a successful implementation of novelty as a core aspect of innovation.
Swedberg (2006) defines cultural innovation as a process of combining existing elements to
create something entirely new, appreciated in the creative and cultural sphere. Thus, there are
different understandings about the degree of novelty to consider a product innovative (Jones
et al., 2016). Based on Cnossen et al. (2019), a complete departure from the existing
convention is needed. Minor adjustments are rarely viewed as groundbreaking enough to be
considered innovative (Landoni et al., 2020). Newness can relate to the entrepreneur's past
products, but Castañer and Campos (2002) argue that a self-referential approach is
inappropriate: The product also needs to be appreciated by its peers in the creative/cultural
domain to be considered innovative.
Measuring innovation in the creative sector confronts researchers with several difficulties.
Quantifying innovation is already challenging in technological and production processes
(Chapain et al., 2010). The creative industries are even more complex to assess because they
lack traditional measures of innovation such as R&D expenditures and patents (Wijngaarden
et al., 2019). Typically, firms do not perform any significant research and development
activity (Protogerou et al., 2017). In contrast, innovation is often ad hoc or spontaneous
(Chapain et al., 2010). Most products and services in the cultural and creative industries are
far from mass produced but usually unique and subject to individual innovation processes
(Knetsch, 2017).
Apart from measurement, other characteristics make innovation processes in the creative
industries unique. Individual innovations in the creative industries may have limited
longevity (Strøm et al., 2020). Bettiol et al. (2012) highlight that products and services in the
creatives have difficulties growing and increasing their internal efficiency. Innovation is often
a means to an end and a competitive factor for traditional entrepreneurs. Whereas for creative
work, innovation also serves as a goal and an objective in itself. Business models in the
creative industries are based on a fast-paced production rhythm: year after year, season after
season or publication after publication (Knetsch, 2017). To be recognized and grow as an
artist, one must continuously launch new productions and projects (Hausmann &
Heinze, 2017). Due to the pace of innovation within the industry, inherent tensions exist
between protecting and incrementally innovating an established market utilizing stable
financial flows and creating radically novel products that may disrupt the market and revenue
streams (Jones et al., 2016). Entrepreneurs face various challenges to build an organization
solely through creative activities (Bujor & Avasilcai, 2016). A major aspect of the creative
industries is the distinction between economic and artistic consideration and their
implementation (Bergamini et al., 2018), leading to tensions between art for art's sake and art
for money (Craig & Dubois, 2010). Entrepreneurs with a creative background are usually
more concerned with the artistic aspects of their business and try to address the authentic,
artistic or aesthetic values embedded in new genres or products (Sundbo, 2011). Artists might
perceive a market orientation as threatening to their relevance, drowning out the inner
creative drive and freedom (Schediwy et al., 2018), leading to a potential discrepancy
between their artistic aspirations and the need to market their career. In order to comprehend
this complex and paradoxical logic, a deeper understanding of the micro-determinant factors
affecting entrepreneurs' creative behaviour seems necessary (Strøm et al., 2020).
‘Competing tensions and demands pervade our work lives’ (Miron-Spektor et al., 2018, p.
26). By drawing on the paradox theory, Miron-Spektor et al. (2018) argue that a paradox
mindset helps individuals to improve job performance. A paradox mindset means accepting
and being energized by tensions, which is the key to unlocking their hidden potential (MironSpektor et al., 2018). The most prominent tension in the creative industries lies between
creative and business aspects (Hadida et al., 2021). The duality between cultural and
economic logic results in contradictions and areas of tension that often represent unresolved
conflicts (Höllen, 2022). One way to conceptualize tensions is through paradoxes (Smith &
Lewis, 2011). Tensions, however, are characterized more by a span of opposites between
which actors stand; paradoxes are likewise described as opposites but are interrelated,
persistent and simultaneously existing (Smith & Lewis, 2011). A paradox has two
components: first, tensions created by multiple elements that are logical on their own but
simultaneously inconsistent and, second, the responses to these tensions attempt to deal with
paradoxical elements simultaneously (Höllen, 2022; Smith & Lewis, 2011). Organizational
structures help cope with these paradoxes, but creative entrepreneurs usually stand for
themselves and rely on their inner compass. Theoretically, this is covered by the study of
Miron-Spektor et al. (2018), who apply the concept of paradoxes to the individual. It is
common for entrepreneurs to experience complex tensions due to conflicting goals and
demands, especially among creative professionals driven by artistic ambitions, business
considerations and personal motivations (Höllen, 2022). DeFillippi et al. (2007) describe the
paradoxes caused by the challenge of managing and organizing creativity in the cultural
economy. Peris-Ortiz et al. (2019) consider the main paradoxes in the creative industries
between creativity–standardization and tradition–innovation. For the former, the authors
suggest separating routine from creative work to create isolated spaces. These divided spaces
can be literal or separate inner mindsets.
Determinants of innovation on the individual level in the
creative industries
Chaston and Sadler-Smith (2011) argue that conventional thinking about innovation does not
consider the creative industries' unique characteristics since it fails to capture the
complexities of what happens in the minds of creative individuals. Entrepreneurial
orientations play a critical role in explaining the decisions entrepreneurs make, and a view on
micro-determinants provides impulses and promises fruitful insights (Castañer &
Campos, 2002). To fill this gap, recent literature, for example, focuses on the imprinting
effect of individual motivations on the organization beyond the early founding stage
(Abecassis-Moedas et al., 2021). Right at the beginning of the entrepreneurial process, microdeterminants such as motivation play a critical role in explaining entrepreneurs' decisions
(Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). As an organization grows and develops, it retains elements of
the founding environment that the entrepreneur provided throughout their individual
orientations (Stinchcombe, 1965). A qualitative analysis from Abecassis-Moedas et al. (2021)
reveals that the founders' entrepreneurial motivations at the venture's founding have a lasting
impact on its characteristics, including formalization, decision-making processes and growth
strategies. The authors found different venture characteristics originating from the founders'
orientations during the time of the venture creation, thus highlighting the unique role of the
founders and their internal drivers.
Agents in the creative industries achieve sustainable competitive advantages by leveraging
different resources (Wernerfelt, 1984), including mental resources, characteristics,
orientations and visions. Entrepreneurial characteristics affect behaviour and, thus,
performance (Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2012). Abecassis-Moedas et al. (2021) underpin with their
case study the previous finding by revealing that the founder's entrepreneurial motivations
during the early stages of the venture have a lasting impact on the later characteristics of the
venture, like decision-making and growth strategy. Thus, motivations and orientations are the
missing links between the intention to do something and the observable action (Carsrud &
Brännback, 2011). Following the argument, individual orientations are essential elements for
a firm's strategy (Cnossen et al., 2019). In organizations where the decision-making power
concentrates on a small number of influential actors (organization of one), individual factors
can have an even greater impact, which is the case for most creative entrepreneurs (Strøm et
al., 2020). Included are processes of creating, promoting, managing and distributing their
artistic output while planning their artistic careers and developing the financing, strategy and
technology necessary for their business. Their role as managers and representatives of the
company also includes being responsible for the innovations they generate based on their
particular characteristics, orientations and motivations (Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2012). These
individual orientations culminate in strategies that focus either on the market or the art based
on extrinsic (business) or intrinsic (creative) motives or the combination of both (Jones et
al., 2016).
An important distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation arises in this context and
the respective response the entrepreneurs display. Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation
coming from within an individual, while extrinsic motivation refers to motivation from
external factors (Bird, 1988). Recent studies indicate that creative entrepreneurs are
motivated by a bundle of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (Bergamini et al., 2018). Some
common intrinsic motivations for artists and creative entrepreneurs include a desire to
express themselves and their ideas through their work, a love of the creative process and
passion for the subject matter or medium they work in as well as autonomy and flexibility at
work (Cnossen et al., 2019; Konrad & Fronz, 2016). Some shared extrinsic motivations for
artists and creative entrepreneurs include financial rewards, such as the ability to make a
living from their work, the opportunity to contribute to society or make a positive impact,
growth, job creation and economic independency (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). AbecassisMoedas et al. (2021) state that for some motives, it can be hard to categorize them as either
extrinsic or intrinsic, like self-fulfilment, recognition and fame. Both intrinsic and extrinsic
motivations can play a role in an artist's or creative entrepreneur's work and can affect their
motivation and drive to create (Cnossen et al., 2019). For example, due to a stronger personal
connection, an artist intrinsically motivated by the love of aesthetic creation may be more
likely to continue working on a project even in the face of challenges, setbacks and
rejections. In contrast, an artist primarily motivated by external rewards and solely financial
returns may be more likely to be deterred by such challenges and switch towards another
project. Ultimately, the mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations will vary from entrepreneur
to entrepreneur (Bird, 1988). Creative entrepreneurship, by definition, has different motives
and orientations than other career paths (Cnossen et al., 2019; Schulte-Holthaus, 2018).
Cultural entrepreneurs possess a cluster of motives consisting of business, artistic and
passionate elements (Bergamini et al., 2018; Chaston & Sadler-Smith, 2011). Thereby, a
mixed form of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations can be understood as the genesis of cultural
entrepreneurship and significantly influences the creative process. As Wilson and
Strokes (2005) state, the combination of leisure and professional work in art and creativity
makes entrepreneurship and self-employment for cultural and creative entrepreneurs a form
of lifestyle as people start businesses to sell products containing their personalities and to
develop themselves personally. Generating income can simultaneously be an expression of
one's personality and a fulfilment of one's lifestyle. Creative entrepreneurs utilize personal
resources to create creative products and to advertise their own personalities (Eikhof &
Haunschild, 2007).
As innovation is the process of creating new ideas or methods and implementing them
practically and competitively in the market, it often involves taking risks, thinking creatively
and coming up with new solutions to problems (Kock et al., 2011). Sarooghi et al. (2015)
define innovation in the creative industries, especially according to the business
understanding, as the market-driven implementation of new products and services (extrinsic
motivation), whereas creativity is the development of nonconformist ideas (intrinsic
motivation). Thus, intrinsic motivation can play a significant role in innovation because it is
often driven by a desire to create or solve problems, explore new ideas and push boundaries.
Artists and creative entrepreneurs who are intrinsically motivated may be more likely to
pursue innovative projects or ideas because they are driven by their own curiosity and desire
to create rather than by external rewards or pressures. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation
can also play a role in innovation, as external rewards and incentives can provide the
necessary motivation and resources for individuals to pursue innovative projects. Artistic
products have a strong subjective, intrinsic need for expression (Gangi, 2017). Whenever
artists or creatives feel compelled to turn their creativity into a market novelty, their creative
energy, the most important resource of any artist, is undermined by exploiting it
economically (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007). Too much focus on individual creativity can be
detrimental to innovation if, for example, external feedback and resource providers are
pushed too far into the background (Wilson & Stokes, 2005, pp. 366–367). In contrast, the
extrinsic mindset prevents creating genuine and personal products (Höllen, 2022). Recent
literature on innovation in the creative industries and lifestyle business implies that intrinsic
and extrinsic motivations can contribute to innovation in the creative industries. However, the
combination between the two will vary depending on the individual and the situation, thereby
influencing innovation in reciprocally dependent ways. This combination represents one of
the most discussed tensions in the cultural and creative industries: between art and commerce,
creativity and business, and the artistic and economic logic (Schediwy et al., 2018).
The role of creative orientation of a founder on innovation
Innovation depends on passion, experimentation, trial and error, and creative imagination
(Strøm et al., 2020). Creative entrepreneurs are rooted in a sector where intrinsic motivations
and orientations define their identities and behaviours (Becker, 1982). Creative people are not
used to being limited by timeframes and often have intrinsic and non-commercial motivations
(Matetskaya, 2015). Bergamini et al. (2018) analyse the entrepreneurial processes of
companies in the field of art. Across the group of artists, the authors find similarities but also
differences in comparison to other types of entrepreneurs. Among the similarities is the
founder's strong vision driving their ventures. Among the differences is the motive for
innovation, which is determined by the founder's artistic vision and not by its need for
business success and competitive advantage. In this respect, creative motivations drive
innovations that are artistically unique.
The perspective on innovation as avant-garde and a way to express oneself shifts the view on
work as a source of income (Chaston & Sadler-Smith, 2011). This form of expression can
inspire creativity and provide a sense of novelty and innovation (Overdiek, 2016). Chen and
Tseng (2021) argue that creative entrepreneurs express their innate artistic skills and embody
ideas through their new venture. On the flip side, creative workers may refuse projects if they
do not fit their artistic integrity and meet their required standards (Landoni et al., 2020).
Wijngaarden et al. (2019) point towards the phenomenon that innovation has become an
empty term for many creative entrepreneurs, but it immediately becomes meaningful and
desirable as soon as it connects to the person, a specific content or experience. It is more of a
self-satisfying dynamic: Creative workers engage in innovation processes when they believe
their current performance is not up to par with their aspirations (Castañer & Campos, 2002).
This desire to conform to one's self-image motivates, reduces tensions, aids in developing an
entrepreneurial career and leads to further innovation (Essig, 2017). Innovations and the
resulting products are identity building and thus both a condition and an impetus for further
self-development and new products (Peltoniemi, 2014).
The role of business orientation of a founder on innovation
Besides creative motivations, extrinsic economic orientations and motives also exist (Jones et
al., 2016). Randhawa et al. (2021) state that business orientation is an understanding of how
to act economically through a deeply embedded set of values, motivations and beliefs. It thus
represents the entrepreneurial side, for example, the aim for financial returns, growth and
prosperity through focused information acquisition, information processing and coordination
(DeSoucey & Demetry, 2016). Whenever artists seek professional status and make a living
out of their artistic practices, they must challenge the market and understand themselves to be
its subject (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007). Some studies challenge this view and argue that
business orientation may hinder creativity, resulting in adverse effects on innovation
(Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2012). In contrast to other industries, managerial practices such as
financial management and marketing may not be essential for a successful novelty in the
creative industry (Bujor & Avasilcai, 2016). In extreme cases, the managerial side can create
tensions that impede creativity and innovation (Cnossen et al., 2019). Jaw et al. (2012) argue
that business focus must be seen separate from innovation because finance and economic
growth are never in the creative worker's focus. Similarly, Chen and Tseng (2021) argue that
financial success is not the main driver of creative entrepreneurship and does not fully
capture entrepreneurial success.
This perspective neglects the entrepreneurial part in the creative industries and pictures the
entrepreneur as an artistic genius without any materialistic aspiration. Some authors even
criticize the overemphasis on the elusiveness of creativity, glossing over the precarious
position of the artist (Bain, 2005; Gu, 2014). In contrast to this view, other researchers argue
that effective innovations not only require novel ideas but also have to be sufficiently
profitable (Kohn & Wewel, 2018), making business orientation essential. Protogerou et
al. (2017) find a positive effect of business motives on innovation and argue that innovation
requires a range of managerial, financial and marketing skills. Innovation is not only a matter
of divergent thinking but also needs convergent thinking to allow implementation
(Amabile, 1997). Creativity must also be reconciled with the prevailing industry norms (Wu
& Wu, 2016), which is possible via a unique combination of interrelated management and
artistic practices (Jaw et al., 2012). Especially in small companies, which form the majority
of actors in the creative industries, a market orientation seems to stimulate innovation
(Didonet et al., 2016). Caniato et al. (2014) see the market and its trends as a source of
inspiration. In their study, fashion designers occasionally create new collections based on
their creativity and sometimes by adapting to the local markets. In some cases, a structured,
market-based approach fuels innovation (Granados et al., 2017).
The interaction of creative and business orientation of a
founder on innovation
Creative entrepreneurs pursue the fulfilment of their artistic visions, but they also need to be
economically sustainable by displaying a complex mix of business and creative orientations
(Abecassis-Moedas et al., 2021). The resulting tensions between creative and industrial vision
lead to paradoxical management challenges (Wu & Wu, 2016). Thus, market orientation and
individual creative orientation are hard to combine and need to be well balanced (Granados et
al., 2017). Nevertheless, the combination of various orientations is essential for creation and
commercialization (Konrad & Fronz, 2016), and entrepreneurs with the capability to explore
opportunities can tailor their products to market demands (Chen & Tseng, 2021). According
to the paradox theory, it seems to be promising for a creative entrepreneur to be equitable to
both sides. Schediwy et al. (2018) analysed young musicians' careers and their perceived
identity and found out that the scrutinized group did not necessarily experience tensions
between artistic (‘bohemian’) and business (‘entrepreneurial’) imperatives. Instead, the
authors empathize entrepreneurial action in a combined and synergetic manner. This finding
is supported by previous studies pointing to the coexistence of business- and artistic-related
aspects (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007). A solid business model provides a platform for selfexpression, while a combination of business and art can help stay adaptive and foster
creativity and commercialization (Bridgstock, 2013; Overdiek, 2016). Active
commercialization of the arts can create a new kind of expression, increase outreach and
strengthen resources so that entrepreneurship can be used as a carrier platform to express
one's passion and thus contributes in a complementary way to the creation of new art
(Milanesi, 2018). Market orientation supports innovation (Didonet et al., 2016) even more
when combined with an artistic vision (Bergamini et al., 2018). An orientation towards
creative aspects provokes innovativeness by helping to create new solutions for problems and
to perceive the environment in a different way (Fürstenberg, 2018). Assessing the correct
ratio demands a high degree of self-management, but the awareness of these elements is vital
to solving the paradox between art and commerce and therefore driving innovations
(Protogerou et al., 2017). Not every business leader can combine entrepreneurial creativity
and business orientations effectively (Sok & O'Cass, 2015). However, a dynamic approach to
innovation can integrate artistic and economic goals since creative entrepreneurs work
towards innovations that are valued not only for their originality but also for their aesthetic
properties (Jones et al., 2015). We hypothesize that creative and business orientation
complement each other in their impact on innovation in the creative industries and that a
balanced expression will lead to innovations that satisfy both the market and the artistic self
(Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007).
At the heart of the decision process, the founder plays a significant role in firms'
innovative activity in the creative industries (Protogerou et al., 2017). Since there is
considerable individual variation among different founders in the creative
industries (Chen & Tseng, 2021), we try to find common ground by examining
intrapersonal orientations among creative entrepreneurs. Founders directly
confront and address the tensions that occur when the business and artistic sides
clash to secure their firm's long-term viability. A complex composition of
orientations is essential to create innovation (Bujor & Avasilcai, 2016). This study
aimed to empirically investigate how creative and business orientation relate to
innovation. The findings suggest a complex interaction.
When we only consider direct effects, we find a positive relationship between
creative orientation and innovation in the creative industries. Creative orientation
enables a creative worker to design novel ideas helping to create new axes of
vision on problems and perceive one's environment differently
(Fürstenberg, 2018). Creative orientation consists of self-fulfilment and freedom, as
used by Abecassis-Moedas et al. (2021) in connection with a founder's long-term
imprinting influence, but also artistic elements of passion and artistic ideals
(Konrad & Fronz, 2016). This study's results indicate that a creative orientation
helps not only generate but also implement an idea and thus supports that
creativity, passion, the desire for self-realization and freedom and innovativeness
in creative entrepreneurship are related. The mixture of classically artistic motives,
such as passion and the urge for self-realization, seems to generate an innovative
impulse. This finding aligns with recent studies identifying creative orientation as
important for entrepreneurial success (Chen & Tseng, 2021). Entrepreneurship is
often thought of as a rational, analytical pursuit focused on identifying and
exploiting business opportunities. However, by expanding these findings on the
innovation process, we can argue that innovation in the creative industries is a
creative endeavour requiring the ability to generate and evaluate novel ideas,
adapt and pivot in response to changing circumstances mainly driven by creative
orientations and the respective skillset.
Second, we do not find that business orientation directly relates to innovation.
This is an important finding since innovation requires both divergent (i.e., more
creative) and convergent (i.e., more business-oriented) elements (Sarooghi et
al., 2015). Our findings are supported by recent literature, as a simple focus on
business motives could create a context that is not fruitful for or may even hinder
innovation within the creative industries (Cnossen et al., 2019). The importance of
the intrinsic factors (closely related to creative orientation) is also reflected by
Chen and Tseng (2021), as they argue that economic indicators do not fully
capture success and there are some things beyond financial profit that creative
entrepreneurs strive for.
However, only considering direct effects is insufficient because we find an
interaction between creative and business orientation. Founders with a
simultaneously low creative and business orientation have a very low likelihood of
developing any innovation. Since the two orientation poles are indirectly related
to goals and motivations, this finding implies that having a clear set of goals and
motivations is crucial for driving innovation. More interestingly, the data show
that the orientations can be substitutes to some extent because the probability of
innovation increases as soon as a founder has a higher expression in one of the
two orientations. This supports the idea that change and innovation require an
innate drive. The vital difference is that substituting a low business orientation
with a high creative orientation more strongly increases the likelihood of radical
innovation, while substituting a low creative orientation with a high business
orientation more strongly increases the likelihood of new-to-the-firm innovation.
So, although both economically and artistically driven founders tend to innovate,
the creative orientation may have a stronger substitution effect than the business
orientation. This finding highlights the importance of intrinsic motivation in
driving change and innovation.
Surprisingly, an increase in creative orientation with a simultaneously high
business orientation only marginally increases the likelihood of innovation. A high
expression of both orientations may cause cognitive friction when the founder
tries to juggle the opposing poles because the dynamics between them are
cognitively straining (Rosing & Zacher, 2017). A decision-maker who has to satisfy
both sides can become overwhelmed in finding the appropriate balance.
Overdiek (2016) states that dual leadership structures between a person with a
business focus and a person with a creative focus work best to juggle quantifiable
and efficiency-driven processes and intangible and creativity-driven ones. Another
reason might be the nature of incremental innovation. What has long been
standard practice for the industry can be a decisive change for some ventures. To
adapt or improve one's own business through external impulses requires an
evaluation of the current situation. A high business orientation seems useful when
transferring promising business practices into the company and implementing
them as incremental innovations. For a few reasons, founders with a strong
business orientation may be more likely to adapt their businesses by imitating best
practices from other companies. A strong business orientation means that the
founder is likely to be well versed in the industry and the market and may
understand what works well for other companies in the same field. This knowledge
can help identify best practices and strategies to adopt in their business. Also, a
strong business orientation often focuses on efficiency, profitability and
competitiveness. Imitating best practices from other companies can help achieve
these goals by streamlining operations, increasing revenue or gaining a
competitive edge. Additionally, founders with good business sense may be more
risk-averse and want to minimize uncertainty when running their businesses.
Imitating best practices from other companies can help mitigate the risk of failure
by providing a proven model. Lastly, imitation of best practices from other
companies can help the founder to save time and resources, rather than trying to
figure out everything from scratch. They can learn from the mistakes and
successes of others and apply those lessons to their own business, which can help
them achieve their goals more quickly and efficiently.
However, strongly creative-oriented and—at the same time—low businessoriented entrepreneurs more likely focus on their artistic vision across their
company's boundaries and do not prioritize implementing best practices. This
singular focus may limit their ability to innovate incrementally but enormously
boosts the probability of radical innovation. It is conceivable that founders who
pay special attention to the creative side and their artistic visions act and design
unhindered by business considerations. Their focus is not to drive the direct
implementation and complete a market match but go freely into the process. In
the long run, this seems to favour radical innovation without reference points in
the industry. In addition, founders take more risks and explore unconventional
ideas when they do not focus on the market during the creation process.
A closer look at our control variables reveals that founders who see themselves as
businesspeople are likely to utilize their talents to establish and grow a successful
business, as their inner urge of self-realization is likely covered partly by the
fulfilment and creation of market-driven innovation. For example, a band that sees
themselves as businesspeople may be more driven to reinvent their music if it
means filling large halls and being commercially successful than a novel avantgarde rearrangement for a niche audience. This mindset can lead to more
innovation because they are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to
stand out from the competition in their industry and appeal to their target market.
Our data imply that having previous founding experience can also contribute to
innovation because entrepreneurs likely learn from their past experiences and
apply that knowledge to new ventures. Additionally, working full-time on a
business allows entrepreneurs to fully immerse themselves in their work and
dedicate the necessary time and resources to developing new ideas and
implementing them successfully.
Overall, this study's findings suggest critically reviewing the trade-off between art
and the market. We can state that increasing one of the two sides generally
increases the probability of innovation. The creative side sets the tone in the
radical innovation process, and our results support the finding that creativity is a
vital component of innovation among entrepreneurial ventures (Chen &
Tseng, 2021; Poon & Mohamad, 2020). Nevertheless, the business orientation can
substitute a shortage of creative orientation to a certain extent and seems
valuable, especially for innovations that are only new to the firm.
Theoretical implications
This research contributes to the literature by a differentiated observation of the
artistic innovation process with its elements of market and art. We first contribute
empirical evidence to the paradox theory and the interaction between the
opposite poles (Bergamini et al., 2018; DeFillippi et al., 2007; Jones et al., 2016) as
well as providing a deeper understanding of the micro-determinants affecting
entrepreneurs' innovation process (Strøm et al., 2020). Combining the paradox
theory with time-lagged data, we could examine the long-term influence of
orientations as a goal-setting determinant (Reijonen, 2008). Our quantitative
research design complements the qualitative work of Abecassis-Moedas et
al. (2021), who state that the founder's orientation at the time of the venture's
founding can predict the potential for innovation, endorsing the proposition of
scholars that founder orientations shape the entrepreneurial innovation process in
the creative industries. We fuel the ongoing theoretical discussion of whether
creative workers should balance conflicting logics or should rather focus on their
creative vision to disentangle the conflict between art and commerce. Our study
gives hints, at least for the outcome innovation.
The study contributes to the paradox theory within the creative industries to the
extent that the interrelatedness between the two poles that Smith and Lewis (2011)
note to distinguish a paradox from a tension is evident in our data. By examining
the degree of innovation in more detail, this study can illustrate which
combination of business and creative orientation influences the likelihood of
different degrees of innovation. Thus, our study echoes the study of MironSpektor et al. (2018), who state that a paradoxical mindset is a key to unlocking the
potential hidden in tensions and transmitting it to the creative industries.
Chen and Tseng (2021) argue business success is not the main driver of creative
entrepreneurship, but still, entrepreneurs who can explore opportunities can tailor
their products to market demands. This is reflected in our data, as we see a
relevant substitution effect for innovation and even radical innovation. Even if
business and creative orientation do not seem to relate to innovation
synergetically, our study supports the work of Schediwy et al. (2018), who
emphasize a combined view of business and creative aspects. Thus, we can
confirm that market orientation supports innovation (Didonet et al., 2016) when
combined with an artistic vision (Bergamini et al., 2018) but only under certain
conditions and for certain types of innovation. Ultimately, the substitutive effect
supports the studies emphasizing that the paradox between two poles is
cognitively straining and may not be reconcilable in one person (Overdiek, 2016;
Rosing & Zacher, 2017).
Furthermore, it offers new theoretical insights into how creative entrepreneurs
form their environment and businesses long-term—thus supporting the artist's
image as a bohemian rebel, shaping their venture with their passion and creative
ideals. The study's findings raise the question of how this image is still applicable
within the creative industries or whether the boundaries between the creative and
non-creative sectors increasingly blur. Knowledge-based sectors seem to
increasingly harmonize, but the creative orientation still appears to be particularly
influential. With the increasing importance of knowledge-based work, creativity
finds its way into almost every business field (Abecassis-Moedas et al., 2021). Still,
it remains to be seen if creative orientation will become increasingly significant for
innovation by other actors in other industries.
The creative industries are an essential element of modern economic infrastructure
and will play a crucial role in the future (Bujor & Avasilcai, 2016). Therefore,
research on entrepreneurs in the creative industries can provide important insights
relevant to mainstream research on strategy, management and organization
(Schulte-Holthaus, 2018).
Practical implications
The study further contributes to an understanding of the complexity faced by
creative entrepreneurs: Knowledge about the tensions involved in managing
innovation reveals the part they play and the opportunities available in the
creative industries (Strøm et al., 2020). Creative entrepreneurs whose main activity
is creation, such as designers, craftspersons or composers, find it challenging to
plan their businesses strategically and effectively (Bujor & Avasilcai, 2016). In this
sense, creative orientation as the basis of strategic decisions could help motivate
to achieve innovation on a long-term basis. Indirectly, our results could be seen as
a legitimation to pursue one's passion without having to renounce innovation.
As we do not find a direct effect of business orientation on innovation, the
interaction and the underlying substitution effect reveal that a market focus could
nevertheless be necessary for firm-level innovation to secure viability and
innovation. Entrepreneurs who seek radical innovation may profit from their
creative-oriented side regardless of how high they score on business orientation.
For entrepreneurs who want to pursue incremental innovations, their high values
of business orientation may also be promotional, even if they score low on
creative orientation.
Since friction losses are apparent with high/high expressions, collaboration
between several parties or persons could be useful. The creative and business
communities could join forces to create a synergistic effect of creativity and
commercialization (Overdiek, 2016). The creative actors could mainly focus on
creating and implementing innovation whereby the business partners focus on
business and market development. In the long run, both partners learn from each
other, build on their strengths and work out their weaknesses. The creative
industries inspire other innovative entrepreneurs in knowledge-based industries,
helping to create new axes of vision on problems to perceive one's environment
differently (Fürstenberg, 2018). Combining also different visions and approaches
from other sectors could create even more significant effects.
In this sense, the present study offers a broadened view of the creative industries
as an important contributor to other sectors where a conflict of orientation exists.
Dealing with supposed opposites and paradoxes is not only a matter of art and the
market; other companies also face incompatibilities, such as economic and
ecological considerations. An interdisciplinary approach could be a template for
new and modern management structures outside the creative industries.
Further practical implications are insights for the business dimension of the
management of creative industries firms: Knowledge about the tensions involved
in managing innovation will provide cultural entrepreneurs with a new
understanding of their role as innovative pioneers and the opportunities available
in the creative industries (Strøm et al., 2020). This helps entrepreneurs understand,
leverage and develop their career portfolios according to their creative selves (Sok
& O'Cass, 2015). These developments also induce organizational changes for the
creative industries and beyond. Rather than goals, timeframes and external
rewards, which hinder creative thinking and innovation, the traditional hierarchical
system of control could be replaced by self-management, peer support and
intrinsic motivation.
ARTICLE
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01109-4
OPEN
Communication competencies, culture and SDGs:
effective processes to cross-cultural
communication
1234567890():,;
Stella Aririguzoh1 ✉
Globalization has made it necessary for people from different cultures and nations to interact
and work together. Effective cross-cultural communication seeks to change how messages
are packaged and sent to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Cross-cultural communication competencies make it crucial to appreciate and respect noticeable cultural differences between senders and receivers of information, especially in line with the United
Nations’ (UN) recognition of culture as an agent of sustainable development. Miscommunication and misunderstanding can result from poorly encrypted messages that the
receiver may not correctly interpret. A culture-literate communicator can reduce miscommunication arising from a low appreciation of cultural differences so that a clement
communication environment is created and sustained. This paper looks at the United Nations’
recognition of culture and how cultural differences shape interpersonal communication. It
then proposes strategies to enhance cross-cultural communication at every communication
step. It advocates that for the senders and receivers of messages to improve communication
efficiency, they must be culture and media literates.
1 Department
of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. ✉email: s.aririguzoh@gmail.com
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS | (2022)9:96 | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01109-4
1
ARTICLE
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01109-4
T
Public interest
he United Nations has recognized culture as a causal agent
of sustainability and integrated it into the SDG goals.
Culture reinforces the economic, social, and communal
fabrics that regulate social cohesion. Communication helps to
maintain social order. The message’s sender and the receiver’s
culture significantly influence how they communicate and relate
with other people outside their tribal communities. Globalization
has compelled people from widely divergent cultural backgrounds
to work together.
People unconsciously carry their cultural peculiarities and
biases into their communication processes. Naturally, there have
been miscommunications and misunderstandings because people
judge others based on their cultural values. Our cultures influence
our behaviour and expectations from other people.
Irrespective of our ethnicities, people want to communicate,
understand, appreciate, and be respected by others. Culture literate communicators can help clear some of these challenges,
create more tolerant communicators, and contribute to achieving
global sustainable goals.
Introduction
The United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to transform the world by 2030 through
simultaneously promoting prosperity and protecting the earth.
The global body recognizes that culture directly influences
development. Thus, SDG Goal 4.7 promotes “… a culture of
peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of
cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable
development.” Culture really matters (Seymour, 2007). Significantly, cultural cognition influences how people process
information from different sources and suggests policies they may
support or oppose (Rachlinski, 2021). Culture can drive sustainable development (United Nations, 2015; De Beukelaer and
Freita, 2015; Kangas et al., 2017; Heckler, 2014; Dessein et al.,
2015; and Hosagrahar, 2017).
UNESCO (2013, p.iii ; 2017, p.16; 2013a, p. 30) unequivocally
states that “culture is a driver of development,” an “enabler of
sustainable development and essential for achieving the 2030
Agenda” and as “an essential pillar for sustainable development.”
These bold declarations have led to the growth of the cultural
sector. The culture industry encourages economic growth
through cultural tourism, handicraft production, creative industries, agriculture, food, medicine, and fisheries. Culture is learned
social values, beliefs, and customs that some people accept and
share collectively. It includes all the broad knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law, customs, and other experiences and habits acquired
by man as a member of a particular society. This seems to support
Guiso, Paola and Luigi (2006, p. 23) view of culture as “those
customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social
groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation.”
They assert that there is a causality between culture and economic
outcomes. Bokova (2010) claims that “the links between culture
and development are so strong that development cannot dispense
with culture” and “that these links cannot be separated.” Culture
includes customs and social behaviour. Causadias (2020) claims
that culture is a structure that connects people, places, and
practices. Ruane and Todd (2004) write that these connections
are everyday matters like language, rituals, kingship, economic
way of life, general lifestyle, and labour division. Field (2008)
notes that even though all cultural identities are historically
constructed, they still undergo changes, transformation, and
mutation with time. Although Barth (1969) affirms that ethnicity
is not culture, he points out that it helps define a group and its
cultural stuff. The shared cultural stuff provides the basis for
ethnic enclosure or exclusion.
2
The cultural identities of all men will never be the same
because they come from distinctive social groups. Cultural
identification sorts interactions into two compartments: individual or self-identification and identification with other people.
Thus, Jenkins (2014) sees social identity as the interface between
similarities and differences, the classification of others, and selfidentification. He argues that people would not relate to each
other in meaningful ways without it. People relate both as individuals and as members of society. Ethnicity is the “world of
personal identity collectively ratified and publicly expressed” and
“socially ratified personal identity‟ (Geertz, 1973, p. 268, 309).
However, the future of ethnicity has been questioned because
culture is now seen as a commodity. Many tribal communities are
packaging some aspects of their cultural inheritances to sell to
other people who are not from their communities (Comaroff and
Comaroff, 2009).
There is a relationship between culture and communication.
People show others their identities through communication.
Communication uses symbols, for example, words, to send
messages to recipients. According to Kurylo (2013), symbols
allow culture to be represented or constructed through verbal and
nonverbal communication. Message receivers may come from
different cultural backgrounds. They try to create meaning by
interpreting the symbols used in communication. Miscommunication and misunderstanding may arise because symbols may not have the same meaning for both the sender and
receiver of messages. If these are not efficiently handled, they may
lead to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Monaghan
(2020), Zhu (2016), Holmes (2017), Merkin (2017), and Samovar
et al. (2012) observe that inter-cultural communication occurs
between people from different cultural groups. It shows how
people from different cultural backgrounds can effectively communicate by comparing, contrasting, and examining the consequences of the differences in their communication patterns.
However, communicating with others from different cultural
backgrounds can be full of challenges, surprises, and re-learning
because languages, values, and protocols differ. Barriers, like
language and noise, impede communication by distorting,
blocking, or altering the meaning.
Communication patterns change from one nation to the next.
It is not uncommon, for example, for an American, a Nigerian, a
Japanese national, or citizens of other countries to work together
on a single project in today’s multi-cultural workplace. These men
and women represent different cultural heritages. Martinovski
(2018) remarks that both humans and virtual agents interact in
cross-cultural environments and need to correctly behave as
demanded by their environment. Possibly too, they may learn
how to avoid conflicts and live together. Indeed, García-Carbonell
and Rising (2006, p. 2) remark that “as the world becomes more
integrated, bridging the gap in cultural conflicts through real
communication is increasingly important to people in all realms
of society.” Communication is used to co-ordinate the activities in
an organization for it to achieve its goals. It is also used to signal
and order those involved in the work process.
This paper argues that barriers to cross-cultural communication can be overcome or significantly reduced if the actors in the
communication processes become culture literates and competent
communicators.
Statement of the problem
The importance of creating and maintaining good communication in human society cannot be overemphasized. Effective
communication binds and sustains the community. Crosscultural communication problems usually arise from confusion
caused by misconstruction, misperception, misunderstanding,
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and misvaluation of messages from different standpoints arising
from differences in the cultures of the senders and receivers of
messages. Divergences in cultural backgrounds result in miscommunication that negatively limits effective encrypting,
transmission, reception, and information decoding. It also hinders effective feedback.
With the rapid spread of communication technologies, no
community is completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Present-day realities, such as new job opportunities and globalization, compel some people to move far away from their local
communities and even their countries of origin to other places
where the cultures are different. Globalization minimizes the
importance of national borders. The world is no longer seen as a
globe of many countries but as a borderless entity (Ohmae, 1999)
and many markets (Levitt, 1983) in different countries with different cultures. As a matter of necessity, people from other
countries must communicate.
The United Nations (2015) recognizes culture’s contribution to
sustainable development and promotes local cultures in development programmes to increase local population involvement.
Despite the United Nations’ lofty ideals of integrating culture into
development, culture has hindered development at different
levels. Interventions meant to enhance development are sometimes met with opposition from some people who feel that such
programmes are against their own culture.
Gumperz (2001, p. 216) argues that “all communication is
intentional and grounded in inferences that depend upon the
assumption of mutual good faith. Culturally specific presuppositions play a key role in inferring what is intended.” Crossborder communications reflect the kaleidoscope of the diverse
colours of many cultures, meeting, clashing, and fusing. Like
Adler (1991, p. 64) observes, “foreigners see, interpret, and
evaluate things differently, and consequently act upon them differently.” Diversities in culture shape interpersonal communication. Yet the basic communication process is the same
everywhere. It is in these processes that challenges arise. Therefore, this study seeks to examine how each of these steps can be
adapted to enhance cross-cultural communication, especially in
today’s digitized era of collapsing cultural boundaries. Barriers to
cross-cultural communication can be significantly reduced if the
actors in the communication processes become culture literates
and competent communicators.
Study objectives
The objectives of this study are
1. To examine United Nations efforts to integrate culture into
sustainable development.
2. To suggest modifications to each communication process
step to improve effective cross-cultural communication.
Literature review
Some authors have tried to link culture, communication, and
sustainable goals.
The need to know about people’s culture. There are compelling
reasons to learn about other people’s cultures.
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Cultural literacies: Difficulties in cross-cultural communication can be reduced when senders of messages
understand that the world is broader than their ethnocentric circles. It demands that senders of messages know
that what they believe may not always be correct when
communicating with receivers of these messages who are
from different cultures. Logical reasoning will expect
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increased exposure to different cultures to increase understanding. When people of different groups communicate
frequently, it is anticipated that they should understand
each other better. This is what Hirsch (1987) labels as
cultural literacy. In the ordinary course of things, common
knowledge destroys mutual suspicion and misinterpretation that often generate conflicts.
●
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To protect the earth: It is essential to point out that at “the
most global level, the fate of all people, indeed the fate of
the earth, depends upon negotiations among representatives of governments with different cultural assumptions
and ways of communicating” (Tannen, 1985, p. 203). If the
world is to be protected, it is necessary to understand other
peoples’ cultures who live and interact with us at different
fronts and in this same world. The world is still our haven.
Nevertheless, Vassiliou et al. (1972) find that increased
exposure can increase people’s mutual negative stereotyping. Tannen (1985, p. 211) remarks that stereotypes of
ethnic groups partly develop from the poor impressions
that people from other cultures have about the natives
because they hold different meanings for both parties.
Stereotyping is detrimental to cross-cultural communication, and its dismissal is necessary for any successful crosscultural exchange.
Spin-offs from globalization: Bokova (2013) observes that
globalization transforms all societies and brings culture to
the front. She remarks that communities are increasingly
growing diverse and yet interconnected. The spin-offs from
globalization open great doors for exchanges, mutual
enrichment of persons from different cultures, and pictures
of new worlds.
The dynamics of cross-cultural communication. Different cultures emphasize different values. The emphasis on one value by
one culture may lead to difficulties in cross-cultural communication with another person who does not see that particular value in
the same light, for example, timeliness. It is crucial to note Sapir’s
(1956, p. 104) insistence that “every cultural pattern and every
single act of social behaviour involves communication in either an
explicit or implicit sense.” Even though Hofstede (2005, p. 1)
comments that “cultural differences are nuisance at best and often
a disaster,” UNESCO (1998, 1999) recognizes cultural diversity as
an “essential factor of development” and an issue that matters.
This makes cultural diversity a blessing rather than a disaster. The
various shades of cultural values influence how we behave and
communicate with others outside our cultural environment. Our
ideals and biases also influence communication.
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) developed a
culture model with seven dimensions. They are universalism
versus particularism (rules versus relationships); individualism
versus communitarianism (the individual versus the group);
specific versus diffuse (how far people get involved); neutral
versus emotional (how people express emotions); achievement
versus ascription (how people view status); sequential time versus
synchronous time (how people manage time); and internal
direction versus outer direction (how people relate to their
environment). These cultural models signify how people from
these areas communicate. People from different backgrounds may
have difficulties communicating as their values may be significantly different. A good communicator must take note of this
distinctiveness in values because they impact the communication
processes. For example, a person who is particular about
upholding written rules may not be interested in knowing who
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the culprit is before administering sanctions. But the other person
interested in maintaining a good relationship with others may reconsider this approach.
Hofstede (1980) identifies five significant values that may
influence cross-cultural communication:
i. Power distance: This is the gap between the most and the
least influential members of society. People from different
cultures perceive equality in various ways. The social
hierarchy or status determines where individuals are placed.
Status is conferred by inheritance or by personal achievement. Some cling to societal classification and its hierarchy
of power. Others value and cherish the equality of all
people. Yet, other cultures see other people as dependents
and somehow inferior beings. A king in an African
community is seen as far more powerful and important
than his servants, who are expected to pay obeisance to
him. Most countries in Europe are egalitarian. Arabic and
Asian countries are high on the power index.
ii. Individualism versus collectivism: This explains the extent to
which members of a particular culture value being seen
first, as individuals or as members of a community. As
individuals, they are entirely held accountable for their
errors. They are also rewarded as individuals for their
exploits. However, in some cultures, the wider community
is involved. Suppose a person makes an inglorious error.
The whole community where that individual comes from
shares in it. The same goes if he wins laurels and awards.
The individual does not exist primarily for himself. African,
Japanese, Indian, and most Asiatic nations follow the
collective approach. A Chinese man has his Guanxi or
Guanshi. This is his network of influential and significant
contacts that smoothen his business and other activities
(Yeung and Tung, 1996). He succeeds or fails based on his
personal relationships. In other words, the basis of business
is friendship. This is clear evidence of collectivism. Most
people from America and Europe are individualistic. It
must be pointed out that personal values mediate both
community and individualistic spirit. Trompenaars and
Hampden-Turner’s communitarianism vs. individualism
appears very similar to this Hofstede’s individualism/
collectivism orientation. The information receiver who
values his individuality will be offended if he is seen as just
a group member or if his negative performance on the job is
discussed openly. The message sender who appreciates his
subordinates would send personalized messages and expect
their feedback.
iii. Uncertainty avoidance: This shows the degree to which a
particular culture is uncomfortable with uncertainties and
ambiguities. Some cultures avoid or create worries about
how much they disclose to other people. A culture with
high uncertainty avoidance scores wants to avoid doubts by
telling and knowing the absolute truth in everything. For
them, everything should be plainly stated. When situations
are not like this, they are offended, worried, and intolerant
of other people or groups they feel are hiding facts by not
being plain enough. Hofstede and Bond (1988) write that
this trait is very peculiar to western Europeans. This means
that people from countries like Greece, Turkey, and Spain
are very high on uncertainty avoidance. Communication
between people with high or low uncertainties may be
hindered. Some people may appear rude and uncouth
because of their straightforward ways of talking. Some
Africans may see some Americans and people from Europe
as too wide-mouthed because they feel they do not use
discretion in talking. They say things they may prefer to
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iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
keep silent about and hide from the public’s ears. On the
other hand, some Americans may see some Africans as
unnecessarily secretive. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s (1997) universalism/particularism explains why some
cultures insist on applying the rule of law no matter who
the offender is.
Masculinity/feminity roles: Hofstede (2001) defines masculinity as society’s preference for success, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. Conversely,
femininity is seen as the preference for co-operation,
diffidence, caring for the weak and quality of life. The malefemale contradiction affects communication. Females are
expected to be meek homemakers that tend and nurture
their family members. Like Sweden and Norway, cultures
that favour females do not discriminate between the sexes.
Japan and Nigeria have cultures that are predominantly
masculine in orientation. Competitive and aggressive
females are frowned at and seen as social deviants. In the
other cultures where females are more favoured, a man may
land in court and face public condemnation for domestic
violence. Hofstede (1998) believes that how different
cultures see the male/female roles influence how they treat
gender, sexuality, and religion.
Long-time orientations: A particular society accepts some
degree of long or short associations. Japanese culture scores
high in long-term orientation values, commitments, and
loyalty. They respect tradition, and therefore, changes in
their society take a longer time to happen. Cultures with
low long-term orientation do not value tradition much, nor
do they go out of their way to nurture long-standing
relationships. Literally, changes occur in rapid succession.
There appears to be more attachment to the pursuit of
immediate self-satisfaction and simple-minded well-being.
Baumeister and Wilson (1996, pp. 322–325) say that
meaning comes from a sense of purpose, efficacy, value,
and a sense of positive self-worth. Thus, if you communicate with somebody with a short-term orientation, you
may think that he is too hasty and intemperate, while he
may feel that you are too sluggish and not ready to take
immediate action.
Hall (1983) introduces two other factors:
Time usage: Some cultures are monochronic, while others
are polychronic. Monochronic cultures are known for
doing one thing at a time. Western Europe is monochronic
in time orientation, as illustrated by the familiar adage that
says, “There is a time and place for everything!” Persons
from this cultural background are very punctual and strictly
adhere to plans. They are task-oriented. Polychronic
cultures schedule multiple tasks simultaneously, even
though there may be distractions and interruptions while
completing them. Plans may often change at short notice.
Such different time management and usage may constrict
effective communication. A London business entrepreneur
will find it difficult to understand why his business partner
from Nigeria may be thirty minutes late for a scheduled
meeting. The answer is in their perception of time. Some
Nigerians observe what is referred to as African time, where
punctuality is tacitly ignored.
Low and high context: This refers to how much a culture
depends on direct or indirect verbal communication.
According to Hall (1976), low context cultures explicitly
refer to the topic of discussion. The speaker and his
audience know that the words mean exactly what they say.
In high context cultures, the meanings of words are drawn
from the context of the communication process. The words
may never mean what they say. For example, the sentence: I
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have heard. In the low context culture, it merely means that
the listener has used his ears to listen to what the speaker is
saying. In the high context culture, the listener knows more
than what the speaker is saying and may be planning
something unpleasant. Europeans and North Americans
have low contexts. African and Asian nations have high
contexts.
Vaknin (2005) brings in another value:
viii. Exogenic and endogenic: This shows how people relate to
their environment. Deeply exogenic cultures look outside
themselves to make sense of life. Hence, they believe in God
and His power to intervene in the affairs of men. Endogenic
cultures draw on themselves when searching for the
meaning of life. They think they can generate solutions to
tackle the problems facing them. While the endogenic
person may exert himself to find a solution to a challenge,
his exogenic partner may believe that supernatural help will
come from somewhere and refuses to do what is needed. Of
course, this provides a problematic platform for effective
communication.
The United Nations’ sustainable development goals and culture. The United Nations recognizes that culture is implicitly
crucial to the achievement of the SDGs. No meaningful development can occur outside any cultural context because every
person is born into a culture. To a large extent, our cultural
foundations determine what we do and how we see things.
Therefore, culture must be integrated into sustainable development strategies. Some specific goals’ targets acknowledge that
culture drives development. Sustainable development revolves
around economic, social, and environmental objectives for people. These goals are implicitly or explicitly dependent on culture
because culture impacts people.
There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals. However, there
are four specific ones that refer to culture are:
●
●
SDG 4 focuses on quality education
Target 4.7
By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and
skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable
development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights,
gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and
non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of
cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
In other words, quality education is most effective if it responds
to a place and the community’s cultural context and exactitudes.
This target hinges on education promoting peace, non-violence,
and cultural diversity as precursors to sustainable development.
Encouraging respect for cultural diversity within acceptable
standards facilitates cultural understanding and peace.
●
●
SDG 8 focuses on decent work and economic growth
Target 8.9
By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote
sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local
culture and products
Strengthening trade in cultural goods and services will provide
growth impetus for local, national, and international markets.
These will create employment opportunities for people whose
work revolves around cultural goods. Cultural tourism generates
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revenues that improve the economy. In this sense, culture
facilitates the community’s well-being and sustainability.
●
●
SDG 11 focuses on sustainable cities and communities
Target 11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s
cultural and natural heritage
When our cultural heritage is carefully managed, it attracts
sustainable investments in tourism. The local people living where
this heritage is domiciled ensure that it is not destroyed and that
they themselves will not damage the heritage areas.
●
●
SDG 12 focuses on responsible consumption and
production
12 b
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable
development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates
jobs and promotes local culture and products
Several indigenous livelihoods and crafts are built on local
knowledge and management of the ecosystem, natural resources,
and local materials. If natural resources are depleted, production
will be endangered. Local livelihoods that utilize low technology
and energy generate less waste and keep their environment free
from pollution. In other words, proper management of the
ecosystem prevents biodiversity loss, reduces land degradation,
and moderates adverse climate change effects. Where there are
natural disasters, traditional knowledge already embedded in the
people’s culture helps them become resilient.
Theoretical framework. The social construction of reality is
hinged on the belief that people make sense of their social world
by assembling their knowledge. Scheler (1960) labels this
assemblage the Sociology of Knowledge. Berger and Luckmann
(1966, p.15) contend that this “knowledge is concerned with the
analysis of the social construction of reality.” Social construction
theory builds on peoples’ comprehension of their own life
experiences. From there, people make assumptions about what
they think life is or should be. Young and Collin (2004) present
that social constructionism pays more attention to society than
individuals. Communities determine what they feel is acceptable.
What is widely accepted by a particular community may be
unacceptable to other people who are not members of this group.
Therefore, people see an issue as good or bad based on their
group’s description. Thus, what is a reality in Society A may be
seen as illegal in Society B. Berger and Luckmann (1966) claim
that people create their own social and cultural worlds and vice
versa. According to them, common sense or basic knowledge is
sustained through social interactions. These, in turn, reinforce
already existing perceptions of reality, leading to routinization
and habitualization. Berger and Luckmann (1991) say that dialogue is the most important means of maintaining, modifying,
and reconstructing subjective reality.
Burr (2006) writes that the four fundamental tenets of social
constructionism are: a critical instance towards taken-for-granted
knowledge, historical and cultural specificity; knowledge sustained by social processes; and that knowledge and social action
go together. This taken-for-granted knowledge is a basic
common-sense approach to daily interactions. Historical and
cultural specificities look at the peculiar but past monuments that
have shaped the particular society. Knowledge is created and
sustained by socialization. Good knowledge improves the
common good. However, whoever applies the knowledge he has
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acquired wrongly incurs sanctions. This is why convicted
criminals are placed behind bars.
Social constructions exist because people tacitly agree to act
as if they do (Pinker, 2002). Whatever people see as realities are
actually what they have learnt, over long periods, through their
interactions with their society’s socialization agents such as the
family, schools and churches. Cultural realities are conveyed
through a language: the vehicle for communication. Language
communicates culture by telling about what is seen, spoken of,
or written about. However, groups construct realities based on
their cultures. The media construct realities through the
production, reproduction, and distribution of messages from
which their consumers give meaning to their worlds and model
their behaviours.
The method of study
The discourse analysis method of study is adopted for this work.
Foucault (1971) developed the ‘discursive field’ to understand the
relationships between language, social institutions, subjectivity,
and power. Foucault writes that discourses relate to verbalization
at the most basic level. The discursive method explores the
construction of meanings in human communication by offering a
meaningful interpretation of messages to enhance purposeful
communication. Discourse analysis examines how written, or
spoken language is used in real-life situations or in the society.
Language use affects the creation of meaning; and, therefore,
defines the context of communication. Kamalu and Isisanwo
(2015) posit that discourse analysis considers how language is
used in social and cultural contexts by examining the relationship
between written and spoken words. Discourse analysis aims to
understand how and why people use language to achieve the
desired effect. The discursive method explores the construction of
meanings in human communication by offering a meaningful
interpretation of messages to enhance purposeful communication. Gale (2010) says that meaning is constructed moment by
moment. Garfinkel (1967) explains this construction as the
common-sense actions of ordinary people based on their practical
considerations and judgments of what they feel are intelligible
and accountable to others. According to Keller (2011), a peoples’
sense of reality combines their routinized interactions and the
meanings they attach to objects, actions, and events. It is in this
understanding of the natural use of language that some barriers to
effective cross-cultural communication can be reduced.
Messages may assume different meanings in different situations for other people. These meanings affect social interactions.
They either encourage or discourage further human communication. As Katz (1959) has written, interpersonal relationships
influence communication. To make meaning out of messages and
improve human relationships, it is necessary to understand that
content and context may not represent the same thing to people
in different situations. Waever (2004, p. 198) states that “things
do not have meaning in and of themselves, they only become
meaningful in discourse.” Since people’s perspectives are different, it becomes extremely difficult to form a rigid basis on specific
ideas. Ideas are discussed on their merits. Discursive analysis
inspects the ways individuals construct events by evaluating
language usage in writing, speech, conversation, or symbolic
communication (Edwards, 1997; Harre and Gillet, 1994). Language is the carrier of culture. According to Van Dijk (1995, p.
12), this approach is used to study descriptive, explanatory, and
practical issues in “the attempt to uncover, reveal or disclose what
is implicit, hidden or otherwise not immediately obvious in
relations of discursively enacted dominance or their underlying
ideologies.” The media play fundamental roles in the processes of
constructing or reconstructing reality. They can do these because
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of Aririguzoh’s (2004) observation that the press impacts the
political and socio-cultural sub-systems.
Culture at the international galleries. The affairs of culture came
into international prominence at the UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies held in Mexico in 1982. This conference gave a broad definition of culture to include “the whole
complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It
includes not only the arts and letters but also modes of life, the
fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions
and beliefs” (UNESCO, 1982, p. 1).
The United Nations World Commission on Culture and
Development, led by J. Perez de Cuellar, published our Creative
Diversity’s Landmark Report (UNESCO, 1995). This report points
out the great importance of incorporating culture into development. Although the Commission recognizes cultural diversities, it
sees them as the actual vehicles driving creativity and innovation.
During the World Decade on Culture and Development
(1988–1998), UNESCO stepped up again to campaign for greater
recognition of culture’s contribution to national and international
development policies. In 1998, Stockholm hosted an Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development.
Its Action Plan on Cultural Policies for Development reaffirmed
the correlation between culture and development (UNESCO,
1998). In 1999, UNESCO and the World Bank held the Intergovernmental Conference, Culture Counts, in Florence. Here,
‘cultural capital’ was emphasized as the tool for sustainable
development and economic growth (UNESCO, 1999).
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2005
World Summit Outcome Document. Here, cultural diversity was
explicitly admitted as a contributor to the enrichment of
humankind. The United Nations General Assembly Resolutions
on Culture and Development adopted in 2010 and 2011 (65/166
and 66/208) recognize culture as an “essential component of
human development” and “an important factor in the fight
against poverty, providing for economic growth and ownership of
the development processes.” These resolutions called for the
mainstreaming of culture into development policies at all levels.
The UN System Task Team on the Post 2015 Development
Agenda issued a report, Realizing the Future We Want for All
(2012, p. ii), with a direct charge that culture has a clear role to
play in the “transformative change needed for a rights-based,
equitable and sustainable process of global development.”
Paragraph 71 of the report declares:
It is critical to promote equitable change that ensures
people’s ability to choose their value systems in peace,
thereby allowing for full participation and empowerment.
Communities and individuals must be able to create and
practice their own culture and enjoy that of others free from
fear. This will require, inter alia, respect for cultural
diversity, safeguarding cultural and natural heritage,
fostering cultural institutions, strengthening cultural and
creative industries, and promoting cultural tourism (p. 33).
In 2005, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the
Diversity of Cultural Expressions member states agreed that cultural
diversity “increases the range of choices and nurtures human
capacities and values. Therefore, it is a mainspring for sustainable
development for communities, peoples and nations” (UNESCO,
2005, p. 1). The Convention reiterated the importance of the link
between culture and development. UNESCO also steers an
International Fund for Cultural Diversity to promote sustainable
development and poverty reduction among the developing and least
developed countries that are parties to the Convention.
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UN Resolution 2347 of 2017 focuses exclusively on protecting
cultural heritage and its necessity for peace and security. This
Resolution brings a thorough awareness of culture’s role as a
source of stability, inclusion, driver of reconciliation, and
resilience. This Resolution reinforces Resolution 2199, adopted
in February 2015, partly to fight against international terrorism
financing and prohibit the illicit trafficking of cultural goods from
Iraq and Syria.
Communication processes for overcoming difficulties in
cross-cultural communication
The primary risk in cross-cultural communication is distortion,
which creates misunderstanding or even misrepresentation of the
conveyed information. Baumgratz (1990, pp. 161–168) shares the
opinion that relevant cultural dimensions of what he calls a social
communication situation should be mapped out for individuals or
groups who are from different nations or cultural origins but who
have realized the need to contribute to the achievement of social,
institutional, organizational, group, and personal aims. The tactics to overcome difficulties in cross-cultural communication lie
in the communication processes. Any of the steps can become a
barrier since culture influences the behaviour of both senders and
receivers of messages. Barriers impede communication by distorting, blocking, or creating misunderstandings. Hence, it is
necessary to create an enabling environment that will make
communicating easier. Each of the communication steps can be
strategized to enhance communication.
The sender. He is the source or initiator of the message. He can
be a person or an organization. If the sender is a person, Malec
(2018) refers to him as the carrier of intangible culture and the
creator of the tangible ones. Messages are conveyed through
spoken or written words. Nevertheless, messages can also be nonverbal. The encoding includes selecting words, symbols, or gestures in composing a message. The sender should encrypt,
transfer meaning, or package his messages in ways that the
receivers can access them. He should use symbols that the
receiver would comprehend. The first thing he should do is use a
language that his receiver understands. For example, it is useless
to send a message written in English to another person who only
understands French. Not only is the effort wasted, but it might
also generate hostility. In Nigeria, Mexican soaps are freely watched. However, their producers avoided the obvious language
challenge by dubbing in English voice-overs.
Words mean different things in different languages. For
example, a British boss would answer yes to a question. However,
his American subordinate would answer, yeah. The boss would
think that he is disrespectful and impolite. Meanwhile, the
American employee would be bewildered by the boss’s apparent
coldness. British people use words that have different meanings
from their American counterparts. For example, the word, pant,
means underwear to a Briton but a pair of trousers to an
American. The Englishman may still run into trouble with other
nationals because his words have different meanings to these
listeners. For example, the English phrase fart means a different
thing among the Danish. For them, the word means speed! The
English word gift means poison in German. If an Englishman calls
somebody a brat, his Russian friend will conclude that he is
calling him his brother, which is what the word means in his
language. Igbo children of south-eastern Nigeria call the hawk
leke. But for the Yorubas in the southwest, this is the name given
to a male child.
The sender, too, must know that even body language may
mean different things. He should not assume that non-verbal
messages mean the same in every part of the world. In Japan,
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nodding the head up and down means disagreement. In Nigeria,
it means the opposite. Even though his own culture invariably
influences the message’s sender, he should understand that his
message is intended for a cross-cultural audience. He must also
realize that the contents are no longer meant for ethnic
communities defined by geographical locations but for an
audience connected by frequent interactions that are not
necessarily in the same physical place. A message sender that
values esprit de corps will incorporate this into his messages by
telling them that the laurel does not go to any person in particular
but to the winning team. He thus encourages everybody to join in
to win, not as individuals but as members of a group. If he is high
on doubt avoidance, he makes his messages very direct and
unambiguous and leaves no room for misinterpretation. However, a male sender who wants to assert his masculinity may wish
to sound harsh. The sender who regularly attends church services
may unconsciously put some words of Scripture in his messages
because of his exogenic roots. The sender with monochronic
orientation will send one message and expect the task to be
completed as scheduled. His linear cultural background will be
offended if the result is the contrary. Similarly, the sender who
places a high value on rules and regulations would send messages
of punishment to those who break them but reward those who
keep them without minding his relationships with them. An
effective sender of messages to a cross-cultural society should
state his ideas clearly, offer explanations when needed, or even
repeat the whole communication process if he does not get the
appropriate feedback.
Message. This is the information content the sender wants to
share with his receivers. These include stories, pictures, or
advertisements. He should carefully avoid lurid and offensive
content. A French man may see nothing wrong in his wife
wearing a very skimpy bikini and other men ogling at her at a
public beach. His counterpart from Saudi Arabia will be upset if
other men leer at his wife. In addition, the wife would be sanctioned for dressing improperly and appearing in public. If a
person has a message to share with others from a different cultural background, he should be careful. His listeners may not
isolate his statement as being distinct from his personality.
Societies with high context culture usually consider the
messages they send or receive before interpreting them. Messages
are hardly delivered straightforwardly. The message is in the
associated meanings attached to the pictures and symbols. Thus,
those outside that community find it very difficult to understand
the meaning of the messages. In low-context communication, the
message is the information in words. The words mean what they
say. However, a corporate sender of messages, for example, the
head of the Human Resources Department of a multi-cultural
company interested in building team spirit, may organize
informal chit-chats and get-togethers to break the proverbial ice
as well as create a convivial atmosphere where people can relate.
The message he is passing across is simple: let colleagues relax,
relate, and work together as team members irrespective of where
they come from. All of these are communicative actions.
Channel. The channel’s work is to provide a passage for the
sender to guide his message to the receiver. While face-to-face
communication is ideal for intimate and close group conversations, it is impossible to talk to everybody simultaneously. Different channels of passing across the same message may be used.
For example, the same message may be passed through radio,
adapted for television, put online, or printed in newsletters,
newspapers, and magazines. The hope is that people who missed
the message on one channel may see it on another somewhere
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else. A pronounced media culture will hasten cross-cultural
communication. Many people consume media content. However,
these consumers are expected to be media literates. Aririguzoh
(2007, p. 144) writes that:
media literacy is the systematic study of the media and their
operations in our socio-political systems as well as their
contributions to the development and maintenance of
culture. It is the information and communication skill that
is needed to make citizens more competent. It is the ability
to read what the print media offer, see what the visual
media present, and hear what the aural media announce. It
is a response to the changing nature of information in our
modern society.
Official messages should be passed through defined routes and
are best written. This would close avenues of possible denials by
others if the same message were passed across verbally. It could be
difficult to misinterpret the contents of a written document.
Written documents have archival values. As much as possible,
rumours should be stamped out. A good manager should single
out regular gossips in a multi-cultural organization for special
attention. Equally, an effective manager heading widely dispersed
employees can co-ordinate their activities using communication
technologies with teleconferencing features. Aririguzoh (2007, p.
45) notes, “information and communication technologies have
transformed the range and speed of dispersing information and of
communicating. Today, the whole world lies a click away!”
The media of communication are shaped by the culture of the
people who produce them. What they carry as contents and the
form they assume are defined by the culture of the sender. In lowcontext societies, it is common for messages to be written. In high
context societies, it is common for statements to be verbal.
Importantly, Aririguzoh (2013, pp. 119–120) points out that “…
the mass media can effectively be deployed to provide pieces of
information that enhance communication, build understanding
and strengthen relationships in our rapidly changing environment dictated by the current pace of globalization. The mass
media assiduously homogenize tastes, styles, and points of view
among many consumers of its products across the globe. They
have effectively helped in fading away national distinctions and
growing mass uniformity as they create, distribute and transmit
the same entertainment, news, and information to millions of
people in different nations.”
Receiver. The receiver is the person the sender directs his message to. In a workplace, the receiver needs the message or
information to do his job. The receiver decodes or tries to
understand the meaning of the sender’s message by breaking it
down into symbols to give the proper feedback. If the message is
verbal, the receiver has to listen actively. The message receiver
must understand a message based on his existing orientations
shaped by his own culture. Even the messages that he picks are
selected to conform to his existing preconceptions.
Oyserman et al. (2002) make an interesting discovery: that
receivers from different cultures interpret the message senders’
mannerisms. For an American, a speaker talking very quickly is
seen as telling the uncensored truth. In other words, the speaker
who talks too slowly implicates himself as a liar! However, for the
Koreans, slow speech denotes careful consideration of others. In
some cultures, particularly in Asia, the receiver is responsible for
effective communication. Kobayashi and Noguchi (2001) claim
that he must become an expert at “understanding without words.”
Miyahara (2004, p. 286) emphasizes that even children literarily
learn to read other people’s minds by evaluating the subtle cues in
their messages and then improvising to display the expected and
8
appropriate social behaviour and communication. Gestures
involve the movements of the hands and head of the sender.
The receiver clearly understands these body movements. As
painted by Sapir (1927, p. 556), “we respond to gestures with an
extreme alertness and, one might almost say, in accordance with
an elaborate and secret code that is written nowhere, known by
none, and understood by all.”
Receivers who value individualism appreciate personal freedom, believe that they can make their own decisions, and respect
their performance. Those who prefer communitarianism would
prefer group applause and loyalty. A monochromatic receiver
would start and finish a task before starting another one. He
would be offended when colleagues do not meet deadlines, are
late to appointments, and do not keep rigid schedules. His coworker, who synchronizes his time, develops a flexible working
schedule to work at two or more tasks.
Feedback. This is the final process. Ordinarily, the sender wants a
response to determine if the message he sent out has been
received and understood. Acknowledging a message does not
indicate a clear understanding of its contents. Feedback can be
positive or negative. Positive feedback arises when the receiver
interprets the message correctly and does what the sender wants.
Negative feedback comes when messages are incorrectly interpreted, and the receiver does not do what the sender of the
information has intended him to do. Cross-cultural communication recognizes that people come from different backgrounds.
Therefore, feedback on diverse messages would be different. A
sensitive communicator would be careful how he designs his
messages for a heterogeneous audience so that he can elicit the
desired feedback.
Discussion
It must be emphasized that no culture is superior to another as
each culture meets the needs of those who subscribe to it. To a
large extent, our culture influences our behaviours and expectations from other people. Although there are noticeable similarities
and differences, what separates one culture from another is its
emphasis on specific values. As the United Nations has affirmed,
there is diversity in cultures. These diversities add colour and
meaning to human existence. This suggests that particular policies should be carved out to attend to specific locations and
supports Satterthwaite’s (2014) proposition that local actors
should be empowered to help achieve the SDGs. What the local
populace in one community may appreciate may be frowned
upon and even be fought against by residents in another place. As
Hossain and Ali (2014) point out, individuals constitute the
societies where they live and work. While Bevir (1996) describes
this relationship as that of mutual dependence, he recognizes that
people are influenced by their particular social structures and
therefore do not go against them. Bevir believes that social systems exist for individuals.
Societies are built on shared values, norms and beliefs. These,
in turn, have profound effects on individuals. Society’s culture
affects individuals while the individuals create and shape the
society, including initiating sustainable development. Development rests on the shoulders of men. Thus, culture influences the
ways individuals behave and communicate. The effective communicator must actively recognize these elements and work them
into communication practices. As Renn et al. (1997, p. 218) point
out, “sustainable practices can be initiated or encouraged by
governmental regulation and economic incentives. A major element to promote sustainability will be, however, the exploration
and organization of discursive processes between and among
different actors.”
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To achieve the United Nations sustainable goals, the competent
communicator has to recognize that the culture of the actors in a
communication process is the basic foundation for effective
communication. For example, while one individual may discuss
issues face-to-face and is not afraid to express his feelings candidly, another person may not be so direct. He may even involve
third parties to mediate in solving a problem. Either way, their
approaches are defined by their cultural backgrounds. It may be
counterproductive to assume that either of these approaches is
the best. This assertion is supported by the study of Stanton
(2020), who explored intercultural communication between
African American managers and Hispanic workers who speak
English as a second language. He finds managers that follow
culturally sensitive communication strategies getting more work
done. Cartwright (2020) also observes that intercultural competence and recognition of cultural differences in East and Central
Europe are foundation pillars for business success. This lends
credence to Ruben and Gigliotti (2016) observation that communication with people from different cultures reduces the barriers associated with intercultural communication and enhances
the communication process.
Irrespective of our ethnicities, people want to communicate,
understand, appreciate, and be respected by others. Effective
communication is the foundation of good human relationships
among team members, whether their cultural backgrounds
differ or not. Good feedback is achieved when both the sender
and receiver of messages create common meanings. This is
what discourse is all about. Messages must be meaningful,
meaningfully constructed and meaningfully interpreted. Georgiou (2011) labels this the communicative competence:
acknowledgement of the intercultural dimension of foreign
language education and successful intercultural interactions
that assume non-prejudiced attitudes, tolerance and understanding of other cultures, and cultural self-awareness of the
person communicating. An efficient communicator must
understand that culture shapes people, and the people then
shape society. In other words, communication shapes the
world. Therefore, appropriately chosen communication strategies help blend the different cultures.
According to Bokova (2013), there is “renewed aspirations for
equality and respect, for tolerance and mutual understanding,
especially between peoples of different cultures.” This means
that if all parties respect other team members’ cultures, a
clement work environment is inevitable. Cultural literacy creates
more tolerant and peaceful work environments. Achieving this
starts with a re-examination of the whole communication process. The crux of cross-cultural communication is developing
effective ways to appreciate the culture of others involved in the
acts of communication. Understanding these differences provides the context for an enhanced understanding of the values
and behaviours of others. Reconciling these differences confers
competitive advantages to those who communicate effectively.
The media must provide the links between senders and receivers
of messages in the context of their socio-cultural environments.
Conclusion
The United Nations appreciates the distinctiveness in cultures
and has incorporated it as a significant factor in achieving
sustainable development goals. This global body has produced
different documents championing this. Every development
takes place in an environment of culture. The heart of sustainable development is the man. The SDGs will be more
meaningful and easily achievable by recognizing that actions
should be both locally and culturally relevant. Cultural
ARTICLE
differences can be effectively managed if senders and receivers
of messages understand that culture shapes how people communicate and, by extension, the relationship with other people
who may not necessarily be from their tribal communities.
Breaking down the barriers to cross-cultural communication
lies in understanding these distinct differences and consciously
incorporating them into the communication processes to
enhance communication competencies.
Data availability
All data analysed are contained in the paper.
Received: 28 May 2021; Accepted: 14 February 2022;
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Acknowledgements
I acknowledge: Dr. Emmanuel Mogaji of Greenwich University for reading and pointing
out helpful corrections; Professors Innocent Chiluwa, Abiodun Gesinde, David Imhonopi
and Dr Evaristus Adesina of Covenant University, who went through the manuscript,
suggested corrections and encouraged me not to give upe and my daughter, VictoriaGrace Onyekachi Miracle Aririguzoh, who proofread this manuscript and brought in
sunshine when the clouds were grey.
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
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this paper.
Informed consent
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DOI: 10.1016/j.rlp.2015.09.009
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Theoretical framework
Studying the links between organizational
culture, innovation, and performance in
Spanish companies
Estudiando el vínculo entre cultura organizacional, innovación y
desempeño en empresas españolas
Julia C. Naranjo-Valenciaa,
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, Daniel Jiménez-Jiménezb, Raquel Sanz-Valleb
a Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Manizales,
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b Departamento de Organización de Empresas y Finanzas, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
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ABSTRACT
Innovation is considered to be one of the key factors that influence the long-term
success of a company in the competitive markets of today. As a result, there is a
growing interest in the further study of the determining factors of innovation. Today,
the focus is on these factors related to people and behavior, emphasizing the role of
organizational culture, as a factor that can both stimulate or restrain innovation, and
therefore affect company performance. However, there is little empirical research
linking these variables, particularly in the Spanish context. The purpose of this paper is
to study these links by using a sample of industrial companies. The results show that
culture can foster innovation, as well as company performance, or it could also be an
obstacle for both of them, depending on the values promoted by the culture. It has
been found specifically, that an adhocratic culture is the best innovation and
performance predictor. Based on these results, it can be concluded that, innovation
mediates the relationship between certain types of organizational cultures and
performance.
Keywords:
Organizational culture
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Innovation
Performance
RESUMEN
La innovación se considera como uno de los factores clave del éxito a largo plazo de una
empresa en los mercados competitivos actuales. Como resultado, existe un creciente
interés por profundizar en los determinantes de la innovación. En la actualidad la
atención se centra en los determinantes relacionados con las personas y el
comportamiento, y hace hincapié en el papel de la cultura organizacional como un
factor que puede estimular o frenar la innovación y por lo tanto afectar el desempeño
de las empresas. Sin embargo, existe poca investigación empírica que vincule estas
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variables, en particular en el contexto español. El propósito de este trabajo es estudiar
estos vínculos en una muestra de empresas industriales. Los resultados muestran que
la cultura puede fomentar la innovación y el desempeño de la empresa o puede actuar
como una barrera para ambos, dependiendo de los valores que fomenta la cultura. En
particular, se encuentra que la cultura adhocrática es el mejor predictor de innovación y
desempeño. Además, sobre la base de los resultados, se concluye que la innovación
media la relación entre cultura y desempeño.
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FULL TEXT
Firms currently must operate in an environment characterized by ever increasing global
competition, changing customer demands, rapid technical changes, and uncertainty
(Droge, Calantone, & Harmancioglu, 2008; Im, Montoya, & Workman, 2012). Within
this context, innovation is considered critical for achieving sustainable competitive
advantages and therefore for firm success (Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 2001). That is
mostly due to the fact that innovative firms are more flexible and can respond to change
more quickly; they go the extra mile when it comes to creating new opportunities and
exploiting existing ones (Drucker, 1985). Empirical research provides support for a
positive relation between firm innovation and performance (Damanpour &
Gopalakrishnan, 2001).
Given the importance of innovation in improving firm performance, a number of
studies have attempted to identify the factors that can enhance innovation (Koc &
Ceylan, 2007). Currently one of the variables deemed to have great influence on
innovation is organizational culture (Büschgens, Bausch, & Balkin, 2013; Lin, Donough,
Lin, & Lin, 2013). Because organizational culture influences employees’ behavior, it may
lead the personnel to accept innovation as a fundamental value of the organization and
to feeling more involved in it (Hartmann, 2006).
Despite the importance given to culture as a stimulant for innovation, empirical
research on the topic is somewhat limited. Some studies on the link between culture
and innovation merely look into some elements of culture (Cabello, Carmona, & Valle,
2005; Hage & Dewar, 1973; Laursen, 2002) whereas others do not use the same cultural
traits or typologies (Chang & Lee, 2007; Lau & Ngo, 2004; Obenchain & Johnson, 2004).
Besides, recent studies underpin the need for empirical research on organizational
culture and innovation (McLaughlin, Bessant, & Smart 2008; Nakata & Di Benedetto,
2012; Tellis, Prabhu, & Chandy, 2009).
The purpose of this paper is to bridge a gap in the literature on the topic. First, a
literature review was made and the most important characteristics related to innovative
cultures were identified and compared to the cultural dimensions and typologies
identified in the Competing Values Model. The research aims to identify what model or
what model typologies stimulate more innovation and performance. In addition,
considering that culture enhances performance and innovation and that innovation in
turn affects performance, another question arose, “Is the influence of culture on
performance direct or is it mediated by innovation? Innovation's role of mediator in the
relation between culture and performance has not yet been studied in the literature on
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the topic. Furthermore, it all becomes more interesting upon taking into account
Crossan and Apaydin (2010), who stated that a possible manner for advancing in
innovation research is to test the connection between identified innovation
determinants, innovation outcomes, and firm performance.
The first section of this article reviews the literature on the topic. The second section
discusses an empirical study of the links among organizational culture, innovation, and
performance, which used a sample of Spanish companies. The final section draws the
conclusions of the study and discusses future lines of research.
Theoretical framework
Studying the indirect effect of culture in the performance, involves testing, besides the
direct effect of culture on firm performance, the effect of culture on firm innovation and
the effect of firm innovation on performance. These relations are developed in the
following sections. It is important to clarify that the effect of culture on firm innovation
in the second relation has already been partially tested by the authors in previous
research (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez, & Sanz-Valle, 2012), and it is taken up
here again, since it is required to complete the model of relations. Two types of culture
were discussed in the previous research: adhocratic and hierarchical culture. In addition
to these, this paper includes clan and market cultures.
Innovation and performance
Innovation has been conceptualized in a variety of ways. OECD (2005: 46) defines
innovation as “the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or
service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in
business practices, workplace organization or external relations”.
Innovations may be classified using different criteria. OECD (2005: 17) distinguishes
between four types of innovations: Product innovations involve significant changes in
the capabilities of goods or services, both entirely new goods and services and
significant improvements to existing products are included. Process innovations
represent significant changes in production and delivery methods. Organizational
innovations refer to the implementation of new organizational methods, these can be
changes in business practices, in workplace organization or in the firm's external
relations. Marketing innovations involve the implementation of new marketing
methods, these can include changes in product design and packaging, in product
promotion and placement, and in methods for pricing goods and services.
In general, the literature on the topic considers innovation one of the key drivers for
long-term corporate success, especially in dynamic markets (Damanpour &
Gopalakrishnan, 2001). The rationale behind the idea is that innovation often serves to
deal with a turbulent external environment. To survive in Schumpeterian environments,
organizations must be able to cope with increasing complexity and high-speed change.
In such contexts, companies with the capability to innovate will be able to respond to
the challenges faster, manufacture improved new products, and exploit market
opportunities better than non-innovative companies (Jiménez-Jiménez, Sanz-Valle, &
Rodriguez-Espallardo, 2008).
Many studies have demonstrated the positive effect of innovation on performance
(Afcha, 2011; Damanpour & Gopalakrishnan, 2001; De Clercq, Thongpapanl, & Dimov,
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2011; Droge et al., 2008; Gálvez & García, 2012; Prajogo, 2006; Roberts & Amit, 2003;
Subramanian & Nilakanta, 1996). Thus, despite some conflicting evidence (Zhang, 2011),
theory and empirical research suggest a positive relation between innovation and firm
H1 performance. Therefore, the first hypothesis proposed is:
Firm innovation is positively associated with firm performance.
Organizational culture and innovation
Given the importance of innovation in firm success, a number of studies have
attempted to identify its main determinants (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). In general, they
can be grouped into individual level, organizational level, and environmental level.
Within organizational level, the literature refers to size, organizational design, strategy,
leadership, human resource practices, financial support, and organizational culture. Out
of them all, the ones that stand out most are organizational design and organizational
culture (Damanpour, 1987, 1991; Mumford, 2000).
Organizational culture can be defined as the values, beliefs and hidden assumptions
that the members of an organization have in common (Miron, Erez, & Naveh, 2004).
Such shared values form the basis of communication and mutual understanding and
affect employee behavior through its two main functions: internal integration and
coordination (Hofstede, 1988; Martins & Terblanche, 2003). Thus, culture can stimulate
innovative behavior among the members of an organization because it can lead them to
accept innovation as a basic value of the organization and foster commitment to it
(Hartmann, 2006).
Empirical research has also provided evidence of a significant relation between culture
and innovation (Büschgens et al., 2013; Chang & Lee, 2007; Lau & Ngo, 2004; Lin et al.,
2013; Miron et al., 2004; Naranjo-Valencia et al., 2012). What the literature on the topic
has not clarified enough is what types of culture enhance or inhibit innovation.
In order to identify the characteristics of an innovative culture, the model proposed by
Cameron and Quinn (1999) was used, the Competing Values Framework (CVF), this
model is one of the most influential and extensively used models in the area of
organizational culture research (Yu, 2009).
Cameron and Quinn (1999) define four cultures – adhocracy, clan, market and hierarchy
– using two dimensions (see Fig. 1): flexibility and discretion versus stability and control
and external focus versus internal focus and integration. Using these along with six
organizational aspects-dominant characteristics, organizational leadership, employee
management, the organizational glue, strategic focus, and criteria for success – they
determine four types of organizational cultures.
Figure 1.
Cameron and Quinn (1999) Model.
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(0.06MB).
The adhocracy culture emphasizes flexibility and change; it is externally orientated. It is
usually seen in companies that operate in dynamic contexts and in those seeking to be
leaders in their markets. The key values in an adhocracy culture are creativity,
entrepreneurship, and risk taking. The clan culture also stresses flexibility but it is
internally focused. Characteristics of clan culture firms are teamwork, employee
involvement, and corporate commitment to employees. A market culture preaches
control and stability and is externally oriented. The core values of firms with this culture
are goal achievement, consistency, and competitiveness. Finally, a hierarchy culture is
also control-oriented but it focuses on the internal organization. Its key values are
efficiency and close adherence to norms, rules and regulations (Sanz-Valle, NaranjoValencia, Jiménez-Jiménez, & Perez-Caballero, 2011).
Having defined the types of models suggested by Cameron and Quinn (1999), their
relationship with innovation is now examined. First, a review of the literature that
analyzes the culture values that foster innovation. Table 1 summarizes the literature on
the topic. As may be appreciated in Table 1, there is general consensus regarding four
characteristics or cultural values that enhance innovation: creativity, freedom/autonomy,
a risk-taking attitude, and teamwork (Naranjo-Valencia, 2010).
Table 1.
Cultural values which foster innovation.
Characteristics
References
Creativity, initiative,
entrepreneurial mindset
Wallach (1983), Shrivastava and Souder (1987), Claver et al. (1998),
Schneider, Gunnarson, and Niles-Jolly (1994), Martins and Terblanche
(2003), McLean (2005), Jamrog et al. (2006)
Freedom/autonomy
Shrivastava and Souder (1987), Ahmed (1998), Arad, Hanson, and
Schneider (1997), Martins and Terblanche (2003), McLean (2005), Jamrog
et al. (2006)
Risk taking
Wallach (1983), Claver et al. (1998), Martins and Terblanche (2003),
McLean (2005), Jamrog et al. (2006)
Teamwork
Arad et al. (1997), Martins and Terblanche (2003), McLean (2005), Jamrog
et al. (2006)
Slack of resources
Ahmed (1998), McLean (2005), Jamrog et al. (2006)
Marketing orientation
Martins and Terblanche (2003), Jamrog et al. (2006)
Decision making
Martins and Terblanche (2003), McLean (2005)
Employee participation
Claver et al. (1998), McLean (2005)
Continuous learning
Martins and Terblanche (2003)
Flexibility
Arad et al. (1997), Martins and Terblanche (2003)
Source: Naranjo-Valencia (2010, p. 61).
Regarding creativity, innovation relies on the appearance of new and creative ideas
(Mumford, 2000) and innovation is achieved by combining creativity and the
implementation of such ideas. Therefore, an enterprise needs creative people to support
the processes, not only those associated with developing ideas, but also those involving
the selection, assessment, and execution of the ideas (Jamrog, Vickers, & Bear, 2006;
McLean, 2005). Hence, an innovative culture should, on one hand, encourage
employees to take time to think creatively and experiment (Shattow, 1996), and, on the
other, encourage them to seek new ways to tackle problems and explore their ideas even
if the value of the results may not be clear (Miron et al., 2004).
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Freedom, which manifests itself as autonomy, empowerment, and participation in
decision-making (Isaksen & Ekvall, 2010; Martin, 2002) is one of the most common
elements associated with an innovative culture. An atmosphere of freedom and
autonomy increases the employees’ intrinsic motivation, considered a key factor in
promoting creativity in an organization (Amabile, 1998; McLean, 2005).
As for risk taking, companies have realized that successful innovation is not achieved on
the first try (Claver, Llopis, Garcia, & Molina, 1998). If the firm perceives that risk taking
is dangerous and may not produce good results, the personnel will not risk any
creativity, innovation or experimentation (Filipescu, 2007).
A comparison of the above-mentioned characteristics to the types of culture developed
by Cameron and Quinn (1999) leads to the conclusion that, flexibility-oriented cultures
enhance innovation because flexibility is associated with creativity, freedom, and a risktaking attitude, whereas cultures that stress stability and control may inhibit innovation.
Empirical research provides evidence to justify that relation (Jaskyte & Dressler, 2005;
Jaskyte & Kisieliene, 2006). Moreover, externally oriented cultures can be expected to
foster innovation more than internally oriented cultures. Whereas customer orientation
aids the initiation stage by directing product developers toward external users, seeking
their input to hone new product ideas (Im, Nakata, Park, & Ha, 2003), if a company
stays locked inside its own four walls, It is not able to discover and exploit opportunities
outside its existing businesses or beyond its current technical or operational capabilities
(Wolpert, 2002).
Then, the type of culture of the CVF expected to most foster innovation is an adhocracy
culture as it emphasizes flexibility and is externally orientated. On the contrary, a
hierarchy culture inhibits innovation because the values that it emphasizes hinder it:
control and stability and an internal orientation. Besides the key innovation values (i.e.
creativity, freedom, and a risk-taking attitude) are missing.
In relation to the other two types of culture model (the market and the clan), it is
necessary to deepen their characteristics to clarify the relationship. Taking into account
the characteristics of a clan culture, it may foster innovation as it emphasizes teamwork
and employee participation. If the work team has a diversity of talented interdisciplinary
members who come up with challenging ideas and incorporating new experiences and
information it will promote creativity and innovation (Castañeda, 2015; Jamrog et al.,
2006; Martins & Terblanche, 2003; McLean, 2005). However, the evidence provided in
empirical studies regarding this topic is non-conclusive. Whereas Llorens, Ruiz, and
García (2005) find that cohesion of teams fosters innovation and Moore (1997) proves
that it encourages creativity, other studies present evidence to the contrary. For
example, Scott and Bruce (1994) find no particular effect on innovative behavior when
team members are changed. Finally, Jaskyte and Kisieliene (2006) observed that an
organizational culture characterized by stability and guidance for the team is inversely
related to innovation. In addition, a clan culture is internally focused, which may reduce
the firm's access to new ideas and opportunities. Wolpert (2002) states that if a firm is
stuck within their own four walls, it will be unable to discover and take advantage of
opportunities.
In the case of market culture, there are several facts in favor of and against it. The
external orientation of a market culture encourages innovation as offering new ideas
and markets the company familiar with the needs of customers (Reid & Brentani, 2004;
Salavou, Baltas, & Lioukas, 2004; Song, Thieme, & Xie, 1998). In contrast, other studies
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find that excessive attention to the current needs of customers can be a barrier against
some types of innovation (Baker & Sinkula, 2002), however, in general, the literature on
the subject believes that the external orientation encourages innovation. Additionally,
the market culture – according to its definition in the model of Cameron and Quinn,
emphasizes control and stability rather than flexibility, which is a constraint to
innovation.
In short, the relation between innovation and a clan culture or a market culture is not
clear. The literature on the topic solely provides clear arguments and evidence for the
links between an adhocracy culture or a hierarchy culture and innovation. Therefore, we
H2 propose the following hypothesis:
Organizational culture affects firm innovation. In particular, an adhocracy culture has a
positive effect on firm innovation whereas a hierarchy culture has a negative impact on
firm innovation.
Organizational culture and performance
The above sections propose that organizational culture enhances firm innovation and
that innovation is related to performance. Therefore, the fact that culture has an indirect
effect on performance may be assumed. However, the assumption in the literature on
the topic is that culture is directly related to performance because culture influences the
behavior of the members of the organization (Galves & García, 2011; Hofstede, 1988;
Martins & Terblanche, 2003), as explained above. Furthermore, according to the
resource-based view of the firm, culture can be a source of sustainable competitive
advantage not only because it is valuable and rare but also because it is difficult for
competitors to imitate as many of its most important characteristics are tacit and highly
complex (Coyne, 1986).
Furthermore, the literature suggests that different types of culture have a different
effect on performance. Gordon and DiTomaso (1992) study the effect of the cultural
orientations adaptability vs. stability on financial performance in a number of U.S. firms.
They concluded that companies that emphasize adaptability tend to have better financial
performance than companies that emphasize stability. On the contrary, Xenikou and
Simosi (2006) studied a sample of Greek organizations and they concluded that the
achievement orientation (market culture) was related to performance whereas the
humanistic orientation (clan culture) was not, and indicated that the organizational
norms that promote goal setting, productivity, and effectiveness were related to high
performance. The study conducted in Japanese companies (Tokyo) by Deshpande,
Farley, and Webster (1993) showed that the market culture is associated with better
performance, followed by the adhocracy culture, and that the clan culture and the
hierarchy culture are associated with poor performance.
Other studies used other typologies such as the cultural trait typology that can be
compared to Cameron and Quinn's. Said typology, developed and tested by Denison
and Mishra (1995), mention the traits involvement, adaptability, mission, and
consistency (they share the same cultural-type orientation introduced by Cameron and
Quinn), which correspond to the cultural types: clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy,
described above.
Denison and Mishra (1995) conducted a study in the U.S., concluding that the four traits
are positively related to subjective measures (quality, employee satisfaction, and overall
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performance). Fey and Denison (2003) conducted a study using Russian firms and
compared its results to those obtained in similar studies in the U.S. In general, they
concluded that the adaptability and involvement (adhocracy and clan) of companies with
a flexible orientation are the most relevant traits of effectiveness in the Russian context
whereas in the U.S. context, mission (market culture) is important. Likewise, Chan,
Shaffer, and Snape (2004) concluded based on a study in Hong Kong that adaptability
(adhocracy) were the trait more related to performance.
The four cultural types have different effects on business performance. First, the
expectation for the adhocracy culture (adaptability), characteristic of organizations that
are leaders in products and innovation, which stimulate the entrepreneurial mindset,
initiative, creativity, and a risk-taking attitude, is that it would have a positive effect on
performance. Calori and Sarnin (1991), for example, it was found that companies that
value adaptation are likely to create ambitious objectives, give priority to customer
satisfaction, and show willingness to try out new ideas. Such values and practices were
closely related to growth in the firms that those authors studied. In general, prior
research provides evidence that the adhocracy culture has a positive effect on
performance (Chan et al., 2004; Denison & Mishra, 1995; Deshpande et al., 1993; Fey &
Denison, 2003; Gordon & DiTomaso, 1992).
Second and sharing the same external orientation emphasis is the market culture; these
companies promote ambitious, competitive objectives; their people are result-oriented
and success is based on market penetration and market share. Organizations in which
“efficiency and achievement is the norm” motivate employees by setting difficult yet
attainable goals and by providing feedback on employee performance, which in turn
promotes a perception of competence and feelings of self-efficiency and collective
efficacy (Xenikou & Simosi, 2006). Furthermore, the market culture (Chan et al., 2004;
Denison & Mishra, 1995; Deshpande et al., 1993; Fey & Denison, 2003; Kotrba et al.,
2012) is also found to improve performance, mainly when the performance measuring
stick is market results.
There is also evidence that the clan culture and, in general, all cultures that enhance
cooperation and teamwork have a positive effect on performance (Petty, 1995). Equally, a
high level of involvement fosters a strong sense of psychological ownership and
commitment to the organization and its goals (Denison & Mishra, 1995). Although
Deshpande et al. (1993) found a negative effect and Xenikou and Simosi (2006) did not
obtain any significant results for the relation between this culture, which they called
humanistic orientation, and performance, other studies provide evidence of a positive
relation (Denison & Mishra, 1995; Fey & Denison, 2003; Gordon & DiTomaso, 1992).
Finally, the hierarchy culture has limitations in current changing environments where
the ability to adapt becomes essential for successful performance, as this type of culture
often shows most resistance to change and adaptation. Its bureaucratic nature appears
to be an obstacle in the organization's struggle to respond to fundamental
environmental change (Denison & Mishra, 1995). Although some studies have found a
positive relation between the hierarchy culture and some levels of organizational results
(Chan et al., 2004; Denison & Mishra, 1995) or a non-significant relation (Fey &
Denison, 2003), the general literature on the topic provides evidence that its effect on
performance is negative (Deshpande et al., 1993; Gordon & DiTomaso, 1992; Han,
2012).
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Existing literature does show a precedent of the importance of the cultural types on
effectiveness. However, several of the studies are conclusive in terms of correlations
among variables, although they do not show significant results in the regressions. In
addition, the conclusions are based on U.S., Russian, Japanese and Greek companies.
The literature on the topic suggests that national cultures probably influence the
behavior of the management theory, which certainly justifies a study in the Spanish
context, not yet conducted much less assessed.
Taking into account all of the above considerations, the third hypothesis proposed is:
H3
Organizational culture affects performance. More specifically, the adhocracy culture,
the market culture, and the clan culture have a positive effect on performance whereas
the hierarchy culture has a negative effect.
As discussed above, prior research has shown a direct causal relation between culture
and performance and also between culture and innovation. However, the literature on
the topic shows that the interrelation among the three constructs has not been modeled
as yet. An indirect effect of culture on performance through innovation is predictable
because – depending on the values that it encourages – culture may foster or limit an
organization's innovation activity. Therefore, innovation has an impact on organizational
performance. Along these lines, the fact that some types of culture may indirectly affect
performance through innovation because they either foster or limit it may be argued.
The performance of organizations with a proactive culture that stimulates risk-taking
activities, creativity, and tolerates error is superior to the performance in companies that
do not. This is due to the fact that such organizations can develop more and better
differentiated innovations more rapidly than their competitors. According to Simpson,
Siguaw, and Enz (2006) an innovation-oriented focus, characteristically with an
adhocracy culture may improve long-term business performance.
On the contrary, a hierarchy culture may have a negative effect on organizational results
because values such as emphasis on rules and procedures that lead to conformity and
lack of creativity, excessive control, and lack of autonomy, are not deemed favorable
conditions for innovation. Furthermore, the lack of innovation will be responsible for a
H3.1 negative effect on performance. This leads us to propose another hypothesis:
Organizational culture indirectly affects performance through firm innovation. In
particular, the adhocracy culture has a positive indirect effect on performance through
firm innovation whereas the hierarchy culture has a negative indirect effect on
performance through firm innovation.
Methodology
Data collection and sample
The data for this study came from a more extensive research financed by the European
Union (with FEDER funds). The population comprised Spanish organizations with more
than fifteen employees located in southeast Spain. It was designed to cover a range of
industries, excluding those in the agricultural sector. The final sample included 1600
companies.
Information was collected through a face-to-face interview with the firm CEOs, using a
previously tested questionnaire. A total of 446 valid questionnaires were obtained,
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representing a response rate of 27.9%. Respondent and non-respondent companies
were compared in terms of size and performance. No significant differences were found
between those two categories, suggesting that there was no response bias.
Measures
Innovation
According to Manu (1992), innovation deals not only with outputs (e.g. new products or
processes) but also with inputs (e.g. R & D expenditure) and with timing (e.g. pioneers,
quick seconds or late followers). In this line, 5-point scales were used for each type of
innovation. They cover the number of new products/process/management systems
introduced, the pioneer disposition to introduce new products/process/management
systems, the clever response to new products/process/management systems introduced
by others companies in same sector, the R&D efforts to develop new
products/process/management systems and the efforts to develop new
products/process/management systems in terms of hours/person, teams and training
involved. Then, the scales were combined to measure innovation by calculating the
mean of the 5-point scales (α = 0.779).
Performance
Identifying an optimal measure for a firm's performance is a problem in itself, since it is
difficult to obtain financial measures. According to Deninson and Mishra (2003),
subjective measures of effectiveness are better suited for comparing a disparate set of
firms than objective measures of effectiveness. That is why a 5-point Likert scale was
used. The respondents were asked to discuss the evolution of the firm's performance
over the past three years, in terms of twelve items taken from Quinn and Rohrbaugh
(1983). Then, the scales were combined to measure performance (Cronbach α = 0.873).
Organizational culture
The organizational culture measure employed is based on the Organizational Culture
Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (1999). In this
research there were used four of the six key dimensions of organizational culture the
OCAI proposes: dominant characteristics, management of employees, organization glue
and criteria of success since authors did not have information about the other two
dimensions: leadership style and strategic focus. The former is strongly related to the
management of employee dimension and the latter is similar to the criteria of success
dimension. Thus, our measure can be considered as valid even though those two
dimensions were excluded. Other previous studies have also measured organizational
culture using fewer dimensions than the OCAI model proposes (Deshpande et al., 1993;
Lau & Ngo, 2004; Obenchain & Johnson, 2004). Following the OCAI methodology, 16
items were included in the questionnaire, organized in four parts (corresponding to the
four dimensions used) with four descriptions in each part. The four descriptions
matched the definitions of each of the four culture types in the model developed by
Cameron and Quinn (1999): adhocracy, clan, market, and hierarchy. Respondents were
asked to allocate a score, for a total of 100 points, among the four parts, according to
how well the descriptions matched their organization.
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Control variables
Four control variables frequently associated with innovation and performance were
included in the analyses (Lau & Ngo, 2004; Lin, 2006). They were industry (0 =
manufacturing; 1 = service), age (the number of years that the firm has been running),
size (the number of employees) and strategy (the four types of strategy taken from the
model by Miles and Snow (1978)).
Table 2 provides information regarding the variable mean values, standard deviations,
and bivariate correlations.
Table 2.
Means, standard deviations and correlations among variables.
Mean Standard 1
deviation
0.49
2
3
4
1
Industry
0.56
2
Age
22.04 15.30
0.08*
1
3
Size
71.14
18,144
0.01
0.10**
1
4
Analyzer
0.44
0.49
0.03
−0.04
−0.03
5
Defensive
0.28
0.44
−0.07
*
*
6
Reactive
0.02
0.16
7
Clan
2.13
8
Adhocracy
9
Market
5
6
7
8
1
1
0.09
0.08
−0.56*** 1
0.02
0.01
0.00
−0.15*** −0.10** 1
0.74
−0.03
0.00
−0.11** 0.05
0.00
0.01
1.53
0.43
0.06
0.04
0.04
−0.00
−0.05 −0.12*** 1
1.46
0.46
−0.01
−0.12** 0.13*** 0.01
−0.04
−0.00 −0.45*** −0.03
10 Hierarchy
1.73
0.64
0.01
0.03
−0.02
0.05
−0.04
−0.00 −0.40*** −0.34***
11 Innovation
3.40
0.62
0.00
0.06
0.09*
−0.05
0.02
−0.01 0.00
0.34***
12 Performance 3.76
0.50
−0.04
−0.05
0.03
−0.01
0.02
−0.08 0.12**
0.21***
*
−0.02
1
* p < .1.
** p < .05.
*** p < .01.
Statistical analysis
The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis. To assess the indirect
effects of culture on firm innovation, the methodology proposed by Baron and Kenny
(1986) was chosen. According to that methodology, to establish mediation, it is
necessary to test three regressions and meet the following conditions: first, the
independent variable must affect the mediator in the first equation; second, the
independent variable must affect the dependent variable in the second equation; and
third, the mediator must affect the dependent variable in the third equation. If these
conditions are all met with the predicted sign, then the effect of the independent
variable on the dependent variable must be lower in the third equation than in the
second. There is perfect mediation if the independent variable has no effect when the
mediator is controlled (Baron & Kenny, 1986: 1177).
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Results
Table 3 shows the results of testing Hypothesis 1. As may be appreciated in this table,
when going from Model 1.0 (which only includes the control variables) to Model 1.1
(which includes the innovation variable), the increase in R2 is significant and β is
significantly positive (β = 0.541), which indicates that innovation has a significantly
positive effect on results (β = 0.541). This result provides support to confirm Hypothesis
1.
Table 3.
Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Hypothesis 1.
Variables
Y = Performance
Model 1.0 Model 1.1
Industry
−0.029
−0.033
Age
−0.052
−0.074*
Size
0.039
−0.007
Analyzer
−0.008
0.028
Defensive
0.013
0.031
Reactive
−0.011
0.000
Innovation
0.541**
F
0.351
23.732**
R2
−0.010
0.282
0.289**
Δ R2
* p < .1.
** p < .01. Elaboración propia.
Hypothesis 2 proposes that organizational culture affects firm innovation and that the
sign will vary according to the type of culture. To test this hypothesis, the four types of
organizational culture were independently entered into the equation (Models 2.1
through 2.4) after the control variables. Table 4 shows the results obtained. As predicted,
the adhocracy culture has a positive effect on innovation and the hierarchy culture has a
negative impact on firm innovation. Although no effect between the clan culture and
firm innovation or the market culture and firm innovation was proposed, those
relations were analyzed. As may be observed, no significant results were obtained, which
is consistent with the reviewed literature on the topic.
Table 4.
Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Hypothesis 2.
Y = Innovation
Variables
Model 2.0 Model 2.1 Model 2.2 Model 2.3 Model 2.4
Industry
0.06
0.06
−0.17
0.006
0.006
Age
0.048
0.048
0.33
0.047
0.057
Size
0.084
0.70
0.086
0.081*
Analyzer
−0.079
−0.079
−0.61
−0.079
−0.066
Defensive
−0.031
−0.031
−0.16
−0.031
−0.032
Reactive
−0.020
−0.020
−0.02
−0.020
−0.015
*
0.084
*
*
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Y = Innovation
Variables
Model 2.0 Model 2.1 Model 2.2 Model 2.3 Model 2.4
Clan
0.000
Adhocracy
0.345**
Market
−0.009
Hierarchy
−0.255**
F
1.050
0.898
9.188**
0.903
5.204**
R2
0.001
−0.002
0.118
−0.002
0.064
0.000
0.118**
0.000
0.065**
Δ R2
* p < .1.
** p < .01. Elaboración propia.
Table 5 presents the results for Hypothesis 3. As predicted, the adhocracy culture and
the clan culture have a positive effect on performance and the hierarchy culture has a
negative effect on performance. However, the market culture was expected to have a
positive effect on performance but the effect obtained was negative. Thus, there is only
partial support for confirming Hypothesis 3.
Table 5.
Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Hypothesis 3.
Variables
Y = Performance
Model 3.0 Model 3.1 Model 3.2 Model 3.3 Model 3.4
Industry
−0.029
−0.022
−0.041
−0.031
−0.025
Age
−0.052
−0.053
−0.063
−0.070
−0.040
Size
0.039
0.055
0.030
0.059
0.034
Analyzer
−0.008
−0.016
0.003
−0.006
0.005
Defensive
0.013
0.009
0.023
0.011
0.014
Reactive
−0.011
−0.014
0.001
−0.010
−0.006
Clan
0.123
*
Adhocracy
0.221**
Market
−0.136**
Hierarchy
−0.228**
F
0.351
1.161
3.227
1.349
3.434
R2
−0.010
0.003
0.037
0.006
0.040
0.015*
0.048**
0.018**
0.052**
Δ R2
* p < .05.
** p < .01. Elaboración propia.
Finally, Hypothesis 3.1 proposes that organizational culture has an indirect effect on
performance through firm innovation. To test this hypothesis, the methodology by
Baron and Kenny (1986) was chosen. The first condition implies that culture affects
performance. This was proposed in Scenario 3 (Y = performance). The condition is true
for the adhocracy culture and for the clan culture (a positive effect), as well as for the
hierarchy culture (a negative effect). The second condition was that culture affects firm
innovation. This relationship is shown in Scenario 2. The second condition is met for
the adhocracy culture (a positive effect) and for the hierarchy culture (a negative effect).
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To analyze whether Baron and Kenny's (1986) third and fourth conditions are met, it is
necessary to examine the effects of the types of culture and of firm innovation on
performance together. Since the two first conditions are only met for the adhocracy
culture and for the hierarchy culture, the combined effect of those two types of culture
is evaluated. Table 6 shows the results obtained. For the adhocracy culture, innovation
affects performance, when the adhocracy culture is controlled. In addition, the effect of
the adhocracy culture on performance disappears after firm innovation is controlled.
For the hierarchy culture, innovation affects the dependent variable when the hierarchy
culture is controlled; likewise the effect of the hierarchy culture on performance drops
when firm innovation is controlled. Therefore, the third and fourth conditions are met.
Those results enable ensuring that firm innovation mediates the positive effect of the
adhocracy culture on performance and the negative effect of the hierarchy culture on
performance.
Table 6.
Results of hierarchical regression analysis for Hypothesis3.1.
Variables
Y = Performance
Model 4.0 Model 4.1 Model 4.2
Industry
−0.029
−0.035
−0.031
Age
−0.052
−0.075
−0.068
Size
0.039
−0.007
−0.007
Analyzer
−0.008
0.029
0.032
Defensive
0.013
0.032
0.030
Reactive
−0.011
0.002
0.001
Adhocracy
0.035
Hierarchy
−0.095
Innovation
0.528*
0.516*
F
0.351
20.820*
21.553*
R2
−0.010
0.281*
0.288*
0.290
0.297
Δ R2
* p < .01. Elaboración propia.
Discussion
As expected, the findings provide evidence for the relation between firm innovation and
performance. However, the more interesting findings that this research offers refer to
the relation between organizational culture and both firm innovation and performance.
Regarding the culture-innovation link, the results show that organizational culture is a
key determinant for firm innovation and that it can actually foster it but that it can also
act as a barrier against innovation. In particular, findings showed a positive influence of
the adhocracy culture on firm innovation. As identified in the literature on the topic,
certain traits such as creativity, freedom, and a risk-taking attitude associated with the
adhocracy culture enhance innovation.
The negative effect of the hierarchy culture on innovation seen is also consistent with
studies that have demonstrated that the hierarchy culture traits, such as centralized
decision making and a high degree of formalization, are negatively associated with
innovation.
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No significant result regarding the clan culture or the market culture was found.
Although some studies point out that the clan culture factors, such as teamwork, are
determinant factors for innovation, they may possibly only affect innovation when other
values related to external orientation are present. Something similar occurs regarding
the market culture results. Although the customer orientation that characterizes the
market culture (and also the adhocracy culture) has a positive effect on innovation, other
traits, such as emphasis on mechanistic structure, excessive hierarchy, emphasis on
details, and exerting too much pressure on the employees, may reduce the positive
effect on innovation that its external focus has. Along those lines, Van De Ven, Polley,
Garud, and Venkataraman (1999) indicate that a market orientation is not always
sufficient and it needs to be accompanied by other conditions, such as creativity, a
characteristic that is absent in the market culture.
With regards to the relation between organizational culture and performance, there is
evidence that the adhocracy culture is also the culture with the highest positive effect on
performance, and that the effect of the hierarchy culture is negative. The clan culture
and the market culture that were found to have no effect on firm innovation do have an
effect on performance. The clan culture is positively related to performance, although
the effect is lower than the effect of the adhocracy culture. The market culture also has a
significant effect on performance but with a negative signal.
Taking into account the findings for the four types of culture, the conclusion may be
drawn that flexibility versus stability and control orientation is more important than
external orientation versus internal orientation when it comes to performance. That is to
say, flexibility is a must to improve performance. External orientation is better than
internal orientation but it must be combined with flexibility to have a positive effect on
performance. This idea is consistent with some previous researchers’ propositions that
some characteristics of non-adaptive cultures are associated with low performance
(Nadler, 1998).
Regarding the mediation role of firm innovation in the relation between culture and
performance, it is possible to conclude that firm innovation mediates the relation of the
adhocracy culture and of the hierarchy culture. In other words, the positive effect of the
adhocracy culture occurs because that culture fosters innovation among the employees
whereas the negative effect of the hierarchy culture occurs because that culture does not
promote innovation.
For practitioners, the implications of the above results are clear. An organization that
wishes to enhance innovation and performance should pay attention to its
organizational culture as it can be a key enabler of both or a major barrier against both,
depending on the values comprising the current organizational culture of the firm. In
particular, the findings of this research show that the adhocracy culture fosters both
innovation and performance. Some of the main values of this culture are creativity, a
risk-taking attitude, freedom, and flexibility. Thus, companies must make efforts to
develop a stable adhocracy culture. It is also important to highlight that this study
shows that an external orientation or a flexibility orientation is not sufficient for the firm
to enhance innovation; companies must focus on both. However, as flexibility is
required to improve performance, top management should focus on enhancing it. In
short, the findings of this research can guide managerial efforts to develop an
organizational culture that fosters both innovation and performance.
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Future research should delve in more depth into the relation between organizational
culture and innovation. A suggestion could be taking into account the stage of the
innovation process. As organizational traits facilitating the generation and
implementation of innovation can vary (Damanpour & Wischnevsky, 2006), it would be
interesting for future research to examine whether they require different types of
organizational culture.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14601061111104724
☆ Thesaurus of Psychology: Organizational culture (Organizational Climate PN 5181,
SC 35710), Innovation (PN 825, SC 25499).
Copyright © 2015. Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz
https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-revista-latinoamericana-psicologia-205-articulo-studying-links-between-organizational-culture-S0120053415…
20/20
Global Diversity and Inclusion
Fostering Innovation Through
a Diverse Workforce
in association with:
Table of Contents
Key Findings
3
Methodology4
Diversity and Inclusion: A Formula for Success
4
Diversity Is a Key Driver of Innovation
5
A Diverse Workforce Attracts Top Talent
7
Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Are a Given
11
Diversity Goals and Priorities
13
The Buck Stops at the C-Level
15
Progress Has Been Made But Barriers Still Exist
17
Conclusion: A Diverse and Inclusive Workforce Is Critical for Success
19
2
Key Findings
•
Diversity is a key driver of innovation and is a critical component of being successful on a global scale.
Senior executives are recognizing that a diverse set of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds is crucial to
innovation and the development of new ideas. When asked about the relationship between diversity and innovation,
a majority of respondents agreed that diversity is crucial to encouraging different perspectives and ideas that
foster innovation.
•
A diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial for companies that want to attract and retain top talent.
Competition for talent is fierce in today’s global economy, so companies need to have plans in place to recruit, develop,
and retain a diverse workforce.
•
Nearly all respondents reported that their companies have diversity and inclusion strategies in place. However,
not all of the plans are identical. About a third said their companies have global strategies that allow for minimal regional
deviation, while half said that their organizations have a global plan that also allows for different strategies and programs
in order to address regional needs or cultural differences.
•
Organization’s diversity goals and priorities won’t change significantly over the next three years. When asked
about their company’s current diversity and inclusion priorities, 43% cited retention and development of talent, followed
by ensuring diversity in the workplace in general (35%), developing a robust pipeline of diverse talent (29%), and managing
cross-generational issues (28%).
•
Responsibility for the success of company’s diversity/inclusion efforts lies with senior management. In order
for a diversity/inclusion plan to have real meaning, there needs to be accountability and oversight. Seven out of ten
companies reported that the buck stops at the C-level and their board of directors.
•
Significant progress has been made to build and retain diverse workforces, but there are still some
impediments to companies’ efforts. Respondents feel they’ve made progress in gender diversity, but they feel
they’ve fallen short in areas such as disability and age.
3
Diversity and Inclusion
A Formula for Success
What does it mean to be diverse? What do your diversity efforts entail? Do the diversity efforts you
maintain in your home market carry through to other markets around the globe? And perhaps most
importantly, what is the business case for diversity and inclusion?
The basic formula for diversity is rapidly evolving. It is no
longer simply a matter of creating a heterogeneous workforce, but using that workforce to create the innovative
products, services, and business practices that can set a
company apart and give it a competitive advantage in the
marketplace. And as companies compete on a global scale,
diversity and inclusion frequently have to shift, as different markets and different cultures have varied definitions of
what diversity means.
Today, diversity and inclusion efforts are de rigueur
for almost all companies. Executives understand that their
companies can’t be successful on a global platform if they
don’t have a diverse and inclusive workforce. A diverse and
inclusive workforce is necessary to drive innovation, foster creativity, and guide business strategies. Multiple voices
lead to new ideas, new services, and new products, and
encourage out-of-the box thinking. Companies no longer
view diversity and inclusion efforts as separate from their
other business practices, and recognize that a diverse workforce can differentiate them from their competitors and can
help capture new clients.
To gain a better understanding of the role that diversity
and inclusion play in companies around the globe, Forbes
Insights conducted a comprehensive survey of more than
300 senior executives. All of the executives were involved
in developing, implementing, or managing strategies or
programs related to diversity and inclusion for their companies’ workforce. The companies that participated in the
survey had revenues of at least $500 million and went up to
more than $20 billion. Geographically, respondents were
from the three global regions: the Americas, Asia Pacific,
and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
In addition to the survey, one-on-one interviews were
conducted with more than a dozen diversity officers, board
members, and senior executives from large, multinational
corporations. The interviews not only reflected the findings of the survey, but also provided a detailed look at how
companies are putting diversity to work for them, and how
a diverse and inclusive workforce is essential for driving
innovation and guiding business practices.
Methodology
The information in this report is based on the results of a survey and one-on-one interviews conducted by Forbes Insights.
Forbes Insights surveyed 321 executives with direct responsibility or oversight for their companies’ diversity and inclusion programs. All respondents worked for
large global enterprises with annual revenues of more than US$500 million. More than 40% worked for companies with annual revenues of $US5 billion or more.
Nearly half (44%) of respondents had C-level titles or were board members. The remainder had titles of director or above. In terms of function, a third (33%)
of respondents were involved in corporate management, 32% were in HR or talent management, 21% were in business operations, and 12% were in finance.
Geographically, respondents were fairly evenly split between the Americas (35%), Asia-Pacific (34%), and Europe/Middle East/Africa (31%).
4
Diversity Is a Key Driver of Innovation
“Diversity fosters creativity. We need to generate the best ideas from our people in all levels of the
company and incorporate them into our business practices.”
–Frédéric Rozé, chief executive officer, L’Oréal USA
The business case for diversity and inclusion is intrinsically
linked to a company’s innovation strategy. Multiple and varied voices have a wide range of experiences, and this can
help generate new ideas about products and practices. Survey
respondents overwhelmingly agreed that a diverse and
inclusive workforce brings the different perspectives that a
company needs to power its innovation strategy. (Fig. 1)
This is particularly true for the largest companies.
Among companies with more than $10 billion in annual
revenues, 56% strongly agreed that diversity helps drive
innovation. “Because of our diverse workforce, we’ve
experienced a boost in productivity. When you can move
people to contribute to their fullest, it has a tremendous
impact,” noted Rosalind Hudnell, director of global diversity and inclusion at chip maker Intel.
“We have a vast amount of diversity [within the company] that comes into work every day to build technology
that plays out around the world. You can’t be successful on
a global stage without it,” Hudnell added.
Respondents in Asia also were more likely to see a
link between diversity and innovation. In the APAC
region, 56% “strongly agreed” with this notion, compared to 48% in the Americas and 41% in EMEA. “In
Asia Pacific, we’re focused on leveraging diverse skills in
growth markets and getting better gender representation
in senior management,” explained Niki Kesglou, head
of diversity and inclusion, Asia Pacific, for financial services firm Credit Suisse.
A diverse and inclusive workforce can also help ensure
that a company’s products and services are respectful of
their clients’ cultures. Companies such as AT&T, Mattel,
Intel, and others have employee groups that foster inclusion
among women and other minorities within their organizations, and also provide valuable insight into the markets
FIGURE 1: A diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial to encouraging
different perspectives and ideas that drive innovation.
1%
3%
11%
48%
37%
• Strongly agree
• Somewhat agree
• Somewhat disagree
• Strongly disagree
• Don’t know
they reflect. “Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
are very important to us. They help us define products
that work for their regions or demographics,” said Mattel
diversity board member Huey Wilson, the company’s
vice president of human resources, worldwide operations.
In addition, he continued, these diverse employee groups
have saved the company from making some embarrassing
and potentially costly mistakes. “We have to make sure that
we’re culturally sensitive. There have been some big near
misses that we might not have avoided without the ERGs.”
Frédéric Rozé, CEO of L’Oréal USA, said that given his
company’s global footprint, it is critical to have executives
and employees representative of different regions and ethnicities. “I have worked in Russia, Argentina, and Europe,
and it has helped me to understand the different cultures
and people,” he said. Rozé added that these insights help
5
inform product development and can also guide business
practices. “We have different brands that meet the diverse
needs of our consumers, but another benefit of being a
player in different regions is that you can pick up ideas from
the outside and apply them to the business.”
“At the end of the day, when you’re creating an environment where people can come together and bring their
own views and feel respected, competitively, your company
will do so much better,” added Debbie Storey, senior vice
president of talent development and chief diversity officer
at AT&T.
Looking ahead, more than three quarters of respondents
reported that their companies are looking to focus more on
leveraging diversity for innovation and other business goals
over the next three years. (Fig. 2)
FIGURE 2: Over the next three years, how will your focus change on
leveraging diversity for your business goals (including innovation)?
2%
5%
15%
40%
38%
• Significantly more focus
• Somewhat more focus
• Somewhat less focus
• Significantly less focus
• Don’t know
Mattel
Employee Resource Groups Drive Innovation
Mattel knows the value of harnessing the unique insights and experience its employees bring to the table. Two years ago, company
executives decided to launch a line launch of a line of dolls that were going to be marketed to African-American girls. In order
ensure that the dolls were culturally sensitive, senior management enlisted the aid of MAAF, Mattel’s African-American Employee
Resource Group, to advise and guide Mattel’s marketing team through the launch of the product. Today, it is one of the company’s
best-selling, minority-focused brands.
During the course of several meeting, MAAF members helped to come up with the name of the line, “So In Style,” and weighed
in on the overall look and concept of the doll. “They asked us very candid questions about the look of the doll. Did they get the skin
tone right? What about the nose and the hair?” said David Simmons, associate manager of account planning and MAAF member.
MAAF members also weighed in on the dolls’ names in order to make sure they also were culturally sensitive. “They wanted to
make sure we were comfortable with the names they’d chosen,” said Simmons.
6
A Diverse Workforce Attracts Top Talent
“We are in 75 countries and we want to hire the best talent in each locale. Diverse teams and
companies make better decisions.”
–Eileen Taylor, global head of diversity, Deutsche Bank
In the fight for global talent, diversity and inclusion policies
are being designed specifically as recruiting and retention
tools, helping to broaden the pool of talent a company can
recruit from, while also helping to build an employment
brand that is seen as fully inclusive. “If you want to attract
the best talent, you need to be reflective of the talent in that
market,” said Eileen Taylor, Deutsche Bank’s global head
of diversity.
Among survey respondents, most (65%) have in place programs specifically to recruit diverse employees. (Fig. 3) Fewer
follow that up with diversity-focused development (53%), and
just 44% have specific diversity retention programs.
FIGURE 3: Do you have any official programs in place specifically to recruit,
develop, or retain a diverse or inclusive workforce?
Yes, recruitment
Companies take a variety of tactics to engage the kinds of
diverse populations they hope to bring on board. Many organizations including AT&T and Mattel enlist their employee
groups to act as company ambassadors. These groups reach
out to talent by attending external job fairs, conferences, and
community events. “The more they reach out to the public,
the more it will help fill our talent pipeline,” said Mattel’s
Wilson. In addition to the employee outreach efforts, companies such as Intel and Credit Suisse forge long-standing
relationships with universities to tap into talent, while many
others also rely on other outsourcing channels, including
vendors, to reach a broad range of candidates.
FIGURE 4: When it comes to recruitment of a diverse workforce, where do
you go to find your talent?
University/graduate school diversity associations
65
52
Yes, development
Search firms
53
50
Yes, retention
Diversity-focused job fairs
44
49
Diversity or special-interest-focused job websites
No. We have general programs in place, but not specifically focused
on diversity/inclusion
38
12
Employee referrals
No, we do not have any programs in place
37
2
0%
A diversity-focused employment portal on our own website
50%
100%
36
Word-of-mouth
27
Non-profit associations/societies
25
0%
50%
100%
7
L’Oréal USA
Harnessing Employee’s Diverse Perspectives for Innovation
At cosmetics giant L’Oréal USA, the importance of diversity and inclusion is expressed by its formula for diversity management:
DIVERSITY + INCLUSION = INNOVATION & SUCCESS®. This formula permeates many functions of the company from recruitment to
sales to community outreach.
“The recruitment of diverse talent for our organization is critical to our ability to build our business and drive future growth,”
said Sumita Banerjee, vice president, talent recruitment at L’Oréal USA. To that end, company executives connect with more than
3,000 students on campus each year via business games, professor partnerships, student organizations, and campus presentations.
Additionally, executives maintain a network of strategic partnerships to connect with “experienced” talent. These relationships
include Junior Military Officers, outstanding women in science, National Diversity recruitment fairs, and others. “The diversity of
thought, industry, and multi-market backgrounds of the candidates that we recruit directly impact our ability to innovate and give us
a foundation upon which we are able to help to achieve our business goal of reaching a billion new consumers in the next 10 years,”
added Banerjee.
But it’s not enough to build a diverse and inclusive workforce if you don’t put that talent to use. L’Oréal USA executives understand the value and insight the company’s diverse workforce can provide in building consumer brands and offerings that cater to
specific ethnic groups. One case in point is a research project focused on foundation for women of color. Balanda Atis, group leader,
research and innovation at L’Oréal USA, worked on a project designed to shed light on the problem that non-Caucasian women face.
“As a woman with darker skin, I have always had a difficult time in trying to find a shade of foundation that was appropriate for my
skin tone. Furthermore, I know that this is a concern for consumers.” Through a series of studies conducted nationally that interviewed women and measured skintones, Atis and a team of scientists were able to demonstrate scientifically that women of color
have specific needs.
“Diversity gives us a competitive advantage,” added Howard Lewis, vice President of sales and education for Mizani, a L’Oréal
brand that targets women of color. “In order to create a sustainable business model, we have to include as many consumers as
possible and provide the best products.” One such product is Mizani’s True Texture line. Scientists at L’Oréal spent two years studying 1,000 heads of hair and came up with a “curl key” that defines eight types of hair and how to treat each specific hair type.
The True Texture line, for women of color who want to wear their hair naturally curly, was one of the products that arose from the
research project.
The company is also always looking for new and innovative ways to engage its customers. Recently, executives at L’Oréal USA and
Telemundo developed an innovative program that touches on a passionate point of one its core customer groups—telenovelas for the
Hispanic community. This program, “Club de Noveleras” (CDN), is a “community” that lives on Telemundo.com that gives consumers
more behind the scenes telenovela content that ranges from videos to pictures as well as an exclusive beauty blog written in Spanish.
Not only is the “community” aspect of CDN a first for the Hispanic market, but so is the Spanish-language beauty blogger. Club de
Noveleras also has experiential touch-points for all the L’Oréal brands, explained Daniel Villarroel, assistant vice president, Maybelline
New York*Garnier. “For example, Maybelline New York and Garnier can touch the consumer and sample in large market tours where
Telemundo brings the novela talent as the draw.” In addition to being able to meet Telemundo talent and being able to access exclusive content, CDN members can earn loyalty points by engaging with the online and mobile content that they can then redeem for
virtual or physical prizes.
By building a diverse and inclusive workforce and then harnessing the ideas and perspectives of its pool of talent, L’Oréal USA continues to create products that address a multitude of consumer concerns while also building communities within diverse populations.
8
FIGURE 5: Which of the following programs do you currently have in place
specifically to develop diverse/inclusive talent?
Professional development programs
62
Diversity-focused mentoring programs
61
Employee resource/networking groups
61
Affiliations to diversity-focused professional organizations
46
Organization communications focused on different groups
20
0%
50%
100%
FIGURE 6: Which of the following programs do you currently have in place
specifically to retain diverse/inclusive talent?
Regular reviews and input to ensure the correct programs are in place
70
Tracking attrition by various categories to monitor progress and development
59
Programs to tie managers’ performance to development and retention
of diverse employees
58
Exit interview tracking
39
Tracking promotion rates of diverse groups
35
0%
50%
100%
Among survey respondents, outward-facing recruiting efforts are still the predominant method for diversity
recruiting—essentially supporting groups and events that
specifically cater to diverse job candidates. (Fig. 4) More
than half (52%) of respondents go to university or graduate school diversity associations to recruit talent; 49% are
involved in diversity-focused job fairs.
This is not to say that word-of-mouth and employee
referrals are not being used. At Mattel, for example,
employees receive a monetary reward when they refer new
hires, and the company recently hosted a women’s conference in Southern California to attract more women to
the company. At technology companies such as Intel and
AT&T, some of their efforts are aimed at getting more
women and minorities into STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) Programs. “The gap for women
and minorities in STEM is long-standing and will continue
to be, so we’re working to get women and others into this
field,” said Intel’s Hudnell.
Ultimately, there is a strong link between recruitment
and development programs; a company’s ability to recruit
diverse talent successfully often depends on its ability to
execute on its promise to provide solid job advancement
opportunities. These programs can range from continued
skills training to tuition reimbursement to active mentoring by senior management. One such program is AT&T’s
“Know and Grow” initiative. The company ensures that
all high-potential candidates in the program, particularly
females and minorities, are exposed to senior executives
who spend a significant amount of time advising and
mentoring them. Among survey respondents, 62% rely
on professional development groups to foster employee
development, followed by employee resource/networking groups (61%), and diversity-focused mentoring groups
(61%). (Fig. 5)
Closing the loop, among the companies that offer
diversity-focused retention programs, 70% track progress
through regular employee reviews and feedback on company policies, 59% track attrition by various categories, and
58% use programs that tie managers’ performance to development goals. (Fig. 6)
9
AT&T
Ensuring an Educated Workforce for the Future
An educated workforce is one of the components necessary for companies to be competitive on the global stage. But when AT&T
chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson found out that nearly one out of three high school students doesn’t graduate with his or
her class, he knew that his company needed to take action.
According to one estimate, by 2020 close to three quarters of all American jobs will require advanced skills and offer high pay.
It will take approximately 123 million American workers to fill these positions, but at current high school and college graduation
rates, only 50 million Americans will be qualified for them. In addition, the United States currently ranks only 20th out of 28 industrialized democracies in high school graduation rates.
These statistics illustrate an astonishing shortfall that threatens the ability of American business to find and develop the talent that
is critical to our country’s long-term economic competitiveness in the world marketplace. That is why Stephenson championed action
by his company to focus efforts on high school success and workforce readiness.
In 2008, AT&T launched Aspire, a four-year, $100 million initiative to address the dropout crisis. The Aspire initiative takes a
multi-faceted approach to giving students the support and tools they need to stay in school. By working with some of the top education organizations and thought leaders in the country, Aspire strives to advance understanding through research, identify and
invest in initiatives that work, provide students with first hand career exploration, and directly engage youth and families.
“Over 1 million of our students drop out from high school each year. Not only does this directly affect them, their families
and communities, but it’s detrimental to our nation’s future economic competitiveness,” said Laura Sanford, president of the AT&T
Foundation, ”Aspire is working to reverse this trend, by bringing programs that work to scale, supporting the good work of educators, and helping our students get excited about achieving their goals.”
One of Aspire’s success stories is a $375,000 multiyear grant to Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited (LSYOU), a
dropout prevention program that targeted at-risk students who had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The LSYOU program
provided students with long-term strategies that foster academic achievement and workforce readiness. The graduation rate
among students who completed the four-year program is 79% compared to 50% of inner-city youth in similar situations.
Another successful Aspire program is its job shadow initiative. In partnership with Junior Achievement, the initiative provides students with the opportunity to learn more about career options and what it takes to be successful in today’s workforce. By the end of
first quarter 2011, the initiative reached more than 72,000 students in 211 cities and is expected to reach 100,000 students by the
summer of 2013.
10
Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Are a Given
“We couldn’t have gone through all of the mergers and acquisitions and continue to be successful
without having a diverse workforce. It’s important to our business strategy and it makes us more
innovative and competitive.”
–Debbie Storey, senior vice president of talent development and chief diversity officer, AT&T
Competing on the global stage presents companies with
a series of challenges. In addition to the routine concerns
that companies face such as managing growth, building a sound infrastructure, and keeping an eye on the
bottom line, expanding overseas has its own special challenges. Laws and regulations vary from region to region,
and there are language and cultural barriers that can create unanticipated problems or challenges. Which is why
organizations have found that the best way to ensure their
continued success on a global scale is by having a diverse
and inclusive workforce.
Today, diversity and inclusion efforts are a given.
Companies aren’t paying lip service to the notion of
a diverse workforce. Instead, they have robust programs and policies in place to recruit and retain a cadre
of diverse employees. Nearly every company in the survey (97%) had formal diversity and inclusion strategies in
place. “Companies have to have a diverse workforce,” said
Credit Suisse’s Kesglou. “It’s very important to our business strategy and helps capture new clients and address
business needs.”
L’Oréal USA’s Rozé concurred. “While we work hard
to retain our current consumers, the potential for adding
new consumers is in the emerging markets. And diversity is
key in this, whether we’re trying to reach men, women of
different ages, or women of different ethnicities.”
Diversity and inclusion is not just about gender and
race. Certainly, programs focused on gender diversity are
the most common; 81% of respondents indicated their companies have them. (Fig. 7) That was followed by programs
focused on ethnicity (77%), age (72%), and race (70%).
Further down the list, about half of companies have disability-based programs (52%).
FIGURE 7: Which of the following is currently part of your organization’s
diversity and inclusion efforts?
Gender
81
Ethnicity/national origin
77
Age
72
Race/color
70
Disability
52
Nationality
45
Sexual orientation
39
Veteran status
32
0%
50%
100%
11
Interestingly, while gender diversity and ethnicity programs are common around the globe, there are significant
regional differences. (Fig. 8) It’s probably not a surprise
given different ethnic make-ups and distinct cultural preferences. For instance, Asia-Pacific companies are much
more likely to have diversity programs related to age or
nationality. European companies are more likely to look at
disability or sexual orientation.
According to the executives from large, multinational
corporations that were interviewed, companies that want
to be successful need to have a workforce that reflects the
demographics of the region they are doing business in. For
one, it’s important to foreign investors and clients to see
themselves reflected in the company’s junior and senior
teams. Secondly, local hires can help overcome language
barriers and navigate cultural nuances. And thirdly, it helps
firms attract new talent.
Age is another top concern among the respondents.
Today’s workforce can span four generations—World War
II, Boomers, Gen X and Millennials. Each generation has
different expectations about work as well as differences
in communication styles, how they use technology, what
motivates them on the job, and how they deal with others
in positions of authority. These differences, if not addressed,
can be disruptive and lead to serious misunderstandings.
However, the common thread among the interviewees
is that diversity and inclusion efforts are an integral part of
how they operate, and that their companies are committed
to their programs and strategies.
FIGURE 8: Which of the following is currently part of your organization’s
diversity and inclusion efforts? (by region)
Gender
80
77
86
Ethnicity/national origin
78
76
76
Race/color
75
67
66
Age
67
68
82
Disability
46
69
42
Sexual orientation
42
45
29
Nationality
38
28
68
0%
50%
100%
• Americas • EMEA • Asia Pacific
12
Diversity Goals and Priorities
“Our goal is to be the world’s best bank, in terms of the value we represent and the innovativeness
of the products we offer. Having a diverse workforce is very important to our strategy. It allows us
to capture new clients and address the needs of our existing businesses.”
–Niki Kesglou, head of diversity and inclusion, Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse
Organizations’ diversity goals and priorities won’t change
significantly over the next three years—but the impact of
diversity on innovation may be coming into sharper focus
as executives increasingly try to harness the power of this
issue for driving business goals.
Companies spend significant amounts of money
recruiting, training, and developing their employees, so
it’s not surprising that among some of their top priorities
is the retention and development of diverse talent. When
asked about their company’s current diversity and inclusion
priorities, 43% cited retention and development of talent,
followed by ensuring diversity in the workplace in general
(35%), developing a robust pipeline of diverse talent (29%),
and managing cross-generational issues (28%). (Fig. 9)
Goals and priorities three years from now are nearly
identical. However, more respondents said that leveraging
diversity for their business goals, including innovation, was
an increased priority over the next three years. (33% compared to 28%).
“Diverse teams and companies make better decisions.
And in the aftermath of the financial crisis, diversity is even
more of a priority,” said Deutsche Bank’s Taylor
In some instances, the emphasis on certain priorities
varies according to the size of the company. Companies
with at least $5 billion in revenues are putting significantly more focus on retention and recruitment in regards
to diversity/inclusion programs than their smaller counterparts. “It’s critical to our business strategy to hire, retain,
and develop our employees. They are our current and
future leaders,” said AT&T’s Storey.
FIGURE 9: Which of the following issues do you see as a top priority in your
diversity/inclusion efforts?
Retention and development of diverse talent
43
41
Ensuring diversity in the workplace in general
35
24
Developing a robust pipeline or high-potential diverse talent
29
28
Managing cross-generational issues
28
29
Leveraging diversity for our business goals
28
33
Ensuring diversity at all levels of management
27
30
Customizing diversity/inclusiveness goals by region
25
25
Developing accountability and measurement of diversity
20
18
Redefinement of the retirement age
16
22
0%
50%
100%
• Today • 3 years from now
13
Additionally, respondents from the largest companies are placing more focus on customizing diversity
and inclusion policies to reflect the trends of each region
the company has a presence in. For example, one executive pointed to how the company’s efforts in Asia differ.
Hong Kong is very multicultural, so diversity and inclusion efforts there resemble those in the U.S. However, in
China, the company’s diversity efforts are focused more
on persons with special needs, people with disabilities,
and people from different socio-economic backgrounds.
Similarly, Deutsch Bank’s India diversity efforts are
focused on individuals with disabilities. The company is
working with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
to train people with disabilities to work at the company.
“In India, disability is a big issue. You still see people with
polio or people who are blind because the drugs to treat
certain diseases weren’t available,” said Taylor.
Credit Suisse
Regional Programs Help Employee Development
For many multinational companies, one of the keys to keeping and creating a diverse and inclusive workforce is to allow for some
regional customization. In 2009, Credit Suisse realigned its global diversity strategy to allow regional CEOs and senior managers to
create programs that addressed the needs of their regions. In Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse executives created The Edge a new women’s
development program targeted at middle level and senior women.
The program helps women become better acquainted with the company’s corporate culture and gives them insight into how they
can better achieve their career goals. “For women in the Asia Pacific region, they sometimes need more help developing their confidence, working on their communication skills, and figuring out how to weather their way through the ranks,” said Niki Kesoglou,
Credit Suisse director and regional head of diversity & inclusion in Asia Pacific.
Women who’ve participated in The Edge have also benefited from the program’s personal branding and mentoring components,
as well as its networking element that allows women to mix with other women across divisions and share ideas, information and support on both a personal and professional basis.
The program has been very popular with female executives in Asia Pacific; 61% of female directors and 37% of female vice presidents have participated thus far. As a result, Credit Suisse is planning to offer The Edge in other regions, and last year completed a
pilot in the Americas.
14
The Buck Stops at the C-Level
“If we couldn’t measure the impact of our diversity and inclusion efforts and programs, it would be
a hard sell among company executives.”
–Huey Wilson, vice president of human resources, worldwide operations, and diversity board member at Mattel
When it comes to the strategy and implementation of
a diversity program, responsibility for the success of
company’s diversity/inclusion efforts lies with senior
management. Seven out of ten companies reported that
the buck stops at the C-level and their board of directors.
In fact, 35% feel ultimate accountability lies directly
with the CEO. (Fig. 10)
Since 2003, L’Oréal USA’s office of diversity has reported
directly to the CEO. “I have to be the champion of diversity
FIGURE 10: Who is ultimately accountable for the success of diversity and
inclusion programs within your organization?
and inclusion,” said L’Oréal CEO Rozé. “It is my job to be a
role model and show how important this is to our company.
It is part of my responsibility to set objectives and monitor
progress within our teams.”
Still, responsibility for creation of diversity programs and
overall implementation can lie elsewhere. “At Mattel, the buck
stops with the CEO but it’s the [global diversity] board’s responsibility to be the driving force and determine how we go about
measuring our success,” said diversity board member Wilson.
FIGURE 11: Does your organization have an internal board or committee in
place to oversee diversity/inclusion strategy and initiatives?
CEO
35
CHRO
15
31%
Board of Directors
• Yes
• No
13
Senior leaders within division or business unit
69%
10
COO
8
General managers
7
Senior leaders within geography
4
Individual managers
3
Other C-level
3
0%
50%
100%
15
Among survey respondents, nearly seven out of ten have
some kind of internal board or committee to oversee diversity and inclusion strategy. (Fig. 11) These are typically
made up of managers and executives from across the organization, but, as might be expected, members of the human
resources department are the most common. (Fig. 12)
In fact, when it comes to implementing policies and
programs, the responsibility shifts to HR or other senior
level executives. When asked about who is responsible for
implementing policies and programs, 65% said it fell to
HR while 45% said it’s the responsibility of senior leaders
within a business unit or division. At AT&T, for instance,
goals are developed by the business units, and the unit
heads sit down once a year with Storey, the chief diversity
officer, to discuss those goals and how they plan to implement them.
Just as with other corporate initiatives, gauging the success or efficacy of diversity and inclusion efforts requires
companies to have measurable outcomes in place. Six out
of ten survey participants said that their company has metrics in place to monitor the success of their initiatives, and
another 28% said they are currently developing metrics.
(Fig. 13) The most popular measure used to monitor success is employee productivity (77%), followed by employee
morale (67%), and employee turnover (58%).
The tools for holding senior executives responsible for
their diversity programs performance are a mix of monetary awards and reviews. According to the participants,
accountability is measured by performance reviews (66%),
bonuses (51%), salary increases (42%), business/department
reviews (48%), and promotions (41%).
FIGURE 12: Who are the members of your company’s diversity board
or committee?
Human resources
72
CEO
61
Senior division or business unit leaders
53
Head of diversity
46
Board members
43
COO
39
Senior leaders for each geography
35
Other C-level
33
Individual managers
25
0%
50%
100%
FIGURE 13: Does your organization have metrics in place to measure the
success of your diversity and inclusion initiatives?
1%
12%
• Yes
• No, but we are
28%
69%
developing them
• No
• Don’t know
16
Progress Has Been Made But Barriers
Still Exist
“We want our management to be culturally prepared. We have a vast amount of diversity that
comes into work every day in order to create and build technology that plays out around the world.”
–Rosalind Hudnell, director of global diversity and inclusion, Intel
Significant progress has been made to build and retain
diverse workforces, but there is still work to be done and
barriers to overcome.
Survey participants were asked in which areas they
feel their companies have made the most progress, and in
which they feel they need the most improvement. In terms
of progress, gender, ethnicity, and race are the areas where
they feel they’ve done best. (Fig. 14) But they believe that
there can be improvement in programs related to disability,
age, and sexual orientation. (Fig. 15)
FIGURE 14: Where do you feel you’ve made the most progress in
diversity /inclusion?
Moreover, just 7% of respondents said they felt that
no barriers existed at their organizations to continuing to
develop and implement their diversity and inclusion programs. (Fig. 16) While budget issues were cited as a top
concern, respondents also felt that middle management
failed to execute diversity programs adequately. This is
something that diversity and inclusion boards will need to
deal with over the coming years.
FIGURE 15: Where do you feel you need the most improvement in
diversity /inclusion?
Gender
Disability
54
29
Ethnicity/national origin
Age
42
28
Race/color
Sexual orientation
39
23
Age
Race/color
32
20
Disability
Gender
30
20
Nationality
Ethnicity/national origin
26
18
Sexual orientation
Veteran status
17
17
Veteran status
Nationality
10
0%
16
50%
100%
0%
50%
100%
17
FIGURE 16: What barriers do you see to continuing to develop or implement
a strategy for workplace diversity and inclusion?
Middle management fails to execute diversity programs adequately
46
Budgetary issues prevent greater implementation
46
Too focused on survival in the current economy
42
Failure to perceive the connection between diversity and business drivers
41
Inadequate attention from senior leadership
23
Other priorities related to managing our workforce currently take precedence
19
We don’t have any barriers to our focus on workplace diversity
7
0%
50%
100%
Intel
Attracting High-Tech Talent
Technology companies face several challenges when trying to recruit top talent. While there is no shortage of engineers graduating
from universities, many of them are choosing careers in finance and consulting instead of traditional technology jobs. Compounding
this problem is the fact that few women and minorities pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers, making it
even harder for tech companies to attract diverse talent.
In order to address some of these issues, Intel created the “Rotation Engineers Program” (REP). The program was founded in 1987
by then-chief executive Craig Barrett, who designed the program to develop and foster new, diverse talent at the tech giant. In REP,
recent college graduates hired as engineers at Intel move through three, six-month-long rotations that allow them to gain deep technical knowledge from multiple areas within the company. The program allows engineers to forge their own career paths and build
networks across a variety of groups and teams within Intel.
The unique experience that REP provides has helped the company’s efforts in recruiting top, diverse talent while also strengthening Intel’s leadership pipeline. “The ability to have a program that builds upon the core of diversity—diverse talent, experiences,
connections, and training—is a unique opportunity for us not only to attract diverse talent, but to bring diversity of experience to
those that participate and experience the program,” said Laurie Tortorella, Intel’s college manager.
18
Conclusion
A Diverse and Inclusive Workforce Is Critical
for Success
And while diversity and inclusion efforts at companies
are a given, organizations still face external and internal
challenges in implementing these policies and procedures.
Internally, companies are still struggling with negative
attitudes about diversity among their rank-and-file, while
externally, a rocky economic recovery has impeded many
companies’ hiring efforts.
Looking forward, companies must also grapple with an
aging workforce, a declining pipeline of qualified talent,
and the challenges of managing a multigenerational workforce. But as long as organizations can keep their “eye on
the prize,” that is, to keep diversity and inclusion efforts at
the top of their priority list, it will position them to weather
these challenges and come out ahead of the competition.
The globalization of business has created a sophisticated,
complex, and competitive environment. In order to be
successful, companies need to continually create new
products and services. And the best way to ensure the
development of new ideas is through a diverse and inclusive workforce.
A diverse and inclusive workforce is necessary to drive
innovation, foster creativity, and guide business strategies.
Multiple voices lead to new ideas, new services, and new
products, and encourage out-of-the-box thinking. Today,
companies no longer view diversity and inclusion efforts as
separate from their other business practices, and recognize that
a diverse workforce can differentiate them from their competitors by attracting top talent and capturing new clients.
Deutsche Bank
Bringing Women Up Through the Ranks
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, a diverse workforce has become even more of a priority for financial service companies. “The
crisis made our diversity efforts more intense,” said Eileen Taylor, managing director and global head of diversity at Deutsche Bank.
“We are a survivor because of our relative diversity.”
One area of diversity that Deutsche Bank paid particular attention to was getting more women into senior positions. Internal
company research revealed that female managing directors who had left the firm did so because they were offered better positions
elsewhere. In response, Deutsche created a sponsorship program aimed at assigning women to critical posts. The company paired
female executives with executive committee members who served as mentors. This not only raised the women’s visibility, but also
ensured that they would have a powerful advocate when promotions were being considered. As a result of this program, one third of
the participants were in larger roles, and another third have been deemed ready to move up by senior management.
Christiaan Rizy
Director
Stuart Feil
Editorial Director
Brenna Sniderman
research Director
Mary ellen egan
writer
19
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www.forbes.com/forbesinsights
THE IMPACT OF CULTURE
ON CREATIVITY
A Study prepared for the European Commission
(Directorate-General for Education and Culture)
June 2009
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
« Il faut apprendre à juger une société à ses bruits, à son art, à ses fêtes plus qu’à ses statistiques. »
Jacques Attali
Creativity is a powerful catch phrase. In Western societies it epitomises success, the modern, trends for
novelty and excitement. Whether linked to individuals, enterprises, cities or regions creativity establishes
immediate empathy, and conveys an image of dynamism. Creativity is a positive word in a society
constantly aspiring to innovation and “progress”.
Culture is the general expression of humanity, the expression of its creativity. Culture is linked to meaning,
knowledge, talents, industries, civilisation and values. The objective of the study is to have a better
understanding of the influence of culture on creativity, a motor of economic and social innovation. Does
music, visual art, cinema and poetry for instance contribute to creativity as a way to stimulate job creation,
economic prosperity, learning and social cohesion? What is the impact of artistic creation on innovation?
Why do companies want to be associated with culture and art? What is the social function of artistic and
cultural creativity?
The report develops the concept of culture-based creativity, stemming from art and cultural productions or
activities which nurture innovation, and going beyond artistic achievements or “creative content” feeding
broadband networks, computers and consumer electronic equipments.
This culture-based creativity is linked to the ability of people, notably artists, to think imaginatively or
metaphorically, to challenge the conventional, and to call on the symbolic and affective to communicate.
Culture-based creativity has the capacity to break conventions, the usual way of thinking, to allow the
development of a new vision, an idea or a product. The nature of culture-based creativity is closely linked to
the nature of artistic contribution as expressed in art or cultural productions. The spontaneous, intuitive,
singular and human nature of cultural creation enriches society.
To emerge culture-based creativity requires:
- personal abilities (ability to think laterally or in a non-linear way, to be imaginative),
- technical skills (often artistic skills or craftsmanship),
- a social environment (a social context through notably education and learning that encourages, and
appreciates creativity as well as an economy that invest in culture and culture-based creativity).
3
Components of culture-based creativity
ARTISTIC
SKILLS
(technical
expertise)
LATERAL
THINKING
SKILLS
Culturebased
CREATIVITY
A CONDUCIVE
ENVIRONMENT
The impact and value of culture-based creativity on the economy
The features of culture-based creativity leading to innovation:
Affect
Spontaneity
Intuition
Memories Imagination Aesthetic
Generate economic and social values:
New vision
4
Differentiation
Intangible/
Symbolic/
Spiritual
Disruption
Community
Values
The impact and value of culture-based creativity on the economy
The report illustrates the impact of culture in the development of new products and services, (including
public services), driving technological innovation, stimulating research, optimising human resources,
branding and communicating values, inspiring people to learn and building communities.
Culture-based creativity is an essential feature of a post-industrial economy. A firm needs more than an
efficient manufacturing process, cost-control and a good technological base to remain competitive. It also
requires a strong brand, motivated staff and a management that respects creativity and understands its
process. It also needs the development of products and services that meet citizens’ expectations or that
create these expectations. Culture-based creativity can be very helpful in this respect.
Digital technologies play an important role in this intangible economy as they provide new forms of social
exchanges and contribute significantly to new expressions of creativity. Of course cultural production (such
as music, publishing and movies) makes new technology more relevant to consumers, enables the
development of new markets and contributes to digital literacy. However the successes of free and opensource software and services, such as Wikipedia, are also trends that prefigure an economy in which
sharing and exchanging knowledge and skills is not principally based on securing financial gain. These new
forms of exchanges give more importance to social ends and therefore culture-based creativity. Art and
culture (in particular music) is often the basis on which social networking takes place (peer-to-peer file
sharing).
It therefore becomes an imperative for industry to meet and to create new kinds of demand that are not
based merely on the functionality of a product but are instead rooted in individual and collective aspiration.
In this new paradigm, marketing and services are as important as production. This requires creative skills
and thoughts as productivity gains at manufacturing level are no longer sufficient to establish a competitive
advantage. Culture-based creativity is a powerful means of overturning norms and conventions with a view
to standing out amid intense economic competition. Creative people and artists are key because they
develop ideas, metaphors and messages which help to drive social networking and experiences.
Apple’s success is intrinsically linked to the founder’s vision that technology, marketing and sales
alone are not sufficient to deliver corporate success. A key factor is to have people who believe
very strongly in the values of the company and who identify it with as creators and innovators – the
ad campaign “Think different” featuring Picasso, Einstein, Gandhi was described by Steve Jobs as
a way for the company to remember who the heroes are and who Apple is.1 Apple has succeeded
to create empathy for technology that other technology companies have failed to provide. The
aesthetic of the product range, through innovative design, also yielded success.
To succeed in a post-industrial economy, businesses across a very wide range of sectors must ensure that
what they are selling offers a rich and compelling experience. Such experience enables differentiation from
competing brands or products. These developments lead to the creation of the “experience economy”.
1
The seed of Apple’s innovation, Business Week, 12 October 2004.
5
When Virgin Atlantic entered the airline business the differentiation came from entertainment
services and the experience offered on transatlantic flights. Virgin was the first airline to offer
massage on board or multiple choices of music and videos; a service that has now become a
standard norm in air travel. It is no accident that Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson, came from
the music business and applied the “hip” and “cool” values” associated with the Virgin record label
to the airline industry. Virgin Atlantic decided that it would do more than transport people from place
to place.
Culture-based creativity is a fundamental means for industry and policy decision makers to adopt and
implement more user-centred strategies (less about “making things” more about providing a service).
Jan Timmer – the former CEO of Polygram, the music and film subsidiary of Philips - turned the
company Philips (on the verge of bankruptcy in the late 80’s) around by developing a strategy
based on the view that technology was not an end in itself but a means of improving life. This lead
to a change in processes aimed at focusing on people, not technologies per se. The use-centred
design approach called on new skills in the company including designers, sociologists and
anthropologists. From its “Make things better” slogan Philips has moved to “Sense and simplicity”
reflecting the shift to the experience economy.
Culture-based creativity helps to promote well-being, to create lifestyle, to enrich the act of consumption, to
stimulate confidence in communities and social cohesion. It is increasingly used in the management of
human resources, notably though artists-in-residence projects.
For instance AIRIS is a Swedish project based upon a programme in which artists join a company
for a period of 10 months to work together on a cultural project. It was initiated by TILLT, an
organisation set up by the region of West Sweden since 1973 to promote and support collaboration
between artists and firms.
Culture-based creativity is therefore a key input for businesses or public authorities which want to
communicate more effectively, challenge conventions and look for new ways to stand out. It contributes to
product innovation, to branding, to the management of human resources and to communication.
Culture-based creativity and social innovation
Cultural productions, as communication tools charged with subjectivity and emotion, have participated in the
expression of social life since the origin of human kind. Culture-based creativity plays a key role in
generating social innovation.
Art and culture can benefit public service delivery and innovation in a variety of ways:
6
–
–
–
–
public service broadcasters are an example of this and many make much of their reputation as
‘trusted media providers;’2
participation in cultural activities can emphasise a feeling of belonging in society, which also
increases trust in the public realm and public services. Culture can therefore help to bring certain
public services closer to their constituents;
some public services have pioneered new methods of collaborative feedback and decision making
by means of integrating creative media innovations – online discussion fora, social networking
sites and online petitions allow the public to interact more easily with public services;
Finally, some public services promote participation and involvement, often of marginalised groups –
the development of community media and community arts, more generally, are good examples of
this.
Culture contributes to strengthening social ties among communities and thereby nurtures individual as well
as organisational self-esteem and ultimately well-being.
Social cohesion can be defined as a set of shared norms and values for society which also encompasses
the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and helps to ensure that those from different backgrounds
have similar life opportunities. It is the ability of cultural activities to help express specific cultures, while also
developing strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds in the workplace, in
schools, and within neighbourhoods.
Culture can offer new approaches both in terms of tackling what are sometimes referred to as ‘social
problems’, for which current approaches are deemed inadequate. Policy areas in which culture has
successfully helped in this respect include urban regeneration, social cohesion, crime prevention, health and
the fight against pollution.
Art and culture learning to stimulate creativity
Society plays an important role in developing and advancing creativity. A fundamental external factor that
influences creativity is education and learning. Education and learning play a fundamental role in shaping a
creative environment. Art and culture have the ability to stimulate people’s imagination and creativity in
schools, in colleges and universities and in lifelong learning.
Creativity in learning is about fostering “flexibility, openness for the new, the ability to adapt or to see new
ways of doings things and the courage to face the unexpected.”3 Imagination, divergent thinking and
intuition need to be considered as important characteristics of progressive arts education – by schools,
universities and further education providers.
2
3
Davies, G., The BBC and Public Value, London, Social Market Foundation, 2004.
Cropley, Creativity in education and learning, a guide for teacher and educator, Routledge 2001.
7
Undue emphasis on outcome rather than process is likely to frighten children away from originality. Taking
risks without fearing failure is the cornerstone of creative endeavour. The “testing-culture” that holds sway in
most EU countries militates against this idea of experimenting and taking risks without fears of failure. The
mainstreaming of the arts is also a way to achieve high-academic results in other disciplines.
Arts schools specifically nurture creativity, as demonstrated in the way that art is taught and learned about.
Their modes of teaching consist of promoting critical reflection, innovation, and the ability to question
orthodoxies.
This makes a strong case for arts schools and arts-related disciplines to play an important role in this
learning transformation in higher education. The education sector's response to the need for both business
and technology to acknowledge the importance of culture-based creativity is to introduce inter-disciplinary
learning across educational fields. Finland recently initiated a paradigm shift away from technology-driven
innovation towards more human-centred innovation; with the ambitious Aalto University project (a privatepublic partnership) that brings together art, business, and technology studies on the same campus.
Policy making and culture-based creativity
Europe has enormous cultural and creative assets, a wealth of ideas, artists and creative people. European
brands are amongst the best in the world in technology, luxury goods, tourism, media publishing, television,
music, computer animation, videogames, design and architecture. European creators and artists in
architecture, design, fashion, cinema, music, and modern art have worldwide influence.
However Europe does not harness this huge potential to the full in order to better serve the economy and
society as a whole.
As part of the Lisbon strategy Europe has developed a strong policy framework to support innovation.
However, “innovation policy has rather developed as an amalgam of science and technology policy and
industrial policy.”4 Policies on innovation need to be developed so as to recognise the cross-sectoral and
multi-disciplinary aspect of “creativity” which mixes elements of “culture-based creativity”, “economic” as well
as “technological innovation.”
Scientific
Innovation
Technological
Innovation
Economic and
Social Innovation
4
Cultural Creativity
Oslo Manual, Guidelines for collecting and interpreting innovation data, a joint publication of OECD and Eurostat, third
edition 2005, p.15
8
Towards a EU creativity policy
The purpose is to create a Europe that stimulates and encourages creativity and provides individuals,
society, public institutions and enterprises with incentives to build on culture for social and economic
renewal.
The objectives are to:
-
Encourage imagination and talent at school, in firms and public institutions, in life.
Support the development of a creative economy by integrating creativity into EU innovation
policies.
Promote social innovation through culture.
Encourage cross-fertilisation between regional identities and culture by clustering talents at
European level to foster local development as well as multilingualism.
Brand Europe as the place to create in the world.
Move from cultural competition amongst Member States to cultural collaboration to make Europe’s
creativity visible internationally.
The study proposes a number of concrete measures to implement five actions:
-
Raise awareness on culture as an important resource of creativity.
Mainstream culture-based creativity in policies to foster innovation.
Re-direct existing financial resources or create new programmes to stimulate creativity
Brand Europe as the place to create.
Question and tailor the regulatory and institutional frameworks to support creative and cultural
collaboration.
Creativity is a process continuously shaped and stimulated (or constrained) by human, social, cultural and
institutional factors. It is proposed to establish a Creativity Index (with a set of 32 indicators) whose aim is to
assess the creative environment in EU Member States and to enable the development of a creative ecology
in Europe through art and culture.
Culture lies on the fringe of the European project as a subsidiary competence whilst it is at the heart of
innovation goals and the development of new economic and social paradigms. As a priority the European
institutions as well Member States should review policies aimed at stimulating innovation in the framework of
the Lisbon strategy to determine whether they stimulate culture-based creativity and engage the creative
and cultural sectors.
9
Besides reviewing policies related to innovation the report suggests re-directing existing financial resources
or creating new programmes to stimulate culture-based creativity. In relation to the EU, programmes and
funds should aim to support:
-
Creative entrepreneurs, enterprises and research centres that draw on culture-based
creative inputs.
Social innovation through culture.
Territories using culture as a tool for development.
Cultural co-operation across different territories.
A range of concrete policies and actions are also suggested to brand Europe as a place to create, to
imagine, to express talent; a place that nurtures and values “singularity” and differences.
Art and culture can make a vital contribution to the achievement of objectives that reconcile wealth creation
with sustainability and respect for common humanist values because one of the features of art and culture is
that they help us to transcend purely economic or utilitarian constraints. We all have a role to play, both as
citizens and consumers in drawing on the power of culture and creativity to help deliver new, more
sustainable ways of living and working.
Europe’s multiculturalism is a chance to stimulate creativity. Europe’s diverse cultures, its history and
geography are a significant source of its creativity. It is Europe’s diversity and its patchwork heritage that
has shaped its destiny and will determine its future. Pluralism and openness to influences are distinct
features of the European model. This cosmopolitanism is an extraordinary resource of creativity.
The additional challenge for Europe is to make the best of its cultural diversity in the context of globalisation.
To a large extent, Europe’s future is dependent on its ability to transcend local identities to harness creativity
but also to ensure the presence of diverse local identities in an international context. By asserting and
developing its creative ambitions Europe can become a very significant force for the generation of innovative
ideas and services which have both significant economic value and the capacity to improve the quality of life
of its citizens. Europe should become a central place in the meeting of influences and ideas. At the
confluence Europe increases its creativity and innovation potential. In this way, the power of creativity, art
and culture could be harnessed to play an increasingly important role in driving economic and social
progress in Europe.
10
TABLE OF CONTENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................3
TABLE OF CONTENT ...........................................................................................................................11
FOREWORD.............................................................................................................................................15
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 1
TOWARDS CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY.............................................................................21
1.1
CREATIVITY..................................................................................................................................22
1.2
CULTURE AS A SOURCE OF CREATIVITY .....................................................................................25
1.3
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY .....................................................................................................31
1.3.1 Origin and functions ..........................................................................................................31
1.3.2 Creativity and innovation – The features of culture-based creativity............34
CHAPTER 2
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY – THE ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL
DIMENSION............................................................................................................................................37
2.1
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW ECONOMY ........................................................................38
2.1.1 An economy of experience...........................................................................................39
2.1.2
When cultural value becomes as important as economic value – the
sharing economy ............................................................................................................................42
2.1.3
Towards a creative economy – lessons from creative industries...............44
2.2
THE REQUIREMENTS TO SUCCEED IN THE NEW ECONOMY .......................................................45
2.2.1 Experience staging ...........................................................................................................45
2.2.2 Empower consumers and generate demand ..........................................................47
2.2.3 The importance of design ..............................................................................................48
2.3
THE CONTRIBUTION OF CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY TO BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE
STRATEGIES ..............................................................................................................................................52
2.3.1 Elements of a competitive strategy ...........................................................................53
2.3.2 The integration of culture-based creativity in business strategies ................54
2.4
MEASURING CREATIVITY.............................................................................................................70
2.5
IMPLEMENTING CREATIVITY ........................................................................................................72
2.5.1 The experience of cultural and creative industries ..............................................73
2.5.2 Managing creative people ..............................................................................................75
2.6 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................77
11
CHAPTER 3
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY IN ITS SOCIAL DIMENSION ......................................79
3.1
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY LEADS TO SOCIAL INNOVATION ................................................80
3.2
CULTURE AND SOCIAL CAPITAL FORMATION - STRENGTHENING SOCIAL PROCESSES............81
3.3
HOW CULTURE CAN HELP ACHIEVE SOCIAL POLICY OBJECTIVES IN NEW WAYS ....................84
3.3.1 Promoting social cohesion .............................................................................................84
3.3.2 Regional and local regeneration..................................................................................85
3.4
INNOVATING PUBLIC SERVICES ..................................................................................................89
3.5
CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................95
CHAPTER 4
CREATIVITY AND LEARNING .......................................................................................................97
4.1
HOW CULTURE STIMULATES CREATIVITY IN LEARNING ............................................................99
4.1.1 The relationship between culture and creativity in learning and education
100
4.1.2 How can we put art and creativity back into learning? ....................................100
4.2
THE ROLE OF CULTURE AND CREATIVITY IN LEARNING POLICIES ..........................................104
4.2.1 Policies in EU Member States .....................................................................................104
4.2.2 Policies at European Union level ...............................................................................106
4.3
CULTURE AND CREATIVITY IN SCHOOLS ..................................................................................106
4.3.1 The creative learning ecosystem ..............................................................................107
4.3.2 Four basics of developing a creative learning environment with the help of
culture ..............................................................................................................................................108
4.4
CULTURE AND CREATIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION ................................................................111
4.4.1 Arts schools in the European Union: a new learning paradigm ....................111
4.4.2 Examining the creative contributions of culture to other sectors and
disciplines........................................................................................................................................114
4.5
CULTURE AND CREATIVITY IN LIFE LONG LEARNING...............................................................118
4.5.1 Creativity in after-school arts education................................................................119
4.5.2 Development of creative skills through culture in the workplace.................119
4.5.3 Supporting disadvantaged individuals ....................................................................120
4.6
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................122
CHAPTER 5
A REVIEW OF POLICIES ON CREATIVITY..........................................................................125
5.1
EU CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL POLICY ...............................................................................126
5.1.1
Culture and education in internal policies and programmes......................126
5.1.2 EU's external relations and cultural diplomacy....................................................130
5.2
THE EU POLICY ON INNOVATION .............................................................................................131
5.2.1 Funding support focused on research and technology-driven innovation133
12
5.2.2
Conclusion: An innovation strategy that has yet to take fully account of
culture-based creativity.............................................................................................................138
5.3
OVERVIEW OF EU MEMBER STATES’ STRATEGIES TO STIMULATE CREATIVITY....................141
5.3.1 A variety of approaches to support creativity in Member States .................143
CHAPTER 6
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................................................................145
6.1
RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT CULTURE AS A RESOURCE FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION .147
6.1.1 Value the importance of creativity and intangible assets in statistics and
scoreboards ....................................................................................................................................147
6.1.2 Value imagination and disruptive creative thoughts .........................................150
6.2
MAINSTREAM CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY WITHIN POLICIES ..............................................150
6.3
RE-DIRECT EXISTING FINANCIAL RESOURCES OR CREATE NEW PROGRAMMES TO STIMULATE
CREATIVITY .............................................................................................................................................155
6.3.1 Support creative enterprises and entrepreneurs .................................................155
6.3.2 Support social Innovation through culture-based creativity. ..........................156
6.3.3 Support collaborations and give a European dimension to territorial
clustering, .......................................................................................................................................156
6.3.4 Support cultural collaboration across territories to promote pan European
creativity projects ........................................................................................................................157
6.4
BRAND EUROPE AS THE PLACE TO CREATE..............................................................................157
6.5
QUESTION AND TAILOR REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR CULTURE-BASED
CREATIVITY .............................................................................................................................................158
EPILOGUE ..............................................................................................................................................161
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................163
APPENDIX 1
THE SCIENTIFIC DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY ............................................................165
APPENDIX 2
REVIEW OF A SELECTION OF NATIONAL STRATEGIES AND INITIATIVES TO
STIMULATE CREATIVITY ACROSS THE EU..........................................................................171
APPENDIX 3
TOWARDS A CREATIVITY INDEX: MEASURING EUROPE’S CREATIVE
POTENTIAL ...........................................................................................................................................179
13
APPENDIX 4
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................197
APPENDIX 5
PERSONS INTERVIEWED AND CONSULTED DURING THE COURSE OF THE
STUDY......................................................................................................................................................231
APPENDIX 6
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS AT THE ROUNDTABLE ORGANISED ON 3 FEBRUARY
2009..........................................................................................................................................................237
14
FOREWORD
The study on the contribution of culture to creativity was prepared for the European Commission
(Directorate-General for Education and Culture). It demonstrates the impact of culture and art on creativity, a
major factor of economic growth and a vector of social and technological innovation.
The assignment lasted 11 months between May 2008 and April 2009. It was managed by KEA European
Affairs (KEA) a Brussels based consultancy which specialises in the cultural, media and entertainment
sectors. For this assignment KEA set up a consortium composed of Burns Owens Partnership (BOP) and
Professor Roberto Travaglini.
BOP is a UK independent research and strategy consultancy specialising in the role of culture and creativity
in economic and social development. It participated in the definition of the scope of the study. Its main task
was to identify a number of case studies across the EU illustrating how culture can stimulate:
-
the development of creative competences of individuals in a life long learning perspective
the development of creative solutions in environments such as the workplace, hospitals and
prisons.
BOP provided a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the factors identified and notably supported KEA
in drafting chapter 3 and part of chapter 4 of the study as well as policy recommendations concerning the
impact of culture on social innovation.
Prof. Roberto Travaglini is a specialist in cognitive studies and psycho-pedagogy at the University of Urbino
(Italy) and an expert in the field of creativity research. He has studied the dynamics of child and adolescent
creativity, body language and carried out empirical and experimental education research on the links
between art and creativity. His main task was participating in defining the scope of the study, providing
bibliographical references and reviews sections of the study related to creativity stimulation in individuals
and through education (essentially Chapters 1, 4 and 6 of the study).
KEA’s responsibilities included managing the research, defining the analytical framework and the scope of
the study, researching the links between culture and creativity (Chapter 1), researching and analysing the
impact of culture- based creativity on economic success (Chapter 2), editing the final draft of Chapter 3 in
coherence with the rest of the study, researching and analysing the role of art and culture in learning
(Chapter 4) as well as the field of public policies in the field of creativity (Chapter 5). KEA developed the EU
creativity index (Appendix 3) and drafted the policy recommendations (Chapter 6). It prepared the
bibliography with the support of consortium partners, managed the contacts with the European commission
as well as the coordination with members of the consortium. KEA would like to thank Neil Watson, an
independent researcher in the UK for his help on the editing of a large part of the study.
15
The lead contractor also organised a workshop on 3 February 2009 in the premises of the European
Commission in Brussels with a view to completing a stakeholder consultation and test some preliminary
findings before completion of the assignment (list of attendees is available in Appendix 6).
Trade organisations, industry experts, public bodies, educational institutions and artists that were consulted
in the framework of the study are listed in Appendix 5. In relation to chapters on policies and education we
also consulted representatives of Member States essentially in ministries of culture and education. The list
of national member states’ representatives can be found in Appendix 5. We would like to thank all the
interviewees for their interest, input and encouragements throughout this assignment.
16
INTRODUCTION
It looks as though the early 21st Century will turn out to be an era focussed on supporting sustainable
development. Creativity and ingenuity will be the keys to addressing the challenges. The economic crisis
triggered by financial upheavals as well as environmental concerns are forcing us to think differently and
creatively about economic and human development.
Moreover, as a result of globalisation, Europe’s position in the world is today challenged by the emerging
economies of Brazil, China, India, and Russia. In the 1950s Western economies represented around 64% of
world gross production. By 1980 this proportion had declined to 49%.5 According to some estimates, it will
represent only 30% by 2013.6
Europe’s place will increasingly be determined by its capacity to keep innovating both economically and
socially.
To address this challenge the European Union adopted the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 which is aimed at
making Europe one of the most competitive economies in the world. For policy makers effective innovation
depends on the ability to raise R&D investment levels to at least 3% of GDP but also on the translation of
innovation into successful products and services.7 The traditional framework invoked to succeed in making
the economy more innovative and competitive includes:
-
effective intellectual property regimes,
better links between science and industry,
improved access to risk capital,
and less ‘red tape’ hampering the creation and development of businesses.8
Innovation and competitiveness are all too often not associated with investment in culture as a tool to
stimulate creativity.
The policy priority on technology innovation is today reflected in the funding strategy of the EU; budgetary
resources linked to regional development, research and information technology (ICT) programmes. The
European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU’s investment arm, has made support to technology its priority
under its Innovation Programme. At the same time non-technological innovation is not given the
consideration it deserves.
Significantly, the relevance of cultural and creative industries as a strategic area to drive the agenda for an
Innovative Europe remains marginal. A study published by the European Commission in October 20069
5
6
7
8
Huntington, S. P., Le Choc des Civilisations, Odile Jacob, 1997.
Ibid.
A paper by the French, German and UK governments, Towards an Innovative Europe, 20 February 2004.
In the 2002 Ecofin report on Research and Development, January 2002.
17
quantified for the first time at EU level the socio-economic impact of the cultural and creative sectors for the
EU. The study concluded that the sector turned over €654 billion in 2003 (more than the turnover generated
by car manufacturing or ICT manufacturing), contributing to 2.6% of the EU GDP, representing close to 6
million jobs.
There is clearly an extraordinary creative potential in Europe. Indeed, Europe boasts a remarkable cultural
heritage, some of the best art and design schools, extraordinary artists, the most innovative museums,
incredible festivals and art galleries, the best luxury brands, some of the most innovative cultural industries
(music, cinema, publishing, computer games) and creative professionals (architects, designers, advertisers)
in the world. Cultural productions and activities are intrinsically linked to the creativity process, a motor of
innovation. Is Europe making the most of this creative potential?
The assignment
In its April 2007 Communication on a European Agenda for Culture in a Globalising World (COM (2007),
242 final), the European Commission highlighted the important links between creativity and culture and the
need to promote cross-fertilisation between industrial sectors.
One of the three main objectives for a European Agenda for Culture is the promotion of culture as a catalyst
for creativity in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs. Through its Communication the
European Commission acknowledged the contribution that culture could make to strategy for innovation.
The Commission’s term of reference states that the objective of the study is to help the European
Commission:
–
–
–
to better grasp the notion of creativity as well as the various factors that can stimulate it,
more particularly to have a better understanding of the effective and concrete contribution of culture
to creativity,
to better understand the links between factors that stimulate creativity and culture.
Presentation of the study
The world and the global economy are changing very fast. Collectively, we are faced with very significant
economic, environmental and social challenges. The digital economy is transforming the economic and
social basis of our society. We know that low cost production centres for manufacturing or service sectors
will not be the key drivers of significant value in the global economy in the future. We also know that the
“hyper consumption” model is not sustainable. Developed economies must compete on the strength of their
skills base and their ability to develop a more “user-centred approach” closer to societal demands and new
forms of exchanges.
9
KEA, The Economy of Culture in Europe, European Commission, October 2006 – www.keanet.eu .
18
At the same time art and culture play an important role in moderating a purely technocratic vision of the
world based solely on ideas about technological progress or economic goals. A more humanist vision is
required to envision sustainable prosperity.
The study has been conducted within the context of the EU Lisbon policy. The principles of Lisbon are
based on the view that industrial production is the real yardstick for economic success, expressed through
the value of GDP. In this context the study attempts to link the concept of culture to enterprise, economy,
competitiveness and management since it aims primarily to consider creativity as a driver of economic and
social prosperity. The study highlights the complementarities of culture to innovation strategies and their
crucial role in a post-industrial economy that is moving from manufacturing to a service based economy. It
also considers the role of culture in society as a whole which is confronted with considerable social
challenges. The study reviews the importance of education and learning in stimulating creativity through art
and culture. It then addresses policy development and highlights public policy initiatives aimed at
encouraging creativity through culture. Finally the study makes policy recommendations to establish through
culture a creative ecology with a view to building a Creative Europe.
The study is divided in 6 chapters:
1. Towards Culture-based Creativity
This chapter proposes to characterise the link between culture and creativity. It develops the concept of
culture-based creativity to highlight the elements of culture which trigger creativity. It proposes a distinction
between culture-based creativity and innovation to highlight the specific contribution of culture.
2. Culture-based Creativity – the Economic and Industrial Dimension
This chapter looks at the impact of culture-based creativity on industrial and economic performance. First it
characterises the importance of culture-based creativity in a changing economy and society. Then it
considers the impact of culture-based creativity on the success of enterprises and economic development.
It shows that culture-based creativity is an integral part of successful business strategies.
3. Culture-based Creativity in its Social Dimension
Chapter 3 looks beyond culture’s economic potential and considers its effects on creativity in the social
domain.
4. Creativity and Learning
This chapter considers the role of education and schools in stimulating creativity. It assesses the role played
by art and culture as a means of stimulating creativity and highlight best practices.
5. A Review of Policies on Creativity
This chapter reviews EU policies on innovation and creativity.
6. Policy Recommendations
This chapter is about establishing the conditions that could stimulate creativity in Europe, setting out the
objectives of a Creative Europe and proposing policy recommendations to achieve such goals.
19
20
CHAPTER 1
TOWARDS CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY
Investigating the relationship between creativity and culture seems an easy prospect. After all, creativity
refers to the ability most characteristic of artists or professionals that are active in cultural/creative industries.
However in relation to the idea that creativity generates economic and social innovation, the link between
creativity and culture becomes less evident. Indeed, traditionally, culture is not considered as a motor of
better management or for honing a competitive edge in product development, learning or human resources.
For the purpose of this assignment culture is taken to encompass traditional cultural and artistic activities
(performing arts, visual arts, cultural heritage and literature) as well as cultural industries (printed works,
multimedia, the press, cinema, audiovisual and phonographic productions, craft, design and cultural
tourism). However the study considers culture also as knowledge that is indispensable to the act of
creation: culture as a means to nourish the imagination.
In accordance with the terms of the assignment the study is not looking into the impact of culture as a way of
life, as an identity or as a set of beliefs, customs or values on creativity. However, it will highlight the
importance of culture, defining the identity of a group or a civilisation, because the interaction between
cultures and identities is an important element generating creativity in particular in the European context,
and its patchwork of culture heritage.
This section attempts to:
–
–
better grasp the notion of creativity as well as the various factors that can stimulate it,
more particularly have a better understanding of the effective and concrete contribution of culture to
creativity.
To characterize the link between culture and creativity the study develops the notion of culture-based
creativity with a view to:
-
highlight the importance of creators and creative talents and organisations in stimulating creativity,
recapture the meaning of creativity to the benefit of people who create or are creative,
distinguish between innovation and creativity in order for innovation policy to take into
consideration the specifics of culture-based creativity.
Culture-based creativity will help us characterise innovation within enterprises and societies that stems from
culture in the subsequent chapters of the document.
21
1.1
Creativity
Creativity remains a very complex phenomenon which cannot be reduced to a formula. Invariably, artists
and cultural practitioners – that’s to say some of the people who most evidently display creative skills - find it
difficult to describe.
With a better understanding of creativity as a process it is possible to better comprehend the fabric of
creativity and its relationship with the arts and culture. Several scientific disciplines ranging from biology to
psychology and sociology have contributed to the science of creativity. Under Appendix 1 there is a
summary of the different scientific approaches to define creativity, which have influenced our vision of
creativity.
The notion of creativity requires understanding at cultural, individual and social levels.
First of all it is important to acknowledge that creativity is a cultural concept that evolves with time and
across countries. It also reflects a cultural constraint.10 The concept of creativity presented in this study
reflects the view of western scientists whose culture, according to Lubart11, considers creativity as “productoriented and a originality-based phenomenon aimed at solving problems”. The Western view also
emphasises individualism, a certain work ethic with a belief in progress.12
The prevailing view in Eastern philosophies, by contrast, emphasises the “emotional, personal and intrapsychic elements” of creativity. The goal of creativity in the East would not be so much to innovate as to
provide a revelation of the true nature of the self, of an object or of an event. This study finds inspiration in
this vision of creativity and comforts the idea developed below leading to the concept of culture-based
creativity.
At individual level creativity puts in motion mental and psychic mechanisms which result in something, a
discovery, a work of art, a performance. The mechanisms become the expression of the creative power.
Creativity is a human capacity that comes into play in a variety of contexts, notably the production of culture.
“It relates to the capacity of individuals to think inventively and imaginatively and to go beyond traditional
ways of solving problems.”13 Thus the end result of creativity is something new and original (recognising
that the perception of new is always context-dependent and always draws on what has existed before).
10
On the different cultural perspectives on creativity, see J.Kaufman and R.Sternberg The International Handbook of
Creativity, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
11
Lubart, T., Creativity across Cultures, in R.J Sternberg Handbook of Creativity, Cambridge University Press, 1999,
(p339-350).
12
13
Gorny, E., The Dictionary of Creativity (http://creativity.netslova.ru) – October 2007.
Bryant, William D. A. and Throsby D., Ginsburgh V.A. & Throsby D, Creativity and the Behaviour of Artists,. Handbooks
of the economics of art and culture, vol. 1, North-Holland, 2006, p.508.
22
Creativity can be contrasted with intelligence insofar as it is characterised by divergent thinking rather than
by algorithmic or convergent thought processes. These characteristics of creativity imply an instability or
unpredictability, suggesting that whereas intelligence is arguably measurable, creativity is likely to be far
less amenable to standardised evaluations.14
Creativity involves a combination of cognitive elements that involve the ability to “connect ideas”, “to see
similarities and differences”, be “unorthodox”,” be “inquisitive” and “to question societal norms”.15 Creativity
is also the ability to connect with senses and emotions expression of the human soul. Many of these
personality elements are common to artists and creative people.
However it is important to stress the importance of contexts, place and social conventions. We would like to
specifically highlight the importance of the social environment as it justifies to a large extent public
interventions in the setting up of conditions likely to stimulate creativity through education (reviewed in
chapter 4) or in relation to innovation policies.
Indeed creativity is often defined as a novel product that attains some level of social recognition. First of all,
a creative idea or work must be novel. Yet novelty is not enough, because a novel idea may be ridiculous or
nonsensical. In addition to novelty, "to be creative an idea must be appropriate, recognized as socially
valuable in some way to some community.”16 This perspective has been developed by writers such as
Teresa Amabile who proposed a consensual definition of creativity: “a product is creative when experts in
the domain agree it is creative, meaning that the appropriateness is defined by social groups, and it’s
culturally and historically determined.”17
Professor Csikszentmihalyi, when attempting to define when and how creativity emerges, stated:” creativity
does not happen inside people’s heads, but in the interaction between a person’s thoughts and a sociocultural context. It is a systemic rather than an individual phenomenon.”18 The artist Marcel Duchamp felt
that the viewer was an essential part of the creative process.19 The public, the audience or “specialist
intermediaries” (for instance, film critics, for instance) have a say on what is creative.20
The different perspectives highlight that creativity comes from different combinations of ability and
environment, in other words individual pre-disposition and a social context.
14
15
Ibid p.509 – see also chapter 7.
Sternberg Robert J. and Lubart Todd I The concept of Creativity: Prospects and Paradigms; Handbook of creativity,
edited by Sternberg Robert J., 1999, 2007.
16
17
18
19
Sawyer, R. Keith, Explaining creativity – the science of human innovation , Oxford University Press, 2006, p.27.
Amabile T., Social Psychology of Creativity, NY Springer-Verlag, 1983.
Csikszentmihalyi Mihaly, Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention, Harper Perennial, 1996, p.24.
Tomkins Calvin, The Lives of Artists, Henry Holt publishing, 2008, p.212. The artist initiates the creative act, said
Duchamps, but it is up to the viewer to complete it, by interpreting its meaning and its place in art history.
20
Csikszentmihalyi uses the term “field” to refer to the group of intermediaries while Pierre Bourdieu, in Les Règles de
l’Art, analysed the field as a market transaction between producers and consumers.
23
The table hereafter summarises the different factors which influence creativity.
ELEMENTS OF CREATIVITY
Biology/Genetic
Personality
• Intelligence
• Motivation
• Divergent thinking
• Cultural capital
Cognitive psychology
• Process to create thoughts
• Technical skills
CREATIVITY
Management Process
• Collaboration
• System of relationship
• Organisation
Context
• Policies
• Education/ Knowledge
• Cultural/Social environment
• Constraints/ References
• Working environment
• Geography/location
Psycho-analysis
(unconscious)
The table shows the importance of culture to feed creativity through cultural capital (personality), cultural
environment including education (context) and skills (cognitive psychology and technical skills).
24
1.2
Culture as a source of creativity
Theories and scientific approaches provide helpful tools to understand creativity but are not sufficient to
comprehend the cultural dimension of creativity. Research on creativity in relation to culture has tended to
focus on the understanding of artistic achievement.21 As a result the meaning of creativity is
indiscriminately applied and has been largely affected by business management literature setting rules to
help the emergence of “creative organisations”.22
Indeed creativity is very much a catch phrase, which means different things to different people. A football
player or accountants can be creative. We want children to be creative. Management literature for
businesses considers creativity a key asset to stimulate productivity. In the context of this assignment we
will propose our own definition of creativity.
The interaction between culture and creativity is complex and culture cannot always be associated with
creativity. Culture is also about accepted conventions when expressing for instance heritage, traditions or
when it relates to cultural productions that build on the successful and the “tested” (sequels, catalogue
exploitation, folklore). Cultural values may also feed intolerance and extremism which hinder creativity.
However without creativity there would not be music, poetry, paintings, literature and all creative activities
associated with art and cultural industries. Creativity contributes to the making of culture.23 Whilst
acknowledging the complex interactions between culture and creativity this report is about examining the
impact of culture24 on creativity with a view to contribute to better understand its contribution to the goals of
the Lisbon strategy.
Creativity requires conditions to emerge. Let us consider these conditions which are linked to cultural and
artistic activities, cultural identities and ecologies. Indeed the main sources of creativity stemming from
culture are people (artists, craftsmen, “creatives”), cultural and creative industries, territories and society:
ƒ
People (artists, craftsmen, “creatives”)
“Les artistes – Ils sont d’une autre race et ne le savent pas …. Ils peignent le chagrin dans les
coquelicots… ils font la loi demain quand tu vivrais hier … ils décident de tout quand tu veux les
soumettre…. ce sont des gens d’ailleurs”
Leo Ferré (French Poet)
21
22
See in particular Howard Gardener, Art, Mind and Brain, Basic Books 1982 or the works from Prof. Csikszentmihalyi.
Glow, H., Minahan, S., Gahan, P., Definition in Dying in the Arts: Creativity as Metaphor from – Bowater School of
Management, Deakin University, Australia, 2005, p. 19.
23
24
Csikszentmihalyi, M., Creativity, Harper Perennial, 1996, chap.13, p.317.
For the purpose of this assignment culture is taken to encompass traditional cultural and artistic activities (performing
arts, visual arts, cultural heritage and literature) as well as cultural industries (printed works, multimedia, the press,
cinema, audiovisual and phonographic productions, craft, design and cultural tourism).
25
Whilst before the Renaissance, artists were essentially craftsmen (and this did not prevent them from
creating significant works of art25), the idea of what constitutes an artist today encompasses people as
diverse as the art conceptualist (expressing through an artistic vision a new reality or new things, a Picasso),
the creator of products or strategies (supporting an industrial or commercial vision, a Philippe Starck or a
Richard Seymour – “I am a wrapper of commerciality”26), an art professional (mastering the art techniques
to express a style – a Cezanne), an entrepreneur of artistic vision (an artist turned entrepreneur, an Armani,
Paul Smith, Takashi Murakami) and an individual mastering new technology to invent a new form of
communication and artistic expression (“a user generating content”).27
Therefore the idea of what constitutes an “artist” (or a “creator”) is elusive and has evolved significantly with
time. The difficulty of defining artists today is illustrated by the following. When asked whether an architect
like Franck Gehry (architect of the acclaimed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao for instance) is an artist,
Richard Serra stated28 that architects such as Gehry or Koolhaas (and we could add, by extension,
designers) are not artists because they have to answer to “the client, the programme and that everything
that goes along with the utilitarian function of the building.” By comparison artists would only be concerned
by the symbolic and poetic.29
This study will not adopt the narrow definition proposed by Richard Serra30 nor will it attempt to define the
term “artist”. Artists and creative professions share in common: the ability to think laterally, to communicate
(establish friendly “user interfaces” for instance), to challenge traditional solutions and visions. They often
25
For Plato only poets and musicians could be tolerated as artists to the exclusion of painters for instance because poetry
is not only pleasant but also useful (like philosophy).
26
27
Interview with Richard Seymour, Designer, CEO of SeymourPowell a designing company, in June 2008 (London).
th
Thoughts on artistic creativity and its meaning date only from the 18 century. It coincides with the idea that creation is
not only of divine essence but can also emanate from human action. It took a long time however to admit that imagination,
th
intuition, emotions and passions can be creative forces. A major evolution came with Descartes in the 17 century who
acknowledged the importance of individuals "autonomy” and who showed the subjectivism in assessing beauty, which
cannot be captured by reason. However the same Descartes in Discours de la Méthode made scientific method and
rationalism the only source of knowledge to the detriment of imagination, fantasy or taste. The century of classicism, or
the century of reason, is defined by the research of the reasonable, where the source of all ideas stems from the thought
that is in the reason, rational mind. Romanticism was the birth of the contemporary notion of creativity. Friedrich von
Schiller took the view that art plays a role in the evolution of human kind and that artistic creation is a factor of
transformation of society whilst criticising that his time was subordinated to utilitarism, market imperatives or that scientific
progress was marginalising the art. He denounced in “Briefe über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen" (1794) utility
as the idol of the epoch.
28
29
Op.cit Tomkins, Calvin, 2008.
However Serra also noted that Gehry “is one of the few architects of this century who has bought the procedures and
thought processes of contemporary art into the world of architecture”.
30
According to Rich Gold: “Artists are not supported by corporation, so as much as they are part of the corporation, and
they rely on the corporation for manufacturing, advertising and distribution” asserts Rich Gold who distinguishes between
three classes of artists, represented by different hats: the beret wearer who seeks a kind of truth (integrity), the baseball
cap representing popular art that focuses on pleasing audiences and the straw hat artists who make art for themselves or
friends. Rich Gold, The Plenitude, creativity, innovation and making stuff, MIT Press, 2006.
26
follow the same educational path with a strong emphasis on artistic skills. They are constantly inspired by
art and culture as a source of ideas. In our view what characterises an artist and a creative person is talent
and imagination coupled with often a capacity to think and see differently in a non linear way (or in a
disruptive fashion). These persons drive creativity and personify the influence of art and culture on
creativity.
The emphasis is put on persons (artists or “creative professionals”) as the main source of creativity because
without such talents cultural and creative industries would not exist. It is important to acknowledge the
different and varied means of creative expressions or inputs whilst at the same time respecting the
motivation triggering a creative act.
It is should be stressed that creative people are often brokers across disciplines whose skills and attitudes
are conducive to creativity because of their ability to think laterally, and to express abstraction and
symbolism31 . They are interlopers.32 Given the importance of technology in enabling expression in a
digital world, artists and creative people are also turning into polymaths33, a person with varied knowledge
and skills. It is ‘a new Renaissance’, a time which considers men and women’s capacity to mix technical and
creative knowledge like Leonardo da Vinci. Art works increasingly like a laboratory; contemporary creation is
making use of new technologies (in fashion, performing arts, cinema, music, videogames, architecture,
design). Computer animation requires both artistic and technical skills. It requires knowledge in art, design
and computer science. The frontiers between culture, business and technology are even more blurred.
Designers work at the intersection of industry and culture.
At the same time creative expressions are the heart of the digital economy in which millions of people cut
and paste, mash, exchange digital files through the internet to invent new forms of social relations and
modes of expression that are interactive and participative. These cultural expressions are also a powerful
source of creativity. They often exist through social networks on the Internet. The latter has become a new
place for “creators” to share their visions and seek social recognition, independently of traditional production
and distribution infrastructures. In the Wealth of Networks, law professor Yochai Benkler notes that the
masses have now the means to distribute new forms of goods: “We can make the twenty first century one
that offers individuals greater autonomy, political communities greater democracy and societies greater
opportunities for cultural self-reflection and human connection.”34
31
Rothko, M., La réalité de l’artiste, Flammarion, 2004. For a distinction between artists and creative people based on the
motivation of the act of creation. He compares the artist with philosophers in their capacities to deal with reality as a
whole as opposed to science focusing on specific phenomena (p.77).
32
“Interloper” (from English to interlope) means: To intrude, or trespass in others' affairs. Expression used by Fabrice
Hybert to characterise artists (Interview carried out in Paris, December 2008). For Fabrice Hybert, the artist is a catalyst,
an enabler of solutions, in the chemical sense of the term. He crosses the knowledge and technologies (physics,
psychology, crafts, and astronomy). See also video on www.untitled-sanstitre.eu .
33
A polymath is a person with varied and deep knowledge in particular in art and science (from Greek polymaths) -
Wikipedia. Examples of famous polymaths: Copernic, Descartes, Leonardo Da Vinci, Averoès, Darwin, Goethe.
34
Carr, Nicholas, In The Big Switch, W.W Norton 2008, p.141.
27
ƒ
Cultural and Creative industries35
It is crucial to associate cultural and creative industries as a source of creativity because such structures
enable the expression of creativity and its distribution. They are the main financier of creativity (often
together with public institutions) and therefore important risk-takers. They play an important role in
promoting and marketing creativity. They also trigger creativity by developing projects, putting trust in talent,
advising or by fostering creative collaborations. The use of services from the creative industries helps other
firms to increase their innovation potential.36
ƒ
Territories as a source of creativity
Richard Florida37 showed that conventional assumptions about the relationship between investment,
technology, human capital and growth are not the same as traditionally argued. He says that creative firms
will increasingly follow the talent (which he labels “the creative class”) because creative people look for
cultural amenities. A virtuous circle can then be nurtured, because these creative people once gathered in a
specific place will create synergies and fruitful collaborations, thereby fostering further creativity. The model
of interaction is given a new dimension through new technology and internet which enables this interactivity
to become global.
Europe is such a territory, providing many cultural offers and amenities that foster creativity. However, it is
somewhat ignorant of this asset’s potential (perceived in the field of art rather as a tourist attraction than as
an innovation stimulator). Europe and its regions have yet to make the most of exploiting this creative circle.
Europe has developed a model of social interface and communication between people with different
cultures. Nurturing this interaction between cultures is a vital means of stimulating creativity and innovation.
It remains a challenge at a time of resurging nationalism linked to globalisation concerns. To a large extent
Europe’s future is dependent on its ability to transcend local identities (whether national or regional) to
harness creativity but also to ensure the presence of multiple local identities in an international context.
Asserting a creativity ambition would give Europe a central role in the meeting of influences and ideas.
Europe would increase its potential for developing both creativity and innovation.
ƒ
Society as a source of creativity
Social and political recognition legitimises the role and influence of culture in the process of creativity. This
remains largely true today where culture is considered to be on the fringe of economic and societal
development. The capacity of artists and creative professionals to cross boundaries, to think laterally or their
entrepreneurial spirit remains to be appreciated as creative forces in innovation policies for instance.
35
For a definition see KEA, Economy of Culture in Europe, October 2006, p.43. (www.keanet.eu)
36
Bakhshi, H., McVittie, E. and Simmie, J., Creating Innovation. Do the creative industries support innovation in the wider
economy?, NESTA, March 2008. See also p.68 of the report.
37
Florida, R., The Creative Class, Basic Books, New York 2002.
28
The school system still often illustrates the importance given to mathematical reasoning over other sciences
as a tool to measure intelligence and to determine social success. The place given to art and artistic
expression in the curriculum reflects on the other hand the lack of importance granted to the stimulation of
creativity through art and culture. Thoughts on artistic creativity and its meanings date only from the 18th
century in Europe. It coincides with the idea that creation is not only of divine essence but can also emanate
from human action.38 It took a long time however for society to admit that imagination, intuition, emotions
and passions can be creative forces.39
By stimulating the adoption of digital technology, by supporting the arts and cultural industries or by
nurturing tolerance society contributes to the expression of creativity. Society increasingly recognises that
creativity mixes elements of “artistic creativity”, “economic innovation as well as “technological innovation”.
Creativity is a process of interactions and spill-over effects between different innovative processes.
Innovation cannot be encouraged without acknowledging the importance of cultural creativity in the overall
process.40
Society also influences creativity through regulation by protecting creators or promoting investment in
cultural activities (through intellectual property for instance). The Creativity index described in Appendix 3 is
an attempt to list policy measures providing an environment conducive to creativity in a society.
38
39
Jimenez, Marc, Qu’est-ce que l’esthétique ? Gallimard,1997.
th
A major evolution came with Descartes in the 17 century who acknowledged the importance of individuals ‘autonomy”
and who showed the subjectivism in assessing beauty which cannot be captured by reason. However the same Descartes
in Discours de la Methode made scientific method and rationalism the only source of knowledge to the detriment of
imagination, fantasy or taste. The century of classicism, or the century of reason, is defined by the research of the
reasonable where the source of all ideas stems from the thought that is in the reason, rational mind. Romanticism was
the birth of the contemporary notion of creativity. Friedrich von Schiller took the view that art plays a role in the evolution of
human kind and that artistic creation is a factor of transformation of society whilst criticising that his time was subordinated
to utilitarism, market imperatives or that scientific progress was marginalising the art. He denounced in “Briefe über die
ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (1794)” utility as the idol of the epoch. (Marc Jimenez, La Querelle de l’Art
Contemporain, Folio, 2005, p.171)
The whole world of representation and of knowledge underwent a fundamental transformation at the end of the 19
th
century. The history of aesthetic modernism is very Euro-centred with Paris, Vienna (the military defeat of Austria in 1866
made Vienna a capital without empire but which attracted talents from throughout Europe: Karl Popper, F.Hayek,
Wittgenstein, Schönberg, Freud, Gombrich, Lorenz, Schnitzler, Schiele, Klimt ….) and Berlin the dominant world centres.
The publication by Taylor in 1911 of “The principles of scientific management” coincided with the breaking down of the
mode of representation set during Enlightenment. An incredible diversity of thoughts and experimentation by the
modernists emerged: Proust, Joyce, Lawrence, Mann, Baudelaire, Flaubert in literature, Matisse, Picasso, Brancusi,
Duchamp in painting, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok in music for instance. The changes were affected by the loss of faith
in the ineluctability of progress. The philosopher Nietzsche (1844-1900) placed aesthetics above science and rationality.
39
The barbarism of the two world wars is putting an end to unwavering faith that technology and rationalism are the only
force of progress. It should be remembered that Einstein published its theory on relativity at the same time as Picasso
painted “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1906), they were both 26 years old. Cubism and relativity are born at the same time.
They both contributed to enable a different representation of space and time.
40
KEA, Economy of Culture in Europe, European Commission, 2006, p.41.
29
The following table aims to summarize the various cultural interactions which are sources of creativity. It
distinguishes between three sources:
-
Territories, as expressions of identities.
Society which nurtures a creative ecology conducive to creativity through regulation, education or
investment in technology and culture.
Creative forces represented by “creators and creative professionals”, creative companies and
institutions as well as creative social networks.
Culture: sources of creativity
Territory: Europe’s cultural diversity and its regional
distinctiveness increase the Union’s creative capacities
Society: Openness, Human Capital, Regulation,
Technology, etc.
Creative Forces :
Individual Artists
and Creative
Professionals
Creative Social
Networks
30
Creative
Companies and
Institutions
Creative activities are also the most advanced expression of new methods of production and new social
relations linked to the evolution of capitalism. The artist and people working in creative sectors epitomise the
new worker: mobile, motivated, autonomous, flexible, and well educated.41
1.3
Culture-based creativity
Creativity is usually defined “as a product oriented phenomenon aimed at solving problems.”42 This study
aims to highlight another dimension of creativity and stress that creativity is first and foremost a quest, a risk,
a sketch, an approach rather than a solution. This form of creativity is intrinsically linked to creativity which
finds its source in art and culture. As a result our study aims, with a view to understand the impact of culture
on creativity, to characterise creativity stemming from culture. Indeed creativity is not the monopoly of artists
or creative professionals, hence the concept of culture-based creativity.
What characterizes culture-based creativity is encapsulated in the following definition: “creativity is a
process based on intrinsic value and motivation that is often spontaneous, rebellious and chaotic”43 and that
can be stimulated whether in early life, at home, school or work by nurturing exploration. We would like to
add that culture-based creativity is essentially an act of imagination relying on memories.44
1.3.1 Origin and functions
Culture-based creativity is creativity which originates from creative people as defined in the previous section.
This form of creativity embodies a large number of features of cultural productions:
–
–
–
It is the realisation of a vision that results in something new that is not necessarily functional or
dependant on a pre-existing theory or scientific integrity.
It is both abstract and concrete. It can have a symbolic, prophetic, aesthetic or spiritual dimension.
It is a non-linear and uncertain process which does not follow a predictable timetable.
To emerge culture-based creativity requires:
41
Personal abilities (ability to think laterally, to be imaginative, to think "out of the box").
Technical skills (often artistic skills and/or craftmanship).
Boltanski Luc and Chiapello Eve, The New Spirit of Capitalism, Verso, Paris 2005 as well as op.cited KEA 2006 p. 70-
98.
42
43
Op.cit Lubart, 1999.
Collective paper with Glow, H., Minahan, S., Gahan, P. – Bowater School of Management, Deakin University, Australia,
2005. Conference paper.
44
Very well illustrated in Julian Schnabel’s film on Jean Dominique Bauby’s life in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” –
Best director Cannes Film Festival and Golden Globe 2008, Pathé Production.
31
-
A conducive social environment that for instance encourages creativity (notably through art
education), promotes investment in art and culture or citizens’ cultural participation etc. The
Creativity Index in Appendix 3 considers some features of such an environment conducive to
culture-based creativity.
Components of culture- based creativity45
ARTISTIC
SKILLS
(technical
expertise)
Culturebased
CREATIVITY
LATERAL
THINKING
SKILLS
A CONDUCIVE
ENVIRONMENT
45
This chart is inspired by the three components of creativity from T.M.Amabile in How to Kill Creativity, Harvard Business
Review, 2000, www.hbrreprints.org.
32
The features of culture-based creativity which generate economic and social values are described below.
The features of culture-based creativity leading to innovation:
Affect
Spontaneity
Intuition
Memories Imagination Aesthetic
Generate economic and social values:
New vision
Differentiation
Intangible/
Symbolic/
Spiritual
Disruption
Community
Values
It is when creativity is the expression of human sensibility (such as imagination, intuition, memories, affects)
that it becomes culture-based creativity. Creativity then becomes the privileged expression of the being,
values (territorial, social, theological, philosophical), the aesthetic, the imaginative or the meaningful.
As a result, culture-based creativity:
-
Nurtures and generates innovation (cultural, economic and social),
enables innovation to be more user-centred,
essentially refers to the work of artists and creative people,
is a process that is essential to cultural and creative productions, to marketing-driven industries and
often helps give meaning to the act of consumption (as will be demonstrated in Chapter 2),
provides means to stimulate social cohesion (Chapter 3),
can be stimulated by the environment (society, institution, family, education etc.) (Chapter 4).
33
1.3.2 Creativity and innovation – The features of culture-based creativity
From science one expects discoveries, from technology one expects progress. For creativity the outcome
may not be as apparently useful or productive. But creativity is an intrinsic part of innovation and supports
innovation. There cannot be innovation without creativity. Culture-based creativity is creativity calling on art
and culture for its emergence. It is “essentially about the passion and love or connecting with one selves as
human beings.”46 Culture enables one to make this connection or surrender to the unexpected source of
creativity. Therefore creativity as an outcome is often about the art of expressing the traditional, the
emotional, the spiritual, that which is visionary and inspirational.
“Creativity is the essence of being” stated Vaclav Havel at the Forum for Creative Europe in Prague in
March 2009 (http://www.forumforcreativeeurope.cz/en/), highlighting the importance of human creativity to
convey the emotional, the spiritual (the writer and former president of the Czech Republic referred to
Cathedrals as an example of the expression of the human genius). Creativity is about experimenting,
interrogating without necessarily producing a tangible result. According to French artist Fabrice Hyber: “It is
a way of being that often challenges determinisms and values to multiply the possibles.”47
Culture-based creativity is not necessarily “useful” (capable of being put to use or in the economic sense of
“utility” or “efficiency”). In innovation and often creativity, the notion of usefulness is rather linked to the
production of new products or services or the idea of servicing a productive end or finding a solution whether
through technology or processes and methods.48 “The inventor solicits patents.”49
In our view the distinctive features of culture-based creativity are:
–
–
–
–
–
–
46
Intuition / imagination / utterance of a vision, a phantasm
More individualistic (especially in art)
Express spirit of life, a skill / talent, an optimist act
A language on its own,
Often related to aesthetics
New expression of the tradition
Reid, D., Poetry as Paradigm Shifter, presentation at the Creativity World Forum in Antwerp, 20.11.2008
“Poetry has a tendency to transcend the tangible and the intangible. It reaches deep into your core and speaks to that part
of you which is often a small voice wanting to be known, often pushed aside by business, by ego, by wanting to fit it.
Innovation and creation are about surrendering, surrendering to your deeper will, surrendering to what wants to shape
itself through you, surrendering to your own beauty.”
47
Hybert, F., Hyber, Flammarion, Paris,.February 2009
48
Runco, M.A, Creativity.Theories and Themes :Research,Development and Practice, Elsevier, 2007. He presents
several authors defining creativity as involving the creation of something new and useful. See also Ernesto Villalba, On
Creativity, JRC Scientific and Technical Reports, European Communities, 2008, p.12 and R. Sternberg, Handbook of
Creativity, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p3.
49
Steiner, G., Grammaires de la Création, Folio Essais, 2001, p.222. On the distinction between innovation and creation
in particular in relation to mathematics, see Chapter IV, p.213.
34
–
–
–
–
–
50
Mean of innovation/disruption
Spontaneous50 and disinterested
Not directly traceable to established laws51
Difficult to measure (copyright is not subject to registration and design application results
rarely in patenting)
Expression of values and human spirit.
Emmanuel Kant emphasises the unprecedented, spontaneous nature of the creative act or process. Source Kant E.,
The Critique of Judgment, Oxford University Press,1952.
51
In general scientists seek to understand the basic laws of nature to express these laws as mathematical equations in
Gold R., The Plenitude, the MIT Press, Cambridge, 2007, p.9.
35
36
CHAPTER 2
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY – THE ECONOMIC AND
INDUSTRIAL DIMENSION
“We are going back to the renaissance model in which artists could work in any discipline”
Frank Gehry 52
In the 21st century the globalised economic market requires technological innovation to increase productivity.
But it also needs other forms of innovation that are non-technological which are linked to enhanced services
to consumers, the development of a brand, new forms of labour organisation, or the discovery of a new
design. The economy is increasingly innovation lead. Innovation has become a key competitiveness
indicator.
There cannot be innovation without creativity. In Chapter 1 we have circumscribed creativity that is culture
based. In relation to the economy culture-based creativity is a form of innovation that essentially helps
businesses and institutions (whether public or private) to drive marketing, communication, human resources
or product/service innovation. Culture-based creativity is that which enables innovation to leave R&D
laboratories and create or find its market. It contributes to making companies - whether in manufacturing or
in services - stand out from competition, through branding, better design or user interface. Culture-based
creativity enables going beyond the mere functionality of the product. It is a resource capable of adding
another meaning to the act of consumption, giving a sense or ethical or aesthetic value to production and
facilitating product or service differentiation.
The economy is more and more about creating the “unexpected”, the “emotional”, the story that will connect
people or the improved “user interface”. This “experience” or “entertainment” economy is more marketingdriven than the manufacturing economy. The economy is also about “word of mouth” and creating a more
and more elaborate dialogue with consumers, in particular in order to get increased feedback. This
socialisation bias is a major characteristic of the digital economy. The ability to create social experiences
and networking is a factor of competitiveness. It is an economy that can also better reflect people’s
concerns for the environment, the crisis of values and their cultural identities. The market requires
imaginative skills as much as technical competences.
Quite apart from the economic importance of creative industries themselves, creativity which draws upon art
and culture is recognised as a tool to create emotional experience, to empathise and influence human
behaviour. It contributes to increased economic value through innovative design or branding for instance.
“Art” is creeping into everything from toothbrushes to cars (the “Picasso” car from PSA). It is the age of
52
Financial Times, 22 November 2008.
37
aesthetics53 in which art and culture are of paramount importance, as goods made or promoted with
creativity are soulful, funny, entertaining, ironic, inspirational, and insightful. Independently of its aesthetic
value, culture-based creativity more importantly is also required to inject visions, values, establish emotional
attachment and bonds. It can also contribute to disrupting routines and linear thinking in business
management for instance.
This section is designed to demonstrate how industrial processes are using what we have characterised as
culture-based creativity to generate or satisfy demand as well as to trigger economic growth and how this
phenomenon will gain in importance while the nature of the economy both in Europe and across the world is
fundamentally changing.
This chapter considers first how creativity is one of the main drivers of the new economy; an economy in
which change is being driven by both social concerns around sustainability and well being as well as by
commercial pressures from emerging economies. It then shows how industry requires culture-based
creativity to succeed in this new paradigm. The chapter considers how culture contributes to creativity at an
industrial level and highlights the impact of creativity on the competitive strategies of businesses. Finally the
chapter examines ways to measure non-technological creativity in firms and illustrates the steps taken to
stimulate or “manage” the process of creativity in companies drawing from the management of creativity
within the culture and creative sector.54
2.1
The characteristics of the new economy
The importance of creativity is intrinsically linked to the development of the economy in developed
economies.
The new economy is characterised by:
1. New forms of consumption with features including:
-
53
54
Speed: the product life cycle is shorter (in particular in the ICT sector). As a consequence:
Postrel Virginia, The substance of style, Harper Collins, 2004.
This chapter associates art, culture with commerce and business strategies. This is likely to create controversy; the fear
being that the study contributes to the “instrumentalisation” of art and culture by the market. The fact that art has very
long been associated with religions or wars does not pose any problem in our societies but linking art with commerce still
remains an issue. Andy Warhol created controversy when stating that the ultimate in art is the art of business (and before
him when Marcel Duchamps in 1919 designed the “ready-made” as work of art). Art and culture have always been
associated to commerce and the expression of economic power (a feature of western culture). The risk is rather to reduce
the contribution of art and culture to economic goals or that the market (and short term vision) on its own determines
creativity (hence the need for public policies).
38
-
-
collaboration in research and development is essential to share the costs in a fast-paced
economy,
being first to market is an imperative, in particular in the digital economy,
it is important to differentiate products and range;
Customisation: Products are now individualised for a variety of market segments. This requires
strategies to differentiate goods and services;
Intangible values (meanings, experience, aesthetic, user interface) are given as much importance
as the functionality of the product. The cultural value of a product is, in some cases, becoming as
important as its economic value.55
2. New forms of organisations of economic activities:
-
where equal importance is given to access and ownership or where people attach as much or more
importance to sharing than to selling,
which give pre-eminence to the expression of talents in the organisation of companies by valuing
freedom and autonomy as well as divergent thinking.
The transition from a manufacturing-based economy to one in which intangibles are a key source of value is
also marked by the increasing sovereignty of the consumer. Very often, consumers are no longer looking
simply for products but for a brand which is associated with a set of values.
In this new paradigm, marketing is as important as production. This new economy requires creative skills
and thoughts as productivity gains at manufacturing level are no longer sufficient to establish a competitive
advantage. Culture-based creativity is a powerful means of overturning norms and conventions with a view
to standing out amid intense economic competition. Creative people and artists are key because they
develop the ideas, metaphors and messages which help to better interact with society.
The following sections consider some characteristics of this new economy which are very much linked to
cultural features (aesthetic, power to disrupt, ability to connect (identity), meanings). They show the
importance of culture-based creativity in addressing new opportunities and challenges.
2.1.1
An economy of experience
According to economists and sociologists the economy has entered a new phase “where immaterial value
will determine material value”. The relationship between the sign and the object is being reversed according
to French sociologist Leo Scher: “the sign is becoming more real than the object and the object more virtual
55
Throsby, David, Economics and Culture, Cambridge University Press, 2001. The book reflects on the distinction
between economic and cultural value (aesthetic, spiritual, social, historical, symbolic and authenticity).
39
than the sign.” We have entered the “all cultural” age where the value of meaning will prevail over material
value. It is the cultural value of the product that will determine its meaning and value.56
Likewise, Scott Lash and John Urry 57 show that “what is increasingly produced are not material objects, but
signs.” These signs can be content and informational goods or they can have primarily an expressive
(aesthetic, symbolic or social) content (post modern goods). Some business management specialists have
identified the “Experience” as a new source of value, distinct from services. According to B.J Pine and
James Gilmore “the service economy is peaking. A new emerging economy is coming to the fore, one based
on a distinct type of economic output. Goods and services are no longer enough.”58 In the experience
economy people no longer buy a service, but an experience which provides memories or sensations.
Experiences are events that engage individuals in a personal way. The ability to engage people in a
personal way is a strong feature of culture-based creativity as it is capable of generating emotions, values
and vision.
”Word of Mouth” – The “experience” in the food business
In the marketplace for food, the way to sell food is to sell the sense of well-being and nutritional benefits
which are associated with it. Retailing may be as important as the food itself. The incremental return is
lowest at the product level so what matters is the experience around the product. The emphasis is with
connecting with “hearts of consumers”, creating brand loyalty based on experience. R&D needs to connect
with consumers’ sensibility, the “word of mouth” has become crucial as the product needs to be endorsed by
a community and a social network. Nestle is behind the Nespresso concept which has transformed the way
consumers buy coffee. They are invited to buy the Nespresso experience, through the retailing experience
or club membership.59
A sharp critic of contemporary society French theorist, Jean Baudrillard, has shown that technology no
longer gives account of the value of an object. The non rational aspect of consumers’ needs questions the
technological rationality of the object.60 As a result the object acquires another signification correlated to the
cultural environment or social aspirations. The object becomes intrinsically linked to the subject and the
world it attempts to create. Functionality becomes secondary in the act of purchase. According to
Baudrillard, the consumption society is a consumption of signs, signs of happiness, wealth, meanings. He
claims that the “sign-value” (as opposed to use-value or exchange value) which is the expression of style,
prestige, power, luxury, becomes essential in consumption. The importance of “sign value” has given
56
Dru JM, Disruption, Overturning conventions and shaking up the marketplace, John Wiley and Sons, New York ,1996,
p.213.
57
58
59
Lash, S. and Urry, J., Economies of Signs and Space, Sage publication, 1994, p.4.
Pine, B.J and Gilmore, J., The Experience Economy, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1999.
Extracts from an Interview with a Nestle executive, Brussels June 2008. It is worthy to note the use of vocabulary and
terminology that is common in creative businesses like “word of mouth” in cinema.
60
Baudrillard, J., The conspiracy of Art, Semiotexte, New York, 2005 and Leonelli, L., La séduction Baudrillard, Ecole
Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris, 2007.
40
tremendous importance to creative functions in the economy represented by artists, advertisers, designers,
marketers, mass media and culture.61
Pine and Gilmore warn companies that “businesses that relegate themselves to the diminishing world of
goods and services will be rendered irrelevant”. To avoid this fate, businesses are obliged to stage a rich,
compelling experience. Experience is part of the strategy to generate or better accommodate demand and
to develop customer loyalty. It is also part of the search for differentiation from competing brands or
products. The futurologist Alvin Toffler predicts that “eventually the experience-makers will form a basic, if
not the basic, sector of the economy.”62 Artistic creativity will become a key driver of the experience industry
– whether the sector concerned comes from tourism, entertainment or the arts. “The economy is being
transformed from a giant factory to a grand theatre.”63
Key offerings in the experience economy include:
-
memories (the value of the experience lingers in the memory of the individual engaged in the
event),
personal (the individual can relate to the experience),
reaching the senses (creating an individual emotion).
Culture-based creativity establishes such memorable events that touch individuals emotionally. It is an
integral part of the experience economy.
As an example, when Virgin Atlantic entered the airline business, the differentiation came from
entertainment services and the experience offered on transatlantic flights. Virgin was the first airline to offer
massage on board or multiple choices of music and videos; a service that has now become a standard norm
in air travel. It is no accident that Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson, came from the music business and
applied the “hip and cool values” associated with the Virgin record label to the airline industry.
Virgin Atlantic decided that it would do more than transport people from place to place. Its model was then
copied by other airlines throughout the 1990s and beyond. Virgin has since extended the idea of a
particular set of brand values into an extremely diverse range of sectors – ranging from mobile telephony to
health clubs to trains.
Many companies in all sectors wrap experiences around their existing goods and services to differentiate
their offerings. Doing so, they enhance the environment in which the client purchases services and goods.
61
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – http//: plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard. His argument is that in a society
where everything is a commodity that can be bought and sold, alienation is total.
62
63
Rifkin, J, The Age of Access, Jeremy Tarcher/Putnam, 2000, p.144.
Ibid p.163, footnote 22.
41
Another example is high street fashion retailer H&M which associates its name with creators in the fashion
(Lagerfeld, Comme des Garçons), design or music world (Madonna). Nike - through Niketown - is providing
consumers with “shopertainment” or “entertailing”.64
Similarly it is the experience (through aesthetic and the user interface) provided by the iPod, the iMac or the
iPhones that make these innovative technology products so popular, triggering mass interest at their launch.
As a consequence, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, developed an iconic status equivalent to an
entertainment star.
Such goods and services need to provide a sensory and visual experience. The experience will very often
involve artistic or visual impressions. The fashion industry, for example, likes to be associated with
contemporary art.
The shift in consumer demand for experience reinforces the need for companies to structure an offering that
addresses individuals’ desire. Companies are calling upon the services of anthropologists and sociologists
to understand human behaviour.
An economy of signs highlights the importance of creative functions in this pleasing and socialisation
process. The creative functions within industry which are required to stage such experiences include design,
marketing, advertising and communication. All these functions draw on culture-based creativity and the work
of artists and crafts people.
2.1.2
When cultural value becomes as important as economic value – the sharing economy
Just as an increasing number of aspects of the economy are focused on experience, we are also seeing the
parallel rise of what might be called “a sharing economy”. The sharing economy differs from the “commercial
economy” in so far as money or price is not the central aim of the exchange.65
What do we mean by sharing economy? Wikipedia is a good example of the sharing economy paradigm. A
wiki is a platform that lets anyone write or edit in a common space. Wikipedia became a set of norms and
software which were used to develop an encyclopaedia for everybody to access for free. Thousands of
people throughout the world volunteer to write original articles. Contributors are motivated by fun in what
they do and the sentiment of belonging to a community of volunteers.
The sharing economy postulates that:
-
64
The production of wealth may no longer be the ultimate goal of society (but the creation of social
links for instance);
Nike has a policy of association with artists or art schools. It also launched artistic competitions such as "Art and
Football" a competition launched in 2008 to inspire creative thoughts amongst Nike’s shoppers.
65
Lessig, Lawrence, Remix, The Penguin Press 2008. The book highlights the features of the emerging sharing economy.
42
-
Money is no longer the main term of exchange in some relationships.
The economist and futurologist Jeremy Rifkin predicts the shift from a property-based regime (characterised
by ownership) to an access regime.66 Building on the idea that accumulation of goods in the new economy
makes less sense (because of sustainability concerns), markets give way to networks structuring a new
economic relationship where industrial production is replaced by cultural production based on the marketing
of cultural experiences. The centre of hyper-capitalism would be “tourism, entertainment, theme parks,
fashion, wellness, sports, cultural products, internet etc”. The “age of access” would be the commoditisation
of play, “namely the marketing of cultural resources”. Rifkin predicts that in this new economy, where
ownership is no longer central, local cultural resources become the new commodity (with the attached risk of
depletion and over exploitation).
The Internet epitomises this new network economy with more than 1.5 billion people in the world connected
online. It also illustrates the “sharing” and “access” economy in the way cultural products (whether music or
audiovisual) or information goods are “consumed” online.
Culture plays a key role in the sharing economy as it is a key element in fostering social networking and
sharing. It thus contributes to the establishment of communities of people sharing the same interests with
values often expressed through music, literature, computer games or cinema/TV. The success of Facebook,
YouTube or Twitter illustrates this quest for virtual socialisation as well as the sharing economy. Art and
culture as a mean of expression play a key role in social life, notably music “which plays an essential role of
group belonging amongst the youth”67.
This sharing economy has important implications for businesses because when young people spend more
time on social networks such as You Tube (than passively watching television) the industry needs to
apprehend this social trend and find new ways to interact with its customers. Culture-based creativity is the
heart of this new paradigm that requires ability to capture attention.
From car ownership to provision of mobility services – the car industry and the sharing economy
A very important trend today is the link between consumption and ethical behaviours. Consumption is
becoming more relational than transactional. In developed countries, to take into account environmental
concerns but also social developments, car companies are preparing to move into the business of offering a
service of mobility rather than a car. People want to move from one point to another. They do not
necessarily want to own a car. Therefore it is possible that car sharing will significantly develop in the future.
Social networking will be important too (for instance the success of the “Mini” car club). This obliges car
manufacturers to develop greater interactions with urbanists and architects in order to anticipate new trends
66
67
Rifkin, J., The Age of Access, Jeremy Tarcher/Putnam 2000.
Neurobiologist Changeux, J.P., Le Monde, 30 May 2009. On neuroscience to understand the process of artistic
creativity and its social influence or function, see J.P Changeux, Du vrai, du beau, du bien, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2008.
43
and social behaviours. In this respect PSA Group finances the work of an Institute for the town in movement
(IVM).68
The importance of community building in the new economy through the Internet is highlighted by Chris
Anderson, Editor of the Wired Magazine. He anticipates a digital economy where prices fall towards “zero”.
As a consequence there would be a drive for companies to get to “zero first” with a view to obtain the first
mover advantage and build reputation. Reputation would be measured against traffic which would become
the main currency, replacing money.69
We would like to stress that with a view to establish “reputation” and the first-mover advantage, technology
companies are relying on creative productions such as music, games and films. The latter are a key driver
of technology innovation and acceptance. Culture-based creativity is often a determinant factor in the
success of new technology applications and their market penetration. This is the case of MP3 technology,
DVD and Blu-Ray equipment (computer and consumer electronics equipment in general) for instance whose
market development is dependent on the availability of creative content.
The ability to entertain, to provide a compelling experience, to make new technology attractive or to trigger
socialisation are features of culture-based creativity. If Rifkin’s predictions that the “age of access” would be
the commoditisation of play, “namely the marketing of cultural resources”, then it is worth looking into the
creative sector as a source of inspirations.
2.1.3
Towards a creative economy – lessons from creative industries
People working in cultural and creative industries tend to have a well-developed understanding of the
importance of signs, symbols, emotions and aesthetic sensibilities. They are engaged in the experience and
the sharing economy and can therefore be a source of inspiration, as engaging people in a personal way is
key to the success of the creative and entertainment companies or artistic productions.
“Ordinary manufacturing industry is becoming more and more like the production of culture. It is not that
commodity manufacture provides the template, and culture follows, but that the culture industries
themselves have provided the template” claim Lash and Urry.70
The creative economy is interesting for the rest of the economy because of its emphasis on:
-
68
69
70
The expressive (aesthetic, symbolic or social) component and emotions of the goods or performances
produced;
Example of PSA Group, interview Pascal Feillard, Head of strategic marketing, September 2008.
Chris Anderson’s presentation at the Antwerp World Creativity Forum in November 2008.
Op.cit p 123
44
-
Creating a lifestyle and building on cultural authenticity. The symbolic representations of the artist help
to create and define a lifestyle. Lifestyle is created by music, video games, social networking, fashion or
design. The cultural product or the artist’s image contribute to the idea of a particular lifestyle (popular
culture) enabling people to differentiate themselves and develop their own identities within a social
group (thus establishing "brand loyalty”);
-
Making the manufacturing (production) secondary to the packaging (Hollywood sometimes spends
almost as much money on marketing a film than on producing it). A record company is not involved in
the production process of a record. The main function of the company is to package the artist and the
recording; promoting the image rather than the product;
-
Developing business services – focusing on servicing talents, advertising and promoting talents that
creative companies have discovered and nurtured. They epitomize the post-industrial firm in which the
manufacturing processes subordinate to marketing;
-
Staging entertaining experiences that provide pleasure to the senses, and create enduring personal
memories. Creative industries are at the heart of the experience economy.
Creative expressions enable the signs and symbolic to take shape for group identities to be revealed.
Entertainment in general and music in particular shape identities as much as they reflect them.71 The ability
to build communities is an essential feature of the new economy. It therefore relies heavily on creativity and
culture.
2.2
The requirements to succeed in the new economy
Clearly, creative people are central in order to succeed in the new economy as both manufacturing and
service sectors must be able to:
2.2.1
provide a distinctive experience,
generate and/or better accommodate consumer demand through increased interaction and
feedback,
make use of “design thinking”.
Experience staging
Creative functions such as architecture, design, advertising, marketing as well as artists are key assets for
companies as they enable a business to deliver a distinctive experience. The ability of a company to engage
consumers depends on its ability both to capture attention and to enthuse their senses. Creative people,
including artists, can help to develop an experience which fits with the identity of the company and the
71
Blake Andrew, Living Through Pop, Routledge 1999 – quoting Simon Frith p.38.
45
environment it wants to be associated with. The experience needs to engage customers’ sensibilities with a
view to creating a unique relationship.
The distinctiveness of the experience is even more relevant in the emerging digital economy where services
are often available free at the point of use –e.g. search engines, messenger services, etc. The value of the
service is derived from the ability to capture the time and attention of customers with regard to given brands
or services; companies which thus engage the consumer can use this engagement as the basis for a
financial relationship further down the road. In some cases, such as open-source software, financial benefit
may be subordinate to the sharing of knowledge and expertise.
In the experience economy customisation is often crucial. The customers wish to be affected, to be
changed, to be surprised in the same way as when they enter a museum or attend a film screening or an art
performance. A hotel is then more than just a bed to sleep in. It becomes a place of adventure and
discovery. The service or the object must provide emotions, pleasure, distraction, luxury, authenticity or
entertainment. It must avoid the banal at all costs.
In the technology sector companies that integrate hardware and software in an intuitive way have gained an
edge over competition. Apple has changed the paradigm of music consumption with the iTunes concept
and has given an added value to its technological products: the iPod, the iTouch or iPhone. Telephone and
telecom companies are attempting the same by bundling entertainment with their traditional voice services.
The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff pack – Example of collaboration between virtual and real worlds to
attract new customers
Since 2007 video games developer Electronic Arts and clothing designer and retailer H&M have teamed up
to sell the Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff pack, one of the Sims’ packs where people get a handful of extra
outfits and objects. It is a creative way for the two companies to attract new customers. Sims 2 is a
computer game that simulates aspects of life. It is a sequel to The Sims - the best-selling PC game series.
Electronic Arts, developer of the game, has had a partnership with H&M since 2007. The partnership takes
the form of the Sims 2 H&M Stuff Pack, which allows Sims players to design an H&M store and dress their
avatars in H&M clothes. The stuff pack contains replicas of garments – all inspired by H&M’s collection. The
H&M fashions are featured in Sims software; H&M sent a group of stylists to work directly with the Sims
team to help design virtual garments and accessories. In addition to this traditional route, the companies
also held an online contest to allow a Sims 2 player to design clothes that will be produced and sold in the
real world.
The contest - Sims 2 H&M Fashion Runway contest - ran for seven weeks during the summer of 2007.
Players could submit an original outfit. The top outfits were showcased on a virtual fashion runway hosted
by Yahoo!, where people could vote on the winner. More than 1,000 real-world aspiring designers crafted
original outfits for their Sims 2 characters, and these were viewed by more than 500 million people. Fans
46
voted for their favourites, while the entries were also judged by several members of the H&M design team in
Stockholm, Sweden.
The winning design was fabricated inside Sims 2 by a 21-year-old American interior design student. He
brought his virtual outfit to life and sold it in 1,000 H&M bricks-and-mortar clothing stores. People are able to
identify it by a special tag that mentions "The Sims 2". This is an effective way for EA to get publicity for the
Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff pack.
The partnership between EA and H&M is positive for the two companies. In its first year, sales of the Sims 2
H&M Fashion Stuff pack reached 1 million. It is a way to capitalise on the two companies’ similar target
demographics, mainly young females (55 percent of Sims 2 gamers are female).
Steve Lubomski, U.S. advertising manager for H&M, emphasises that the idea of the partnership is to attract
new customers and engage existing buyers in a fresh way. “We have, of course, been active in branding
ourselves online for years, but this is the first time we have had the opportunity to showcase H&M properly
in the gaming world”, he wrote in Business Week.72 EA also has a similar partnership with IKEA and Ford.
As Nancy Smith, the EA global president for The Sims label, has said “We know not only players’ passion
for creating their own content but their desire to interact with brands. It's an environment in which players
like to blur the line between the digital and real worlds.”
2.2.2
Empower consumers and generate demand
In order to succeed in the new economy, strategies to generate or better accommodate the demand are
important. Creativity contributes to such strategies. Culture-based creativity is one of the keys to attracting
and holding consumers’ attention and persuading them to purchase goods and services.
The U.S. economist John Kenneth Galbraith73 “opposes the economics of organisation to the economics of
the market”. Galbraith contested the accepted belief that “consumer preferences come first” and described
how corporations form and develop consumers’ loyalty to manage the demand of the products they sell.
In wealthy societies goods related to the satisfaction of elementary physical needs represent a diminishing
part of production (even if the on-going economic crisis makes this assertion today questionable). Many
goods or services aim at giving consumers a sense of personal achievement, and enhancing their selfimage. “The further a man is removed from physical needs the more open he is to persuasion – or
management – as to what he buys. This is, perhaps, the most important consequences for the economics of
72
73
Megerian, Christopher, On the Digital Catwalk at H&M, Business Week, 29 June 2007.
Galbraith, John Kenneth, The New Industrial State, Princeton University Press, 1967/2007.
47
increasing affluence.”74 Despite the current economic crisis, capitalism is still in its third stage of
development characterised as one of “hyper consumption.”75
However Galbraith did not anticipate that the aesthetic experience would be within reach of the corporation’s
planning system.76 Creative advertising is an expression of this change. Since 1980 global spending on
advertising has increased three fold.77 The repetitive advertising, whose aim is to hammer home a
message, is more and more replaced by creative advertising, which takes into account the fragmentation of
the market and the media. The aim of advertising is not so much about selling a product. It has become a
means to sell an experience, a way of life, imagination and values.
At the same time consumers are more difficult to retain, as they are constantly transferring to products that
are more capable of representing their values. Consumers do not switch allegiance to their values but to the
brand if the latter no longer represents the former. For instance, they are now staging boycotts of products
that they believe are unethical.78 In the same way, young people today are switching more easily from one
music band to another if they find a band closer to their social values and group’s identity. Marketers in the
music business have noted that the attachment to a band, a feature of music consumption until recently, is
no longer the rule.
2.2.3
The importance of design
Design is one of the principal ways in which companies develop their values and respond to perceived
consumers demand. Design is a key element of differentiation: it creates a distinct feel and look that enables
products to stand out amongst competing products. Design is at the frontier of art and industry; it is the
“point where art and technique meet to create another culture.”79 It brings together the complementary
values of art, craft and industry. It helps to bring about harmonious balance of materials, forms and colours.
Therefore its purpose is not simply utilitarian.
Designers transform consumer goods into magical and mysterious products and transform buildings into
museums or art galleries. The trivial can become beautiful.
Designers not only transform objects; they help to formulate the DNA of a company. Design influences
manufacturing, marketing, packaging, branding and communication campaign. Design impacts on brand
identity and sales. It permits a consistent look which can lead to significant cost savings. It is also often an
integral part of communication materials.
74
75
76
77
78
79
Ibid.
Lipovetsky, Gilles, Le Bonheur paradoxal: Essai sur la société d’hyperconsommation, Gallimard, May 2007.
Op.cit. Lessig Lawrence, 2008.
Op.cit Gilles Lipovetsky, 2007.
Ibid. p.122.
Flusser, Vilem, Petite Philosophie du Design, Circé, 2002, p.9.
48
The function of design has evolved considerably since the formal influence of design on industrial production
first began to be apparent in the USA in the late 1930s, when it was used to stimulate sales after the Great
Crash of 1929. When Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) declared that “ugliness does not sell”80 he managed to
convince businessmen in the US that forms and aesthetics were crucial elements for sales: “Success finally
came when we were able to convince some creative men that good appearance was a saleable commodity,
that it often cut costs, enhanced a product’s prestige, raised corporate profits, benefited the customer and
increased employment.”81
Jonathan Ive is senior VP for industrial design at Apple. He is a former student at the Royal Society of Art in
England. He has developed a stream of iconic products including the coloured iMac, the iPod nano and the
iPhone. Apple has put the design of great customers experience on the map by showing the entire ICT
industry the importance of selling emotions. Apple’s pioneering work in injection moulding is considered as
part science, part art.82
Design is now everywhere: in public and private spaces, at work and at home. It touches toothbrushes,
washing machines, business strategies, mobile phones, dustbins, public benches, online music stores.
Design amplifies the perceived value of a good with a view to increasing its economic value.
Rémy Bourganel, designer at Nokia, describes his work as: « la recherche d’une certaine poésie du
quotidien ». Supported by sociologists, the role of Remy is to decode cultural practices and evolution and to
translate this information into ideas for brand innovation. His role is to help define metaphors which will
guide the design teams. He contributes to formulating the Nokia DNA which will contribute to distinguish
Nokia from its competitors in the mobile phone market (including Apple, Blackberry, Google, Samsung). It is
human sciences and cultural knowledge which will enable the development of new applications.83
Design thinking
However design is no longer limited to being an add-on or an “expression in the cross field between the
aesthetic and the functional.”84 It has become a management process, a method and tool for change and
innovation. Design is now based on the observation of lifestyles, behaviours, individuals, on the
consideration of collective needs and desires.85 Design thinking is now a discipline that uses the designer’s
creativity and sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically possible and to
enable a business strategy to capitalise upon market opportunities.86
80
Raymond Loewy was one of the 15 founding members of the Industrial Designers Society of America in 1944. The
Lucky Strike pack, the Shell and Exxon logos, the Greyhound bus or the 1935 Coldspot refrigerator are but a few of his
contributions.
81
82
83
84
85
86
Loewy, Raymond, Industrial Design, Overlook TP, New York, 2007.
Who is Jonathan Ive ? – the Man behind Apple’s Magic, Business Week, 25 September 2006.
“L’homme qui habille Nokia” – article in Supplement Le Monde 2, 15 November 2008, 70.
Manifesto: The increasingly vital role of design, Danish Designer, Copenhagen, 2007.
APCI (Agence pour la Promotion de la Création Industrielle).
Design thinking, How to deliver on a great plan, Harvard Business Review, June 2008.
49
Design is about identifying and creating meaning. Reporting on Philips Design Process, Stefano Marzano,
CEO and Chief Creative Director, states: “This process aims to deliver solutions that are not only
technologically possible but also preferable from a social, anthropological and personal perspective. To
identify what it is that might be preferable, we conduct both short term and long term research, ranging from
“culture scan” research into shorter-term societal, societal and cultural trends, to “strategic futures” research
in which we explore large-scale social trends over the next 5 to 7 years. This helps us to refine our efforts to
generate products and services that are culturally compatible – and therefore truly meaningful.”87
The Philips slogan relays the significance of creativity: “Sense and Simplicity” having replaced “Let’s make
things better”. The change of branding message characterises the changes of economic paradigm – the
industry has moved “from making things” to pleasing the senses and appealing to values. The Philips
branding reads like a Jane Austen novel.88
Philips: “A Design Strategy fully focusing on people”
Research
The company believes it is essential to have a detailed understanding of the world nowadays and the ability
to foresee what it will be like in the future. In the sphere of design, Philips’ Foresight, Trends & People
Research Team looks into the needs of people in different regions and assesses what quality of life means
to them - both now and in the future. This research gives strategic insights into global and regional sociocultural changes which influence new values, lifestyles and needs. Research is used to deliver global and
regional forecasts of emerging, significant cultural trends. The company tracks changes in artistic
expression, fashion, media, architecture to identify trends.
High Design methodology
To complement Philips’ research activities in design, the company has created a multi-disciplinary
methodology, High Design. This approach draws upon the skills of designers, psychologists, sociologists
and cultural anthropologists, and is an essential part of the business process.
87
88
Philips New Value by One Design – April 2005 (corporate brochure).
Jane Austen is the author of the literary work “Sense and Sensibility”.
50
The importance of design in car manufacturing 89
Patrick Le Quément, Chief designer at Renault, who studied at the Royal college of Art in London and the
Art centre in California, and was strongly influenced by Bauhaus movement, revealed in an interview at the
company’s headquarters how the function of design has evolved in the car company. Design was initially
linked to the unit responsible for engineering (called then “direction du style”). There were then 126
designers in the unit, whilst there are 430 designers at Renault now. Today the chief designer is part of the
management board of the company and design is responsible for everything that can be perceived by the
client. Design is an integral part of both the product unit and the marketing unit. Designers directly contribute
to the manufacturing of innovative products such as the Scenic, the first mid-range space wagon. The
diversity of the design workforce is an important feature in stimulating creativity. Design centres are located
in Barcelona, Korea, Romania, India and Brazil.
Another interesting example is Decathlon, a retailer and manufacturer in sport goods. Its strategy illustrates
the importance of design in a business strategy. In 2008, the sport retailer which has more than 400 outlets
throughout Europe and more than 40 000 employees, came first amongst corporation with 6 IDEAs (the
2008 International Design Excellent Awards90) ahead of Apple.
Decathlon is the example of a distribution company that decided to move into the conception of its own
products, as “selling for a low price” is no longer sufficient in the competitive retailing environment. Products
must also look good. The aesthetic of the product also contributes to the image of a company; it conveys the
value and message of the brand (conviviality): “the notion of experience goes beyond the mere product”. It
shows that retailing is moving from mass consumption to experience as a way to differentiate the product
and the brand. The importance is put on the way of life conveyed by the brand. The artistic input is very
important to discover the subjective. The design has become emotional, its process is complementary to
marketing and helps to analyse market research.
Another function of design is to surprise consumers as the latter cannot know what the future application is
going to be. Consumers also require the element of surprise.91
89
90
Interview with Patrick Le Quément, 8 September 2008.
The prize rewarding excellence in design saw the US take half of the awards while Europe took 23%, Asia 18% and
South America 8%90 ( source: Business Week).
91
Interview with Simon Hadjidimoff, designer with a double academic cursus: art school (La Cambre) and business school
(ICHEC) (September 2008).
51
Now that we have reviewed what is required to be successful in the new economy, we shall consider the
role culture can play in the competitive strategies of different businesses.
2.3
The contribution of culture-based creativity to businesses’ competitive strategies
“Companies have to do something else with their businesses beyond instituting just-in-time
inventory control or SAP enterprise automation. They have to create an experience; they have to
inform and amuse, they have to build a destination…. Only if a company’s product stands out is
someone going to pick it off the shelf or off a website. Entertainment has become a key part of the
consumer value equation.”92
Companies that are successful in today’s economy are keen to associate their products with culture. Here
are two examples taken from the world of consumer electronics and car manufacturing:
-
Each year Panasonic organises a competition on video called Panasonic’art. New Plasma TVs are
described by the company as new works of art because of the aesthetic of the machines. “Our
screens have become paintings that you hang on a wall” states head of Panasonic France, Laurent
Abadie. “To watch images on such a screen …. is a new experience which carries the public at the
heart of the work.”93
-
Louis Schweitzer, the former Chairman of Renault S.A., stated: “We are aware of the impacts of
innovation on the firm and beyond, which is now conceptual rather than technological. In order to
let such culture spread, we have to create areas of freedom where a creative disorder can express
itself, but also to channel the latter. To be the best is not enough anymore, we have to be
irreplaceable. Even if you are very good, you are not automatically irreplaceable, and one day
someone will be as good as you. But if you are different, you become irreplaceable. We thus must
have the capacity to do what nobody else does.”
The former Renault executive invokes the “aesthetic”, “artistic expression”, “culture spread”, and “creative
disorder” with a view to being “irreplaceable” and “different”. This is the reason “why inspiration, diversity
and creativity are key values.”
In the next section we will identify the elements of a competitive strategy, the integration of culture-based
creativity in business strategies and more specifically its impact upon product innovation, branding, human
resources and communication.
92
93
Wolf, Michael, The Entertainment Economy, Penguin Books, 1999.
Technikart, August 2008, p.137.
52
2.3.1
Elements of a competitive strategy
Every firm develops a competitive strategy. This strategy consists essentially in setting goals and
implementing policies to achieve such goals; a combination of ends and means. In his book on competitive
strategy, Michael Porter94 identifies three generic strategies which help a firm to outperform its competitors:
-
achieve overall cost leadership through an emphasis on cost control and efficient manufacturing,
focus on a particular buyers’ group, a geographic market and
product differentiation.
Creativity is an essential element of each of these generic strategies. There must be creative ways that
enable more efficient manufacturing. Creativity, as a source of happiness in the workplace, helps to reduce
absenteeism thus contributing to increasing levels of productivity. The development of marketing strategies
requires creative thinking, understanding of local cultures and the ability to create a vision for the long-term.
The wheel of culture-based creativity strategy highlights the way creativity influences the competitive goals
of a company.
The Wheel of Creative Strategy
M a na ge m e nt
(integrate creato rs)
V a lue s
(art to pro mo te
ethical values)
P ro duc t
D e v e lo pm e nt
(invo lve creato rs at
pro duct develo pment
Goals
stage)
- Product differentiation
- Creative workforce
- Creative Management
H um a n R e s o urc e s
(use art to stimulate)
B ra nding
C o rpo ra t e
S o c ia l
R e s po ns ibilit y .
94
Porter, Michael E, Competitive Strategy – Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors, Free Press, 1980.
53
Key competitive elements for success obviously include financial resources (capital requirement),
manufacturing efficiency, management and the ability to innovate but these do not suffice by themselves in
the new economy to make a company competitive. A firm needs more than an efficient manufacturing
process and a good technological base. It needs a strong brand, motivated staff and a management that
respects creativity and understands its process. It also requires the development of products and services
that meet consumers’ expectations or that create these expectations.
Among the forces that drive corporate performance is the threat of new entrants or of substitute products or
services. Culture-based creativity can assist a firm by making entry into the market by competitors more
difficult or by making the product or service unique. It can help a firm to distinguish itself, thereby delivering
a source of competitive advantage:
-
Product differentiation enables brand identification and customer loyalty. It stems primarily from
creative activities (advertising, design and communication strategy);
Creative activities can generate intellectual property rights which provide exclusive monopoly rights
for a time-limited period;
Product differentiation enables the creation of new trends in consumption.
To illustrate this, the subsequent paragraphs provide concrete examples of the contribution of culture-based
creativity to product differentiation and firms’ competitiveness.
2.3.2
The integration of culture-based creativity in business strategies
“If you are not interested in culture by taste, at least you have to be interested in it by
opportunism or by strategy”.
Nicolas Bourriaud, former Director of the Palais de Tokyo,
Museum of Contemporary Art in Paris.
To respond to the new market requirements industries have adopted several strategies which may draw on
creativity. The interaction between business and creativity can be summarised as follows:95
1.
At an operational level:
a. The use of culture in the management of human resources:
-
95
for competence development – leadership,
to develop team spirit – bonding,
Darso, Lotte, Learning – Tales of Arts in-Business, Frederiksberg, Sammfundlitteratur, April 2004 and interviews with
Lene Bornemann (Arts in Business) in Copenhagen in June 2008.
54
-
to stimulate creativity amongst the workforce.
b. The integration of creative functions at board/management level:
2.
At a strategic level:
a. The use of culture in relation to:
-
product development,
communication,
branding.
b. The development of programmes that associate the brand with culture.
In the course of this assignment we have interviewed several consulting companies specialising96 in
enabling companies and industries to develop the role of culture at both the operational level (the
management of human resources) and the strategic level (in supporting R&D, branding, in improving
communication).
Essentially culture-based creativity contributes to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Product and Service Innovation
Branding
Human Resources
Communication
2.3.2.1 Product and service innovation
Innovation, according to Henry Chesbrough,97 occurs when corporations open up to new influences and
enter into a dialogue with diverse stakeholders in their surrounding environment – including competitors and
consumers.
Such a notion of innovation is different from traditional explanations of how to create disruptive business
solutions. It is much more in line with the understanding of creative professionals – and artists – who think
96
The Agencies Mona Lisa and Trois Temps (Paris), Arts and Business (London), Arts in Business (Copenhagen), Tillt
(Göteborg).
97
Chesbrough, H. W.: Open Innovation. The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Boston, Harvard
Business School Press, 2003.
55
about how to bring about “creative renewal” (as one of our interviewees called it). The almost playful
treatment and development of new ideas and solutions, the development of prototypes and their continuous
testing, are typical working patterns within the creative industries.98
Working practices in art (e.g. theatre rehearsal) also reflect such principles. Increasingly, these practices are
becoming more important in a wide range of industrial domains. IBM, for example, frequently asks its
customers to engage online in innovation “jams” to help develop new ideas and business ventures. It has
been doing this since 2001. As a result, 10 new IBM businesses have been launched with seed investment
totaling $100 million.99
Secondly, innovation is becoming more creative due to the increasing use of expressive (symbolic or
aesthetic) components in today’s products and services. As a result, creative skills are increasingly valued in
corporate innovation and R&D departments. Our interviews with innovation experts in several European
companies showed that these skills are often hired in from external providers.
Similarly to Chesbrough, Reichwald explains how contemporary innovations develop in “ecosystems” which
depend on the interaction between multiple stakeholders, as well as on rules, values and communication
processes.100
In the context of this new climate which draws heavily on creativity and innovation and which is at the heart
of the new economy, companies from the cultural and creative industries can provide services which can
help businesses from other sectors to overcome some obstacles to innovation such as risk aversion, status
quo bias, myopia or the inability to imagine the future as potentially different from the present.
Obstacles to innovation in this environment are smaller than those in earlier industrial decades.
Communication skills, cross-disciplinary management, aesthetic skills and an understanding of the social
and cultural processes in an organisation are as important to stimulating innovation as technological
breakthroughs or market power, argues Potts.101
In his book Creativity in the Post Google Generation102, David Edwards shows how innovation is often
catalysed by those who cross a conventional line drawn between art and science. He shows that developing
ideas through the combination of art and science has a catalytic role for innovation. “Artscience both
produces disruption and helps us creatively to respond to it”. Examples cited by Edwards include Jan van
Eyck, who invented oil painting, or the abstract painter and photographer Clifford Ross, who developed a
camera capable of capturing 9 Gigabytes of data per minute. Technological innovation also produces
98
99
Paris, T., Organisation, processus et structures de la création. Culture prospective, 2007.
See IBM Innovation Jam website: https://www.collaborationjam.com/ (accessed January 2009).
100
Reichwald, R., Piller, F. T.: Interaktive Wertschöpfung. Open Innovation, Individualisierung und neue Formen der
Arbeitsteilung. Gabler, Betriebswirt.-Vlg, 2006.
101
Source: Pott, J. and Morrison, K., Journal of Cultural Economy as well as in Nudging Innovation, 2008, consideration
of the NESTA Innovation Vouchers Pilot, October 2008.
102
56
Edwards, D., Creativity in the Post Google Generation, Harvard University Press, 2008.
disruption in artistic form, with the invention of photography, cinematography, peer to peer file sharing and
software. David Edwards also mentions Gustave Eiffel’s engineering construction firm, which built the Eiffel
Tower, a design that had no practical purpose at the time.
The integration of art and science is also illustrated by the integration of design in both engineering and
manufacturing processes in the high-tech sectors. For instance, at Apple, designers work closely with
engineers, marketers and manufacturers. They are not only stylists but also contribute to innovation in the
use of new materials and production processes. It was the design group within Apple that was able to figure
out how to put a layer of clear plastic over the white and black core of an iPod, giving depth to the structure.
Whilst competitors have concentrated on squeezing manufacturing costs, Apple has perfected the
differentiation of its product through design.
To illustrate the contribution of culture to product innovation, two examples are offered below. One features
a collaboration between art and science (Le Laboratoire) and the other shows the importance of fashion
design in the success of a clothing company (Marimekko).
When science meets the arts - Le Laboratoire
Le Laboratoire is a new space in Paris that aims to create a fusion between traditionally separated
disciplines from science, industry, society and art, by fostering what its founder David Edwards calls
“artscience” collaborations. It is a place to allow creativity to emerge and ideas to flow by enabling
experience and discovery. Artists collaborate with scientists to conceive, translate, and realise original ideas.
Collaboration has an industrial as well as a social or cultural objective. It is a good example of how arts
influence product innovation.
A concrete example is the collaboration between Le Laboratoire and NASA. David Edwards, who is also a
biomedical engineering professor at Harvard University, encouraged the French designer Mathieu
LeHanneur (in one of the first collaborations supported by Le Laboratoire) to work closely with scientists
from NASA. This artscience collaboration resulted in the invention and design of an ultra-efficient domestic
filtration system that eliminates toxins in our breathing air using nature’s own squad: plants. To increase
filtering efficiency, fans in the so-called “Bel-Air” circulate air in complex patterns around the plant’s leaves
and force air through the roots and soil. The invention was exhibited in 2008 in Le Laboratoire and it has
been on the market since May 2009. Bel-Air also won the prestigious 2008 award for best invention by
Popular Science magazine. Importantly, the project illustrates how a design-led approach (the project
focussed as much on the look and feel of the product as on scientific innovation) is increasingly important to
innovating successfully.
57
Fashion design and competitive advantage: The case of Marimekko 103
Marimekko is considered as a model for many design companies in terms of economic success and
management. It started with Armi Ratia, a Finnish designer, and her wish to reform the world of design and
go beyond traditional ways of thinking in Finland. When in 1951 Armi Ratia’s husband, Viljo Ratia, owner of
Printex, a company producing oilcloth and printed fabrics, asked her to find a solution to increase Printex’s
sales, Armi Ratia used this opportunity to commission artists to apply their graphic drawing to textiles and
design fabric prints. The result was so radical that people did not understand how these coloured and
patterned fabrics could be used. Armi Ratia decided to create a small collection of clothing to demonstrate
the uses of these fabrics and established a separate company, Marimekko Oy, to produce the clothing. The
company is now very successful. Marimekko designs, manufactures and markets clothing, interior
decoration textiles, and accessories both in Finland and all around the world.
Innovation and creativity were at the heart of the Marimekko’s original mission and remained an essential
part of its bloodstream until its acquisition by Armer Group in 1986. During this first period, its designers
constantly researched new ideas so as to continuously rejuvenate the firm, expand its knowledge and
enhance the quality of its design. Marimekko introduced new concepts and products, first influenced by
Finnish art and then by geometrical abstraction, architecture, “pop art”, “opt art” or Japanese design.
Under the ownership of Amer Group in the late 1980s, the outlook of the firm was no longer focussed on
creation. The emphasis was rather on financial control than on innovation. As a result, in the late 1980s, the
company entered a period of decline. Not only did sales stagnate but the company became loss-making.
The situation changed both in terms of creativity and competitive advantage when Kirsti Paakkanen took
over Marimekko in 1991. She promoted new design projects renewing the philosophy of its original owner
and she finally managed to build up Marimekko’s past performances. Between 1991 and 1994, its net sales
soared from FIM 73.6 to 90.2 million. Since this period, Marimekko has kept modernising its production and
has continued its steady growth. In 2007 the company’s turnover was € 77 million (with operating profit of €
10.5 million) in constant increase since 2001 when it was at € 42 million (with operating profit of €4.7
million).104
103
Ainamo A., Design and competitive advantage: the case of Marimekko Oy, a Finnish fashion firm. In Bruce M. and
Jevnaker B. (eds.) Management of Design Alliances: Sustaining Design-Based Competitive Advantage, London, John
Wiley Publishers, 1998.
104
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http://www.marimekko.fi/ENG/investors/financialinformation/
2.3.2.2 Branding
“Au delà de la pure création de richesse, qui était jusque-là le seul objectif des entreprises, je suis
convaincu que c’est dans les valeurs éthiques que se forment les singularités et la valeur ajoutée
des entreprises"
Patrick Thomas (Manager Group Hermès)
“Brands are ideas that people store away in their heads and in their hearts”
Ad Agency Young and Rubicam
Branding is another element of business strategies that can be influenced by culture-based creativity.
The brand determines to a large extent the value of the product and conditions the relationship with
consumer and their willingness to buy. A brand is equivalent in many ways to the DNA of a company, and it
determines the level of trust which a consumer puts into a product. The image of the product is as important
as the product itself.
Therefore the brand is both identity (the values of the company) and image (perception by the consumer).
Often customers relate to a brand on an emotional level. The way in which such emotional appeal is
developed forms part of the overall marketing and branding strategy. Culture-based creativity is a powerful
instrument to establish this emotional relationship.
Advertising, a creative trade, is - in part - about delivering messages such as “Just do it”, “Be yourself,”
“Think different” with a view to creating emotional links. The consumer is solicited by advertisers to share
certain values, to become part of the brand. In turn the brand espouses consumers’ values and social
sensibilities.
Advertisers often make reference to art as a source of discontinuity or disruption. “If there is one field in
which discontinuity is a constant, it is contemporary art which broke with all aesthetic and representation
convention.”105 Disruptive strategies in advertising overturn a convention in the marketplace and make it
possible to develop a new vision and new perceptions of the brand.106 As such, “advertising is no longer
confined to price or services it is about signification.”107
105
106
Op.cit Dru J-M, 1996, p.37.
Op.cit. Dru J-M, 1996, p.54.
59
Brands, whatever their industrial domains, attach great importance to being associated with art or creativity
(“Go Create” from Sony, or the Creative campaign launched by DSM (www.dsm.com), the Dutch life science
company for instance). Adding a cultural dimension to a brand contributes to the distinctive identity of that
brand.
Some examples of association between culture, artists and brands:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
H& M and Madonna, Comme des Garçons or Karl Lagerfeld
Louis Vuitton and Taksashi Murakami 108
Cartier and its foundation for contemporary art
Telefonica and a painting of Eduardo Chillida
BMW with Swetlana Hegger and Plamen Dejanov in 2000 (Project Quite Normal Luxury)
Chanel with Nicole Kidman (N°5)
BNP Paribas with characters from film company Europacorp (“Arthur et les Minimoys”)
Philippe Starck and numerous brands (Alessi, Philips etc)
Swedish bed maker Hästens asked famous designers and artists Angela Missoni, Jaime Hayon,
Satyendra Pakhalé and NEL Colectivo to make their bedroom fantasies come true109
French retailer La Fnac and artist Fabrice Hyber (campaign with the square ball during the football
world cup in France).
Bionade – The importance of branding
German soft drink Bionade illustrates how clever branding contributes to the success of a product.
The drink company Bionade was created in 1995 when Dieter Leipold, a German brewer, had the idea of
making a drink for children that did not contain any artificial additives. He managed to create an alcohol-free
fermented soft drink which eventually saved the small family brewery from bankruptcy.
Although early on the drink did not achieve strong sales, the turning point came in 1999 when marketing and
design expert Wolfgang Blum joined the company. He quickly realised the need to change Bionade’s image
and proceeded to give the drink a radical makeover: a slick retro blue, white and red logo supported by a
new strategy to brand Bionade as a healthy, hip, lifestyle drink.
Bionade increased its sales from one million bottles in 2000 to 200 million in 2007. This made the company
the fastest growing beverage producer in Germany and it is now Germany’s third largest soft drink brand.
This success had also an impact at a local level on organic farmers in the region who are now collaborating
with the company, providing it with locally grown organic raw materials.
108
For branding in the luxury industries see Michel Chevalier and Gerald Mazzalvo, Management et Marketing du Luxe,
Dunod, Paris, 2008.
109
60
Wallpaper, December 2008.
Blum, who is now the company’s marketing director, managed to create a brand with a character and a soul.
This contributed to change the perception of the drink from a worthy organic brand into an organic lifestyle
product. Sales quickly picked up thanks to word-of-mouth and news reports. In 2007, Bionade won a Design
Management Europe Award, which is a European prize highlighting the value of design management. The
company is now planning its international expansion with launches in the US and UK.
Steel and Art
ArcelorMittal, as the world biggest steel producer, is constantly looking for innovative ways to use steel.
The collaboration between ArcelorMittal and the American minimalist artist Richard Serra using mostly large
steel plates in his work, started in 1991. Richard Serra worked first within the workshops of the CreusotLoire Industrie which later became Industeel. In 2005 Serra used sheets of Corten steel made in Germany,
to create the work "The Matter of Time", installed permanently at the Museum Guggenheim Bilbao, in Spain.
The third time Richard Serra worked with ArcelorMittal, he created the work “Promenade” which was
exposed in the Monumenta in the Grand Palais in Paris in 2008. The artwork was again realised within the
workshops of Industeel in France. Richard Serra’s work represents an “innovative use of steel” and shows
that the boundaries of innovation in steel production and use can always be pushed further. ArcelorMittal
maintains contact with personalities outside its own sector like advertisers, architects or sportsmen, like for
instance the ArcelorMittal “bold visionaries” Ed Viesturs, Sir Martin Sorrell and Paul Andreu.110
2.3.2.3 Human resources (HR) management – Triggering creativity
Businesses are more likely to succeed if they are creative. The role of management is to enable this
creativity to flourish and to translate into better products or services. Business consultancies call on
companies to set up processes that improve creative output. They propose methodologies to develop
executives' creative skills and aim to stimulate creativity amongst firms’ personnel.
Nestle is a company that nurtures creativity. Amongst food companies, it is recognised as one of the most
creative. Its management insists on the need to support creativity. The company has set up an international
training centre based in Switzerland whose aim is to show the role of innovation, teach creativity and “open
the mind". The international training centre is designed to encourage managers to “think ahead” by
challenging senses and perceptions.
110
Sources: Website: ArcelorMittal http://www.constructalia.com, http://www.arcelormittal.com; ArcelorMittal WebTv
Season 2 Episode 11: Steel in design; http://www.monumenta.com/2008/content/view/26/lang,en/.
61
In this context, creativity is defined “as a process by which ideas are generated, developed and transformed
into value. It encompasses what people commonly mean by innovation and entrepreneurship.”111 In the
business world, disciplines and rules are part of the means by which measurable outputs are efficiently
produced. That is why businesses often feel uncomfortable with creative thinking, as it can mean an
unsettling journey into the unknown.
Indeed managing creativity requires the ability to manage uncertainty. By valuing lateral thinking,
encouraging collaboration across disciplines and rewarding expressions of creativity and imagination,
companies can create an environment conducive to creativity.
For businesses which draw upon creative inputs, it is important to maintain the symbolic and improvisational
aspects of creativity. The following section illustrates the role of creativity in human resource (HR)
management and shows ways in which:
1.
creative functions are valued in companies, notably the function of design,
creative individuals are integrated in the life of companies to stimulate creativity, to promote team
spirit or help resolve conflicts,
creative activities promote leadership.
Design management to stimulate creativity
Design management mainly relates to the management of the creative process inside an organisation. The
term was invented by Michaël Farr who published the first book on Design Management in 1966.The idea
was to manage and develop the existing interface between design businesses and client companies so as
to optimise communication flows and control project development.
In most leading companies, successful design depends on the following: 112
-
Ensuring strong, visible leadership of the design function,
Fostering a corporate culture that values design,
Integrating design activities as tightly as possible with wider business processes (multi-disciplinary
teams, cross functional development teams, etc.),
Equipping designers with broad, business relevant skills beyond their core functional capabilities,
Maximising senior management’s support for design,
Promoting formal but flexible control of the design process.
The role of design management to stimulate creativity is illustrated by Philips and Renault (both companies
were interviewed in the course of this assignment).
111
112
62
Kao, J., Jamming, Collins 1996, p. XVII.
A study of the design process, Design Council, London, 2007.
Philips – Design in management
Designers have gradually become part of the management team whether in lifestyle, electronics, healthcare
or lighting divisions. Designers now sit on all innovation boards and in each business unit.
Design is valued for its capacity to synergise knowledge, to synthesise and to provide systematic thinking.
Design is integrated into the business processes from execution to upfront development of products. The
ability of designers to think laterally is key to creativity. At an organisational level, the hierarchy is moving
from the "pyramid" to the "pancake" model in a way “very much inspired by film companies”. Like
entertainment companies, Philips partners with a multitude of creative businesses.
Renault – Stimulating creativity through design
Design is an essential element of Renault's competitive strategy. Designers are recruited on the basis of
four qualities: passion for cars; artistic ability, team spirit and talent.
As part of its design strategy, the company pays particular attention to stimulating and nurturing employees’
creativity. To do so, the company relies upon two essential criteria: Maintaining a vision which motivates and
inspires decision-making, and remaining active as a creative organisation with the following features:
- Close links between designers and high level executives;
- A rigorous, efficient and evolving organisation: the design team always strive to adapt to a constantlychanging environment;
- Ensuring artistic freedom amongst designers. Feeding designers’ creativity is a constant preoccupation for
the company. Its strategy to stimulate creativity relies on tight and ongoing multidisciplinary teamwork;
- Satellite centres set up in diverse countries or culturally rich cities in France, Spain, Korea, Romania, India
and Brazil: to ensure a diversification of cultural environment, to help facilitate the creative process, to
explore new trends and automobile solutions and provide new sources of creativity. They also provide
locations where creators can refresh their vision;
- Partnerships to explore and develop new sources of creativity. For instance, the company is conducting a
research project with the Universidad Pontificia Catholica in Brazil to explore new fields of natural colour and
materials;
- Observing global evolution: Renault encourages its designers to observe change across diverse cultures.
The company also sends them to major art exhibitions to foster curiosity. The use of “concept cars” is used
to help inspire the study of new base models by young designers. In 1991, the Vel Satis “concept cars”
prototype helped design the Renault Mégane for instance. Concept cars are made to showcase a concept,
new styling, technology and more. They help gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs and
aesthetics which may or may not have a chance of being produced.
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2.
Artists’ participation in stimulating creativity
Companies call on creative people to engage with employees and management for a variety of reasons. It
may be with a view to promoting team spirit, to help resolve conflicts or simply to stimulate creativity
amongst the workforce.
Engagement with art can stimulate individuals on emotional, physical and intellectual levels. Art helps to
create opportunities for teams working in different parts of the same firm to appreciate and enjoy things
together and this can translate into improved collaboration and team spirit. Participation in artistic
performances helps staff to develop confidence at an individual level and cohesion at a collective level.
Increasingly companies organise workshops involving actors or creators (directors, scriptwriters) to address
body language, sense of time and space or to make participants aware of their surroundings in a different
way.
A different form of interaction between art and business are “artist in residence” projects,113 in which mutual
exchange and dialogue are more intense. Companies invite artists to spend some time among their
employees, usually several months, observing and producing works from their observations. The employees
also observe the artist’s process of creating an artistic work. These projects are designed to enable the
discovery of different ways of thinking and producing on both sides, and to make employees think about
their views on the company and their working environment.
To illustrate this aspect of culture in contributing to businesses’ competitive strategy we will examine
projects developed for Unilever, Astra Zeneca and ACE Europe.
Project "Catalyst" at Unilever UK ice cream and frozen food 114
This project was triggered in 1999 by the need to facilitate organisational transformation in the company with
a view to creating “an enterprise culture”. Catalyst was managed by Alastair Creamer, musician and art
manager, under the aegis of the HR department. Catalyst was designed to make the company less insular,
to foster the confidence to develop creative ideas internally (and rely less on outside consultants), and to
develop a programme leading to cultural changes in the company (following the merger of home care and
personal care divisions). Over 4 years, the project resulted in around 300 activities giving employees access
to visual arts, to the theatre or to poetry. Catalyst was about enabling individual expression (as individuals
and not as employees) and emotions through the support of art and artistic experiments or workshops.
Catalyst was a programme of individual development in creativity involving the collaboration with artists and
113
See for instance report on a Swedish project named "Artist in Residence" (AIRIS), Alexander Styhre and Michael
Eriksson, Bring in the arts and get the creativity for free: a Study of the Artists in Residence Project, Chalmers University
of Technology Göteborg.
114
Interview with Alastair Creamer (Architect of Catalyst) – London October 2008 and Lotte Darso Learning Tales of Arts
in Business, 2004, p 110
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arts organisation. Via the art, the aim was to show other ways of seeing, how to tell stories or to stage
events (through live performances). Exposing people (at shop floor and management level) to the artistic
process is a way to stimulate imagination, improvisation, or to show the value of new perceptions. Art is a
stimulating way of training people.
“… I want us to have the magic ingredient, which our competitors may not have and which allows us to do
things in a more radical and creative way, a more joyful way, a more inspiring way. I want to have a greater
sense of adventures in the business, in the way we serve our customers, a bit of surprise element, and I
think that the Catalyst creative programme has helped to contribute towards that and I think it still does.”
James Hill, CEO of Unilever Ice Cream and Frozen Food 115
AIRIS - Artist in residence by TILLT / Sweden
AIRIS is a Swedish project based upon a programme in which artists join a company for a period of 10
months to work together on a cultural project. It was initiated by TILLT, an organisation set up by the region
of West Sweden since 1973 to promote and support collaboration between artists and working life. The
AIRIS-project pursues three different goals: to create an interface for interaction between industry and the
culture sector, to enhance the creative capabilities of industry with regard to a specific business
development goal, and to create new employment opportunities for professional artists.116
AstraZeneca R&D and Anna Persson, Visual Artist
The AIRIS project at Astra Zeneca is particularly interesting as it was conceived on a long term basis, thus
assuring an ongoing collaboration between the company and different artists. The visual artist Anna
Persson, for instance, helped to facilitate processes of significant corporate change at the Department of
Clinical Research at AstraZeneca (about 700 people), in 2003/2004. To help employees deal with new
challenges, the artist arranged a series of workshops in which the staff were inspired to interpret and
embody the core values of the company. This was done by creating silhouettes for each of these core
values; where the staff posed in front of a bright light back-dropped onto a white screen, which was
simultaneously photographed. These photographs, in turn, were placed onto large sheets of glass, which
were suspended on strategic places throughout the newly constructed company building. The dancer and
choreographer Maria Mebius Schröder collaborated with the department for safety surveillance at
AstraZeneca (about 45 persons) in 2006 on a similar basis, in order to enhance creativity.
The evaluation of the AIRIS projects117 demonstrates that such projects can boost creativity among
employees, improve the working climate, assist team-working and provide workers with a different
perspective on their occupation and life.
115
116
117
Op.cit Lotte Darso, 2004, p 109.
Styhre, A., Eriksson, M., Bring the arts and get the creativity for free, A study of the Artists in Residence project, p. 6.
Done by IMIT, a group of interdisciplinary scientists monitoring all AIRIS projects since 2004.
65
However, there are a number of different ways of using creativity to foster team spirit.
ACE Europe
ACE Europe is an insurance company specialising in selling insurance contract for firms (with a turnover of
€ 383 million in France). Ninety eight percent of its brokers are women who work independently. ACE
management wished to bring together brokers with a view to creating a team spirit and improving the links
between the agents and the company. The art agency Trois Temps in Paris developed an artistic project
involving fashion designer Sakina M’sa and the Petit Palais Museum. Over one year, 40 brokers were
invited to attend fashion shows and a fashion exhibition as well as workshops with the fashion designer. The
animation contributed to create a new dynamism in the firm, better identification of the value of the group
(the project had also social objectives in the training of 12 persons who were out of job) and greater
cohesion.
The organisation of informal meetings between the brokers facilitated commercial exchanges between them,
improved the image of the company with the employees and contributed to better team spirit. A
questionnaire was sent to the brokers to assess the impact of the initiative. Some 98 % of the brokers found
the activity federative and 77% felt the need to know other colleagues better with 60% ready to organise
social meetings out of work in the future to keep in touch with fellow brokers. Seventy percent of the female
brokers expressed satisfaction in the meeting with the artist Sakina M’sa and a similar proportion wanted to
know more about contemporary art. Finally 93% of the participants expressed the wish to see the operation
renewed thus showing the powerful impact of the artistic experience on ACE Europe’s image.
3.
Creative activities and leadership
Creative activities can also be very helpful in identifying potential leaders in a company and in training
management.
For example, staging a theatre play can help teams to understand the importance of pulling together in the
service of a common cause.
A recent study shows how online games may contribute to train or identify future business leaders.
66
Online game to detect future leaders 118
The research shows that “leadership in online games offers a preview of tomorrow’s business world: a fluid
workforce, self-organising and collaborative work activities with a decentralized and hierarchical leadership
that typify games”. The findings show that online games offer an opportunity to develop leadership skills.
They help to prepare leaders by fostering a culture in which failure is tolerated, since trial and error play a
big role in accomplishing game tasks. In online gaming leaders naturally switch roles, directing others and
then taking orders. The idea of temporary leadership can empower employees to lead. The study highlights
properties of games that enhance leadership: non-monetary incentives rooted in the virtual game economy
and transparency in information which can enable leaders to be more efficient. The authors of the research
suggest “gamifying” the work environment in order to improve quality of leadership. Skills in the game world
include: making sense of ambiguous situations, transforming strategy into action and managing diverse
teams collaboratively. Games can help develop leadership skills and as such the game generation may
become a catalyst for change in business leadership. “Ultimately the entire workplace may begin to feel
more game-like” which could enhance collaboration and creativity.
Disciplines from the performing arts are often used as a metaphor to teach business professionals the
importance of talent development, creative management and teamwork. For example, the experience of
conducting can shed very interesting light on the process of working in teams:
“The Art of Conducting” is a management programme developed by the Brussels Philharmonic’s intendant
Gunther Broucke in collaboration with an HR professional and an economist. At its core lies the idea of
developing corporate leadership and team-working skills by experiencing and analysing the working
dynamics of a symphony orchestra. Corporate participants sit in a rehearsal session to experience first hand
how highly trained and talented artists – individualists at heart – collaborate under the “management” of a
conductor to deliver a high-end product time and again. Broucke then uses the metaphor of the orchestra
and its conductor as the basis of a training session, explaining work processes in the orchestra, analysing
the different types and styles of conductors and highlighting the working conditions and mentalities of his
“staff”.
The basic idea behind this innovative programme is simple: Classical musicians are highly trained
professionals able to combine individual creativity with the capacity to contribute to an overarching collective
endeavour – a skill set needed in today’s economy.
2.3.2.4 Communication
Communication is also a core part of a company’s business strategy.
118
Harvard Business School Review, Leadership’s online Labs, May 2008, p.59.
67
Communication involving culture-based creativity can take different forms. For instance:
-
-
Artistic creativity can help to communicate a company’s financial results: slick annual reports are
produced by professional photographers and shareholders’ presentations are staged as a show;
CEOs are treated like stars from a communication strategy point of view (Sir Richard Branson
(Virgin) or Steve Jobs (Apple);
Company magazines, distributed to clients in stores include interviews with famous designers or
artists (for instance the H&M magazine is a fashion and style magazine which covers renowned
fashion designers and artists119). The decoration of stores or offices may include a work of art
which is designed to emphasise the affiliation of the company with creativity and art;
Communication through culture can also make technology and science easier to understand for the
general public.
To illustrate the importance of communication, several case studies are proposed below.
The first example relates to the collaboration of artists with research centres to communicate the outcomes
of complex scientific investigations.
The collaboration between IMEC and Ad!dict Creative Lab
IMEC is a world-leading research centre in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology with operations on three
continents and annual revenues of € 244 million. It conducts cutting-edge R&D years ahead of current
business needs.
IMEC faces the challenge of illustrating the implications of its research (which are by definition relevant to
multiple industrial and societal spheres) to a myriad of stakeholders, including scientifically adept experts as
well as laymen. To achieve this, IMEC has for the last two years cooperated with Ad!dict Creative Lab, a
creative think-tank that brings together artists and designers who wish to collaborate openly across
disciplines. One of Ad!dict’s aims is to fuse its creative energy with businesses and stakeholders operating
outside the creative industries.
Ad!dict and IMEC collaboration has created a platform between artists and designers, on the one hand, and
scientists and engineers, on the other hand, that aims to find more effective ways of communicating ideas
about science in general and nanotechnologies in particular.
This collaboration has so far resulted in several tangible cross-over projects between artists and nanotechnology, including visionary future concepts as well as real applications. These interactions were
documented in two “inspiration books”, which have been promoted together with some of the projects at a
119
68
Reference to the H&M magazine available in H&M shops.
number of public events in 2008 and 2009, including the Creativity World Forum. This has helped IMEC in
several ways. It has opened up communication channels to the general public and thereby helped to raise
awareness and lower distrust. Additionally – and possibly as importantly – it has created bridges between
IMEC’s researchers and the world of art and design and stimulated creative collaborations between several
leading designers and IMEC staff with a view to develop future joint projects.
Many companies are developing services which mediate between artists and enterprises to enable a fruitful
collaboration in the sphere of communication. There are several of them throughout Europe andheir
activities are typified by the work of the agency Trois Temps, a start-up company based in Paris.
Innovate in communication – Communicate through Art
The Trois Temps Agency – www.troistemps.com
Trois Temps is an agency advising firms on communication strategies through art. The firm was born in
2006 as part of an incubation process scheme called “Paris Innovation”. The company employs 7
permanent staff. It holds a database of 200 artists and works extensively with 30 of them. Companies which
used the services of Trois Temps include Pernod Ricard, La Poste, Hermès, ACE Europe but also public
institutions.
Young entrepreneurs Armelle Weisman and Marie Georges analysed the needs of modern firms. They
concluded that it would be interesting to introduce art in the workplace because of art’s ability to provide a
different vision of work practices and management.
The task of Trois Temps is to highlight how the contribution of artists to the corporate world makes a
difference. According to associate director Armelle Weisman, “artists allow for a different perception of the
present time (they see what we do not see), and have the capacity to figure out the future because of their
innovative abilities (in particular the artists’ ability to make use of new technology). Moreover, in the creative
process, which brings together everybody, pleasure is a strong element. Art is no longer egoist
consumption, as it can be associated to a collective effort within a corporation”.
Trois Temps executives also stress the similarities between artists and entrepreneurs. As modern artists,
entrepreneurs do not accept the status quo. They take risks and look for the assertion of their differences.
Those similarities come with a range of qualities, assets and skills which are largely unexploited by modern
managers, and which - when deployed - can help drive their business forward in new ways.120
120
Extracts from an interview carried out in Paris in June 2008 with founder and associate director Armelle Weisman.
www.troistemps.com. For other case studies see Mona Lisa, www.monalisa-paris.com or Arts & Business
www.AandB.org.uk or Tillt at www.tillt.com.
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2.4
Measuring creativity
The role of creativity remains difficult to quantify. Intangible inputs are difficult to measure and do not
explicitly appear in companies’ accounts or in terms of additional sales. The contribution of creative activities
such as design to the revenues of a car manufacturer or to a consumer electronic company is extremely
hard to measure.
Aiming at investigating and quantifying the impact of artistic and creative activities in stimulating innovation
into the wider economy, NESTA’s analysis of the Community Innovation Survey 2004 and the UK’s inputoutput data121 shows that firms who spend twice the average amount on creative inputs122 are 25% more
likely to introduce product innovations, while firms that have supply chain linkages with creative
industries123 typically offer more diverse and higher quality products.
The main findings are consistent with at least two observable effects of creative linkages:
-
Creative products, like software or advertising, may be direct inputs into the innovation process of
purchasing firms.
- Sales to creative industries by other industries’ firms could facilitate ideas and knowledge transfers
among the stakeholders involved (this can also lead to market failures and imply public policy
intervention124).
To accurately measure the innovation process, the research focuses on some specific types of innovation
within three key innovation measures: ‘innovation activities’ (in-house R&D, design activities and innovationrelated marketing activities), ‘innovation outputs’ (product innovations, novel product innovations and
process innovations) and ‘innovation impacts’ (improvements in product quality, increases in product range
and expansion into new or increased market share in existing markets).The study shows some evidence
that businesses that are more cooperative with suppliers and customers in the creative industries are likely
to enjoy greater returns in terms of increased product range and improved quality. The importance of
knowledge sharing between creative businesses and firms in ‘non-creative’ industries is highlighted. The
argument here would be that creative businesses provide firms with "creative innovation services" that help
them innovate more effectively, either directly via inputs into innovation processes (such as new ideas, etc)
or indirectly by addressing behavioural failures, such as risk aversion, status quo bias and myopia or by
shaping consumer adoption and retention of novelty in new market niches.
121
Bakhshi, H., McVittie, E. and Simmie, J., Creating Innovation. Do the creative industries support innovation in the wider
economy?, March 2008, and Pott, J. and Morrison, K., Nudging Innovation, 2008, consideration of the NESTA Innovation
Vouchers Pilot, October 2008.
122
The expenditure on creative products is expressed as a percentage of total gross output for a given industry (forward
creative linkages).
123
The linkage between the creative industries and their suppliers is measured by the share of purchases by the creative
sector in total sales by that industry (backward creative linkages).
124
Knowledge spillovers imply that some firms start an innovation process thanks to a knowledge transfer and without
bearing the costs of the innovation. This creates a market failure because the innovative firms who cannot protect their
knowledge have no incentives to innovate.
70
In general business accounting emphasises fixed assets that are tangible (usually plants and machinery,
land, building and investments). The valuation of intangible assets (which include trademark, copyright and
goodwill) is subject to considerable controversy in particular regarding the treatment of brand names or the
valuation of copyright catalogues. Goodwill is the term used in financial results of companies to assess
some of the intangible assets of a company; in short it represents the value given by consumers to the
product. It can be difficult to value but is very important in the creative industries as it is linked to the
perceived value of a brand (in fashion or technology companies for instance) or the amount of intellectual
property rights assigned to a company (in the copyright industries).
Interbrand (www.interbrand.com) is an international brand consultancy which undertakes each year to
evaluate the intangible assets of a company. It has developed a complex methodology to rank brands with a
turnover above $1 billion, which are international as well as publicly listed.125
The examination of PUMA ‘s financial reports provides revealing information on the impact of culture on the
success of the company. In 1999 the company changed its business strategy to invest in culture-based
creativity by focusing on marketing and design. From a sport brand relying on the popularity of football stars
Johan Cruyff or Eusebio, the 1924 company turned to artists to become one of the “most desirable lifestyle
brands”. The turnover of the company went from € 302 million (1998) to 2.5 billion (2008) in the space of 10
years with profits being multiplied by 12 (from €108 million to 1.3 billion). These results are linked to a
deliberate strategy of the company to team up with artists (Jill Sander, Marc Wanders, David LaChapelle or
today Hussein Chalayan) and invest in arts project or education to provide new sources of ideas for new
products.126
Another source of information to measure the impact of culture-based creativity would be to access market
information collected by advertising agencies to provide evidence of the success of a creative campaign.
However this information remains confidential to the client purchasing a campaign.
However there have recently been a number of attempts to develop a methodology to measure the
economic impact of design on companies’ performances.
Economic impact of design on businesses performances
Several national studies (in Belgium, Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands for
instance) have recently illustrated the direct economic impact of design applied in traditional businesses: the
general outcome is better business performance in terms of turnover and profitability.
125
126
Source Les Echos, 20 September 2008 p.5 and Les Echos p.12.
PUMA Annual financial results – Reports of the Management Board, Wallpaper April 2009, p.91 and
www.creative.puma.com.
71
Recent research carried out in the UK has shown that for every 125 Euros a design-related business spends
on this field, turnover is increased by 285 Euros.127 Shares in design-led British businesses out-performed
the FTSE 100 Index128 by 200% between 1993 and 2004, and 83% of companies in which design is
integral have seen their market share increase, compared to the UK average of 46%.129 Companies where
design is seen as integral are twice as likely as businesses overall to develop new products and services,
and to open new markets. Also, design is integral to 39% of rapidly growing businesses but only 7% of those
which experience flat growth.130
The Design for Business Programme, developed by the British Design Council, has also shown impressive
results. Mainly concentrating on SMEs, the Programme aims to demonstrate the practical benefits for
businesses of taking greater advantage of design and creative skills. The Programme is concerned with
“design” in its widest sense, from strategy to product design, packaging, production processes, market
positioning and communications, among other things. Of the 118 companies that participated in the initial
workshop stage, 97% rated the experience highly. The majority of the 61 companies that have so far gone
through the full two-year programme have already reported improvements in performance. To name but a
few examples: thanks to the Programme, Aga Rayburn a company specialised in kitchenware launched new
products triggering an increase in sales of kitchen utensils from € 1.9 million to € 6.3 million per annum. At
Minky, a British business specialising in household utilities such as ironing boards and clothes’ dryers, the
Design for Business Programme helped the firm increase its sales of cleaning products from
€ 637,000 to € 2.3 million over 12 months.
The Programme also produced interesting outcomes for technology companies: 80% of them changed
strategic direction, accelerating their focus towards customers rather than technology; 80% reported a
change in their vision and culture; 75% invested significantly in design and showed increased confidence
that they would make a return on investment.
2.5
Implementing creativity
“The key to creativity is to be prepared to accept the unexpected”
Robert Austin (University Professor in Harvard Business School)
The management of creativity is the subject of a large body of academic work as management structures
can influence the development of creativity through the establishment of a particular work environment,
reward systems, or through the autonomy granted to employees. In this context, creativity is often
127
128
Design in Britain 2005-06, Design Council, London, 2007.
The FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised companies listed on the London Stock
Exchange.
129
130
72
Op.cit Design Council, 2007.
Op.cit, Design Council, 2007.
associated with increased productivity and efficiency. Therefore the term creativity is indiscriminately applied
to all types of works (not necessarily culture-based) and creativity is emphasised as an organisational
resource. The risk is that processes inhibit the spontaneity which often leads to creative insights. Processes
require linearity which make the emergence of creative thoughts more difficult. Systems rewarding creativity
might be more effective than processes131.
“Creativity is a process based on intrinsic value and motivation, is often spontaneous,
rebellious and chaotic, generally individualised, beyond rationality and can tolerate loss
and failure in a way inimical to business organisation.” 132
Implementing creativity is about challenging conventions and is therefore a way of managing changes. The
value of art and culture is the enhanced ability it brings to challenge existing business and management
practices. However as culture-based creativity is difficult to measure, managers can be reluctant to try and
deploy it. In a world that demands accountability, results and progress, supporting creative changes requires
a certain amount of faith and trust. Creativity also requires the acceptance of failure and change which often
unsettle work organisations.
The organisation of creative industries deserves to be examined as we can learn from creative industries
about ways of organising and managing creativity.133 Because of their reliance on creativity, the creative
industries as a whole provide lessons for managing creativity in businesses and administrations.
2.5.1
The experience of cultural and creative industries
“If show business was not a business it would be called show show”
Woody Allen
Operating at the frontline of the experience and networked economy, many businesses from the cultural and
creative industries can be considered as role models when it comes to understanding how to run a creative
organisation. However, creative professionals such as film makers, designers, advertising executives or
games producers also often provide creative and innovative services to companies operating outside the
cultural and creative industries and are increasingly considered as playing an important role in stimulating
change in the general economy.
Such a notion is derived from two distinct characteristics of businesses which operate in the creative sector:
Firstly, it relates to the common practice of cultural and creative enterprises of operating in highly
collaborative, networked and people-centred environments in which improvisation and risk are key. These
131
132
Richard Seymour at a talk in Brussels for Untitled – Sans Titre – 13 May 2009 (www.untitled-sanstitre.eu).
Definition in Dying in the Arts: Creativity as Metaphor from Glow H., Minahan S., Gahan P. – Bowater School of
Management, Deakin University, Australia, 2005.
133
Bilton, C., Management and Creativity, Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
73
factors are characteristic of the cultural and creative sectors and are increasingly characteristic of
businesses operating in the wider economic landscape. Secondly, it relates to the idea that progressive
companies and public institutions make increasing use of cultural and creative services across the value
chain, in areas such as R&D, marketing, communication and human resources.
French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has argued that the charismatic individual creator is only one element in
the field of cultural production.134 Successful cultural production requires investment, organisation and
marketing. Creativity requires a business environment that supports such creation and its expression.
Whilst creative industries rely on creators and creative output for their survival, they are also organised to
enable such creative output and to encourage the expression of talent and individuality.
The ways in which creative industries further creation varies according to the sector but they have the
following characteristics:
1.
The capacity to generate new ideas:
–
on the basis of a brief and or through technical or marketing requirements which are
prescriptive (design, advertising, TV production, computer animation),
–
through individual creation (literary or music authors, visual artists, songwriters, film
directors, screenwriters, games developers, fashion designers etc).
New ideas can be generated “in-house” (design in car manufacturing, fashion design, a play in
a theatre company) or outsourced (in which case, creative are not employees, but can be
exclusively contracted with a company (artists in music, independent designers, visual artists).
2.
Identifying and managing talent. This is the ability to retain talents and to network with the talent
community whether creators, independent producers or managers (“schmoozing”). The creative
industries are people-based businesses.135 Creation is not “managed”, creation is rather
supported, encouraged and promoted.
3.
Financial expertise in understanding the investment value of creative ideas. The ability to provide
budgeting and forecasting that relates the amount invested in creative projects to its market
potential (both for production and distribution). This involves the willingness to take and accept
risks as creative ideas can never guarantee success. The ratio between success and failure is
134
135
Bourdieu, P., les Règles de l’Art, Le Seuil, Paris, 1998.
The story of creativity is a story of relationship and human bonds: Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé – Chanel/Lagerfeld
– Coen Brothers/ Working Title (Tim Bevan-Eric Fellner) - U2/ Mc Guinness / Island Records/Interscope, Nobel Prize
writer Le Clezio and publisher Claude Gallimard, etc.
74
rather high in the creative sector which implies the need for a long term vision and the tolerance of
failure in creative output.136
4.
Decentralised production coexisting with centralised administrative and often distribution functions
(the Hollywood model).
In his book Jamming, 137 John Kao, Professor at the Harvard Business School, urges companies to look to
the Hollywood network model. The network system of production is prevalent in the music, film and TV
businesses – it is a way of bringing together different talents and limiting risks in case a project is not
successful. Content is mainly developed by independent producers who are attached to larger companies
for distribution purposes. The “major” finances the production, takes the risk on the project, and then
assumes the marketing and distribution risk of the production generated. Companies do not need to own
plants or physical infrastructure anymore (“Studios” or DVD, CD Plants). There is reliance on small
structures for creativity to emerge. Independent record labels in music and small film production units
provide an informal artist development service for larger companies. They are usually more innovative and
less risk-averse than larger conglomerates which are subject to shareholding scrutiny and short term stock
exchange imperatives.
The importance of geography in creative industries should also be highlighted. As Richard Florida has
argued138, creative industries are often clustered in a particular location; either in large cities with an
excellent cultural offer (New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona) or in areas devoted to creation
(Hollywood, Montreal, Silicon Valley).
Managing creativity therefore means reconciling the creative processes with the demands and constraints of
a business organisation139. The way creative industries manage creativity and creative people, on which
they depend entirely for survival, is worth considering.
2.5.2
Managing creative people
“Creative people are different from other people – special for better or worse, in a way that we are only
beginning to understand” states Gordon Torr, author of a book Managing Creative People. 140
136
Galenson, D., Old Masters and Young Geniuses – The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity, Princeton University
Press, 2006. This research on artistic creativity and life cycle of creativity makes an interesting distinction between
conceptual artists (Picasso, Godard, Welles) and experimental innovators (Cézanne, Hitchcock and Gehry), whose
master works came at a later age. “Experimental innovators seek and conceptual innovators find”.
137
138
Kao,J., Jamming The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, Collins, 1997.
Florida, R.. The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life.
Basic Books Inc., U.S., 2003.
139
Paris, T., The Organisation, Processes and Structures of Creation, Culture Strategic Foresight, French Ministry of
Culture, November 2007.
140
Financial Times, 10 April 2008 Recruitment: Calling all creative types: hide in the garage.
On Gordon Torr, Managing Creative People, Lessons in leadership for the Ideas Economy, Wiley 2008.
75
Creativity is based on the expression of often rebellious and somehow chaotic people whose behaviour and
ego make them somewhat inimical to business organisations. Creative people can be difficult to manage.
On the other hand creators are often the inspiration for the overall strategic direction of a company – at least
when their vision is shared by management.
Organisational creativity is often key to making connections between individuals and managing the
complexity of this relationship. Creative industries are specialists in managing creative individuals and
teams. Mutual trust and respect is a key ingredient to build upon the specialisation that is often a feature of
creators. Creative industries’ managers are accustomed to coping with emotional stress and disagreements
that exist between creative minds.
Business managers have to act as brokers of creativity by connecting disparate talents, by being able to
inject diversity or play with creative tensions. The management of creativity also requires finding the right
balance between freedom on one hand and operational efficiency on the other.
Several examples illustrate the above:
“One of hallmarks of the team I think is this sense of looking to be wrong. It is the inquisitiveness, the sense
of exploration. It is about being excited to be wrong because then you have discovered something new”.
Jonathan Ive, Chief Designer at Apple141
Pixar 142- Extracts of an interview with CEO Ed Catmull
A pioneer in computer animation, the company has a unique track record in achieving technological and
artistic breakthroughs. Toy Story, produced in 1995, was the first computer animated feature film. Since then
the company has produced 8 other films, including Bugs Life, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille and Wall E. All
achieved significant box-office success. All the stories have been created internally by the Pixar community
of artists. Pixar believes its success is based on its ability to manage creative talent and risk. In animation,
creativity involves a large number of people from different disciplines working effectively together. The
process takes four to five years for each project. It takes trust and respect to get talented people to work
effectively with one another. Creativity is unleashed if the company is able to build an environment that
nurtures trust and respect.
141
142
Business Week, 25 September 2008.
Harvard Business Review, How Pixar foster collective creativity? September 2008. Pixar was purchased by Disney in
2006 for USD 7.4 bn.
76
If you want to be original you have to accept uncertainty and have the capabilities to recover when your
organisation takes risks and fails. The most difficult is to find the talented people. Creativity must be present
at every level of the organisation. Pixar is an example where the marriage of technology and art brings
extraordinary results. It shows the value of tearing down barriers between the different disciplines – the
common language resting in creativity. “Technology inspires Art and Art challenges the technology”.
The guiding principles of creativity management for the CEO of Pixar Ed Catmull are the following:
Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with everyone else (e.g. the structure of the
Pixar building is designed to maximise inadvertent encounters),
It must be safe for everyone to offer ideas,
Stay close to innovation in the academic community,
Try to break down barriers between disciplines.
2.6 Conclusion
This chapter sets out to demonstrate the potential of culture-based creativity to make industry and the
economy more innovative and, as a result, more competitive. The economy requires specific creative skills
which are available in art and creative sectors.
At the level of the firm, culture-based creativity is essential for product innovation, branding, communication
(in particular, communication of values) and management of human resources. It is a requirement to
succeed in an economy that:
-
Gives more and more importance to signs, symbols, values, emotions, experiences and
aesthetics;
Increasingly values access and sharing as much as ownership and monetary exchanges
and in which creating relationships (social networking) is becoming as important as
financial transactions.
The numerous paradoxes of the economy are that:
1. Economic statistics pay lip service to the importance of the intangible and it remains difficult to measure
culture- based creativity. However, an increasing number of studies are showing the value of brands and
the importance of design in transforming product development, services and processes as well as
77
strategy.143 In the non for profit sector, regions144 and cities know the value of culture investment to create
economic prosperity, social cohesion and to attract the”Creative Class”.
2. Culture-based creativity still has negative connotations for some businesses or investors. Research
published by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and Art (NESTA) in the UK shows that while
venture capitalists believe creative industries have a high growth potential, few are willing to invest in those
industries. Only one in five VCs said they were likely to invest in the sector. Those who develop creative
ideas often find it hard to gain financial backing. The divide between art and science is clear in the eyes of
investors. This divide needs to be bridged if creative entrepreneurship is to be stimulated.145
3. Culture-based creativity is important in the search for differentiation, as a tool to innovate and is
increasingly being used for this purpose.
4. Creative people are still reluctant to apply their imagination, non-linear thinking abilities, experiences and
intuition to the benefit of enterprises. The latter remains attached in general to routine thinking and
traditional as well as secure processes. Creative people will be increasingly called upon to mingle with
people working in other disciplines in science and technology notably to stimulate innovative thinking.
5. “Managing” creativity is about adopting an attitude which enables exchange across disciplines (art and
science for instance). It is about valuing risk taking and failure. Creativity management is about nurturing
freedom and trust. It is very often a long term investment as creativity requires maturing through experience
and social recognition (or acceptance).
6. The demand for culture-based creativity requires the development of creative skills and experimentation
in society. This will be examined in Chapter 4.
143
Brown, Tim, Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review, June 2008. Tim Brown is CEO of IDEO, a design firm based
in California.
144
See notably the considerable economic success of regional film funds such as Wallimage (Wallonia in Belgium) and
Film Y Väst (West Sweden) in establishing a creative economy and attracting investment in regions suffering from
industrial decline.
KEA Study for Cineregio, www.cineregio.org.
145
78
FT.Com Show us the Money by Fiona Harvey, 10 February 2004.
CHAPTER 3
CULTURE-BASED CREATIVITY IN ITS SOCIAL
DIMENSION
“… the arts regenerate the rundown and rehabilitate the neglected. Art buildings lift the spirit,
create symbols that people identify with, and give identity to places that may not have one. The arts
teach the young how to create, inspire the imagination and believe in their own potential. Where
the art starts, jobs follow, jobs which are independent and forward looking….”
John Tusa146
The notion that art and culture can have a transformative effect on both individuals and society has a long
intellectual history, dating back to classical times.147 But in recent years, the literature in this area has
expanded dramatically and policymakers have become increasingly aware of the possibilities for culture as
a contribution to a variety of social and economic policy areas.
In this section we examine how art and culture can have a creative effect in a diverse range of social areas,
while bearing in mind that economic and social policy objectives in Europe are inextricably linked and
shaped by many of the same forces, including technological change, globalisation and an ageing
population.148 There is a need to further understand how Europe’s social agenda is connected to the Lisbon
goals of innovation and competitiveness, as recalled by the Presidency Conclusions of the European Spring
Council in March 2007, which highlighted the reciprocity of Europe’s social and economic objectives.149 But
there is also a great need in Europe to consider the potential of culture in view of achieving such objectives.
This chapter shows how culture can promote social cohesion and how it contributes to crime prevention,
criminal justice and regional and local regeneration in new ways. It then looks at the effects of culture on
social processes, and especially focuses on how social capital is formed through cultural participation.
Finally, it addresses the role of cultural activities in public services innovation and their contribution to
changing institutional settings. Before doing so, we introduce the key role that creativity plays in cultural
activities aimed at social transformation.
146
Tusa, J., Engaged with the Arts, I.B Tauris, London 2007.
147
Belfiore, E. & Bennett, O., Rethinking the Social Impact of the Arts: a critical-historical review, in Bennett, O & Ahearne,
J (Eds.) Research Papers, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick.
148
Commission of the European Communities, Renewed social agenda: Opportunities, access and solidarity in 21st
century Europe, CEC, Brussels, 2008.
149
Presidency
Conclusions
of
the
European
Council
(2007).
Council
of
the
European
Union.
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/93135.pdf (accessed 10.01.2008)
79
3.1
Culture-based creativity leads to social innovation
Social innovation, defined as innovation in the ways social outcomes are being achieved, has become a
conscious concern in policy discussions. Indeed, Murray et al. argue that social innovation can radically reshape critical areas of social production and distribution150 , including:
–
–
–
–
systems of prevention (e.g. re-inventing criminal justice, early year programmes for children to
reduce risk factors, healthy living and positive health);
support economy (e.g. re-shaping the care of elderly, new models of learning);
complexity and flow in the social economy (e.g. transformation of hospital care, redesigning urban
mobility); and
markets for the marginalised (e.g. micro finance, fair trade, sustaining local economies through
collaborative networks).
Culture-based creativity plays a key role in the generation of social innovation. At the most basic level, a
creative solution in this context may simply involve a novel approach taken by linking a culture-based
intervention with a social policy objective, as is the case with public art in urban regeneration. Secondly,
incorporating cultural or artistic elements in existing social interventions can help develop completely new
approaches – as is the case with the health care case study below. Where individual behaviour is the target,
cultural activities can lead to a change in self-perception and to the development of new skills which can
both help people to break with former ways of thinking or perceiving the world.
The view that culture has a role to play in delivering social objectives is not an uncontentious one, with
critics often decrying such instrumentalist rationales, not only as inadequate social policy but also as ‘bad for
the arts’.151 On the other hand, some argue that culture can offer new approaches both in terms of tackling
what are sometimes referred to as ‘wicked social problems,’ for which current approaches are deemed
inadequate. They argue that there are transformational possibilities arising from engagement with creativity
which move beyond the instrumental, by allowing creative activity to help determine new policies by
developing and negotiating shared understandings of policy challenges and mapping out solutions.
150
Murray, R., Mulgan, G. & Caulier-Grice, J. Generating Social Innovation: setting an agenda, shaping methods and
growing the field, Social Innovation Exchange, 2008.
http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/files/event/attachments/Copy%20of%20Generating_Social_Innovation%20v4.pd
f [accessed February 2009]
151
80
Mirza, Culture Vultures: Is UK arts policy damaging the arts?, Policy Exchange, London, 2006.
The following illustration highlights the role of culture in stimulating creativity that generates social outcomes:
1. Culture and art are a key resource for dealing with Europe’s social challenges:
- Improve social mobility
- Promote new skills for new jobs, fulfilling careers and better employment
- Fostering longer and healthier lives
- Combating poverty and social exclusion
- Taking gender equality and equal opportunities further
2. Creative element to the solution:
- Using the arts is a novel approach to solving existing and persisting social challenge
- Art has the power to trigger behavioural changes at the individual and group level by forging new social
relationships and social capital
- Integrating art into existing social policy interventions can perform service delivery
3. Exemplary ways in which culture contributes to address Europe’s social agenda
Promotion of social
cohesion
Community
regeneration
Innovation of public
services (e.g. health,
criminal justice, etc.)
It is of course difficult to differentiate clearly between types of social impacts and many of the case studies
below will have worked on several different levels: promoting cohesion via social capital formation for
example; or using new approaches to public services in view of crime prevention. The headings below
therefore are not meant to suggest that cultural projects only have single types of impacts, but merely serve
to illustrate the kind of social impacts that cultural activities can have.
3.2
Culture and social capital formation - strengthening social processes
Contemporary interests in social capital formation152 and in the potential of cultural activities to develop
such capital have led researchers towards an ‘ecological’ view of the role of cultural activities within
communities – taking into account a variety of agents, including organisations, and their links with one
152
Putnam, R. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2000.
81
another – rather than simply focussing on individual cases and outcomes. From such perspective, culture
contributes to strengthening the social ties among multiple communities and actors and thereby nurtures
individual as well as organisational well-being.
Notions of social capital seek to build upon the insights of human capital theory153 and site the asset value
within social relationships, not individuals. One role for cultural activities is thus to develop these
relationships. More recent work154 has sought to distinguish between:
–
–
–
‘bonding’ social capital, which cements groups of like-minded individuals (and can often be
destructive, as in criminal gangs);
‘bridging’ social capital (weaker links across more diverse groups);
‘linking’ social capital (links between groups with different levels of power or social status).
Those who argue that cultural participation is beneficial to social capital formation usually have bridging or
linking social capital in mind, particularly that which promotes links across generations, social classes, ethnic
or religious groups. The assumption here is that artists as well as artistic projects strengthen the social fabric
of a community. They thereby make it more resilient and provide the ground for people to develop
imaginative and creative solutions – in business as well as in social domains.
Jeanotte155 argues that those who participate in cultural activities are more likely to volunteer in other
capacities, and volunteering is often used as a measure of social capital. Other researchers suggest that
participation in cultural events has more influence than other kinds of events when it comes to developing
other elements of social capital such as trust and tolerance.156
In many cases, cultural institutions themselves function as ‘third spaces,’ allowing the mixing and blending of
different groups. In the case study below, this is an express intent of the project; in other cases, it is more of
a beneficial side-effect. A recent study157 of mixed-media venues in the UK (for example FACT in Liverpool,
the Cornerhouse in Manchester or Watershed in Bristol) argues that such cultural centres act as ‘hubs for
inter-disciplinary relationships.’ Many of these mixed media venues began as art house cinemas and have
since developed a variety of digital media offerings combined with social, educational and business
development roles. Beneath the informal structures of such organisations lies a network of often long-term
personal relationships which are the real mechanism by which collaboration is effected. However, their
153
Becker, G., Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to
Education. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1964.
154
Aldridge, S.. and Halpern, D., Social Capital: A Discussion Paper, Performance and Innovation Unit, UK Cabinet Office,
London, 2002.
155
Jeanotte, M. S., Just Showing Up: Social and Cultural Capital in Everyday Life, SRA, Department of Canadian
Heritage, 2003.
156
Stole, D. & Rochon T., Are All Associations Alike? Member Diversity, Associational Type and the Creation of Social
Capital, American Behavioural Scientist, Vol 42, 1998, No 1.
157
Fleming, T., Crossing Boundaries: Cross art-form and media venues in the age of 'clicks' not 'bricks', Arts Council
England, London, 2008.
82
success also depends on remaining ‘porous’ and consistently open to collaborations. The multi-purpose
character of the institutions enables them to maintain such openness. Although these establishments often
receive cultural funding for their core programmes, that is showing films, they also frequently bid for other
public resources for educational and other activities, which forces them to develop a wider range of
networks and collaborations.
Case study: Heritage, Memory and Local Population (Poland)
The programme Heritage, Memory and Local Population was a project funded by the European Union
Culture 2000 programme, which sought to strengthen local communities in four Member States through
innovative arts projects surrounding multiple heritage sites. The programme sought to raise awareness
among local communities concerning their historic and social links with heritage monuments and of the
various possibilities these monuments offer for an active participation, especially for young and socially
deprived people. By specifically focussing on strengthening the social ties and relations between individuals,
groups and institutions – both private and public, it can be regarded as a flagship project in the context of
arts-supported social capital formation.
The biggest project of the programme, ‘Nova_Huta.rtf’, took place under the lead of the Malopolska Cultural
Institute in Nova Huta, a quarter of Krakov (Poland) which was built around steelworks as a ‘socialist’ model
area in the 1950s. The abbreviation ‘rtf’ in the project name stands for ‘relations, text, form’, which
summarises the main objectives: to build relations between people, whilst exploring personal stories and
cultural texts using a number of artistic forms. In particular, the project aimed to develop sustainable links
between two communities – the often unemployed steelworkers residing in Nova Huta and other residents of
Krakow – but it also aimed to build intergenerational networks.
There were several activity strands: Firstly, weekly debates were held with local inhabitants to discuss a
concept for the future (artistic) use of the Nova Huta market square which was then submitted to the local
authority. Such a participatory element linked to a cultural initiative is typical of arts-based interventions that
have a social objective and tends to be a powerful means to create local community buy-in by people that
may perceive art as out of touch or elitist. Secondly, artists created ‘business cards’ of the city (including
posters, role playing games and arts installations in public spaces), helping the community of Nova Huta to
experience and reclaim their surroundings anew. Moreover, nine volunteers collected stories and
experiences of Nova Huta’s residents, having received journalistic and interview training. Finally, an
exhibition of objects belonging to the first inhabitants along with young people’s commentaries and
reflections on these objects and the subject of emigration was organised in the market square, and thereby
establishing a link between the areas younger generations and its rich past.
As a result of the Nova_Huta.rtf project many local residents have extended and strengthened their social
networks and links. For example, during the preparation phase of the exhibition, older people shared their
experiences with young residents, and these stories not only constitute an insightful resource for the present
day generation, but through them both groups could explore their relationships with each other in a new,
83
collaborative context. Also, the project led people to stronger engage with their neighbourhood, in particular
by getting involved in the conceptualisation and planning of local spaces. Thus people had the opportunity
to establish links with the local authority and to influence local decision-making. Apart from that, local
residents also engaged with Nova Huta based institutions such as the local Museum and the CK Norwid
Cultural Centre, some of them for the first time.
3.3
How culture can help achieve social policy objectives in new ways
In recent years, policy makers have increasingly started to think about how culture can be used to creatively
meet a range of social policy objectives.158 Policy areas in which culture has successfully helped in this
respect include social cohesion, urban regeneration, physical and mental health and crime prevention. In the
sections below we introduce ways in which cultural interventions can contribute to social transformations in
some of these areas and present a selection of case studies.
3.3.1
Promoting social cohesion
Policymakers’ interested in cultural impacts on social policy at the group level tends to focus either on
specific marginalised groups – such as offenders, the homeless or refugees - or on ‘community issues’ such
as social inclusion, neighbourhood regeneration or community and civic cohesion. In some cases, the split
between these approaches is not as clear as it appears; although the language in the latter case is more
inclusive, the communities targeted for ‘renewal’ tend indeed to be those that have high numbers of
relatively marginalised citizens.
Social cohesion can be defined as a set of shared norms and values for society which also encompasses
the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and helps to ensure that those from different backgrounds
have similar life opportunities. It is the ability of cultural activities to help us express specific cultures, while
also developing strong and positive relationships between people from different backgrounds in the
workplace, in schools, and within neighbourhoods.
The notion of intercultural understanding is key to what we mean by social cohesion – and this is where
most commentators159 see cultural activities as having an impact. Carole Scott’s work,160 for example,
suggests that both professionals and the public agree that museums contribute to social cohesion, both by
making ‘people feel they belong to a common heritage’ and making them aware of other heritages.
158
Reeves, M, Measuring the economic and social impact of the arts: A Review, Arts Council, London, 2002.
159
Linley, R. and Usherwood, B, New Measures for the New Library. A Social Audit of Public Libraries. Centre for the
Public Library in the Information Society, The University of Sheffield, 1998 and Harris, K, Open to Interpretation:
Community perceptions of the social benefits of public libraries. BLRIC (Report 88). CDF, 1998.
160
84
Scott, C, ‘Museums and impact; curator’. The Museum Journal. (Vol. 46, No 3, pp 293-310) 2003.
Case study: Abolition ‘07 (UK)
Abolition ’07 was a project developed and delivered by the Hackney Museum in London, marking the
bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The project worked with local groups from a
variety of ethnic origins including African/Caribbean, Hungarian, Malaysian, etc. The aim was to explore the
issue of enslavement, its abolition and the legacy of enslavement on the communities living in Hackney (a
North-London borough) through a variety of community consultation events, drama workshops and an
exhibition.
The project has successfully attracted underrepresented and socially excluded groups including ethnic
minority communities, young people and older people. The theme of Abolition ’07 has enabled a wide
audience to increase their understanding of cultural heritage and the impact of enslavement on the
communities of Hackney. Some of the younger participants have related to their ancestors and learnt about
their own heritage, as one teacher explained: “The Caribbean and African heritage – children could make
connection with their history”.
Moreover, the pupils had a real opportunity to explore their identity, pride and cultural heritage: “Children
today really really need to have this experience, especially children of African and Caribbean backgrounds.
They are so lost, not knowing themselves. I work in a pupil’s exclusion educational programme with many
children from an African background who frown on the fact that they are African [whereas in this project] the
whole experience was extremely powerful and enlightening.”
Although this was not a specific aim of the project, it brought together participants from a wide range of age
groups and there have been examples of intergenerational links; for example through the young people
working with writers and performance poets and students working with practising visual artists.
3.3.2
Regional and local regeneration
Regeneration is a broad term, one that, according to Evans and Shaw, is place-based (concerned with a
specific geographic area, neighbourhood or town) and encompasses environmental, social and economic
aspects. Territorial communities have their own culture and history which adds to the quality of people’s life.
They also share their own development issues which may include below the average gross national product
contribution, skills shortages, demographic trends, unemployment, high levels of disadvantaged minorities,
and other issues. In such challenged areas, community workers look at a range of policy interventions to
help people to engage, to develop social and economic skills and to master their own future. There is
increasing evidence that art as well as cultural interventions can act as a lever in this respect.161 Thus
culturally-led regeneration is far more than a mere improvement in the local environment, but it should also
161
Popple, K; Scott, S. Arts in Our Community: Interim report of the Research Evaluation of Plymouth’s Water Front
Project. Development of Social Policy and Social Work. University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK., 1999.
85
ensure improved employment opportunities, increased health and well-being and enhanced quality of
life.162
Culturally-led regeneration is often linked with the idea of iconic or destination buildings, many of them being
art (particularly modern art) galleries and museums.163 The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao is perhaps the
best example of this in Europe, and it is one that many other cities have tried to emulate in the past decade.
A cultural icon in a depressed, post-industrial city, the high profile capital project was joined by other major
infrastructure projects, notably a high quality underground rail system, designed by Norman Foster. The
short-term benefits were impressive; a worldwide transformation of the city’s image, indicated by a large rise
in tourism. Overseas tourism increased by 43% between 1994 and 2000, while domestic tourism rose by
even more (58%) over the period.164 Large-scale festivals, such as the European Capital of Culture (ECoC)
scheme, may have similar effects. Research on the ECoC Liverpool 2008 indicates that direct impacts of the
ECoC on visitor figures are positive: at the start of 2008, there was a high proportion of first time visitors to
the city (24% of all visitors from outside Merseyside in Jan-Apr 2008) and 77% were influenced to some
extent by Liverpool ECoC when deciding to visit.165
However, the sustainability of such large-scale events has been questioned. Gentrification as a result of
such large-scale and high-profile initiatives is another issue often raised.166 Nevertheless, several authors
including Gertler167, Bradford168 and Bottomley169 et al argue that cultural investments can have a specific
role in making city-regions both competitive and more socially sustainable, in particular when finer-grained,
more local initiatives are concerned.170 Mark Stern argues that smaller, community-based arts groups can
have just a dramatic effect on a neighbourhood as major arts institutions, without the harmful effect of
gentrification, as it stimulates renewal “not through direct economic impact, but by building the social
connections between people”.171
162
Evans, G. and Shaw, P., The Contribution of Culture to Regeneration in the UK: A Review of the Evidence, DCMS,
2004.
163
Baniotopoulou, E., ‘Art for whose sake? Modern art museums and their role in transforming societies: the case of the
Guggenheim Bilbao’, Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies, 7, 2000.
164
Garcia, B., ‘Cultural policy and urban regeneration in Western European Cities: lessons from experience, prospects for
the future’, Local Economy, Special Issue: Cultural Policy and Urban Regeneration, 19(4), 2004.
165
166
167
Impacts 08, Benchmark Indicators Update, December 2008.
Op. cit. Evans, G. and Shaw, P., 2004.
Gertler, M. Creative Cities: What are they for, How do they Work and How do we Build them? Background Paper F/48.
Canadian Policy Research Networks [Online],.2004.
168
169
170
Bradford, N. Creative Cities. Background Paper F/46. Canadian Policy Research Networks, 2004.
Bottomley, MacDonald, Poetker and Stewart, 401 Richmond, [Online],.2003.
BOP Consulting, New Directions in Social Policy: Developing the Evidence Base, London: Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council, 2005.
171
Stern, M. and Siefert, S., Culture Builds Community: Evaluation Summary Report, SIAP, University of Philadelphia,
2002.
86
Such local regeneration is also being supported by the European Regional Development Fund, one of the
key means to achieve the EU regional policy objectives which include convergence (stimulating growth and
employment in the least developed regions), regional competitiveness and employment, as well as
European territorial cooperation.172 The fund aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion by
redressing regional imbalances across Europe. The European regional policy does recognise a potential
role for culture ‘in support of socio-economic development, sustainable tourism and improved regional
attractiveness.’173
Culturally-led local development in disadvantaged regions
The town of Medzilaborce174 and its surrounding region is one of the most peripheral Slovak regions and
suffers from very high unemployment rates (13.5% in March 2007). The overall objective of a project in the
region was to accelerate local development of tourism and thereby to contribute to local job creation and
regional development. In doing so, the local stakeholders recognised the need to be unique and innovative
in comparison to other cities. The key innovative element of this plan was developing a new local
development tool based on art as a driving element.
The central idea was to market the city internationally using the link to Warhol. The project’s activities
focused on three key tourist locations in Medzilaborce: the town centre, the town's leisure and sports park
(with amphitheatre) and the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art (AWMMA). The renovation and new
elements of infrastructure were designed following Andy Warhol’s Pop Art style. The works, co-financed by
the European Regional Development Fund, included renovation and new construction of pavements,
parking sites, public lighting, facades of selected buildings as well as the introduction of a new town
information and street information system. Another part of the plan was the partial reconstruction of the town
amphitheatre. The endeavour also included the creation of a replica of Andy Warhol’s parents’ village.
The initiative was welcomed by the local citizens as it drew attention to their role in local life as well as the
local private sector. The image of the town has significantly changed and with an improved local
environment, tourism figures have risen and new private activities in tourism services (e.g. restaurants,
guesthouses) have been initiated.
An increasing number of academic studies seek to capture the social and economic regenerating effects of
arts-based interventions on community development.
172
L 210/1, Regulation (EC) No. 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the
European Regional Development Fund, Official Journal of the European Union, 2006.
173
L 210/1, Regulation (EC) No. 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the
European Regional Development Fund, Official Journal of the European Union, 2006.
174
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/projects/practices/details.cfm?pay=SK&the=93&sto=1449&region=ALL&lan=7&obj=
ALL&per=ALL&defL=EN.
87
Stern & Seifert analysed data maintained by the City of Philadelphia and found that cultural presence is
associated with broader neighbourhood improvement. Among Philadelphia neighbourhoods that were lowincome in 1990, roughly 15 percent underwent economic revitalization— defined by above average poverty
decline and population gain—over the next decade. Yet, if the block group had a high regional cultural
participation rate, the chances that it would revitalize were twice as high.175 Moreover, their collaboration
with The Reinvestment Fund demonstrated that within Philadelphia block groups with the most serious
housing market problems, areas with high levels of cultural engagement were roughly three times more
likely to have had decreasing poverty and increasing population during the 1990s. 176
While there remains a need to collect accurate statistical data concerning these impacts qualitative findings
suggest that such interventions can lead to a greater understanding of different cultures, more skills in
community leadership and management; and a stronger sense of local identity as well as a feeling of
“ownership” and responsibility.177 Effects at the individual level included improved levels of self-expression,
communication, feeling good, working hard, pride in the making, having fun and feeling as part of a team.178
Of course, culture and art cannot independently achieve the regeneration of a community in decline. But
they can act as complementary forces that go hand in hand with a variety of structural and capacity-directed
interventions (e.g. better facilities and infrastructure, education, social services, etc.).
The following case study specifically examines the ability of community media initiatives to stimulate local
regeneration. Community media are a specific form of “third-tier” media (next to commercial media and
public service broadcasting) which encourage the volunteering by members of local communities.
It involves participatory creative media production and has lately received priority attention by the European
Parliament – also because of the social and cultural effects it has.179
Case study: Community Media practice, skills development and local community renewal (UK)
Community Media initiatives exist across the European Union and take shape in a number of different ways.
The social and cultural aims of the different initiatives are usually what sets them apart. For example, a
Community Media programme in Hungary may have a stronger focus on integrating marginalised ethnic
minorities (such as the Roma) into the public sphere while an initiative in the UK will most likely be focussed
on local regeneration efforts and skills development.
Radio Regen is a Manchester based Community Media station with the goal to foster media and
communication skills as a way to promote social inclusion and regional regeneration. In essence, the
175
176
177
Stern, M. & Seifert, S., Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Harvest Document, University of Pennsylvania, 2007, p. 48
Stern, M. & Seifert S., Culture and Urban Revitalization: A Harvest Document, University of Pennsylvania, 2007, p. 49
Kay, A., Art and community development: the role the arts have in regenerating communities. Community
Development Journal. OUP. Oxford, 2000.
178
179
88
CAFÉ ,Arts Awareness Intervention. Dublin, 1996.
KEA Study on Community Media in the European Union, European Parliament, Brussels, 2006.
initiative does so by enabling individuals from the Greater Manchester area which have no professional
background in media production to create radio and television programmes that are then broadcast on local
channels.
Since 1998 Radion Regen has enabled more than 5,000 residents of disadvantaged areas of Manchester,
Salford and the North West to get on air and thereby achieved many of the above benefits. Radio Regen
has been an influential advocate for the establishment of strong links between Community Media and other
social policy objectives. With regards to learning and skills development it has achieved the teaching of
media literacy skills as part of the English National Curriculum. It has also implemented 6 partnerships with
local schools to promote communication and IT skills through radio production and broadcasting sessions.
Finally, Radio Regen has created the Community Radio Toolkit that provides advice on how to start, run and
finance a CM initiative. This toolkit is available online and provides valuable advice to CM volunteers and
activists.
3.4
Innovating public services
Improving the delivery of public services – services provided through or financed by governments for their
citizens – is an important objective of Member States and the European Union. Increasingly policy makers
turn their attention to public sector innovation, as well as improved delivery of such services.180 Such focus
can include new methods of funding (such as public-private partnerships), new ways of communicating with
the public (political blogs) or innovation in wider areas such as democracy (e-voting or citizens’ juries) to
international affairs (the International Criminal Court).
The role of design in public services
The most common form of public sector innovation is the reform of public service delivery. Design, if
understood as a structured creative process, can play a key role in finding innovative and practical solutions
for complex problems.181 In particular, design-led thinking can improve service delivery by developing more
personalised services, managing risk by prototyping new ideas on a small scale first, identifying inefficiency
thus improving value for money and by giving users more control.182
The UK Design Council piloted a range of live public sector projects to test this approach. One of the
projects was the ‘Move Me’ project centre on a small school in Northumberland. The project looked at the
school community’s mobility needs and explored how they could be better served by combining existing
services in smarter ways – for example, the planning of integrated journeys, vehicle sharing, or better use of
community vehicles such as minibuses. Also, a toolkit was developed for transport providers who wish to
improve access to their services. Ultimately, the project team designed a reliable and ecologically
180
181
182
Mulgan, G., Ready or Not? Taking innovation in the public sector seriously. NESTA, London, 2007.
DTI, Economics Paper No. 15 – Creativity, Design and Business Performance, HMSO, London, 2005.
Design Council, The role of design in public services, 2008.
89
sustainable transport service that helped this particular rural community and also provides a model that
would work elsewhere.
The role of culture in innovating public service delivery has not received much attention in public innovation
literature,183 but cultural advocates have stressed the importance of culture in creating trusted
institutions.184 Indeed, art and culture can benefit public service delivery and innovation in a variety of ways:
–
–
–
–
Firstly, many cultural services are also public services – funded out of taxation and responsible to
their public – public service broadcasters are an example of this and many make much of their
reputation as ‘trusted media providers;’185
Secondly, participation in cultural activities can emphasise a feeling of belonging in society, as in
the social cohesion case study above, which also increases trust in the public realm and public
services. Culture can therefore help to bring certain public services closer to their constituents;
Thirdly, some public services have pioneered new methods of collaborative feedback and decision
making by means of integrating creative media innovations – online discussion fora, social
networking sites, online petitions allow the public to interact more easily with public services;
Finally, some public services promote participation and involvement, often of marginalised groups –
the development of community media and community arts more generally are good examples of
this.
Another kind of public sector innovation is the attempt to change institutional forms through cultural
intervention. This can be well exemplified by looking at the case of healthcare delivery below.
Improving healthcare delivery
Europe’s ageing society is forcing policymakers to confront a range of issues from well-being in later life, to
ensuring that pensions and healthcare systems are sufficiently well-funded to deal with changing
demography. In addition, many now accept the links between poor health and other social issues such as
poverty, unemployment and low levels of education, while an increasingly holistic’ view of health –
encompassing physical and mental well-being – is becoming better-understood.186
It is this background, particularly the more holistic view of health, which provides the rationale for many
cultural organisations to work in the health/mental health sphere. There are essentially two types of activity
that cultural organisations pursue in this field:
–
183
184
185
186
90
Arts-based activities that aim to improve individual/community health by addressing the social
determinants of health – including issues of poverty, unemployment and social isolation;
Mulgan, G, Ready or Not? Taking innovation in the public sector seriously. NESTA, London, 2007.
Holden, J, Cultural value and the Crisis of Legitimacy, Demos, London, 2006.
Davies, Gavyn, The BBC and Public Value, London, Social Market Foundation, 2004.
WHO, Holistic Health. World, Health Organisation, 2004.
–
Healthcare delivery that uses arts-based approaches to enhance the healthcare environment.
Whereas the first type of activity can be seen as seeking to address social policy objectives (as the
interventions mentioned in paragraph 3.2), in this section, we will focus on the second type of activity which
has innovation of the healthcare service and environment as its primary objective. This includes the use of
the arts in operative and post-operative recovery. A review of the medical literature on healthcare delivery
using cultural approaches shows that there are a number of medical areas in which there is evidence that
clinical outcomes have been achieved through the intervention of art.187 For example, research has shown
that visual art and live music greatly diminished the levels of anxiety and depression in cancer patients
having chemotherapy treatment.188 Patients exposed to music during or after an operation reported
significantly lower pain intensity and required fewer analgesics in the immediate post-operative period than
those patients not exposed to music.189 With regards to mental health, an evaluation of the role of
therapeutic theatre as a method of therapy for people with deficits in communication, cognition and social
skills showed a positive effect in alleviating these disabilities.190
Other work has focussed on the impact of art on hospitals themselves. Leather et al191 has looked at the
impacts from new environmental designs in both in-patient and out-patient areas. Results included the selfreported, such as reduced levels of stress and increased levels of positive environmental stimulation;
together with measurable outcomes such as shorter post-operative stay and reduced post-operative drug
consumption.
As such, the outcomes of arts interventions tend to be oriented towards clinical outcomes and/or improving
the standard of care provided by practitioners, but they could also include the education and training of
practitioners, and the introduction of works of art into the design of healthcare environments. Some projects,
such as the example below, feature elements of all these approaches.
Case study: Culture à l’hôpital en Rhône-Alpes (France)
The project ‘Culture à l’hôpital en Rhône-Alpes’ is embedded into the national programme ‘Culture et
l’hôpital’, a programme supported by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the French Ministry
of Health and Solidarity, private companies and foundations in France that seek to encourage collaborations
between cultural organisations and health institutions, and the development of cultural strategies for
187
Lelchuk-Staricoff, R., Arts in Health: a Review of the Medical Literature. Arts Council England, 2004, a Research report
36.
188
Staricoff, R., Loppert, S., ‘Integrating the arts into healthcare: can we affect clinical outcomes?’, in Kirklin, D.,
Richardson, R. (eds). The Healing Environment: Without and Within. Royal College of Physicians. Chapter 5, 2003.
189
Nilsson, U., Rawal, N., Unosson, M., ‘A comparison of intra-operative or post-operative exposure to music – a
controlled trial of the effects on postoperative pain’, Anaesthesia, 58, 684-711, 2003.
190
Snow, S., Damico, M., Tanguay, D., ‘Therapeutic theatre and wellbeing’, Arts in Psychotherapy, 30, 2, 73-82, 2003
191
Leather, P. et al., A comparative study of the impact of environmental design upon hospital patients and staff, Institute
of Work, Health & Organisations, University of Nottingham, 2000.
91
hospitals.192 Extended by a number of objectives, the first regional convention in Rhône-Alpes (2001-2005)
aimed at reinforcing the human dimension of the hospital and at rethinking the global approach to the
patient, as well as at improving the quality of life of patients and caretakers in health establishments. It also
sought to encourage exchanges between different workforces within the hospital. The second phase of the
programme (2006-2008) widened its objectives by also aiming to open up the health establishments to the
community and to encourage exchanges with the city in which it is located. The overall goal was thus to
transform a public service through cultural activities, as well as increasing social cohesion.193
The first phase of the project was funded with 380,000 € by the Regional Agency of Hospitalisation (Agence
régionale de l’hospitalisation Rhône-Alpes – ARHRA) and 50,000 € by the Regional Cultural Directorate
(Direction régionale des affaires culturelles en Rhône-Alpes – DRAC). A total of 43 health care
establishments participated in the programme. The second phase is being funded by ARHRA (380,000 €),
DRAC (100,000 €) and the Rhône-Alpes Region (100,000 €). The funding is normally granted for one year,
although in the current phase, a three-year grant can be made to those projects which have been running
for at least three years during the first phase of the programme. The individual budgets for each project
range from small-scale grants of 800 € to large three-year funds of up to 35,000 €. The programme is now
coordinated by Hôpital Innovation Culture (HI-Culture), an organisation comprising representatives of public
and private health care establishments, and national health care federations.
The projects implemented as part of this programme include a wide range of activities and cultural domains,
such as dance, theatre, circus, music, writing, plastic arts, photography, film and heritage. Most of the
activities are being carried out in the form of ateliers which are then opened up to a larger audience by
means of a theatre performance, an exhibition, or the production of a DVD or a publication. The projects
involve the participation of patients, caretakers and/or administrative staff. The number of participants varies
according to the scale of the projects, ranging from as little as 6 people in one atelier up to approximately 25
persons. Similarly, each of the presentations or exhibitions involves smaller or greater numbers of
community members; from around 200 up to 3,000 people for an exhibition project in the Lyon based
psychiatric hospital, ‘La Ferme du Vinatier’. Most projects last for one year (or one cultural season) but some
projects have continued over several years.
At the end of each year, all projects submit an evaluation report to HI-Culture, which summarises the project
activities, number of participants and describes the performance against the set objectives. Moreover, in
2004, ARHRA and DRAC (Rhône-Alpes) commissioned an external evaluation of the programme that was
carried out by the University Lyon 2. This evaluation focussed on the impacts of the programme on
participating health care establishments, as well as looking at the management structure of the programme.
An evaluation of the second phase of the project is currently being produced.
The 2004 evaluation demonstrated that the programme had led to a process of rethinking and questioning
existing professional practices, conceptions and hierarchies. The cultural activities happening in the health
192
Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Rhône-Alpes et Agence Régionale de l’Hospitalisation Rhône-Alpes "Il
suffit de passer le pont: Restitution du groupe de réflexion régional ‘Culture et Hôpital’, 2001.
193
Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Rhône-Alpes et Agence Régionale de l’Hospitalisation Rhône-Alpes
Convention Culture-Hôpital, 2006-2008.
92
care institutions interrupted certain routines, such as the timing of meals or the use of wards for particular
activities. To a certain extent, the patients thus re-captured control over their own time and space, whilst the
medical staff had to adapt to the new situation when e.g. the physiotherapy ward was being transformed into
a dance atelier for a few hours each week.194
It also established new terms in the relationships between caretakers and patients. This meant that a new
approach to health care services was developed, focussing more on its human than on its technical
dimension. One paralysed patient explains this change as a result of his participation in a theatre
performance: ‘What I want is that people look at me when I’m on the stage. To be able to look at yourself, to
listen to yourself, to applaud yourself, means that you are not only a mere resident, but you are becoming a
human being.’
Finally, the programme allowed the health care institutions to reconceptualise their role in society and there
are indications that it changed the way the establishments are being perceived by the community, e.g. due
to them offering a new dimension as a location for arts exhibitions and cultural performances.195 These
relationships between the health care institutions and communities are further interrogated in the current
evaluation.
Since this is a national programme, similar projects are being carried out across other regions in France.
Culture’s contribution to crime prevention and criminal justice
Another example of the attempt to change institutional forms in view of social objectives is the criminal
justice system. Criminal justice policy differs widely across the EU but administrations are concerned to
reduce re-offending rates and this – together with basic skills acquisition - is often the aim of cultural projects
in prisons. Artists commonly work in prisons and with young people at risk of committing crime.
Research undertaken in California compared two samples of people leaving secure establishments.196 The
first sample focussed on people who had participated in an arts programme at least once a week for a
minimum of six months. The second sample contained all people leaving secure establishments in California
over a period of five years. The comparison found that those people who had participated in art programme
were less likely to re-offend than those who had not. Two years after release 69 per cent of those who had
taken part in the arts programme had not returned to custody, compared with 42 per cent of all those
released.
Drama-based approaches have been used to improve the literacy skills of prisoners. In one UK example 15
prison establishments took part in a drama programme over three years, with 77 per cent of participants
successfully completing the projects. For example, a 90-hour drama-based project at Send prison was
194
Herreros, Gilles, Les petites liaisons Culture-Hôpital: Variations sur le vital, Evaluation of the convention ARHRA-
DRAC/Irco, 2004.
195
196
Ibid
Arts Council England, The arts and social inclusion: evidence on impact, 2003.
93
highly effective in helping inmates to improve articulacy and communication skills, as measured by City &
Guilds examinations, 81 per cent of the women inmates gained these qualifications at the highest level.197
Case study: Archeological and conservation training for prison detainees (Italy)
Between 2001 and 2003 the Italian penitentiary of the area of Rebibbia, together with the city of Rome,
initiated a project that took a completely new approach to future crime prevention. The idea was to provide
archaeological training to criminal offenders based in the Rebibbia prison.
The course was aimed at providing training that could be used by offenders to get a job in the
archaeological field and thereby to achieve their rehabilitation, whilst at the same time providing them with a
learning experience that could enhance their personal knowledge and comprehension of society. The
exhibition project aimed at teaching the offenders skills and abilities related to museological work, as well as
offering them a way of sharing their learning experiences. At the same time, the exhibition’s goal was to
make accessible never-exhibited archaeological objects to visitors, and to promote a new image of Rebibbia
as a historical heritage site rather than as a slum hosting the city’s biggest prison.
The first training course started in September 2004. Lasting for 11 months, it provided 10 offenders with 500
hours of training in three modules: History of the Ancient world, Methodologies and techniques of
archaeological excavations, and Care of the green areas within archaeological sites. The course also
included practical activities such as the cleaning and marking of archaeological artefacts that had been
discovered during an excavation in the area of the prison. The second training course started in January
2006, lasting until April 2007.198
The ultimate goal of the project was to help the offenders find a job. Indeed, two offenders who were
released in 2007 have been offered a job in archaeological excavation but for personal reasons had to deny
the offer. Another participant chose to take up university studies in cultural heritage management. In terms
of wider social impacts, it can be noted that all participants are now free and none of them is re-offending.
Furthermore, the project generated great attention for the prison in newspapers and TV. The exhibition has
become the first stop of any high-profile visitor to the prison.
197
Unit for Arts and Offenders, Getting our act together: literacy through drama in prisons. http://www.a4offenders.org.uk,
2002.
198
Da Milano, Cristina, ‘Thanks to what I am learning I am a better person’, Adults Learning, February, vol. 17, 2006, n. 6,
pp. 14-16.
94
3.5
Conclusions
Europe’s renewed social agenda Opportunities, access and solidarity in 21st century Europe199 recognises
the need for social policy to be crosscutting and multidimensional in areas from labour market policy to
health, education, environment or immigration. However, there is hardly any reference to culture. While the
EU European Agenda for Culture200 seeks to integrate culture into wider policy frameworks that include
lifelong learning, citizenship and intercultural dialogue, most social policies forget about the potential of
cultural activities as creative and innovative instruments for achieving social objectives.
European social policy has to cut across diverse policy realms, including health, immigration, labour market,
education and multiple other domains. It needs to be transversal and should help to establish a social fabric
that supports the vulnerable and poor while enabling all others to realise their own potentials. Culture is
uniquely positioned to help produce this creative and resilient social fabric that is required to bring European
social policy into the 21st century. It is a social resource that is equally available throughout the European
Union. Moreover, culture-based interventions epitomise Europe’s social policy principles: culture and art, in
a unique way, combine the capacity to stimulate individual creativity and to motivate people with their ability
to establishing a sense of connectedness and community spirit.
Artists are among the most sensitive observers of social conditions and those who express the wish to
should be encouraged to help fight social exclusion, skills shortages, urban or rural decline and other ills
with their creativity. At a time when the principle policy focus rests upon the potential of culture to transform
our post-industrial economy an equal share of attention should be paid to the social benefits of culture.
199
European Commission, Renewed social agenda: Opportunities, access and solidarity in 21st century Europe, CEC,
Brussels, 2008.
200
European Commission, European agenda for Culture in a globalizing world, CEC, Brussels, 2007.
95
96
CHAPTER 4
CREATIVITY AND LEARNING
Society in general and education in particular play a crucial role in developing and advancing creativity.
Amongst the different factors that influence creativity the learning environment is important: it may comfort,
stimulate or “kill” personal ability. The learning system is itself dependant on a social context which gives
more or less value to creativity features in assessing abilities: intuition, emotional intelligence,
craftsmanship, imagination. Given that, as Czikszentmihalyi argues, “it is easier to enhance creativity by
changing conditions in the environment than by trying to make people think more creatively”201, policy
makers need to pay specific attention to how to shape favourable learning conditions.
“Creativity in learning is about fostering “flexibility, openness for the new, the ability to adapt or to see new
ways of doings things and the courage to face the unexpected.”202
Because art requires a divergent cognitive process and the ability to think in analogies or in a non linear
way, it is able to help us break down artificial boundaries between different disciplines.203 This ability to
work and collaborate across different disciplines is also important in future project-based work. Art’s other
main benefit, when being mainstreamed throughout the whole curriculum, is that it creates eager learners
and helps to prevent them from being early school-leavers. Because art is an enjoyable discipline, it
generally induces motivation and commitment. According to Gardner204, younger people learn better when
they are actively involved. Amabile described ‘intrinsic motivation’ as the main factor for creativity to be
aroused.205 Art, because it engages pupils’ activity under “critical thinking” and encourages them to produce
independent judgements, is a way to avoid the passivity that characterises students in many classrooms. It
can thereby trigger their interests in other disciplines.
Education is often seen as simply developing academic abilities and rewarding achievement through
formative assessment. However, less academically able children may have other powerful abilities that lie
dormant. Such children are usually resentful of their ‘failure’ and don’t feel as bright as children with stronger
academic results. Equally important is the fact that an undue emphasis on product rather than process is
likely to frighten children away from originality. Taking risks without fearing failure is the cornerstone of
creative endeavour.
201
202
203
Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Cropley, Creativity in education and learning, a guide for teacher and educators, Routledge, 2001.
Hilpert, Changing emphasis in school art programs, in Fortieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of
Education: Art in American Life and Education, Bloominton, IL: Public School Publishing Company, 1941.
204
205
Gardner, Art, Mind and Brain: a cognitive approach to creativity, Basic Books, 1982.
Amabile, Creativity in Context: Update to The Social Psychology of Creativity, Perseus Publishing, 1996.
97
This section makes the strong case that arts schools and arts-related disciplines should play a larger role in
this learning transformation in the entire education process, including higher education as they can help
students to develop the creative skill sets needed to be real innovators and entrepreneurs.
Such emphasis on the role of creativity in learning and skills development is in line with current trends in
policy making at EU level. Education has been given a new impetus with the implementation of the Lisbon
strategy.206 Moreover, the European institutions have highlighted important links between creative learning,
entrepreneurship and culture by including a strong learning theme in the European Year for Creativity and
Innovation.207 Governments increasingly emphasise the importance of developing citizens’ “creative capital”
and thereby lead schools and other learning institutions to a curriculum reform, which includes introducing
arts education and culture-based activities at an early stage in the learner’s development.208
Yet, the relationship between arts education and the creativeness of Europeans is not as obvious as it might
appear. Increasing the level of arts education in school, higher education or lifelong learning does not
inevitably result in generating more creative people. This chapter examines how arts-education and culturebased activities in learning can make learners more creative. This is done in several steps:
–
–
–
–
First, expert views concerning the link between culture and creativity in learning are examined.
Subsequently, an overview of how the link between culture and creativity is addressed in selected
learning policies is provided.
Thirdly we review selected strategies and cases of best practice concerning the integration of
culture and creativity in learning in school, higher education and lifelong learning.
Finally, some preliminary conclusions concerning the role of culture in fostering creative learners
are drawn.
Issues of learning and education are, of course, closely linked to most of the economic and social
challenges shaped by constant technological innovation, migration, demographic transformations, as well as
climate change. The boundaries between policy realms that address these issues are very porous and
related policies cannot be considered in isolation. Yet, by examining the role of learning and education in a
special chapter, this study emphasises the important role that Europe’s institutions, as well as its teachers,
trainers, and professors have to play in ensuring that the future of Europe is a creative one.
Despite an extensive literature review, many consultations with learning experts across the EU and the
stakeholder workshop that was held in Brussels in February 2009, it is necessary to mention the
methodological constraints that this exercise entails. The role of art in education varies greatly across
Member States and regions. In fact, it differs from institution to institution. Moreover, best practices very
206
Report from the Education Council to the European Council The concrete future objectives of education and training
systems (5980/01).
207
208
Op. cit. Cropley, 2001, p.136.
Sharp, Le Métais, The Arts, Creativity and Cultural Education : an International Perspective, QCA and NFER, London,.
2000.
.
98
often develop from the bottom up. Consequently, it is difficult to paint a complete picture of the role of art
and culture in fostering creativity in learning. This chapter should therefore be considered as an overview of
current trends and developments, indicating what works and what seems to be out of date in relation to the
challenge of putting creativity at the heart of Europe’s learning strategies.
Based on the theory and research findings we propose a simple model to conceptualise how culture
contributes to creativity in learning.
1. The conditions of contemporary society and the “new economy” require
people to be more creative
2. Creativity in learning involves:
“flexibility, openness, the ability to adapt or to see new ways of doing things and
the ability to face the unexpected”
3. Progressive arts education and culture can help to create “creative learning
ecosystems”. The success factors of such ecosystems are examined in
schools
4.1
higher education
institutions
life long learning
settings
How culture stimulates creativity in learning
Despite a general consensus concerning the importance of creativity little attention has been paid to the way
in which art and culture can enhance the creativity of learners. Yet, most psychologists agree that learning
and educational environments are among the most important factors that shape creative capacities (next to
the family and the work environment).209 210 211 In this context, two somewhat contradictory assumptions
often surface. As mentioned earlier, Sir Ken Robinson (like Guildford and Gardner) states that everyone
maintains creative capacities and that it is the “school that kills them.”212 On the other hand, there is a
widespread assumption that art and culture in education generally foster the creativity of learners. The
following section examines this relationship.
209
210
Amabile, Creativity in Context: Update to The Social Psychology of Creativity, Perseus Publishing, 1996.
As referred in Davies Creative teachers for creative learners – a literature review TTA Research and Development
Award, 2004.
211
212
Csikszentmihalyi, Society: Flow and Psychology of discovery and invention, Harper Collins, New York, 1999.
Robinson, K., Out of our minds, Learning to be creative, Capstone Publishing Limited, 2001.
99
4.1.1
The relationship between culture and creativity in learning and education
A consistent theme is inherent to most models concerning the process of creative thinking, namely that
creative thinking involves purposeful analysis, imaginative idea generation and critical evaluation and is a
balance between imagination and analysis.213 Munro established in 1941 that artistic skills were about
“perceiving, imagining, desiring, reasoning and experiencing emotions.”214
On a different level, Koestler defines creativity as ‘the ability to make connections between previously
unconnected ideas.’215 With this definition the contribution of art and culture-based learning to creativity
becomes more apparent. In contrast to every other discipline, there is no right or wrong answer in art. As
there is an inherent ambiguity in artistic expression, arts education requires learners to apply abstract
reasoning and very active thinking.216 By placing the learner in the situation of uncertainty, arts education
forces him/her to take risks and to make choices in the face of a multiplicity of possible answers.
Furthermore, Fowler explains that arts-based learning gives learners a feeling of satisfaction by realising
their own personal potential.
The assumption that art helps to stimulate creativity obviously strongly depends on the way art is taught.
Indeed, students that receive arts education are not necessarily more creative. Artistic disciplines are often
taught in a traditional ‘left-brained’ way and put emphasis on repetition and imitation.217 For example, visual
arts in primary school are often limited to colour preprint outlines or to copying what is seen according to a
set of rules. Students learning music are taught techniques and how to read musical symbols. Yet, even in
higher education institutions the composition of music is generally absent from teaching curricula. But,
students should learn how to express their own musical thoughts and then learn to encode them. For
Fowler, the aural process comes before the musical symbols, just as we speak before we learn how to write.
Critics of current arts teaching practices claim that contemporary arts teachers hide behind the idea that the
interpretative act is a creative one. Yet, when students are asked to imitate and when the answers are
handed to them, they do not exercise their minds in a creative way. They do art but they do not experiment,
evaluate and translate intuitions into artistic constructs. Munro observed that ‘too often we teach art without
asking how we can best develop the power to think and imagine artistically.’218
4.1.2
How can we put art and creativity back into learning?
What becomes clear is that the key question is not how much art and culture are integrated into the
curriculum but rather how they are integrated. Imagination, divergent thinking and intuition need to be
considered as important characteristics of progressive arts education – by schools, universities and further
213
214
Plsek Working paper: models for the creative process, Paul Plsek and associates, Inc.
Munro, The Psychological approach to art and art education in Fortieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study
of Education: Art in American Life and Education, Bloominton, IL: Public School Publishing Company, 1941.
215
216
217
218
Koestler, The Act of Creation, London: Arkana,1964.
Fowler, Strong Art, strong schools, Oxford University Press, 1996.
Ibid.
Op. cit. Munro, 1941.
100
education providers. The frequency with which learners are exposed to art and cultural education needs to
be combined with sustainability and quality.219 Bamford’s theory of quality underlines this. She claims that if
the quality of arts education is poor or intermittent, it tends to inhibit rather than expand creativity.220
The following provides a rare example of evidence concerning the impacts that art- and culture-based
learning can have on learners’ creativity:
BIP – creativity schools (Germany)
The BIP creativity schools (BIP stands for Begabung, Intelligenz und Persönlichkeit – “talent, intelligence,
personality”) were created in the late 1980s in Leipzig, Germany. The schools were born initially in the
context of an experimental project to study the development of children’s intelligence and creativity through
special art classes embedded in the general curriculum. Eight classes in different areas of the city were
chosen, (four experimental and four control groups). Each experimental group had an additional four hours
of special classes dedicated to artistic expression, computer use and chess, musical education, dance,
creative use of language etc.
In 2007 an independent study of the creativity of elementary school children was conducted by PERLE221
on a sample of 17 classes in “BIP-creativity schools“ and 21 state school classes. The results show that the
children participating generally had better results in school, were proficient at reading much earlier than
others, their musical and artistic skills were much more advanced, and that they were better at
understanding literature, writing, and speaking. In “creative” subjects these children showed above-average
abilities. Several of them became professionals in dance, music and computer science. Children were more
active, less bored, knew what they wanted and asked for diverse activities on weekends.
Transferability of creative skills
If art and culture contribute to making learners more creative and if creativity is a skill requirement that
increasingly cuts across different disciplines, there is a need to examine whether art - or culture-based
creativity can be transferred to other learning domains. Psychologists have done so.
Craft showed that “conjuncture thinking”– an open-minded, generative style of thought characterised by the
question “what if…?” – can benefit the investigative process in science or mathematics. It enables children
to perceive new relationships between number and shape.222 Craft continues to extend this theory of
219
Bamford, A,. Wow Factor, The: Global Research Compendium on the Impact of the Arts in Education. Waxmann
Verlag GmbH, 2006.
220
221
Ibid.
Greb, K., Faust, G. & Lipowsky, F., Projekt PERLE: Persönlichkeits- und Lernentwicklung von Grundschulkindern.
Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 2 (1), 100-104, 2007.. http://www.springerlink.com/content/t6128074123h0l6n/
222
Craft, Creativity across the Primary Curriculum: Framing and developing practice London: Routledge, 2000.
101
creative overspill to areas such as ICT and web-design and thus provides arguments to proponents of an
interdisciplinary approach to arts education, who – among other things – advocate the mainstreaming of art
in non-artistic disciplines in schools, universities and in lifelong learning.
Other research confirms that art, if taught appropriately, fosters a set of transferable academic skills –
creativity, intellectual risk-taking and the ability to see multiple solutions to a problem – and that it also
enhances students’ self-identity.223 The advantage of arts is that by its own nature, it is more prone to the
application of creative teaching which can then be transferred to other disciplines.
Interestingly, research (e.g. Levi Strauss, Piaget, Bruner and Gardner) on contemporary cognitive theories
shows that learning involves developing webs of concepts and categories that we need to interpret.
“Experiential learning”, in this context, is learning through reflection on doing. Like the previously outlined
theories on design thinking and the experience economy, this notion proposes an experience-centered
approach to solution formation. Cultural expression puts experience at the heart of any process of thinking,
feeling and doing. Art and culture can thus help learners to transfer their conceptual artistic skills (both
analytical and synthetic) to other learning domains.224
The benefits of an interdisciplinary approach
Finland has long been widely recognised for the quality and progressiveness of its education system. The
Finnish education system is remarkably built around art and cultural expression and participation.
Hargreaves225 claims that the system is a successful example of integrating art into the entire school
curriculum. Yet, his description of how science and technology are also increasingly the focus of Finnish
education policy shows how different policy goals can be brought together in an integrated education
strategy which fosters links between previously separated realms of activities.
The Finnish example indicates that exposure to art in different disciplines enhances a student’s prospects of
learning and achieving in general, by virtue of the creative process it entails. As Cropley underlines,
creativity is a capacity to be applied in all contexts in all subjects to all children. It should not be reduced to
a collection of set exercises carried out at fixed times as part of a “creativity programme”. 226
The potential of art and culture in learning
Art is commonly segregated from other disciplines in curricula. All schools have art in their curricula, but it is
usually considered less important than other disciplines, especially numeracy and literacy, and its
contribution to preparing pupils for the practical challenges of the world is understated. The older pupils are,
the less arts education they get, unless they choose it as an option.
223
Burton, Horowitz and Abeles, Learning in and through the arts: curriculum implications. In Fiske (Ed), Champion of
change: The Impact of Arts on Learning.
224
st
Grumet, No one learns alone in Putting the Arts in the picture: reframing education in the 21 century, Columbia
College Chicago, 2004.
225
226
Hargreaves, The long and short educational change in Education Canada, Canada Education, 2006.
Op. cit. Cropley, 2001.
102
This image, creating two impermeable realms, is reflected in school curricula in both the number of hours
and the budget assigned to arts education. As Arnstine puts it, “arts are traditionally justified on the grounds
that they provide wholesome recreation, salutary therapy, cultivation of taste or vocational preparation –
these are not bad reasons for teaching art but they are not compelling enough to keep them from being
among the first school studies to suffer when budgets are cut.”227 Consequently, art seems thus far to
reside outside the mission of schools as an outlier of the overarching process of learning.
Steiner-Waldorf education
The Steiner-Waldorf education is a pedagogical method based on Rudolf Steiner’s educational philosophy.
The first Waldorf School opened in 1919. It is nowadays one of the largest independent educational systems
in the world with about 1000 schools and 1400 kindergartens. A main characteristic of Waldorf schools is the
interdisciplinary nature of the learning process which integrates practical, conceptual and artistic elements in
each lesson. Imagination plays a central role. Waldorf education systems aim at developing thinking that is
both creative and analytical. One of Waldorf education’s central principles is that schools should be selfgoverning and that a high degree of creative autonomy should be left to teachers.
The UK Department for Education and Skills, which conducted a report228 on the differences in curriculum
and pedagogical approach between Steiner-Waldorf and mainstream schools, recommended that schools in
the state sector would benefit from some Waldorf strategies, especially with regard to the Waldorf approach
to art and creativity. A 2008 report by the Cambridge-based Primary Review found that Steiner-Waldorf
schools achieved superior academic results to English state schools. An international study was conducted
to determine if there was a significant difference between the creative thinking ability of Waldorf students
and state school students in England, Scotland, and Germany. The sample consisted of 1,165 third through
sixth grade children.229 The findings obtained from administration of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking
Ability, suggested that Waldorf students were more creative than their state school peers.230
Two additional surveys complete the picture of the impact of creative learning. In the US, a survey shows
that Waldorf alumni are three times as likely as the general U.S. college population to have studied arts and
humanities. Also, up to twice as many go on to study science in college, including both life sciences and
physical sciences231. Their primary characteristics are the integrative quality of their thinking and their
creative and imaginative capacities. Another survey was conducted amongst former Waldorf students (in the
227
Arnstine, Democracy and the arts of schooling, State University of New York. Press, 1995.
228
2005 report Steiner Schools in England by Philip Woods, Martin Ashley and Glenys Woods of the University of the
West of England, Steiner Schools in England, University of West of England, Bristol: Research Report RR645.
229
479 English, 193 Scottish, and 493 German students.
230
Ogletree, The Comparative Status of the Creative Thinking Ability of Waldorf Education Students: A Survey, 1996.
231
Mitchell D. and Gerwin D., Standing Out without Standing Alone: Profile of Waldorf Graduates, Profile of Waldorf
School Graduates. Research Bulletin · Spring 2007 · Volume 12 · #2.
103
age brackets 30-66 years old in Germany and Switzerland232 ). It shows that there is a significantly higher
number of teachers, engineers, medical doctors/pharmacists, and artists among the former Waldorf students
(in comparison with the general population statistics). Sophistication of culture and creative aspects of life
play a more significant role for Waldorf alumni than for the general population. The Waldorf school is seen to
exert a favorable influence on the development of the personality (e.g. personal sense of worth, selfassurance, creativity, flexibility) and of social competency (e.g. empathic faculties, consideration, ability to
cooperate) as well as the development of the ability to form one’s own opinion and become self reliant.
4.2
The role of culture and creativity in learning policies
A study on international perspectives concerning ‘The Arts, Creativity and Cultural Education’233 shows that
most countries’ policy strategies acknowledge that there is a link between culture and creativity in learning.
However, only a minority of them articulates the nature of this relationship and explains how it could be
strengthened. According to the researchers, most countries simply recognise “that creativity is important,
and that its development should be encouraged in schools, and acknowledge the key role of art in the
curriculum in developing creativity.”234 The following section examines more closely how the links between
culture and creativity are treated in Member States’ learning strategies. For reasons of data availability it
focuses primarily on education policy. Subsequently, we briefly review how this relationship is treated in EU
policies. Given that the European Commission has recently commissioned the Information Network on
Education in Europe (Eurydice) with a separate comparative study on arts and cultural education in Europe,
the section focuses on providing an overview of key issues and best practices rather than an in-depth
country-by-country analysis, thereby avoiding any overlap.
4.2.1
Policies in EU Member States
Most EU Member States included the value of arts education and culture-based initiatives in their learning
strategies for multiple reasons.235 Art and culture are considered important in order to raise cultural
awareness and understanding among learners. As such, they convey a sense of national cultural heritage
and at the same time create a climate of openness and tolerance. Moreover, several Member States
integrate art and culture in their learning strategies due to the assumption that this will increase the creative
capacities of learners.
232
Mitchell D. and Gerwin D., Alumni of German and Swiss Waldorf Schools , An Empirical Study on Education and
Creative Living VS-Verlag Wiesbaden,. 2000.
Sharp, Le Métais, The Arts, Creativity and Cultural Education : an International Perspective, QCA and NFER, London,.
233
2000.
234
235
Ibid.
Responses to a KEA questionnaire sent to the Ministry of Education and/or Culture of the 27 Member State in order to
get a better overview of the objectives of Member State for having arts education in primary and secondary school and its
relation with creativity.
104
An interesting example in this respect is the UK. Following Ken Robinson’s Report All Our Future236, the UK
granted creativity official recognition as one of the overarching aims of the curriculum in British schools.
According to UK education policy, school curricula should enable pupils to think creatively and to solve
problems through critical thinking and therefore eventually make a difference to society. In the UK, being
creative and innovative is believed to equip learners for their future lives, for employment and for their civil
duties.237
“Find your Talent” (UK)
The “Find your Talent” programme was put in place in 2008 to allow young people to be given a chance to
engage with cultural and creative forms on a sustained basis. It gives an arts entitlement to every child of 5
hours per week both in and out of school. It is the first time that such a fixed entitlement for every single
child has been adopted in Europe.
‘Find your Talent’ aims at giving young people the widest possible exposure to art and the broadest possible
cultural experiences so they can decide what they enjoy. The central concept is to ensure that every child
and young person experiences high-quality cultural work in order to encourage lifelong engagement with art.
The government justifies this initiative by stating that participation in cultural activities gives young people
the chance to develop important life skills such as creativity, confidence, self-discipline, effective
communication and the ability to work in teams.
The government has set aside £25 million over the next three years to establish Find Your Talent in 10 local
areas where a full range of partners will trial different ways of delivering a comprehensive offer.
Other examples include Ireland which recognises that “a purposeful arts education (…) is life enhancing and
invaluable in stimulating creative thinking and in promoting capability and adaptability”. Quality arts
education should enable all individuals to reach their full potential and to contribute to Ireland’s future
economic success.238 Interestingly, Polish learning strategies go a step further to embrace the societal and
intercultural dimensions of integrating art and culture in learning. Poland’s strategy for a national school
curriculum stresses the role that arts education can play in nurturing students’ creative attitudes – towards
themselves and in relation to the world.
It is important to stress the pertinence of developing partnership with cultural institutions or artists in
residence at schools to reinforce and complement artistic activities developed at school.
236
Robinson Report, Great Britain, Department for Education and Employment, Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education All our futures: Creativity, Culture and Education.
London: DFEE (1999)
237
Qualifications and curriculum authority, The National Curriculum: Handbook for Primary Teachers in England Key
Stage 1 and 2. London: QCA
238
Irish Department of Education and Science, Statement of Strategy 2005-2007.
105
4.2.2
Policies at European Union level
At EU level, education and training have gained an important place in the revisited Lisbon strategy for jobs
and growth. As part of this overall strategy, the Council has set Europe five learning benchmarks for 2010
(these include literacy, reduction of early school-leaving, upper secondary attainment, maths, science and
technology graduates and participation in adult learning).239 Creativity unfortunately does not feature in this
list. However, the EC’s Education and Training 2010 work programme includes “cultural expression” as one
of its eight key competences.240 While it does not link creativity to the competence of cultural expression it
recognises that creativity and entrepreneurship – another key competence – are closely related.
The EC’s 2005 proposal for a recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning241 is the first policy
document that recognises the cross-cutting value of creativity and recommends that it be streamlined across
the whole learning framework (alongside critical thinking, initiative taking, problem solving, risk assessment,
decision taking, and managing feelings). What this indicates is that there is a growing awareness among EU
policy makers concerning the potential importance of creativity in learning, but that the links between culture
and creativity in this domain still have to be further investigated and fully acknowledged. The arts do play a
role in supporting creativity; therefore it is clear that it should be taken into account when advocating the
mainstreaming of creativity in the whole learning framework. Using an interdisciplinary approach through the
arts in other learning key competences can be therefore an excellent way to develop creativity in all areas.
The European Commission has set up a working group on Education and Culture in the framework of the
Open Method of Coordination (OMC) for Culture. This new mode of governance has become increasingly
important in the EU and enables coordinated action in a sector in which the EU has limited competence. The
OMC was recently introduced in the cultural field by the European Agenda for Culture. The working group
gathers experts at Member States level to debate and secure action to form closer synergy between
education and culture.
4.3
Culture and creativity in schools
If society at large as well as the more intimate social environment in which a person develops are important
drivers of individual creativity, schools are among the most important institutions to nurture Europe’s creative
potential. The following section examines how this can be achieved through arts education and culture. It
identifies several cases of good practice across the EU in this respect.
239
Commission Staff Working Document, Progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training – indicators
and benchmarks, 2008.
240
The Key Competences for Lifelong Learning – A European Framework is an annex of a Recommendation of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning that was
published
in
the
Official
Journal
of
the
European
Union
on
30
December
2006/L394.
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_394/l39420061230en00100018.pdf)
241
Proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the council on key competences for lifelong
learning (2005/0221(COD)).
106
4.3.1
The creative learning ecosystem
According to contemporary thinking, creativity in learning is triggered by the interplay of various
environmental factors. Harrington, for example, links creative learning to the concept of a “creative
ecosystem”. A creative atmosphere, opportunities for playful experimentation, easy access to resources and
information, mentoring and role model schemes, motivational strategies and open-ended assignments are
all elements that contribute to developing a creative learning ecosystem.242 Arts education and cultural
participation can help schools to develop such a learning environment when mainstreamed in the whole
curricula. Cooperation between schools and cultural institutions might prove useful in this context.
As such, creative learning and arts education have evolved from the “laissez faire” approach proposed by
earlier teaching generations, as explained by Florence Beetlestone.243 What makes for successful creative
learning is the right balance between free and intuitive experimentation and a certain level of guidance and
mentoring. Beetlestone considers that creativity arises from holistic teaching practices that value all aspects
of children’s experience and personality. Equally important is the fact that an undue emphasis on product
rather than process is likely to frighten children away from originality. Taking risks without fearing to fail is
the cornerstone of creative endeavour.
The “testing-culture” that takes place in certain countries in the EU goes against this idea of experimenting
and taking risk without fears of failure. Sir Ken Robinson has identified the high-stakes assessment culture –
i.e. the growing emphasis on grades, numerical testing and on sacrificing everything in the interest of
improving university entrance rates - as stifling innovation and creativity.244 Instead of considering arts as a
less important subject because of its lack of economic utility, the mainstreaming of the arts is a way to
achieve high-academic results in other disciplines.
Reggio Emilia (Italy)
Reggio Emilia, a community in Northern Italy, developed a system of early childhood education that became
world-renowned for its progressive pedagogical approach, emphasising creative learning. The system,
created by parents after the Second World War, is a network of pre-schools and infant-toddler centres for
children from 3 months to six years. The central concept of the Reggio Emilia approach is that of the ‘rich’
child that is “rich in potential and competence and closely connected to adults and children around. The
Child is seen as being autonomously capable of making meaning from experience and it is adults’ role to
motivate the child.”245 Practical activities are built around individual children’s interests and focus on
creative expression. Children are encouraged to use words, movement, art, building, sculpture, drama and
242
As referred in Davies, Creative teachers for creative learners – a literature review TTA Research and Development
Award, Bath Spa University College, 2004.
243
244
245
Beetestone Creative Children, Imaginative teaching, Buckingham: Open University Press, 1998.
Op. cit. Robinson, 2000.
Mortimer, Special Needs and Early Years Provision, London: Continuum, 2001.
107
music to express themselves. To stimulate children’s creativity, all Reggio Emilia schools have their ‘atelier’,
their art studios, which is an integral part of the learning experience and where ‘atelieristas’, professional
artists, work with pupils.
The key to this approach is that the creative activities of the children, usually seen as mere playing, are
taken seriously and reflected upon by teachers who are seen as ‘partners, nurturers, and guides’ rather than
figures of authority. Teachers are rigorously trained to improvise and to respond to children’s predisposition
to enjoy the unexpected. Focus is rather on the cognitive process of children than on the achievements.
Moreover, the Reggio Approach characterises itself through the close tie-in of its community, thereby
ensuring that educational philosophy is actually realised in the day-to-day practices of the Reggio
institutions. The particularity of Reggio Emilia is that the entire citizen community supports the educational
project. This, according to several experts, is a major achievement as far too many progressive learning
theories do not master the challenge of actually succeeding in practice.
The Reggio Emilia schools have been active for the last 50 years. They are subject to constant advice and
guidance from pedagogues and educators. The learning approach has impressed and inspired school
experts from all over the world. Howard Gardner heralded the system highlighting the quality of creative
‘products’ generated by young children which has gained worldwide recognition in stimulating infants’
creativity246.
4.3.2
Four basics of developing a creative learning environment with the help of culture
Building on the foregoing outline of what makes contemporary learning creative we propose four areas that
policy makers and practitioners should focus on in order to develop a learning environment that is
favourable to creativity.
Task one: Create a stimulating physical environment
School can be a creative place as long as a few parameters are present – such as a physical environment,
both inside and outside, that is conducive to creativity.247 Barnes suggests that the ‘physical environment of
the school is a primary source of inspiration for creative teachers and the learner.’248 Children especially
need to be given a sense of ownership and permission to exercise their imagination. This requires a bright
stimulating environment which prompts activity and enquiry, offering the learner different ways to interact
and develop ideas. In the project ‘Manifesto for a Creative Britain’249, carried out by Tate Modern and
246
247
Gardner, H, The Disciplined Mind. What All Students Should Understand, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999.
Willings, The creatively gifted – recognising and developing the creative personality, Cambridge: Woodhead Faulkner,
1980.
248
Writing in Education 13-17.
249
th
Barnes, Replacing creativity Keynote lecture at the annual conference of the UK reading association, 27 March 2003,
http://creativemanifesto.tate.org.uk/
108
Creative Partnerships, more than 3,000 young people across the UK were consulted to gather their ideas on
what kind of school environment they need to be creative. Recommendations included less formality in
school and more arts and culture in the classroom, as well as creating spaces where they can vent their
individual creativity through cultural expression. Interestingly, many answers indicated that children do not
necessarily link their understanding of a creative environment to state of the art buildings, but rather to
space and a certain level of independence as well as to access to cultural resources (instruments, paint,
etc.). Progressive arts education and culture-based interventions can help schools to create such a physical
environment, which animates learners to be more inquisitive and experimental.
Task two: Creative methods for creative learners
In order to generate creative students “education needs to be creative in itself”, argues Roberto
Travaglini.250 Creative learners require creative teachers and it helps if the latter have a good
understanding of how art and culture can be used as tools in learning. Teaching creativity implies a broader
conception of the role of the teacher than traditional transmission pedagogy. Creativity needs to be taught in
an open and exploratory way which enables taking risks, failing and allowing experimentation. This is
especially the case for teaching art and culture (but applicable to other areas of the curriculum). However,
teaching is often reduced to imitation and children are still too often considered as passive recipients of
knowledge. There is a need for a blend between tradition and experimentation in teaching both non-artistic
and artistic disciplines. Of course, knowledge is important to the development of creativity. Csikszentmihalyi
argued that to be creative implies first understanding the domain.251 As Ken Robinson puts it, “individual
creativity is stimulated by the work, ideas and achievements of other people.”252 Most successful creative
people therefore have all looked at traditions, at history and culture and then built on them or moved away
from them in their own creative work.
Some of the strategies involved in creative teaching methods have already been mentioned. Creating an
atmosphere of playful enquiry, mentoring models, self-directed learning, etc. are all part of the equation. In
many countries, learning strategies also see a role for information and communication technology (ICT) in
making learners more creative. For example, France, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium make
special reference to ICT in their arts education policies.
Some new Member States have implemented the development of ICT content in their curricula. For
example, Slovenia requires teachers to encourage creativity through the use of ICT. In doing so, such
countries meet two separate objectives, namely stimulating individual creativity and increasing students’ ICT
and media literacy levels, thereby teaching them critical thinking skills and allowing them to acquire the
capacity to analyse the digital world.253
250
251
252
253
Travaligni, R., Concise notion of creativity, 2008 (not published).
Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention, Harper Collins, New York 1996.
Op. cit. Robinson, 2001.
Burnet, Learning, Education, and the Arts in a Digital world, in Educating Artists for the future: learning at the
intersection of Art, Science, Technology and Culture, ed. Mel Alexenberg, Intellect Bristol, UK. 2008.
109
Task three: Training teachers to be creative
As mentioned before to ensure that learners benefit from integrating art and culture in creative learning
processes we need to ensure that teaching and training professionals understand art and learn how to work
with it as an important teaching tool. This is the outcome of the review ‘Creative teachers for creative
learners’,254 which was commissioned after another study showed that the education system was one of
the main barriers to releasing creative potential in the UK economy and that the training of teachers featured
as an important bottleneck in that respect.255
There is a need for progressive continuing education programmes that enable teachers and trainers to learn
how art and culture can be used in creative teaching and learning.256
Task four: Establishing partnerships between schools and external cultural institutions and artists
As previous examples show, developing sustainable partnerships with artists and cultural institutions is an
excellent way for schools and other training institutions to stimulate learners’ creativity. It confronts them
with a different environment, more concretely related to art and creative professionals. Artists and cultural
institutions have a professional approach to creativity which enables the learner to experience the actual
creative process in an authentic way.
Most of the time, such initiatives are the result of bottom-up incentives initiated by the schools themselves or
by local cultural institutions. In Poland, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage cooperates within EU
operational programmes to support such partnerships. In Slovakia, the Ministry of Culture set up a project of
“cultural vouchers” to encourage children to go to theatres, galleries, libraries and cinemas. In Paris, the
local gouvernement finances the organisation La maison du geste et de l’image.257 It offers programmes at
school and outside schools managed by artists directly in the fields of theatre, video, sound, photography
and creative writing.
Creative Partnerships (UK)
Creative Partnerships in the UK is a governmental initiative first introduced as a two-year pilot scheme in
2002 in 16 local areas. It now operates in 36 areas in England and is working intensively with around 1,100
schools. It is now the Government’s flagship creativity programme for schools and young people.
The scheme funds creative professionals to go into schools in the most deprived communities in England
and work in partnership with teachers and students, offers continuing professional development to school
staff, and also provides guidance on creativity in relation to wider school improvement. The approach of
254
255
256
257
Op. Cit. Davies, 2004.
Ibid.
Op. cit. Bamford, 2006.
http://www.mgi-paris.org/.
110
Creative Partnership to developing creativity focuses on that triangular partnership between the child, the
teacher and the creative practitioner in a collaboration based on constructing learning together. Accordingly,
the four main aims are to develop: (1) the creativity of young people, raising their aspirations and
achievements; (2) the skills of teachers and their ability to work with creative practitioners; (3) schools’
approaches to culture, creativity and partnership; and (4) the skills, capacity and sustainability of the creative
industries.
In 2004/05 the programme received £25 million in funding and in 2005/06 it increased to £45 million.
Creative Partnerships has worked with 575,000 young people and 70,000 teachers, provided training to over
36,500 teachers and creative practitioners, and has employed over 4,800 creative practitioners and cultural
organisations.
In April 2006, the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) completed a survey of 510 head teachers that
revealed an improvement in pupils’ confidence, communication skills, motivation, enjoyment of school,
ability to learn independently and behaviour. As a consequence, schools are seeing improvements in young
people’s achievement and educational standards in the school, as well as improvements in teaching skills
and teachers’ willingness to take a creative approach. Ofsted who undertook an inspection during the
summer term of 2006, visiting a sample of 36 schools in six areas, reported that they had seen evidence of
significant improvements in basic learning skills.
4.4
Culture and creativity in higher education
Society requires students to develop interdisciplinary, creative and sometimes artistic skill sets. Companies
increasingly rely on artists and creative professionals to trigger business innovation in diverse areas such as
product development, human resources, marketing and communications. The social sector is in need of
entrepreneurial innovators that can help reform Europe’s social systems by applying visionary and creative
ideas.
This section therefore explores whether and how higher education (HE) institutions meet the creativity
challenges that contemporary society presents. Particular attention is given to the role of culture and arts
schools and the trends towards providing interdisciplinary study programmes that link art disciplines with
disciplines in the social sciences, business management, technology and the natural sciences.
4.4.1
Arts schools in the European Union: a new learning paradigm
There appears to be a growing interest in the transferability of arts graduates’ creative skill sets to other
sectors. Recent research commissioned by NESTA in the UK shows that fine arts graduates are well
adapted to the needs of the knowledge economy. However, it also identifies barriers to success, including
long-standing attitudes and biases regarding the contribution that arts graduates make to the wider
111
economy. Creative graduates also need to gain awareness of the transferability of their skills and to be able
to set up their own enterprises258 if they have an interest in business entrepreneurship.
Transferability of arts graduates’ skills to other sectors
Arts schools exist in all EU Member States and provide programmes including music, dance, fine arts,
design, theatre, film, crafts, new media, fashion and architecture. The key common point of all those
disciplines is that they enable students to develop their creative potential by teaching them a wide range of
artistic, technical, professional and personal skills. According to the Inter}artes tuning document259 creativity
is a skill that features in all learning of arts disciplines provided by arts schools.260
The reason why arts schools particularly nurture creativity lies in the way art is learned and taught. The
modes of teaching consist of promoting critical reflection, innovation, and the ability to question orthodoxies.
An important characteristic of arts education is that students are best able to connect with their education
through practice-based learning and experimentation.261 Divergent thinking, improvisation and experiential
learning are mainstays of all education that takes place in arts schools.262
NESTA’s report The Art of Innovation shows that fine arts graduates’ work processes are akin to the notion
of interpretive innovation, involving collaborators across sectors, industries and disciplines.263 Dance and
theatre, for example, are usually taught as part of a multi-disciplinary environment (such as the ability to
perform in public and present and control the body) that can become transferable skills (e.g. communication,
the ability to work effectively as a member of a team, risk-taking). The study shows that such skill sets are
valued in other working contexts such as the creative, managerial and entrepreneurial ones.
Examples of initiatives enabling this transfer of skills exist across the European Union but remain primarily
bottom-up. Since 1998, for example, arts schools in Belgrade have developed interactive learning and
training sessions in collaboration with a number of science departments.264 Another example is the National
College of Art and Design in Ireland which researched how creative skills nurtured through arts education
can have a positive impact in various areas such as health, medicine or local development.
258
Oakley, Sperry and Pratt, The Art of Innovation, how fine arts graduates contribute to innovation. NESTA, London,
2008.
259
Inter}artes, Tapping into the potential of Higher Arts Education in Europe, ELIA – European League of Institutes of the
Arts. Amsterdam, 2008.
260
Ibid.
261
Ibid.
262
Ibid.
263
264
Op. cit. Oakley, Sperry and Pratt, 2008.
Op. cit. Inter}artes, 2008.
112
Arts education, culture and entrepreneurship
In a recent report265 the European Commission identifies the need for the Lisbon strategy to ensure that all
graduates in the European Union are to some extent entrepreneurial. Arts graduates are no exception to
this prescription.
Entrepreneurship is foremost about doing things. It is often about taking risks, ability to work on new
projects and anticipating future trends. Arts education can teach students to be problem-solving, teamoriented, visionary and daring.266 Arts students have to develop unique perspectives and often learn that it
is this uniqueness that sets them apart from the crowd. Such strong character traits are especially important
for entrepreneurs. With the emergence of the creative economy it seems important to help would-be artists
to develop their entrepreneurial skills and help them make a living out of their artistic abilities.
Tailor-made entrepreneurship education – such as that provided at the Swansea Institute in the UK267 –
seems to better prepare arts students for establishing themselves as creative entrepreneurs.268 In Sweden,
universities and private initiatives understood that the key to promoting creative entrepreneurship was
professionalising creativity by creating new tailor-made entrepreneurial courses, as outlined by a recent
report of the Nordic Innovation Centres.269
Arts graduates are often unaware of the value of the wider skills – risk-taking, self-confidence, lateral or nonlinear thinking – often encouraged by art education.270
Creative business incubators – low-cost shared facilities for creative businesses, which are linked to arts
schools and HE arts departments – offer opportunities for students to take their first steps in business in a
supportive environment. The University of Arts and Design Helsinki introduced the idea of “incubator units”
by setting up a Design, Media and Art Business Centre in 1996. The IADE (Institute for Art Development
and Education in Finland), which offers consulting services to SMEs and entrepreneurs in the creative
sector, created a business incubator unit, Arabus, to enable start-up entrepreneurs to acquire the knowledge
and skills needed for business management and developing operations. Some of the tools used include
consulting, precision training and a network of mentors.271
265
According to European Commission communication paper on ‘Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets through education
and learning (COM (2006) 33 final), ‘entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. It includes
creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives.
266
267
268
Op. cit. Oakley, Sperry and Pratt, 2008.
Penaluna, Drawing parallels: Design pedagogies and entrepreneurship in Teacher’s Academy Paper, 2007.
Raffo, O’Connor, Lovatt and Banks, Attitudes to Formal business training and learning amongst entrepreneurs in the
cultural industries: situated business learning through ‘Doing with Others,, Journal of Education and Work, Vol 13 (2), pp.
215-230, 2000.
269
270
271
Nordic Innovation Centre, Portrait: Creative industries in the Nordic Countries, Norden, 2007.
Op. cit. Oakley, Sperry and Pratt, 2008.
http://www.iade.fi/en/yrittajyysjaarabus
113
Kunstenaars (Netherlands)
In the Netherlands, 67% of arts graduates feel that their education did not prepare them adequately for their
professional life272. Creative Co-makership is a joint initiative of Kunstenaars&CO and Kunst& Zaken
commissioned by the Dutch ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Economic affairs
to support schools in their efforts to innovate. This programme is meant to help to find ways to integrate
entrepreneurship in arts curricula and to involve potential clients (business community and social
organisations mainly) in this endeavour. The idea is to show broader professional prospects to students
beyond art galleries and the jobs classically associated with arts education.
4.4.2
Examining the creative contributions of culture to other sectors and disciplines
Based on the above considerations, policy makers and education specialists increasingly seek to combine
arts education and culture-related training with other academic disciplines. A report by the European
University Association on Creativity in higher education examines how a combination of disciplines is
favourable to creativity and how art can play a vital role in such combinations.273 The report highlights the
benefits of a mix of individual talents and experiences among students and staff, and examines how
structured exchanges between art and other disciplines are particularly fruitful ways of promoting creativity.
This trend is also supported by several influential researchers that examined how arts education and culture
could benefit different areas in economics274, science275 or technology.276
In the following section we review how arts education and culture can bring creative renewal to other
disciplines including business education and scientific as well as technology-oriented disciplines.
Creative contributions of culture to business education
It has long been an endeavour of progressive HE institutions to blend certain features of arts and design
schools with those of business schools. The reason is that arts courses and design thinking help to foster
students’ creativity, which is essential in the experience economy, in which product differentiation,
experience staging and entrepreneurship are central.
272
Huiskens, Lucie, “Closing the Gap: between education and practice” in Hello creative world: Entrepreneurship in Arts
Education, ECCE, Utrecht 2008.
273
EUA Creativity in Higher Education: report on the EUA creativity project 2006-2007 European University Association,
Publications, 2007.
274
275
276
Florida, R., The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, New York. 2002.
Bohm and Peat, Science, Order and Creativity, Routledge, London, 2000.
Pink, A whole new mind, Penguin, New York, 2005.
114
In addition to the above-mentioned focus on “experiential learning” that enables students to challenge ideas
and concepts277, arts and design programmes teach visioning and scenario-planning skills which are
essential in problem-solving situations and therefore relevant for business managers.
A report commissioned by Arts & Business in the UK shows that business schools and management
faculties increasingly use art in MBA, postgraduate and executive development programmes. It shows that
art helps to shape creative, flexible and visionary leaders and managers, and complements their expertise
and know-how.278 The report explains that art offers a mirror for management thinking and thus increases
reflexivity skills which are needed in today’s complex and fast changing business environment.
For example, some management schools use improvisation in music and drama as it places future
managers in the position of having to answer creatively to a new and unpredictable situation.279 According
to Simon Majero, visiting professor of marketing strategy and co-director of the Centre of Creativity at
Cranfield School of Management, the neglect of “the software of the brain” in primary and secondary
education means that many managers are not encouraged to develop creative skills. Majero has pioneered
a resident ensemble in the business school, the Wihan Quartet, in order to develop teamwork, a skill that is
crucial for playing in ensembles.
In Denmark, the 180° Academy was created as an initiative of seven top companies (Lego, Danfos,
Gumlink, Nokia, Bang & Olufsen, Middelfart Sparekasse and Novo Nordisk) to offer interdisciplinary
education in “Concept making and radical innovation” to practitioners and executives. The 180° Academy
believes in people-driven innovation, rather than traditional technology-based innovation. It wants to change
traditional education by merging together students with different skills and thinking styles in a praxis-oriented
learning environment. The 180° academy aims to teach professionals to develop, design and execute new
and innovative business concepts.
The learning methods are based on the aspirations and motivations of students. They make them progress
from ideation and creative concept development to business applications and commercialisation. By
choosing non-linear learning methods, the 180° Academy acknowledges the fact that linear thinking does
not solve the dilemmas of a rapidly changing world. This is why one of the core modules addressing the
different phases of the innovation process is “design methodologies” taught by designers who bring their
design tools to the creative phase of the course. The 180° Academy is an example of the application of new
learning methods achieved through interdisciplinary learning that brings together people with different skills.
Designers and design thinking is more and more involved at the decision-making level. It is important for
future business managers to understand designers’ visions and for designers to understand the business
implications.280
277
278
Op. Cit. Penaluna, 2007.
Hadfield, A creative education: how creativity and the arts enhance MBA and executive development programmes,
Arts & Business publication. 2000.
279
280
Op. cit. EUA Creativity in Higher Education, 2007.
www.180academy.com.
115
Creative contribution of culture to scientific education
A similar synergy has been acknowledged in relation to scientific education. Technological innovation and
industrial creation require a dialogue-based approach that stands at the crossroads of different disciplines
(science, technology, law, health, management, etc).281 A creative skill set will enable people responsible
for innovation management to orchestrate these inputs. The Dual design master’s degree programmes with
St Etienne Engineering School and a professional master’s programme on Landscape and Urban Space run
jointly with the Jean Monnet University and the School of Architecture illustrate this wish to foster
interdisciplinarity. In fact, all arts disciplines have a role to play in science and technology learning, because
arts education nurtures innovative thinking and contributes to personal development.282
Towards more interdisciplinarity
Innovative and paradigm-shifting ideas (whether business-related or social) are often the result of being at
the intersection of different “disciplines”. According to a study from the European Commission283, the way
forward is “to make entrepreneurship accessible to all students, creating teams for the development and
exploitation of business ideas; mixing students from economic and business studies with students from
other faculties and with different backgrounds”.
The most progressive examples of this transformation exist primarily in Northern Europe and Anglo-Saxon
countries and illustrate why successful education experiments are inter-sectoral and inter-disciplinary
learning partnerships.284
It is important to stress that such focus on merging arts education with other disciplines for economic and
social reasons should be complementary to much of the current provision. Art as well as arts education
have intrinsic value in society. There may be a danger of limiting the inquisitive and imaginative nature of
artists and arts students if arts education is confined to pursuing economic ends. The idea is rather to make
traditional business education pervasive to artistic point of views with a view to challenge traditional
perceptions and “realities”.
Faculty of Art and Economics of Utrecht (The Netherlands)
At the Faculty of Art and Economics at the Utrecht School of the Arts, in their first year of management
studies, students work with music bands, for which they develop and present business plans within two
281
Christofol and Mathieu, Creative contributions to scientific education’ in Hello Creative world: entrepreneurship in arts
education, ECCE, Utrecht. 2008.
282
283
Ibid.
European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non-
business studies, 2008.
284
Inter}artes Socrates Thematic Network, ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts) and the European Culture
Foundation, Innovation Arts and Culture 07, European League of Institutes of the Arts, 2007.
116
months. In their second year, they learn how to run the entire process of starting up a business based on
internally developed products and services in the creative industries. These business plans are assessed by
a panel of experts from banks, the Chamber of Commerce and the Entrepreneurship Academy. The most
feasible and innovative idea is eligible for a Cultural SME award. In the third year, students are engaged by
companies to work independently on a product or a service. Finally, in their fourth year, students are offered
the opportunity to open their own businesses as part of their final project. This innovative education
programme has been developed by the Utrecht School of the Arts in order to create a unique learning
environment where management and creative professionals learn to work together in a vocational situation.
This reflects the facilitator role managers play more and more in collaboration with creative professionals.
The University of the Arts acknowledged that the focus should be put on professional entrepreneurship
education which is an important skills requirement in creative industries.285
Some higher education institutions even go so far as to blend their faculties into one. Scandinavian
countries have been pioneers in bringing together higher education institutions from different fields. For
example, in Sweden the Karolinska Instituttet (medical), the Kungliga Teksniske Högskolan (technology),
Handelshögskolan (economics) and Konstfack (arts) have joined forces in the Stockholm School of
Entrepreneurship, to offer a multidisciplinary creative education focussing on innovation and
entrepreneurship.286 Finland recently initiated a paradigm shift away from technology-driven innovation
towards more human-centred innovation, as the following case study of Aalto University illustrates.
Aalto University (Finland)
The Ministry of Education, supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Finnish business sector, launched a
very innovative initiative, while restructuring its higher education system, to create a new researchorientated university from three existing academically autonomous institutes of higher education: the
Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design.
The future institution, that will start operating at the beginning of 2010, was created with a view to becoming
one of the world’s leading universities for research and education by 2020. Scientific and artistic student
communities from the three universities will be merged to provide possibilities for multidisciplinary education
and research.
The philosophy behind the Aalto University is to break down disciplinary segregation in order to enable
students to understand the skills and methods used in other areas and what people from other disciplines
might expect from them, and to learn how to communicate with people from other backgrounds. This
philosophy grew from the experience of already offering successful interdisciplinary programmes. Students
of the University of Technology have seen their learning outcomes and the standard of their results
285
Blijleven, A centre for Creative entrepreneurship,,in Hello creative world: entrepreneurship in arts education, ECCE.
2008.
286
www.sses.se.
117
improving when working together with design students. The Aalto University wants to change the learning
culture by aiming at a student-centred culture encouraging people to bring passion to learning new things
where research and artistic works that are of high quality coexist.
The main difficulties encountered relate to the challenge of merging universities of different size (the
technology university has 15.000 students whilst, the business and arts and design substantively less). The
success of this initiative depends on carrying out two tasks which strongly differ by nature: matching the
administrative aspects (application and selection of students, credits, etc) with the creation of a completely
new innovative structure. Motivation to accept the changes in the structure and aims of the three universities
is the most important challenge. Some students, professors and members of staff are very suspicious or
negative about the merger, but the majority are positive, especially the teaching staff of the technology and
business universities. About 400 members of staff and students are actively involved in building the new
Aalto University. The industry on the other hand showed unanimous enthusiasm and support.
A foundation will oversee the new institution with a start-up capital of 200 million euros. Businesses have
welcomed this initiative and are backing the University’s foundation with 40 millions euros as they call for
better quality higher education. The prospect foundation capital is 700 million euros (including 500 million
euros from the government and 200 million from industry) in 3 years’ time.
4.5
Culture and creativity in life long learning
Lifelong learning is the cornerstone of the EU’s learning strategy and strongly linked to the Lisbon goals of
job creation, growth and social cohesion. Over the past decades it has emerged as a major issue in our
contemporary knowledge society. The EU officially dedicated 1996 as the year of lifelong learning, UNESCO
included ‘lifetime education’ as a key issue on its agenda and the G7/G8 countries believe in lifelong
learning as an essential strategy to fight unemployment.
In this study, the term is understood to embrace the idea that learning takes place throughout life and in a
range of situations, and that this understanding of continuity in learning and skills development is essential if
Europe wants to remain innovative. This section examines the role of the creative process in lifelong
learning and illustrates how art and culture-based activities can help learners to develop essential creative
capacities such as self-confidence, imagination, communication skills, team-spirit and entrepreneurship. Art
and culture thereby contribute to learners’ employability, to social inclusion and personal fulfillment.
Research shows that lifelong learning can influence the creative and innovative potential of individuals,
groups, organisations and countries.287 According to management scholar Peter Drucker, creativity should
especially be fostered in lifelong learning in order to make people “work smarter rather than work harder in
the information age”.288 Many EU Member States have traditionally made strong links between culture and
lifelong learning. Some, such as Sweden, also have a political tradition of integrating cultural participation in
287
Dohmen, The future of continuing education in Europe, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Bonn,
Germany, 1999.
288
Drucker The Age of Societal Transformation in The Atlantic Monthly, November,1994.
118
continuing education initiatives.289 This section shows that this can be a future strength. However, it also
illustrates a potential which lifelong learning specialists and policy makers at European, national and
regional level have yet to fully embrace.290
The following pages specifically focus on those creative areas of lifelong learning that occur outside the
realm of formal education (schools and HE). We examine the role of culture in non-formal learning initiatives
aimed, first, at children and young people outside school and, secondly, at employees in the workplace.
Finally, several lifelong learning initiatives that are aimed at various socially excluded groups are assessed.
4.5.1
Creativity in after-school arts education
After-school arts education plays an essential role across EU countries in providing creative activities in a
non-formal learning context.291 Many of these kinds of provision are additional to mainstream education and
support either explicitly or implicitly the development of creative capabilities. As research shows, it is mostly
children of affluent parents with a high educational level who attend after-school arts classes.292
Non-formal learning settings seem to be particularly apt to offer cultural and artistic activities, since they are
not compulsory and often not assessed and thus associated with playful entertaining activities. Children
therefore experiment and develop their imagination with more freedom than in formal settings. In the context
of enhancing children’s creative skill sets, non-formal learning appears to be a good alternative to traditional
school provision as it is likely to feature important characteristics of the creative environment (e.g. as
identified in Harrington’s theory of the creative ecosystem).
The study Arts, creativity and cultural education shows how to create ideal conditions for increasing
children’s creative development: There needs to be enough time to experience art and the experience
needs to be made relevant to children. This can be achieved by reducing barriers to the introduction of
culture- and arts-based initiatives and by establishing high-quality partnerships with artists and cultural
organisations.293
4.5.2
Development of creative skills through culture in the workplace
Creativity at work and – to a somewhat lesser extend – the question of whether culture can lead to such
creativity have played an important role in recent management literature. This issue has been considered in
chapter 2 on human resource management triggering creativity (section 2.3.2.3).
289
Conclusions, A European and International research Symposium: Evaluating the impact of Arts and Cultural Education
in La Documentation Francaise, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2008.
290
Commission Staff Working Document Progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training – indicators
and benchmarks, 2008.
291
292
293
Op. cit. Bamford, 2006.
Bamford, Arts and Cultural Education in Flanders, Canon Cultural Unit, Ministry for Education Flanders, 2007.
Op. cit. Sharp, Le Métais, 2000.
119
4.5.3
Supporting disadvantaged individuals
This section highlights the patchwork of innovative projects that exists across the EU, many of which are
developed by bottom-up initiatives. However, many policy makers have yet to embrace the idea that culture
is a means to stimulate creativity in a lifelong learning context in a systematic and strategic way. We
illustrate this potential by looking at three specific areas.
Alienated/At-risk Youth
A key problematic feature of many European economies is the structural presence of unqualified and
unemployed young people.294 A major phenomenon is the presence in many cities of large immigrant and
second generation ethnic minority communities - who are frequently discriminated against and who feel
culturally marginalised. These social groups are often economically and socially disempowered. A common
feature across all the sub-groups who might fall under this description is that they have low qualifications
and have failed in or been failed by the education system. The Europe-wide belief in the value of learning as
the key process to take people out of poverty and to create growth is clearly far from the aspirations of many
young people experiencing social exclusion.
Independent projects directed at these sections of society thus tend to mix ambitions for civic renewal295
(that is, to inspire forms of pro-social and community-oriented actions) with economic aims (that is, to make
people more employable). In many cases, the programmes are culturally situated as a means to engage
and inspire youth, to attract interest and to motivate participation in learning.
From activating workshops to vocational workshops, Grodzki Theatre, Poland
The project “From activating workshops to vocational workshops”, co-ordinated by Grodzki Theatre in
Poland, is based on the conviction that young people first need to be “activated” to make vocational training
effective. Thus the workshops first had to focus on their self-development, to improve their self-belief and to
develop skills on which to base vocational training. The project aimed to support the social integration of
young people from families at risk, young offenders, teenagers from an orphanage, and young people with
drug and alcohol addictions, through artistic activities. The two-year project started in September 2005 and
the project costs of approximately 115,000 € (386,991 Zł) were funded by the European Social Fund
(Grodzki Theatre, 2007).
The project included educational and artistic workshops to work on their own performances or works of art
which were presented to a wider public at a series of events in the Bielsko-Biała area. During the course of
theatre workshops young people developed and rehearsed plays, whilst also receiving training specifically
focused on employment (e.g. how to behave in a job interview). During the course of computer workshops
294
295
See for example, Jobs for Youth: United Kingdom OECD 2008
Lauglo, Tormod, Oslahia, Education and Civic Engagement: Review of Research and a study of Norwegian Youths,
OECD, Directorate for Education in its series OECD Education Working paper number 12, 2007.
120
they were asked to reflect upon their dreams in order to develop goals for their life in general and their work
life in particular. In the course of this visioning process, they learned to use animation programmes to
produce collages and films, e.g. featuring themselves in their future life. A publication of a document entitled
“The Ordinary Extraordinary” was published as a guide book both for professionals and disadvantaged
young people, encouraging them to take part in creative activities. The book consisted of interviews with the
workshop participants about the effects of art on their lives.
A number of evaluation reports were produced over the course of the two years. Six months after the end of
the project, out of the total 277 participants, 15 had found a new job, 20 undertook volunteer work, 12
people continued employment and 195 continued education or training.
Refugees and Migrant Communities
The presence in many EU countries of recently arrived migrants, many of whom are refugees, has led to a
particular set of challenges. Often concentrated in large cites, refugee communities have a special
relationship with culture, art and expression. Many refugee communities have an explicit interest in forms of
cultural maintenance, often wanting education to support the usage of home language, and drawing on
forms of artistic expression as ways to sustain cultural roots. For example, the project of The Return of the
Swallows led by artist Els Dietvorst focussed on the Anneessens district, a “transit” neighbourhood close to
the south train station in the city of Brussels. Fascinated by this area and the local population, the artist
started researching the roots of the neighbourhood, its inhabitants, its migration flows and its historical
background. She found 33 so-called “swallows” from different cultures and social backgrounds to
collaborate with her on a six-year project. The project resulted in a series of short films, a feature film,
publications, photographs and a multi-media exhibition produced by the swallows.296 The participants were
directly involved in the creative process through writing, photography or film. Their “artwork” reflecting their
life and their culture triggered a positive critical reception. This contributed to a more positive cultural
integration into the host country.
People with Physical Disabilities and Learning Difficulties
Given that around 15.7% of the European adult workforce is made up of people who are physically disabled
or learning impaired297 and that these terms describe very large numbers of people who are able to live
productive and independent lives, it is not surprising that finding ways to harness these latent talents is a
key objective across many countries. The creative processes associated with arts and culturally based
interventions are highly valued as offering successful and proven methods in supporting integration. The
Awangarda Foundation in Poland aims to promote arts and handicraft among disabled persons. It
296
For example, Rachid Ajerrar started writing himself as a result of this project. In the last few years he wrote about a
hundred poems, a selection of which got published in a book of poetry allowing a step into his world.
Ajerrar, Ombre de nuit sur une journée ensoleillée, Firefly, 2005.
297
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Employment guidance services for
people with disabilities. 2006.
121
cooperates closely with occupational therapy workshops, where disabled persons produce unique handicraft
products.
Evaluations focus on how participation in projects supports independence and individual capacity building.
Arts and cultural interventions are often valued for the ways in which they appear to build self-esteem,
motivate alienated or disengaged people and support pro-social integration.
Divadlo z Pasaze (“Theatre from the Passage”), Slovakia
To counter a situation in Slovakia where mentally disabled people are still often excluded from social life and
treated like children, the Divadlo z Pasaze (Theatre from the Passage) was first created to produce
performances with mentally disabled actors. The aim was to help these individuals to live an independent
life by improving their creative skills, developing their personal interests and abilities, and by making them
realise their individual virtues and capabilities.
In the course of the theatre’s development, a day-care centre was established as a place where the actors
could develop their artistic skills (drama, dance, music) and also take part in more general activities
(computer skills, communication, citizenship), thus working on their career development. The project
organisers have seen remarkable changes in the actors’ lives. They are far more independent than when
the project started. The actors have developed a number of practical and social skills.
After years during which the theatre struggled to raise private funds for its activities, a three-year funding
agreement with the Ministry of Culture started in November 2005, providing a grant of 4,000,000 SKK
(approx. 130,000 €) for operational costs. At the same time, the theatre was integrated into the Slovak
Theatre Institute in 2005, which is now administrating the budget. However, most of the theatre’s activities
continue to be funded by private sponsorship and donations.
4.6 Conclusion
Both theory and practices outlined in this chapter show that art and culture can play an important role in
stimulating creativity in learning settings at all levels – in schools, higher education and in lifelong learning.
In a world where people’s skill sets increasingly need to include creative capacities policy makers should
therefore consider making art and culture-based activities an integral element of their educational and
learning strategies.
Putting culture and art nearer to the centre of learning policies requires openness and boldness. It asks
policy makers, practitioners and learners to break with traditional segregations between disciplines and
brings a sometimes isolated focus on numeracy, literacy and the natural sciences into question.
122
Another important element to creativity in education is apprenticeship and knowledge acquisition through
contacts and training with creative professionals and craftsmen. Some creative industries are at risk today
due to lack of interest in traditional craftsmanship, pillars of the fashion and luxury brand industry, for
instance. Apprenticeship is an important tool to transmit creative heritage as well as creative
experiences.298 This aspect of creative training and education should not be overlooked in life-long learning
policies.
However, developments in learning and education have always been a reflection of greater societal and
economic trends. In the business world companies have already realised that the boundaries between
research, technology, art and design are gradually becoming porous. And, particularly in higher education,
some progressive institutions have reflected on this trend and developed more integrated programmes
where art and culture play an important role. Our task for the future is thus to make such practice more
common across the EU. For only such a holistic approach will eventually help to shape a generation of
creative polymaths.
An important step that needs to be taken in this regard is to make further enquiries into the relationship
between culture and creativity in learning in order to be able to measure the success of art in education
beyond relying on anecdotal evidence and case studies.
It is important that any emerging strategy at EU and Member State level explicitly recognises the role of art
and cultural expression as catalysts for creativity. For example, EU lifelong learning policies include artistic
and culture-based policies without clearly establishing the links between art, culture and creativity. As
Cropley argues, there is a danger “that the call for creativity has become simply a catch-cry that is not really
regarded as having any serious implications for actual practice.’299
298
Richard Seymour – Untitled – event in Brussels on 12 May 2009 – www.untitled-sanstitre.eu and interview with the
Secretary General of the Comité Colbert (French luxury brand organization).
299
Op. cit. Cropley, 2001.
123
124
CHAPTER 5
A REVIEW OF POLICIES ON CREATIVITY
Over the past decade EU policy has made a remarkable shift towards focussing on supporting economic
and social innovation across the European Union. The belief that Europe has to become more innovative - if
it is to retain its global competitiveness - underlines the majority of decisions in most policy domains. In its
most recent strategies related to innovation, the EU increasingly acknowledges that innovation is a multifacetted phenomenon that depends on a variety of factors, including scientific and technological progress,
an innovation-friendly environment as well as several softer parameters, such as entrepreneurship or
education. However, upon closer examination EU policy makers have so far not succeeded in implementing
visions of more progressive, let alone culture-based creative innovation through tangible support
programmes or regulations. They thereby run the risk of missing the opportunity to position Europe at the
top of the currently emerging new economy that is significantly shaped by experience, non technology
innovation and a user-centred approach.
European innovation policy – and indeed most EU policy – is deeply interwoven with the Lisbon strategy. In
March 2000, the EU Heads of State and Government meeting at the European Council in Lisbon agreed on
an ambitious goal: making the EU by 2010 "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy
in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social
cohesion".
The Lisbon Agenda essentially focussed on boosting R&D spending by governments, universities and
corporations to a total of 3% of GDP within this decade. The belief was that growth and employment will be
achieved notably by investing in ICT industries, the flagship industries of the information society. As such,
Lisbon – as well as the follow up renewed Lisbon Agenda from 2005 – has had a significant impact on
subsequent strategic guidelines concerning innovation, such as the EC Communication “More research and
Innovation”, the Aho Report on “Creating an Innovative Europe”300, or in the EC Communication “Putting
knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU.” 301 While these strategies tend to
describe innovation in relatively open and comprehensive ways, EU regulatory and funding actions indicate
that the underlying thinking continues to essentially associate innovation with research and technological
progress.
Previous chapters have shown the contribution of culture to economic and social innovation. National public
policies are increasingly geared towards recognising that the process of nurturing creative talents and
300
“Creating an Innovative Europe”: report of the independent expert group on R&D and innovation appointed following
the Hampton Court Summit and chaired by Mr Esko Aho.
301
Adopted by the European Commission on 13.09.2006.
http://cordis.europa.eu/innovation/en/policy/communications/innov_comm.html.
125
cultural capital is essential in helping to create and sustain flourishing societies. In this chapter we review
EU policies and programmes to assess their relevance in establishing a context and social environment
generating culture-based creativity.
5.1
EU cultural and educational policy
Whilst the EU has powers over the economic environment of cultural activities and creative industries
(copyright, trade in cultural goods, competition law, state aid), culture remains at the level of subsidiary
competence.302
Culture became an explicit but limited EC competence when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993.
Culture is and will303 therefore primarily remain a responsibility of Member States. The role of the EU is to
support and complement the actions of Member States, by stimulating exchanges, dialogue and mutual
understanding. The EU's role in education, as in culture, is limited to supporting national governments.
Member States remain fully competent to organise and direct policy formation for education.
We distinguish between the place of culture and education in the EU’s internal policies and the role played
by culture in external policies of the Union.
5.1.1
Culture and education in internal policies and programmes
EU cultural policy: from cultural exchanges to a creativity policy?
The EU aims to promote cultural activities in Europe by supporting artistic networking and exchanges across
territories.304
–
302
For instance the Community's Culture programme (2007-2013)305 aims to support cultural
organisations in creating and implementing cultural and artistic cooperation projects improving the
The basis for the action of the EU in the field of culture lies in the Treaty. Article 151 states that: "The Community shall
contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and
at the same time bringing the common heritage to the fore."
"Action by the Community shall be aimed at encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary,
supporting and supplementing their action …."
"The Community and the Member States shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international
organisations in the sphere of culture, in particular the Council of Europe."
"The Community shall take cultural aspects into account in its action under other provisions of this Treaty, in particular in
order to respect and to promote the diversity of its cultures."
303
The Treaty of Lisbon of 13 December 2007 - still subject to ratification by some Member States - confirms this
subsidiary competence.
304
Source: Commission staff working document - Inventory of Community actions in the field of culture SEC(2007) 570
305
Decision No 1855/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 (OJ L372,
27.12.2006).
126
–
–
–
–
knowledge and dissemination of European cultural heritage, promoting cultural exchanges, mobility
of artists, intercultural dialogue, artistic and literary creation, and literary translation;
Other programmes are interesting from a cultural point of view ("Europe for Citizens" (20072013)306, "Lifelong Learning" (2007-2013)307, including Erasmus and Erasmus Mundus, and
"Youth in Action" (2007-2013)308), as they promote active European citizenship, stimulate the use
of foreign languages, and support multilingualism and exchanges of young people and others;
In the cinema and audiovisual sector, the MEDIA programme, in place since 1991, essentially
supports training, development and the distribution of European films outside their country of origin.
It has enabled non-national European films to reach an 8% market share on average in local
cinema markets. Media International and Media Mundus will give the Media programme a larger
international scope to foster partnerships in training and co-productions;
A range of other Community funding programmes make an important contribution to culture.
Support offered by the cohesion policy or rural development policy is instrumental in promoting, for
example, the restoration of cultural heritage and the promotion of creative industries;
In May 2007, the European Commission proposed a European Agenda for Culture309 addressing,
among others, culture as catalyst for creativity (more details under 5.2.2).
The initiative Europeana, the European digital library portal, museum and archive, was launched on 20
November 2008. The overall aim of this initiative is to make the European cultural heritage directly
accessible to Europe’s citizens and preserve it for future generations. The library is initially making available
online 2 million digital treasures (currently half from France), including film material, photos, paintings,
recordings, maps, books, manuscripts, newspapers and archival papers in French, German and English.
The European Digital Library is part of the i2010 initiative, a “European Information Society for growth and
jobs”, presented by the European Commission on 1 June 2005. The European Commission estimates that
“Europe’s libraries alone contain more than 2.5 billion books, but only 1% of archived material is available in
digital form.”310
306
Decision No 1904/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 (OJ L 378,
27.12.2006).
307
Decision No 1720/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 (OJ L 327,
234.11.2006).
308
Decision No 1719/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006 (OJ L 327,
234.11.2006).
309
310
COM(2007) 242 final.
The Commission announced on 11 August 2008 that it will allocate in 2009-2010 € 69 million from the EU’s research
programme for the digitalization and the establishment of digital libraries. The Competitiveness and Innovation
Programme allocates € 50 million in the same period to enhance access to Europe’s cultural content.
127
Creativity in education policy
In the context of the Lisbon strategy for growth and employment, the Heads of State or Government asked,
at the Lisbon Council, in 2000 for ‘a challenging programme for the modernisation of social welfare and
education systems’.
Subsequently, the Ministers of Education adopted in 2001 a report on the ‘future objectives of education and
training systems.’311 The Council and the Commission then endorsed a 10 year work programme312, the
Education and Training 2010 initiative. Using the open methods of co-ordination between Member States,
the Education & Training 2010 work programme has led to a number of initiatives supporting lifelong
learning which include setting up a framework of key competences313 that each citizen should gain to
succeed in today's knowledge society.
Creativity is not one of the key competences listed as such, but is explicitly quoted as a key-issue in relation
to the promotion of entrepreneurship (objective 3.2) and there is a key competence on "cultural awareness
and expression."314 In the 2005 Commission’s proposal for a recommendation on key competences for life
long learning315, creativity is quoted as a theme to be applied through the whole framework as it plays a
constructive role in all key competencies – alongside critical thinking, initiative taking, problem solving, risk
assessment, decision taking, and managing feelings.
More recently a particular emphasis has been put on creativity. In its 2007 Communication on “Delivering
lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation",316 the European Commission underlines the
importance of creativity in the integration of the knowledge triangle: education, research and innovation. The
311
Report from the Education Council to the European Council "The concrete future objectives of education and training
systems" (5680/01 EDUC 18)
312
Council’s and Commission’s Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of Education and training
systems in Europe (2002/C 142/01)
313
Recommendation No 962/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 (OJ L 394,
30.12.2006, p. 10).
314
The eight key competences are: Communication in the mother tongue; Communication in the foreign languages;
Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; Digital competence; Learning to learn;
Interpersonal, intercultural and social competences and civic competence; Entrepreneurship; and Cultural awareness and
expression.
315
Proposal for a recommendation of the European Parliament and of the council on key competences for lifelong learning
(2005/0221(COD)).
316
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions on “Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation” Draft 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the “Education & Training
2010 work programme” (COM(2007) 703).
128
Communication highlights the need to “ensure that all sectors of education and training play their full role in
promoting creativity and innovation.”317
This is justified by the fact that “in this increasingly complex world, creativity and the ability to continue to
learn and to innovate will count as much as, if not more than, specific areas of knowledge liable to become
obsolete.318 In February 2008, the Council and the Commission released a joint report on the
implementation of the Education & Training 2010 work programme.319
Following this report, the Council320 stressed that education and training must both provide a broad
knowledge and skills base in the population but must also contribute to ‘develop learners' creativity and
capacity for innovation. To this end, curricula on all levels should be developed to enhance the creative and
innovative skills of learners, and policy cooperation between the areas of culture and education should be
developed. For the first time, culture is mentioned in relation to this objective. The Council conclusions in
preparation for an ‘agenda for European cooperation on schools’321, whilst failing to explicitly linking
creativity to culture, emphasise the need for schools to foster creativity.
Creativity and culture in regulatory and enforcement policies
The EU also stimulates creativity through the implementation of community policies. The EC competition
authorities' intervention in the Lagardère/ Editis merger is an example of public intervention in the field.322
Lagardère was authorised by the European Commission in 2004 to acquire part of the publishing business
of Editis. The competition authorities forced the sale of some assets (representing 40% of the total turnover
of the acquired companies).323
317
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions on “Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation” Draft 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the “Education & Training
2010 work programme” (COM(2007) 703).
318
Improving Competences for the 21st Century: An Agenda for European Cooperation on Schools Communication from
the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the
Committee of the Regions (July 2008).
327
Joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the 'Education & Training 2010' work
programme "Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation" (5723/08).
328
Report from the Council to European Council on “Key messages to the Spring European Council in the fields of
Education/Training and Youth” (6445/08)
321
Conclusions of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
Council of 21 November 2008 on preparing young people for the 21st century: an agenda for European cooperation on
schools (2008/C 319/08)
322
In the Lagardère/Editis merger, the European Commission set conditions to approve the merger including asset
disposals. Similar approach was taken in the Universal Music Publishing/ BMG music publishing merger in 2006.
(decision of 22 May 2007).
323
Case M.2978 Lagardère/Vivendi Universal Publishing – 7.01.2004.
129
Securing access to cultural products and services in the marketplace will be a crucial political task in the
years ahead because of the value of culture, as a means of stimulating creativity. In this context the
importance of competition rules as a tool to promote a diverse cultural offering should be stressed as
diversity is a catalyst of creativity. Until now competition authorities’ intervention remains focused on the
consideration of the effect of market concentration (a feature of cultural industries) on consumer prices
rather than on the implementation of cultural diversity. This situation may change with the effective
implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions.
At a regulatory level the EU has adopted measures aimed at shielding local cultures, identities and
industries from market forces. This includes the ability for Member States to provide a lower VAT rate for
books and cinema tickets (Annex to the 6th VAT Directive), to establish quotas or investment obligations on
linear and non-linear services to benefit the European audiovisual sector (the Audiovisual Media Service
Directive of July 2007), to provide state aid funding for cinema and public broadcasting within certain limits,
to safeguard networks of independent book sellers etc. These measures are essentially aimed at
safeguarding local production capabilities and at enhancing audience access to these productions. Cultural
markets in Europe remains fragmented along linguistic lines. As a result the establishment of an internal
market in the audiovisual and media field remains a distant dream because of the specific nature of such
markets. Broadband networks may enable more cross-border exchanges between local cultures in Europe.
5.1.2
EU's external relations and cultural diplomacy
On a global level, the trade in cultural goods is regarded by many policymakers as something which has to
be regulated using a framework which is distinct from that which regulates more purely economic goods.
This is a consequence of a market in which market power in the global distribution of cultural goods and
services has a significant impact on the expression of cultures, their access to markets and therefore their
very existence. Cultural domination is a threat to creativity. Not because it necessarily leads to the kind of
homogeneity denounced by Adorno324 in his critique of mass culture but because it negates the influence of
other cultures and therefore undermines creativity goals and feeds intolerance.
Commercial domination is held responsible for the marginalisation of other cultures; this in turn leads to the
adoption of protectionist measures (including the spreading of piracy) or leads to a questioning of the value
of intellectual property (IP) protection as an incentive to creativity.325
324
325
Adorno, Theodor W., The Culture Industry Selected essays on mass culture, Routledge, 1991.
Lessig, Lawrence, professor at the Stanford Law School in “Free Culture” denouncing corporate greed in the
implementation of copyright rules. These lead developing countries, notably Brazil, to request WIPO to work out a
development agenda in relation to copyright.
130
The political debate on the role of regulation versus market forces in the cultural field has a long history and
prefigures the intense discussions which now surround the relationship between regulation and freedom in
other sectors, such as banking and financial services for instance.
Globalisation has stimulated calls for the international governance of cultural issues just as it has for the
environment. The EC has taken the lead in promoting cultural diversity internationally. It was instrumental
in the preparation and negotiation of the UNESCO Convention aimed at promoting cultural diversity. The
initiative stems from the belief that there needs to be a global recognition that diversity is a key tool in driving
creativity and the affirmation of identity. It affirms that creativity is fed by influences and confluences. The
convention recalls the dual nature of cultural goods and services, the need for more balanced cultural
exchanges and for more international collaboration, including preferential treatment for developing countries.
Culture is recognized as an important part of the EU’s main co-operation programmes and instruments as
well as the Union’s bilateral agreements with third countries. The rapid entry into force of the UNESCO
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions illustrates the new role
of cultural diversity at international level: as parties to the Convention, the Community and its Member
States have committed themselves to strengthening a new cultural pillar of global governance and
sustainable development, notably through enhancing international co-operation.
Therefore the European Community is negotiating provisions on cultural cooperation with certain developing
third countries on an ad hoc basis. As an example, a Protocol has been added to the EU- Cariforum trade
agreement adopted in June 2008. It aims at setting conditions to facilitate cultural exchanges without this
resulting in commitments to the liberalisation of trade. In addition, a new programme – Media Mundus fostering cultural exchanges internationally through audiovisual partnerships also subscribes to this
ambition.
5.2
The EU policy on innovation
How is innovation considered by EU Policy? Both the 2006 Communication “Putting knowledge into
practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU” as well as the Council conclusions on “a broad
based innovation strategy: strategic priorities for innovation action at EU level” refer to several forms of
innovation. For instance, the Communication specifically states that "all forms of innovation need to be
promoted, for innovation comes in many forms other than technological innovation, including organisational
innovation and innovation in services". The document also refers several times to the development of “new
innovative products and services”326 as a key characteristic of the innovation process.
326
P.2 it refers to « innovative products and services (…) commercialized in a large scale », p.3 it refers to the “creation
and marketing of new innovative products and services in promising areas” and p.6 to “new development in goods and
services”.
131
Although, the Communication does not suggest any proper definition for the concept of innovation327, it
seems that its main reference is the Oslo Manual.328 The manual in its third edition (2005) provides: “an
innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a
new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or
external relations.”329 Whilst the manual refers to the importance of design, it has yet to acknowledge the
contribution of culture-based creativity to innovation.
The Manual acknowledges that “innovation policy has developed as an amalgam of science and technology
policy and industrial policy.”330 The overwhelming majority of indicators aimed at measuring innovation
reflect this technology bias (R&D expenditure, patenting, graduates in science and engineering, scientific
publications, access to venture capital for instance). The creativity index, proposed in Appendix 3, is aimed
at addressing the shortcomings of existing innovation indexes and scoreboards with a view to take into
account indicators capable of revealing the culture-based creativity potential of a given country.
In this respect it is essential that the European Commission adopts a definition of innovation that specifically
includes creativity and culture-based creativity. Policy documents and EC programme guidelines still give
overdue emphasis to technology innovation, functional characteristics, technical specifications, processes
and organisational methods. Such processes whilst innovative may not trigger creativity. It may even kill
it.331
Furthermore the insufficient reference to culture makes it more difficult for cultural projects or cultural and
creative industries to benefit from instruments designed to foster innovation.
Take for example one of the new flagship initiatives of the EU, the European Institute of Technology (EIT).
The EC recognises the importance of education in the stimulation of innovation but identifies science and
engineering as key skills to support innovation. In March 2008 it agreed to the establishment of the EIT. The
EIT initiative aims to stimulate innovation by gathering the best in the research, business and education
sectors. The concept of innovation underlying this initiative is essentially linked to technology. Through the
objectives of the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) culture is referred too very broadly in a
rather sociological sense. It is yet difficult to assess how the KICs will operate. However when one
examines the governing board of the EIT it is clear that research in technology fields and in the natural
sciences will be the primary focus. None of the members come from the cultural sphere.332
When it comes to assessing how EU regulations recognise the value of culture and creativity, one discovers
another challenge. Article 3 of the EC treaty – which lists the activities of the EU – identifies the promotion of
327
European Commission “Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy for the EU” (COM (2006)
502 final).
328
329
330
331
332
Oslo Manual, Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, OECD-Eurostat, third edition, 2005.
Ibid p.46.
Ibid p.15.
Amabile, T., How to Kill Creativity, Harvard Business Review, Sept. 1998.
http://eit.europa.eu/about-eit/knowledge-and-innovation-communities.html
132
research and technological development as activities to be pursued to achieve the aims of the Union. Of
course, the Treaty also refers to culture. However, it limits the EU’s remit to ensure that culture flourishes at
Member State level (thus illustrating the logic of cultural competition). From such perspective, the EU’s
seeming bias with regards to fostering innovation may to some degree stem from how culture is addressed
in the Treaty.
It has to be acknowledged, however, that recent initiatives from the EC indicate that there may be a shift
towards integrating creativity in future innovation policy action. The new innovation scoreboard from 2008
includes more non-technological parameters than its predecessor and a document by DG Enterprise on
user-centred design further explores the relationship between design as a creative activity and
innovation.333 A scoreboard on design and creativity has also recently been published by Pro-Inno Europe.
Yet, it remains to be seen whether these initial attempts will be reflected in larger future initiatives.334
5.2.1
Funding support focused on research and technology-driven innovation
To encourage investment in innovation, the EC has a range of different instruments. They are essentially:
the 7th Research Framework Programme, the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme
(CIP) as well as the Cohesion Policy via the Structural Funds.
In cooperation with the European Investment Bank, the Commission has also launched a Risk Sharing
Finance Facility (RSFF) to support investment in research, development and innovation (the Community
contributing 1 billion Euros to this facility matched by EIB funding). The creative economy could in theory
benefit from such programme but it appears that cultural and creative industries do not access it. It is either
not known (or promoted) in the creative industries or not adapted to its specificities.
The Seventh Framework Programme
The 7th Framework Programme on Research and Development (FP7) has the objective of reinforcing the
scientific and technological base of European industry and fostering its international competitiveness. The
programme has a budget of over € 50 billion, for the period 2007-2013. It is built around five major specific
programmes:
333
Cooperation: Promotion of cooperation between industry and universities in order to acquire
leadership in key technology areas,
Ideas: Encouraging fundamental research “at the frontiers of science”,335
People: Encouraging mobility for researchers,
Commission Staff Working Document “Design as a driver of user-centred innovation” of 7.4.2009, SEC(2009) 501 final.
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=2784&userservice_id=1
334
Pro-Inno Europe published in February 2009 a study attempting to measure Member States’ performance in design:
“Design, Creativity and Innovation: A Scoreboard Approach”
http://www.proinno-europe.eu/admin/uploaded_documents/EIS_2008_Creativity_and_Design.pdf
335
Competitive European regions through research and innovation, practical guide to EU funding opportunities for
research and innovation.
133
-
Capacities: Supporting the development of knowledge economy,
Euratom: Supporting a new energy policy.
FP7 provides a budget line entitled “Networked Media” whose objective is to address the technological
challenges emerging from the digital revolution, which is characterized by the proliferation of audio-visual
content. The Networked Media initiative has been allocated € 86 million336 (out of the € 9 billion allocated to
ICT Research). “Research in networked media shall ensure that the whole media chain is optimised for new
ways of media consumption and creation.”337
Interestingly, the European Commission supported the establishment of an industry network which was
mandated to give the EC some directions on the priority research areas in advance of the setting up of the
new FP7 programme. Among the establishment of several so called Technology Platforms, this initiative led
to the establishment of the Networked and Electronic Media (NEM) Technology Platform. The Platform, set
up in 2005, was aimed at addressing “the convergence of media, communications, consumer electronics
and IT as a wide opportunity for future growth.”338 The composition of the network illustrates the difficulty of
FP7 to engage with the content and creative industries.
It appears as if the idea of convergence has yet to be reflected in the composition of the NEM Steering
Board. Whilst technology firms(large and small) are represented in very large numbers there is a very limited
representation of broadcasters (BBC and the EBU) and no trace of music, film, publishing or computer
animation companies. This is another missed opportunity to establish bridges and cross fertilisation
opportunities between industry sectors.
The CReATE project, funded by the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological
Development, is focusing on the promotion of ICT-innovations in creative industries.339 The following
regions are participating: Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes, Piemonte and West Midlands. CReATE seeks
to identify fields of research for promoting creative industries’ competitiveness, to support strategic
collaboration of innovative creative industry clusters in Europe, to develop support for SMEs in research and
technology transfer and to set up a pan-European platform to connect the creative industries with IT experts
and research institutions.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Programme
With a total budget of over € 3.6 billion for the period 2007-2013, the Competitiveness and Innovation
Framework Programme (CIP) is the European funding instrument specially targeted at fostering the
competitiveness of European firms, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The
programme is designed to encourage innovative activities, better access to finance as well as business
336
ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ict-wp-2007-08_en.pdf .
337
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/netmedia/mission_en.html.
338
http://www.nem-initiative.org/.
339
http://www.lets-create.eu (accessed August 2008).
134
support services. It also tries to enhance the use of the information and communication technologies (ICT)
as well as the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency.
The CIP has three programmes: the Information Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme
(ICT PSP), Entrepreneurship & Innovation Programme (EIP) and Energy Europe Programme (IEE).
One of the key instruments of the CIP to support SMEs in their growth and innovation activities is the
Enterprises Europe Network. Launched in 2008 by the European Commission, this network is a relay centre
which provides a wide range of services to companies. Combining the former Innovation Relay Centres
(IRC) and Euro Info Centres, the Enterprises Europe Network is made up of 500 organisations across 40
countries. The services of the network – next to providing advice on business collaborations across
boarders – concentrate on helping SMEs to access EU support programmes such as FP7. It remains that
the creative sector is not making use of these facilities. The European Commission should address this
point as the programme fails to benefit the non-technological sector.
The Europe INNOVA initiative provides tools and services for innovating European companies. Supported
by the European Commission since 2006, the Europe INNOVA initiative aims to “inform, assist, mobilise and
network – firm managers, cluster managers, investors, policy makers, and relevant associations - in the
fields of entrepreneurial innovation.”340
Composed of independent experts, Europe INNOVA aspires to promote regional development by fostering
innovation through panels, network, cluster maps and financing. It identifies the following as “key industrial
sectors for Europe’s future competitiveness”341: biotechnology, Food/Drink, Machinery/Equipment, Textile,
Chemicals, Energy, ICT/Electrical/Optical, Space & Aeronautics, Automotive and Eco-innovation, and two
cross-cutting themes, “eco-innovation” and “fast growing enterprises”.
In addition, the initiative is also heralded as a major initiative in the service sector. In 2007 the action “the
European Innovation Platform for Knowledge Intensive Services” (KIS-IP)342 has been implemented. This
pan-European platform aims at strengthening the link between universities, entrepreneurship and finance so
as to promote innovative start-ups in the services sector. Technological innovation as well as nontechnological innovation are covered in principle.
At present, the platform targets three sectoral networks in the fields of ICT, renewable energy and satellite
applications. DG Enterprise also provides several funding streams that could benefit to the design sector. As
part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), Europe Innova may support projects
promoting the use of design for service innovation for instance.343
340
http://www.europe-innova.org.
341
ttp://www.europe-innova.org/index.jsp?type=page&lg=en&classificationId=4955&classificationName=Sectors&cid=5133
342
343
http://www.europe-innova.org/index.jsp?type=page&previousContentId=6344&cid=9207&lg=EN .
The Programme provides funding possibilities for sectoral partnerships in relation to the European Innovation Platform
on Knowledge-Intensive Services. Design for service is one of the areas eligible for this strand which is granted 4 million
Euros in 2009.
135
Similarly, PRO Inno Europe, another CIP-based initiative, aims at fostering trans-national cooperation on
support for innovation. With a budget of 15.5 million Euros in 2009, the programme is open for support for
new forms of innovation management, including design management or service design. PRO Inno Europe
has for instance funded the Design Management Europe project.344
Cohesion Policy (Structural Funds)
Finally innovation is also funded through the Structural Funds (ERDF345 and ESF346), which are the
financial instruments of EU Cohesion policy. The purpose of the Cohesion policy is to reduce regional
disparities. In the current period it focuses on competitiveness, growth and jobs at regional level. A move
towards knowledge-based growth is therefore at the heart of the renewed Lisbon agenda which forms the
EU response to globalisation. The promotion of innovation is at the heart of EU regional policy. The broad
innovation agenda covers research and innovation, exploiting ICT, entrepreneurship measures and
innovation capacity in the human capital.347
However, on the basis of budgetary allocations as well as the existing or ongoing projects developed under
the Cohesion Policy, innovation is essentially considered as technological innovation.
Over the period 2007-2013, € 344 billion will be distributed to EU Member States and regions to achieve
Cohesion policy’s goal, including € 70 billion for the Cohesion Policy and € 277 billion for the Structural
Funds (ERDF and ESF). Of this amount 1.7% are allocated to the category “culture” whereas 25% are
allocated to the above mentioned broad innovation agenda.348 According to DG Regio € 86 billion are
specifically earmarked for innovation.
Under the Regulation of 5 July 2006 on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)349, the
category “culture” relates to the “protection and preservation of cultural heritage”, to the “development of
cultural infrastructure in support of socio-economic development” and to “aid to improve the supply of
cultural services through new higher added-value services”. In addition, some support of the Structural
Funds in the area of culture and cultural and creative industries may be covered under other categories
such as urban regeneration, tourism, innovation or information society (e.g. digitisation of cultural assets).
For these reasons, it is not possible to quantify precisely the total support of the Structural Funds to culture.
It would be useful for the European Commission to quantify the level of support given to culture through the
ERDF.
344
www.designmanagementeurope.com.
345
ERDF: European Regional Development Fund, instrument of the EU Regional Policy.
346
ESF: European Social Fund, instrument of the EU Social Policy
347
Infoview DG REGIO database, Theme Innovation, categorisation defined in the regulations (update)
348
Infoview DG REGIO database.
349
Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 Of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 2006 on the European Regional
Development Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1783/1999 available on:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/regulation/pdf/2007/feder/ce_1080(2006)_en.pdf
136
While it is therefore possible to support cultural and creative projects in several ways (as illustrated below),
consultations showed that according to regional stakeholders the somewhat narrow definition of culture will
make it more difficult to get funding for cultural projects which do not follow a specific innovation agenda in
the future. Cultural and creative industries’ projects can most likely be funded through several innovation
themes; as an example, Estonia has developed a specific window for creative industries in its National
Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013, which is the document setting up the guiding principles for the
use of the EC Structural Funds at national level. However, the ERDF regulation crucially does not recognise
the intrinsic contribution of cultural activity to local and regional development. For example, the idea that an
open air concert season – while it may not necessarily have an immediate impact on job creation contributes tremendously to the attractiveness of a city or region and therefore increases its long term
competitiveness is not explicitly reflected in the planning documents of the structural funds, although it could
get ERDF funding provided that the link with local regeneration or competitiveness is clearly made.
In the framework of URBACT350, a network on “cultural activities and creative industries, to support urban
regeneration” was co-funded from 2004 to 2006. It aimed, for instance, to encourage the exchange of
experiences and good practices regarding the role of cultural activities and creative industries in the
regeneration of European cities. The project therefore focused on the link between culture and urban
regeneration, and analyzed examples of cities that have included culture in their urban regeneration
strategies. Indeed many cities such as Amsterdam, Birmingham, Helsinki, Lille or Naples invested in cultural
activities or supported creative industries so as to regenerate their deprived urban areas. Some of them
transformed abandoned factory buildings into art centres (for instance the Kaapelitehdas/ Cable Factory in
Helsinki351), other developed cultural centres with a view to fight social exclusion (the Youth Information
Centre in Evosmos (Greece).
Under the “Region for economic changes” initiative352, launched in 2006, a number of projects were cofunded by the ERDF too. “Leading by Design: Introducing Design to SMEs” (2004-2005) is one of them. The
main aim of this project was to promote more “innovative, profitable and sustainable businesses”353 through
the use of design. Cooperation between design companies or students and businesses was encouraged.
The ERDF has also been funding the INTERREG programme since 1990. The aim of INTERREG is to help
European regions to develop joint innovative solutions and to share expertise and development costs. For
the period 2007-2013 a fourth round of programmes (INTERREG IV) has been launched. We identified
some examples of investments that have been made in creative industries.
350
URBACT is a European Programme, funded by the ERDF, which aims to foster the exchange of experience among
European cities and the capitalisation-dissemination of knowledge on all issues related to sustainable urban development.
The second cycle of the Programme, UBACT II (2007-2013), follows in the footsteps of URBACT I (2002-2006), which
rallied 217 cities across Europe to work in 38 different projects.
351
352
“Culture and urban regeneration: Case studies’ summaries”.
"Regions for Economic Change" is a new Territorial Cooperation objective for the 2007-13 programming period of
ERDF, which aims to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of regional and urban networks.
353
Case Study: « Leading by Design: Introducing Design to SMEs »,
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/interregional/ecochange/studies_a_en.cfm?nmenu=5
137
One of these is the trans-national programme dealing with creative industries relating to the North Sea
region (INTERREG IV B). The project was granted funding on the basis that one of the “core interfaces for
(innovation) growth”354 is the interconnection of technological sectors with creative industries. Creative
industries are considered as “assets for future development and economic competitiveness and as an
important location factor for the knowledge-based economy.”355
Under INTERREG IV B NEW, a consortium of cities led by Nantes (France) under the name of ECCE
innovation raised € 4 million in 2008. The ECCE Innovation project gathers together 8 European cities
throughout the North-West of Europe. It aims at fostering the innovative capacity of the creative industries in
order to access new markets. It will focus on the exchange and transfer of expertise, knowledge and
experience related to the cultural and creative industries at a regional level. It is an excellent example of
cultural collaboration across cities and regions targeting creative industries and artists.
In November 2008 the INTERREG IVC approved another creative project: "Creative Metropoles: Public
Policies and Instruments in Support of Creative Industries”. This project is intended to establish and promote
an efficient public support system for creative industries in the 11 participating cities (Amsterdam,
Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham, Helsinki, Oslo, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw).
5.2.2 Conclusion: An innovation strategy that has yet to take fully account of culture-based
creativity
When considering the issue of whether we should be creating a Europe of art or a Europe of science, the
current President of the European Commission responded that: “Certainly both are important, and
particularly since the Renaissance, Europe has excelled at both. Constant innovation in art and science has
helped Europe to enjoy rapid development and unparalleled cultural wealth (…) For Europe it must never be
a question of art or science, but (…) art and science are the legs on which Europe stands.”356
This recognition of the importance of culture at the highest level within the European Commission is a
crucial step forward. However, until now the European Commission has done relatively little to promote a
culture-based creativity strategy. Today, EU cultural policy is rather aimed at supporting cultural exchanges
(with a strong focus in terms of funding on traditional cinema (Media Programme), cultural cooperation
(Culture Programme) and heritage preservation (ERDF). It is driven by the ambition to support traditional
cultural projects with European scale rather than by the desire to stimulate a culture-based creativity that will
promote the development of a competitive and sustainable post-industrial economy in Europe.
354
355
356
“Operational Programme document for the Interreg IVB North West Europe 2007-2013”, p. 50
ibid p.14
José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, « Europe: art or science ?», speech at the Delft
University of technology, 13 January 2006
138
However things are starting to change. Indeed the European Commission adopted in May 2007 a
Communication setting out a European Cultural Agenda in a Globalizing World.357 At the same time a large
number of Member States are reflecting on policy strategies to stimulate cultural and creative industries.
The European cultural agenda is built on three interrelated sets of objectives:
–
–
–
the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue;
the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy for
growth and jobs;
the promotion of culture as a vital element in the Union's international relations.
It is the first time that an EC policy document has made explicit reference to culture as a catalyst for
creativity and thus linked culture to the Lisbon strategy. In the framework of the implementation of this
Agenda, the Ministers of Culture of the 27 EU Member States have highlighted the role of culture in boosting
creativity and innovation in Europe and recognized that a strategic investment in culture, as well as in
cultural and creative industries was vital for strengthening a dynamic creative society and creating jobs in
the European Union, in Council Conclusions adopted on 12 May 2009358. The commissioning of the
present study is part of an overall reflection on the role of culture in stimulating creativity. We have also
seen that the concept of creativity (albeit not necessarily linked to culture) is increasingly integrated in EU
policy decisions relevant to education.
However despite recent efforts (essentially in the field of design since 2008) and isolated examples, EU
innovation policy is still largely focused on technology and science. We estimate that innovation funding at
EU level amounted to € 146 billion over the years 2007-2013 (FP, CIP and Structural Funds) whilst
investment in culture amounted to approximately € 3 to 4 billion by combining the Cultural and Media
programmes with some funding (estimates) from structural funds. Unfortunately the European Commission
does not track the allocation of funding to cultural and creative industries’ projects outside the Media and
Culture Programmes. An innovation policy which implementation has given the prominence to technological
and scientific progress is prone to lose sight that economic change is also crucially dependent on the
stimulation of culture-based creativity.
Innovation policy should integrate culture-based creativity:
357
358
-
The design and implementation of programmes and their guidelines seems to give innovation a
sense which does not sufficiently embrace creativity in general and culture-based creativity in
particular.
-
Research and the FP7 have made little effort to integrate culture and creative sectors in the
research programmes. Creative sectors, and especially SMEs, are not represented in some
programmes, such as the NEM platform.
Communication of 10.5.2007 COM(2007) 242 final
Council Conclusions on Culture as a Catalyst for Creativity and Innovation. Full text: http://ec.europa.eu/culture/our-
policy-development/doc/CONS_NATIVE_CS_2009_08749_1_EN.pdf.
139
-
Financial support (whether through EC programmes or the European Investment Bank (EIB) is
geared massively to science and technology in a traditional way with little consideration of the role
of creative industries in the ICT uptake for instance or the role of culture-based creativity in product
development.
-
Support initiatives for SMEs are targeting technology set ups as a matter of priority. Whilst not
specifically excluding the creative industries, major efforts remain to be done to engage with the
cultural and creative sector.
-
The intellectual property right strategy is focused on patent and awareness raising in the
technology sector Copyright or “droit d’auteur” is not heralded as a major driver of creativity. On the
contrary, EC innovation policy documents sometime questions the suitability of IP mechanisms
notably in relation to rights management or reward to creation359, focusing as a matter of priority
on the development of new services rather than on the financing of creative outputs throughout the
EU. Intellectual property is a key tool to reward creators and investors in creation.
-
There is little statistical data on the importance of the creative sectors (currently being addressed
by EUROSTAT working with national statistical offices, albeit with very limited resources360).
-
The Innovation scoreboard is only starting now to incorporate measurements relating to creativity
(albeit related to design essentially). The lack of relevant, internationally comparable statistics in
this area hinders rapid development measurement tools.
-
The valuation of intangible assets should be subject to examination in the context of the review of
accounting standards.
Finally it is important to acknowledge in policy documents that boundaries between business, science and
technology as well as those between consumption, research and development and production are
increasingly blurred. This implies that in today’s economy innovation emerges as a result of business
collaboration, the utilisation of new technologies in diverse domains, including the use of creativity and the
engagement of users in the creation of new products and services. Creative individuals and companies from
the cultural and creative industries should be considered as partners in the quest for innovation.
359
For instance p.7 of EC communication on Innovation of 13.09.2007 (COM (2006) 502 Final or the EC attempts in 2006
to phase out “copyright levies” ( right to remuneration to compensate for private copying).
360
Eurostat, Cultural Statistics : The cultural economy and cultural activities in the EU 27, Cultural employment in 2005,
29 October 2007
140
EU policies on innovation need to recognise the cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary aspect of “creativity”
which, thus defined, mixes elements of “artistic creativity”, “economic” as well as “technological innovation.”
Scientific
Innovation
Technological
Innovation
Economic and
Social Innovation
Cultural Creativity
In March 2007 the European Council recognized the particular role of cultural and creative SMEs as drivers
of growth and innovation in Europe361. On 13 March 2008 it then stated: “A key factor for future growth is the
full development of the potential for innovation and creativity of European citizens built on European culture
and excellence in science.” Later in December the same year the Council of the European Union adopted
conclusions pointing out the importance of architecture‘s contribution to sustainable development362.
5.3
Overview of EU Member States’ strategies to stimulate creativity
“Culture as symbolic value, as the production of “significance”, but also more down to earth as functional
design that enhances user friendliness… is something difficult to imagine being without in today’s economy!”
(Dutch Strategy Paper on Culture and the Economy)363
361
362
363
European Council conclusions of March 2007.
Council’s conclusions on architecture: culture contribution to sustainable development (OJ 13.12.2008 C319/13).
Strategy paper from the Dutch Government (2005).
141
The contribution of culture to economic transformation and, albeit more recently, its cross-cutting capacity to
stimulate creative solutions across a range of societal areas, has moved onto the agendas of policy makers
throughout Europe. While a more comprehensive review of national strategies concerning the development
of creativity is included in appendix 2, this short summary indicates that several countries already today
invest into multi-sector strategies to integrate creativity into mainstream economic and social policy.
Naturally, these attempts vary greatly in terms of how the cultural and creative sectors are defined and in
terms of how their contributions are perceived (different definitions of the cultural and creative industries
across the EU had already been illustrated in the study The Economy of Culture in Europe364).
The UK has been among the first Member States that have formulated a comprehensive creativity strategy.
“Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy”, published in 2008, addresses the role of creativity
across a range of domains/issues, including the economy, education, research and innovation as well as the
social sectors. The strategy on the one hand acknowledges the value of individual creativity, skills and talent
while it also clearly spells out the case for healthy and dynamic copyright-based industries that create jobs
and contribute to national GDP.365 Sweden, by contrast, goes beyond a sector-based definition by shifting
its focus to “the individuals and companies… whose primary function it is to create or deliver experiences in
one form or another”. The Swedes thereby embrace the wider concept of the Experience Industries.
Denmark is embracing the toy industry (Lego) and Italy the industry of taste (“industria del gusto”), thus
illustrating how each EU Member State sets different priorities in their attempt to foster their creative
potential.
The trend towards acknowledging the comprehensive contribution of culture and the creative industries to
development is also reflected in Germany, where the federal government has for the first time in February
2009 published a comprehensive strategy to support the cultural and creative industries. It notably argues
that several economic support measures need to be reformed in order to better facilitate the inclusion of
creative companies. Furthermore, it illustrates the importance that creativity and non-technological
innovation play in triggering economic transformations across different industrial sectors, arguing for a
rethink of traditional technology-oriented innovation policy.
France, which invented the concept of cultural policy366, seems to remain attached to the concept of cultural
industries and emphasises the social dimension of the sector over and above its economic significance.
France’s focus on culture is a resistance to an exclusively economic vision and illustrates French policy
makers’ belief that such approach would have a negative impact on identities and “true” creation.
France’s sectoral definition puts the work of art as well as the work of the individual author at the centre as
opposed to focussing on the industrial process leading to creation. Under this policy, France is the country in
the world which is probably best equipped to support its creative industries (through notably regulation or tax
364
365
366
Op.cit KEA p.33 and p.46.
Creative Britain: New talents for the New Economy, Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), UK, 2008.
The history of the French State is intrinsically linked to the administration of art and culture. See Jacques Rigaud,
L’exception culturelle, Culture et pouvoirs sous la V Republique, Grasset, Paris 1995 p.21 to 36.
142
incentives367). However the French administration is torn between a policy which is on the one hand
essentially driven by economic consideration and on the other hand by the desire to preserve creation from
economic imperatives and the logic of markets or economic liberalism (“l’exception culturelle”). This debate
exists all over Europe but is the most vivid in France.368
Concerned that a policy for creativity may lead to the “dissolving of the unique features of the economy of
culture into the general economy”, France is reluctant to embrace the concept of creative industries.
However in November 2006, at the initiative of the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry, a
report was published to highlight the importance of the creative and intangible economy. This report
highlights that creativity is not really integrated in industrial policy actions “which continue to privilege a very
technological conception of innovation.”369 On the initiative of President Sarkozy, a Council for artistic
creation was set up in February 2009 to reflect on the establishment of a creativity policy.370
5.3.1
A variety of approaches to support creativity in Member States
“In the coming years, the creative industries will be important not only for our national prosperity but
for Britain’s ability to put culture and creativity at the centre of our national life.”
(UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Creative Britain, UK, 2008371)
What becomes clear through this assessment and what is further illustrated by the review of national
initiatives in appendix 2 is that some progressive Member States are currently testing a variety of policy
measures to mainstream culture and creativity across different policy realms. In parallel, governments
increasingly attempt to measure the actual economic and social contributions of the cultural and creative
industries to society.
It should be highlighted that policy initiatives for creative industries are usually managed by Ministries of
Culture apart from Finland, which has made creative industries a priority of the Ministry of Employment and
Economy and in the Netherlands, which strongly links the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry of Economic
Affairs in relation to policy developments. Similarly, in Germany, the Ministry for Economic Affairs and
Technology is responsible for implementing the forthcoming national cultural industries strategy.
Most strategies related to creativity are deeply interwoven with governments’ initiatives to stimulate the
development of cultural and creative industries. Only a few of the strategies reviewed address the issue of
creativity across further policy realms, such as social development, regional development, education,
training and higher education as well as research and innovation.
367
KEA, Tax Credits and financial supports in OECD countries for the cultural industries, for the French Ministry of
Culture, 2007.
368
Seminar « Nouvelles frontières de l’économie numérique », Paris, 2/3 Octobre 2008.
http://www.jec-culture.org/?id_page=accueil
369
P.59 of the Report of the Committee on the immaterial economy, French Ministry of Economy, November 2006
370
The Council was presented as “an engine for a change of culture” and a “French response to the economic crisis”.
371
Op. cit. DCMS, 2008.
143
In many countries, culture is a competence dealt with at regional level. Regional cultural policies also
deserve close examination. However these strategies will not be considered here as this will be considered
in a subsequent study being undertaken on behalf of the European Commission and due to be released in
early 2010.
144
CHAPTER 6
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Europe has enormous cultural and creative assets: a strong education system, creative enterprises, a
dynamic and culturally rich society, a good level of digital technology literacy, strong public institutions, and
democratic systems of government, a wealth of ideas, artists and creative people. European brands are
amongst the best in the world in technology, luxury goods, tourism, media publishing, television, music,
computer animation, videogames, design and architecture. At the heart of this culture-based creativity is the
capacity of artists and creative professionals to cross boundaries, to think laterally, to take risks and
exercise their entrepreneurial spirit for the good of society. European creators and artists in architecture,
design, fashion, cinema, music, and modern art have worldwide influence.
Despite Europe’s assets, the contribution of culture to creativity is still not fully recognized in Europe.
Culture is still considered on the fringe of economic and societal development. This is reflected in policy
priorities.
The question for policy-makers is how to make the best use of these under-recognised assets in dealing
with the great economic, social and environmental challenges of our time. Whilst the priority remains
economic growth, the crisis is also an opportunity to address the future of economic development that takes
into account environmental, cultural and social considerations.372 Furthermore information technology is
contributing to the emergence of new social trends that question the foundation of economic and cultural
exchanges, inventing new social relations and new forms of entrepreneurship and business models.
Investment in culture is an investment in creativity capable of producing economic and social benefits.
Creativity comes from different combinations of ability and environment - in other words, personal predisposition and a social context. As a result, policy has a crucial role to play in setting the appropriate
conditions for Europe to be a creative place across its regions, capable of educating, retaining and attracting
talents. But first culture must be seen as a resource for creativity by policy makers and be given greater
prominence in the broader policies on the knowledge economy, innovation and social cohesion.373
372
See Manifeste pour les produits de hautes nécessités – inspired by the social movement in the French Antilles, on the
aspiration of giving a sense to life through the poetic and the aesthetic (as opposed to a system which “condemns life to
consumption or production”). Source: www.aboutduweb.com/poolp/public/manifeste_guadeloupe.pdf. - February 2009.
373
In his book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell offers an account on the importance of context and environment which set the
opportunities for the expression of talents. He shows why some people achieve more than others and “the secret of their
success”. Talent is as much as consequence of the date of birth, hard work, emotional intelligence, historical
circumstances, demographics or social contexts as analytical intelligence. For Gladwell creative people are more the
result of the world in which they grew up, the circumstances which provide the opportunity to shine (for instance, the ability
to succeed also depends on how old you are when transformation in society happen. Furthermore, imagination would be a
better yardstick than intelligence to assess creativity. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers – The Story of Success, Allen
Lane/Penguin Group, 2008.
145
The measures proposed herewith are an integral part of the knowledge economy whose development is a
priority. They aim to promote competition, collaboration across disciplines, risk taking and more importantly
help individuals and societies to grow and express their singularities.374 To be effective, these measures
are correlated to technology innovation as well as social objectives (notably health, social mobility and
education). They also wish to contribute to the promotion of a Europe driven by values such as solidarity,
tolerance, cultural pluralism and environmental sustainability.
Looking into creativity is the opportunity to rediscover our inner creativity and to reflect over what Saint
Exupery said: “Over time the clay of which you were shaped has dried and hardened, and naught in you will
ever awaken the sleeping musician, the poet, and the astronomer that possibly inhabited you in the
beginning.”375 The poetic can balance a vision entirely subject to economic ends and consumption.
There are first indications that world leaders have come to realise the increasing value of looking beyond the
economic growth paradigms that have dominated policy making over the past decades. By referring to a
new “politics of civilisation” in his recent New Year’s speech, France’s president Sarkozy borrows from
Edgar Morin, a philosopher and sociologist who proclaims that the search for “quality of life should replace
the search for quantity” and that “quantity has not brought the promised quality of life.”376 Barack Obama
equally made the call for “a politics of change” a central piece of his recent campaign and presidency and
puts values that go beyond instant gratification back on the agenda. First signs concerning the role that he
gives to art in this process of transformation are promising. By setting up a culture transition team, the 44th
President of the United-States highlighted that he is serious about art as a matter of policy. In his manifesto,
Obama also strongly recognises the role and value of creative expression in society and puts forward the
need to invest in art education.377
The overall aim of our proposals is to create a Europe that stimulates and encourages creativity and
provides individuals, society, public institutions and enterprises with incentives to use culture as a tool for
social and economic development.
The specific objectives are to:
-
374
Encourage imagination and talents at school, in life, in enterprises and public institutions;
Stimulate transversality and cross-fertilisation between learning disciplines;
Support the development of a creative economy by integrating culture-based creativity in
innovation policy;
Promote social innovation through culture;
Singularity: (1) the quality or condition of being singular, (2) a trait making one distinct from others; a peculiarity, (3)
something uncommon or unusual. Source: answers.com.
375
Kimmelman, M., The Accidental Masterpiece On the art of life and vice versa, Penguin Books, p.6, 2005.
376
Morin, E., Pour une politique de civilisation, Arléa, 2002.
377
Lebrecht, N., Barack Obama: Man with a culture plan in http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/
146
-
Encourage cross-fertilisation between regional identities and cultures by clustering talents at
European level to foster local development as well as multilingualism;
Move from cultural competition amongst Member States to cultural collaboration to make Europe’s
creativity audible internationally and brand Europe as a creative place;
Balance a policy vision subject to economic ends.
We put forward five lines of action:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.1
Raise awareness about culture as an important resource of creativity;
Mainstream culture-based creativity in policies to foster innovation;
Re-direct existing financial resources or create new programmes to stimulate creativity;
Brand Europe as the place to create;
Question and tailor regulatory and institutional frameworks to support creative and cultural
collaboration.
Raise awareness about culture as a resource for creativity and innovation
The recognition of culture as a resource for creativity should take place at:
-
Statistical level, with a view to better grasp the socio-economic importance of arts and the creative
sector as well as give more value to intangible assets;
Learning level, by valuing imagination and creative thoughts as well as cross-fertilisation amongst
learning disciplines.
6.1.1 Value the importance of creativity and intangible assets in statistics and scoreboards
Il faut apprendre à juger une société à ses bruits, à son art et à ses fêtes plus qu’à ses statistiques
Jacques Attali378 .
Jacques Attali’s words find resonance at a time when statistic projections and corporate
management systems seem to have failed public trust at large. Yet, measuring the creative
potentials of Europe should be understood as an exercise that ultimately helps to illustrate the
importance of culture and creativity to stakeholders outside the cultural realm. Moreover, calls for
increased evidence-based policy making throughout Europe are most likely here to stay. They have
so far resulted in the development of a number of statistic indicator schemes which by large do not
take creative or cultural factors into account and thus fall short of painting a comprehensive picture
378
In Jacques Attali, Bruits, Fayard, 1977.
147
of the state of Creative Europe. 1ppendix 3 examines the possibility of establishing such indicator
framework with a view to set up a European Culture-based creativity Index (ECI). A key goal of
such Index would be to highlight the potential of including culture-based indicators in existing
frameworks related to creativity, innovation and socio-economic development.
The proposed European Culture-based creativity Index (ECI) is a new statistical framework for
illustrating and measuring the interplay of various factors that contribute to the growth of creativity
in the European Union. As other indicators it measures the performance of a phenomenon using a
set of indicators which highlight some of the key features of that phenomenon. It is inspired by
existing indexes concerning creativity, innovation and economic performance but introduces
elements that are more specifically related to art and culture in order to ensure that a cultural
dimension is taken into account when measuring the creative and innovative potential of Europe.
Due to the nature of the assignment the proposed creativity index is by definition primarily
assessing environmental factors rather than individual creative capacities.
A focus on the cultural dimension of creativity implies taking into consideration a number of factors,
many of which are usually not included in other indexes. These include, but are not limited to:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
148
education in art schools,
cultural employment,
cultural offering,
cultural participation,
Technology penetration,
Regulatory and financial support to creation,
Economic contribution of cultural industries.
We group these indicators into 6 pillars of creativity, illustrated in the graph below:
Institutional Environment
Human Capital
Creative outputs
Openness and Diversity
Technology
Social Environment
The 6 pillars of culture-based creativity are described in appendix 3 which also includes the index.
With a view to better capture the economic and social importance of culture-based creativity it is
recommended to:
• Review statistical information to better capture the intangible and non-technology
innovation;
• Incorporate cultural indicators in innovation scoreboards;
• Establish an index to measure the environment promoting culture-based creativity (the
index is described in appendix 3).
149
6.1.2
Value imagination and disruptive creative thoughts
o
o
o
o
6.2
Promote art and culture in life long learning (including formal education);
Recognise the value of alternative education methods whose focus is on the development
of individual creativity (Reggio Emilia, Waldorf, Montessori, Decroly, Steiner etc);
Encourage the mix of competences and interdisciplinary activities (business, engineering,
sciences (including social sciences) and art and design) at university level;
Encourage creative partnerships and cross-fertilisation between the education, the cultural
and entrepreneurial activities.
Mainstream culture-based creativity within policies
In spite of its potential to contribute to Europe’s innovation goals and the development of a new
economic and social paradigm, culture remains at the fringe of the European, national and regional
projects and is not given the attention it deserves whether in the institutional set-ups or in policy
priority.379
At EU level, the danger is also to consider Europe’s cultural multi-polarity an obstacle whilst it is an
incredible resource to foster creativity and innovation. As a priority the European institutions should
ensure that the different EU policies aimed at stimulating innovation in the framework of the Lisbon
strategy can be effectively used to stimulate culture-based creativity and engage the creative and
cultural sectors. An independent study could be commissioned in this respect.
379
History provides some explanations on the place given to culture, in contrast to science, as a capacity for innovation.
The school system in Europe for instance still illustrates the importance given to mathematical reasoning over other
sciences as a tool to measure intelligence and to determine social success. The place given to art and artistic expression
in the curriculum reflects on the one hand the little importance granted to the stimulation of creativity through art and
culture and on the other hand the belief that often confines creativity to the ability of mastering mathematical intelligence.
Undoubtedly, progress requires a strong economy notably to finance scientific investigation and education), a stable
political environment as well as a social consensus. Nevertheless the influence of art and human sciences as enabler of
social, economic and political transformation is under-estimated. Creation leading to economic and social innovation is as
much a function of artistic skills as it is of engineers or scientists. However the role played by Europe’s culture in the
development of the industrial and scientific revolution in Europe remains unexplored. The history of culture is told as a
succession of important events or lives of great artists. It rarely examines the relationship between artistic expression,
cultural diversity and economic development. Culture is also rather conceived as history (or heritage) than prophecy. In
th
“Bruits” Jacques Attali takes the view that the ordered music of the 18
th
Century in Europe prefigured the industrial
economies of the 19 Century. Likewise is not file sharing of music on broadband networks a premise of a new economy
emphasising sharing and social networking as a value?
150
Fostering culture-based creativity is required in Europe:
a.
Innovation, research and enterprise
There is too strong a bias towards R&D, technology and science driven innovation. The
R&D focused policy should embrace creativity and contribute to foster multi-disciplinarity
and interactions between art, sciences and businesses. Policy should foster:
-
Integration of design thinking in businesses;
Association of creative SMEs to research programmes on networked media;
Promotion of multilingualism applications through creative media (dubbing,
subtitling, translation);
Clustering of research centres with art and design schools;
Communication on sciences and research to the general public through art;
Valuing intellectual property (copyright or “droit d’auteur”) as much as industrial
property (patent, trademarks) in innovation policies;
SME policy (in the field of enterprise and information society) which engages more
with SMEs in creative and cultural industries. At EU level, it could be done by
helping them to participate into consultative platforms used by the EC to set its
funding priorities (Cultural and creative businesses are essentially confined to
programmes focused on cultural exchanges rather than on industrial policy
actions).
b. Cultural, audiovisual and multilingualism
On top of its cultural exchange policy, Europe should have a cultural policy sustaining
creativity. The policy should foster collaboration across countries that have a long lasting
structural impact on the circulation of local cultural expressions, including languages.
Digital technology offers some perspective to widen the international distribution of local
language productions provided such opportunity is being used by local players ready to
combine their resources and create distribution scale (The Long Tail).380 Unless Europe
makes the best of its diversity, collaborating across national and/or linguistic markets,
most of its creative industries will not achieve the scale and robustness required to
compete in the global market place. In the absence of infrastructure and resources, the
best talents aspiring to global recognition will migrate to other continents. This would result
in the marginalisation of local cultures. It would also impede the social and cultural
interactions that are so important to the economic, social and cultural success of Europe.
380
[1]
The expression The Long Tail coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article to describe the
niche strategy of businesses, such as Amazon.com or Netflix, that sell a large number of unique items, each in relatively
small quantities. (source: Wikipedia). See also KEA Newsletter, Make VOD an Opportunity for European Film
Companies, 2007 – www.keanet.eu
151
A cultural policy should ensure that European creativity circulates within Europe and
cross- fertilises innovation processes. It should promote:
-
-
Collaboration across the numerous national or regional cultural institutions to give a
European dimension to their cultural activities. Member States should move from
cultural competition to cultural collaboration to make European cultures
internationally audible;
Contemporary creation as much as heritage preservation;
Artists’ mobility;
Artistic and business projects with international scale that celebrate the common
heritage of European cultures and which associate the public at large;
Distribution of contemporary creation in literature and cinema through dubbing,
sub-titling or translation;
A vision of culture that is not subsumed to economic imperatives and ends.
c. Regional development
The EU’s regional policy framework (and resulting funding allocation) currently views
innovation largely in terms of science and technology. In addition the notion of “culture”
used in the context of the Cohesion Policy relates essentially to the “protection and
preservation of cultural heritage”, or to the “development of cultural infrastructure in
support of socio-economic development”. The potential of culture as a resource for
creativity deserves more consideration. Policy actions in Europe should include:
-
Sharing of best practices in managing cultural investment for economic and social
gains;
Funding regional culture-based creativity strategies;
Promoting cross regional partnerships to improve market access of local culturebased creativities;
Make investment in culture a priority in regional policy instruments as part of the
innovation strategy;
Researching links between culture and regional economic and social development.
Develop specific venture capital or investment funds in the regions to support
creative industries.
d. Social policy
For culture to play its role in social policy measures should:
-
152
Encourage local, regional and national agencies to recognise and deploy cultural
resources in social and public services;
-
-
In line with its commitment to promote and support social innovation through its
programmes, the EU should encourage the use of culture as a resource for social
innovation. It should highlight best practices of projects that are already supported
in the pursuit of social objectives – through both cultural funds and through
structural funds;
Establish a pilot scheme to develop a creative social entrepreneur mentoring
scheme for young entrepreneurs;
Commission a series of longitudinal studies (possibly linked to EU funded projects),
examining the impact of cultural activity in key social areas such as social cohesion
and civic renewal;
e. Education policy
Education plays a key role in fostering creativity and art and culture contribute to such
stimulation. We propose the following measures to foster creativity in Europe through
Education.
-
-
f.
Further research the impact of increased exposure to art and culture in learning (as
a tool to stimulate creativity) to highlight best practices in Europe;
Further research the impact of culture on entrepreneurship;
Encourage the mainstream of arts in the curricula;
Inform students and teachers about the role and function of art and culture in
developing creativity as well as the value of intellectual property;
Promote mobility between art and design schools amongst students but also
teachers. Schools of excellence in art, design, fashion should be encouraged to
work together and expand their reach. Encourage multi-disciplinary curricula;
Promote multilingualism through art and entertainment;
Develop pilot projects on continuing training for teachers in art;
Value competence in creative skills, manual as well as intellectual (creativity also
requires “savoir faire”).
Other EU policy areas
Environmental Policy: mobilise creators (notably artists, architects and designers) but also
creative SMEs for the objective of environmental sustainability (through a European award for
instance). Research links between “Design Thinking” and ecological issues. Raise awareness
on environment through culture.
Internal Market and Competition Policy: integrate cultural diversity as a competitive asset
and a policy objective not as a bottleneck. This includes the full Implementation of article 151.4
of the EU Treaty on cultural diversity.
153
Trade and Cooperation Policy: Promote at international level the principle of cultural diversity
by encouraging cultural exchanges with third countries. Use technical assistance programmes
with third countries to promote trade in the creative sector and cultural exchanges.
154
6.3
Re-direct existing financial resources or create new programmes to stimulate creativity
Regional, national as well as EU Funds and programmes should aim at supporting:
-
Creative entrepreneurs and enterprises;
Social innovation through culture;
Territories using culture as a tool for development;
Culture cooperation across territories.
6.3.1 Support creative enterprises and entrepreneurs
The support whether at regional, national or EU levels would be aimed at counselling enterprises
and providing financial support.
a. Advice
-
Develop at EU level a template for resource centres dedicated to creative SMEs or
artists/entrepreneurs with less than 20 employees. These centres would help with the
administration of the company and promote European collaboration. The centre that could be
hosted in existing structures aimed at informing SMEs would have the mission to encourage
creators to set up their own company. The definition of “Creative SMEs” should encompass
companies that help innovate in communication, branding, marketing, design. The EU could work
out the mission of such centres which would then be administered at national level with some EU
funding;
-
Make available market information on consumer trends and practices throughout Europe to support
access to foreign markets and to promote the digital shift. The Internal Market remains to be built in
the creative sector which is fragmented along cultural and linguistic lines. Creative industries have
a poor understanding and knowledge of consumer markets in Europe in particular in relation to the
digital economy;
-
Help SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors to identify clustering opportunities in research and
technology projects;
-
Develop at EU level the concept of creativity transfer through “a creative broker”, whose role would
be to enable cultural entrepreneurs and artists to reach new markets and non-creative sectors by
providing culture-based creativity services.
b. Provide financial support
155
-
-
Establish innovation vouchers at national level to help SMEs acquire professional skills they cannot
afford (in technology, marketing, advertising, design). The idea could be developed at EU level and
implemented in Member States expressing interest;
Design specific support to sustain craftsmanship and “artisanat”. Organise or fund European
awards of craftsmanship, for instance;
Support SMEs implementing a design strategy and enterprises that call on design and/or art to
develop a competitive edge;
Mobilise creators and creative SMEs for the objective of environmental sustainability;
Help the creative sector to build collective representation through trade associations. SMEs are not
sufficiently represented in the decision process relevant to innovation policies and programmes;
Raise awareness regarding the role of public procurement in stimulating creativity.
6.3.2 Support social Innovation through culture-based creativity.
-
-
Disseminate and support best practices in social inclusion, in education that are based on art and
culture and which stimulate creativity;
Encourage and support networks of social innovators, reward links to networks or cultural
organisations and practitioners, especially where these are working on the key themes of the social
agenda: young people, skills, migration, older people etc;
A sponsored prize for social creativity, to highlight and promote good practices, could be
established: one for projects, one for outstanding individuals;
Set up a ‘creative corps’ – a trans-national database of creative workers with the skills and abilities
to work in particular areas of social innovation;
Identify and encourage support for key clusters of culture-based social innovation. Encourage
advice, support, mentoring and funding.
6.3.3 Support collaborations and give a European dimension to territorial clustering,
-
-
156
Promote collaboration through structural funds between cities and regions using culture and
creative sectors for local development;
Encourage through ICT, Research programmes and structural funds networking between creators
and creative companies, research centres and technology companies with a focus on research in
business models that suit a linguistically and culturally fragmented market;
Support the networking of companies that enable interactions between art and businesses with a
view to exchange best practices.
6.3.4 Support cultural collaboration across territories to promote pan European creativity projects
-
-
-
-
6.4
Support cultural projects that have a Pan-European reach and which promote in the general public
the fabric of “European creativity”. The aim of the projects should be to celebrate the common
aspects of European culture but also contribute to create social links and solidarity amongst
citizens of Europe;
Support initiatives from national public bodies or cultural institutions which work together on large
scale pan European events or projects. (For instance national film institutes could be supported if
willing to collaborate to set up a VOD portal on cinema with media literacy objectives381);
Review the priorities of the MEDIA programme to emphasise support for digital distribution.
Encourage sub-titling of films on digital distribution platforms to promote multilingualism;
Mandate EIB to set up a specialist structure devoted to lending to creative industries including
SMEs;
Encourage private investment in the cultural and creative sectors (building bridges with the
financial community).
Brand Europe as the place to create
Partly because of its rich and long history, Europe has an image as an ‘old place’. This can sometimes
detract from contemporary realities.. Efforts should be made to brand Europe as the place to create, to
imagine, to express talent; a place that nurtures and values originality and difference. Some
approaches might include:
-
Express European values in artistic projects with international dimension (EU sponsored
exhibitions). The EU brand should be associated with modernity and the contemporary.382 This
includes support to joint initiatives from museum to develop international exhibitions celebrating
European cultures and sciences;
-
Support to promote winners of European prizes in literature383, music384, cinema385, design386,
crafts and architecture. Most of these prizes already exist but lack visibility amongst professionals
and the European public. Very significant public resources are required for marketing and
promotion as establishing such prizes is not a viable commercial proposition in the initial stage.
381
KEA report to the European Parliament, Cultural Committee, Feasibility Study on VOD, June 2008 (www.europarl.eu).
382
“Contemporary Art in Europe”, imagined by Fabrice Bousteau and Beaux Art Magazine ( “Contemporary Art Exhibition
to Unite” organised in Reims in 2008)
382
.or Comité Colbert “ savoir faire awards”
382
.
383
Prix du Livre Européen – www.livre-européen.eu
384
Border Breakers Awards http://www.european-border-breakers.eu/description.html.
385
The European Film Awards - http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/.
386
European Design Awards- http://www.ed-awards.com/.
157
The world should know Europe’s talents. Works that are rewarded should then be distributed in the
different local languages throughout Europe. In the medium term winning a European Prize in the
different categories should be the equivalent of winning a Nobel, an Oscar, or a Grammy award for
instance;
6.5
-
Use technical assistance programme with third countries to fund initiatives of B2B matchmaking
and market research. Technical Assistance Programme with third countries (notably China, Brazil
and India) would promote IPR enforcement through business exchanges and licensing. Promote
cultural and creative trade exchanges with SMEs in third countries. Help the establishment of a
structured dialogue between European and third countries' creative businesses.
-
Promote multilingualism, including minority languages (spoken by approximately 50 million
Europeans!) which are sources of differentiation and singularity. Creative industries such as
cinema and TV coupled with technology innovation in digital subtitling are best placed to support a
multilingualism policy. Winners of major European Prizes in literature and films should access
translation fund to support international distribution.
-
Review or consider EU investment into major international culture trade fairs based in Europe. In
exchange for such investments selected major trade fairs should contribute to the promotion and
marketing of European creative projects or European prizes referred to above.
Question and tailor regulatory and institutional support for culture-based creativity
“Human capital is key. The more it is developed, the better we are (…). Much of it
comes from people – their ability to innovate, to think anew, to be creative. Such people
are broad-minded: they thrive on curiosity about the next idea; they welcome the
challenge of an open world. Such breadth of mind is enormously enhanced by
interaction with art and culture.”
Tony Blair
-
Review accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB)
and the valuation of immaterial assets in companies’ accounts.
-
Value intellectual property standards as the best way to stimulate creativity. Provide for adequate
enforcement mechanisms.
-
Support to rights management initiatives from right holders that ease the copyright licensing
process across the EU. Rights licensing should not act as a deterrent to international distribution of
European content.
158
-
-
Audit national and European regulations that make collaboration more difficult at European level or
stifle Europe as a place of confluence. For instance:
•
Review co-production treaties to facilitate audiovisual co-productions.
•
Harmonise withholding tax requirements in relation to artistic performances and
artists’royalties.
•
Facilitate acquisition of visas for foreign artists.
•
Review taxation to support cultural consumption (VAT).
•
Promote sponsorship and tax credit schemes for art and creative activities by highlighting
best practices
Set up a task force within the European Commission to oversee implementation of the creativity
policy, in accordance with article 151.4 of the EU Treaty. Alternatively, create the position of
commissioner in charge of devising and implementing a creativity policy. The task force should
report to the cultural committee of the European Parliament and to Member States in the
framework of the Open Method of Coordination set up to reflect on creative industries.
159
160
Epilogue
A culture-based creativity policy is the opportunity to associate the irrational, imagination, poetic,
abstraction, spiritual with the “rational”, scientific and materialist set up of our societies. It is about inspiring
our societies with alternative values and objectives to statistical as well as productive ends and short-term
benefits. Art and culture can make a vital contribution to the achievement of objectives that reconcile the
creation of wealth with sustainability and harmonious social development. Art and culture can help to
transcend purely economic or utilitarian constraints. Creative people can assist in thinking and
implementing a different world provided their skills and expertises are duly recognised as catalysts of
transformation. We all have a role to play, both as citizens and consumers in drawing on the power of
culture and creativity to help deliver new, more sustainable ways of living and working. We have entered a
period characterised by enormous economic, social and environmental challenges. The development of a
genuinely ambitious policy for creativity associating art and culture should contribute to address many of
those challenges. In turn the “culture we create will determine our fate”387.
It is time to take the creative risk of valuing imagination, the poetic, the symbolic, the aesthetic or the
spiritual (features of culture-based creativity) as factors of innovation, social progress and European
integration.
387
Op.Cited. M.Csikszentamihaly (1996).
161
162
APPENDICES
163
164
APPENDIX 1
THE SCIENTIFIC DEFINITIONS OF CREATIVITY
We will consider the psychological approach then turn to a more socio-cultural vision of creativity.
1.
The psychological approach
This approach to the field focuses on the individual and attempts to explain how thoughts, are influenced by
biology, intelligence and unconsciousness. Throughout history there have been divergent views on creativity
and it is only since the 1950s that psychologists decided to consider the concept. They challenged the belief
in the existence of an absolute standard of judgement in defining genius which, at least since the period of
Romanticism had been understood by many as akin to a supreme gift bestowed on individuals either by God
or by nature.388 The idea of creativity as a quality “attributed to a superhuman force” or “originating with the
gods” no longer has any widespread currency.
1.1.
Biology
Biologists have examined specific regions of the human brain without however being able to explain
creativity. According to R.K Sawyer389, decades of study have found no evidence that creativity is localised
to any specific brain region. “In fact, all of the evidence suggests that creativity is a whole-brain function,
drawing in many diverse areas of the brain in a complex systemic fashion. The hypothesis is that varied
stimulation, in nature (visual or audio stimulation, in general multi-sensorial), or in intensity can influence the
creative process.” As Howard Gardner has observed “You could know every bit of neurocircuity in
somebody’s head, and you still would not know whether or not that person was creative.” 390
1.2
Personality approach
Personality can be defined as a set of characteristics possessed by a person which will impact on their way
of apprehending things, their motivation and their behaviour. Psychologists’ interest in creativity in the
1950’s focussed on scientific and technological creativity. It was felt that the lack of creativity would mean
the risk of abandoning the supremacy to the Soviet Union (arms’ race) or Japan (robots). Great efforts were
made at the time to develop tests enabling to identify creative individuals.
At the centre of all personality measures stands the intelligence test. Before research into creativity became
an autonomous area of study, psychologists had to prove that IQ and creativity were different traits and
required different measures. Intelligence was defined as required convergent thinking, proposing a single
right answer, while creativity was said to require divergent thinking, the ability to imagine different answers.
388
Bryant, William D. A. and Throsby David, Ginsburgh V.A. & Throsby D. Creativity and the behaviour of artists,.
Handbooks of the economics of art and culture, vol. 1, North-Holland, 2006, p.512
389
390
Sawyer R.K, Explaining Creativity, The science of Human Innovation, Oxford University Press, 2006.
Gardner, H. Creators: Multiple Intelligence in K.H Pfenninger and V&R Shubik, The Origins of Creativity (p117-143),
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
165
Prof. J.P. Guilford, one of the most active psychologists on creativity, built up a map of personality
containing over 120 traits, where 24 of them were components of “divergent thinking”.
The main finding of this approach is that the capacity to think differently, even the ability to reason in
metaphors constitutes an element of creative competence. Therefore one can argue that the advancement
of art and culture is based on the capacity to foster free-flowing, metaphorical thought within the imagination
of individuals.
1.3
The psychoanalysis perspective
The psychoanalytical perspective has long associated creativity with access to unconscious modes of
thought, sometimes called primary access thoughts. According to Freud, the creative insight emerges into
consciousness from primary process thought. Freud argued that creativity involves the same mental
processes as daydreams, fantasies, and neuroses.
Similarly Sternberg and Lubart, highlight internal tensions as source of creativity: “Creativity arises from the
tension between conscious reality and unconscious drives.”391 Many traditional views of Freud interpreted
him as suggesting that writers and artists produce creative work as a way to express their unconscious
wishes in a publicly acceptable fashion. However, this relatively straightforward view of his work has been
contested by many modern Freudian analysts, especially those associated with the post-structuralist
movement, and they have argued that Freud’s ideas about creativity are more complex than this.
1.4
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is branch of psychology that investigates internal mental processes. This approach
seeks to understand the mental representations and processes underlying creative thoughts. Graham
Wallas & Richard Smith, in their work Art of Thought, published in 1926, presented one of the first models of
the creative process.392
Psychologists take the view that there is no such thing as a “creativity quotient” (like there is an I.Q.) and
that creative people are creative in a specific sphere of activity, a particular domain.393 An important part of
the creative process is familiarity with prior works, and the internalising of the symbols and conventions of
the domain. Creativity results when the individual somehow combines theses existing elements (part of his
culture) and generates a new combination.
Inspiration will often come from cultural activities such as reading, watching films, visiting exhibitions,
listening to music, travelling or strolling in the park. Creativity builds on existing conventions and the ability to
interpret them in new ways. It is often diverse cultural influences that will stimulate inspiration. “Culture
391
Sternberg, J. and Lubart, Todd I., The concept of Creativity: Prospects and Paradigms, Handbook of creativity, Edited
by Robert J. Sternberg, 1999, 2007.
392
393
Source Wikipedia
Csikszentmihalyi, Society, culture and Person: A System View of Creativity in R.J Sternberg, The nature of Creativity,
NY Cambridge University Press.
166
influences are key elements. Culture is a limitless thing. It is all around. You do not have to be Italians to
open a pizza joint.”394
According to the cognitive approach creativity is the result of conscious, deliberate, rational thinking. But
reason gets inspired by the unconscious, the irrational, the emotional. Creativity is both the infant of
rationalism and irrationalism.
2
The contextualists
The contextualists, relying on the thinking of sociologists and anthropologists, have highlighted the
importance of the social environment in which creativity takes place and the judgment of the peer group that
« decides» on the creative status.
Contextualists argue that creativity is fed by contacts with other creative communities. This view is prevalent
in the field of visual arts or music composition where artists often gather in a cluster, such as they did in
Paris, Vienna or Berlin a century ago or New York, San Francisco and Hollywood since the 1950’s395 and
live in interacting artistic communities.
Group creativity is a fundamental part of cultural production such as theatre, dance, film, music, just as it is
in science or technology research. Most important creative products require a team or an entire company,
integrating many specialised workers (a film director, a scriptwriter and a cinematographer on film sets for
instance). In effect, creators are mostly part of an orchestra trying to play in tune.
This view also holds that the individual is the product of a culture and of his social environment.
“Socioculturalists define creativity as a novel product that attains some level of social recognition. First of all,
a creative idea or work must be novel. Yet novelty is not enough, because a novel idea may be ridiculous or
nonsensical. In addition to novelty, to be creative an idea must be appropriate, recognized as socially
valuable in some way to some community.” 396 This perspective has been developed by writers such as
Teresa Amabile who proposed a consensual definition of creativity: “a product is creative when experts in
the domain agree it is creative, meaning that the appropriateness is defined by social groups, and it’s
culturally and historically determined.” 397
The artist Marcel Duchamp felt that the viewer was an essential part of the creative process. The artist
initiates the creative act, he said, but it is up for the viewer to complete it, by interpreting its meaning and its
394
Simon, Paul, Graceland and The Rhythms of the Saints in 1000 Songs to change your life, Time Out Group 2008
(p.54).
395
Currid, Elizabeth, The Warhol Economy: how fashion, art and music drive New York City, Princeton University Press,
2007.
396
397
Op.cit, Sawyer, R Keith p 27.
Amabile, T., Social Psychology of Creativity NY Spring Verlag, 1983.
167
place in art history.”398 The public, the audience or “specialist intermediaries” (for instance, critics, for
instance) have a say on what is creative.399
In the same vein, Csikszentmihalyi, when attempting to define when and how creativity emerges, stresses
the following elements: ”There is no way to know whether a thought is new except with reference to some
standards, and there is no way to tell whether it is valuable until it passes social evaluation. Therefore,
creativity does not happen inside people’s heads, but in the interaction between a person’s thoughts and a
socio-cultural context. It is a systemic rather an individual phenomenon.” 400
This approach suggests that creativity originates from a cultural and social environment. Amabile also
highlights the importance for society to develop and advance creativity. For her the most creative people
are those that are intrinsically motivated and respond to external motivating factors that influence their
creativity (family, school, workplace). Creative work is as much a hobby as a professional occupation. She
establishes 401 correlations between creativity, environment and emotion which shape our vision of creative
capacity.
The notion of creativity is complex. It requires understanding at individual, social and cultural levels.
Creativity puts in motion mental and psychic mechanisms which result in something, a discovery, a work of
art, a performance. The mechanisms become the expression of the creative power. However it is essential
to stress the importance of contexts, place and social conventions.
3
The multi-disciplinary perspectives
This approach is typified by the work of Robert Sternberg and Todd Lubart.402 They contend that creative
performance results from a confluence of six different individual characteristics - intellectual processes,
knowledge, intellectual style, personality, motivation and the person’s environmental context; investment in
improving any of these could improve creativity. The researchers stress the importance of intellectual
capacities:
a) the synthetic ability to see problems in new ways and to escape the bounds of conventional
thinking;
b) the analytic ability to recognise which of one’s ideas are worth pursuing and which are not;
c) the practical-contextual ability to know how to persuade others of the value of one’s ideas.
They highlight the capacity to think in a non-linear way.
398
399
Tomkins Calvin, The Lives of Artists, Henry Holt publishing (p.212), 2008..
Csikszentmihalyi uses the term “field” to refer to the group of intermediaries and Pierre Bourdieu in Les Règles de l’Art
analysed the field as a market transaction between producers and consumers.
400
401
402
Csikszentmihaly, Mihaly, Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention, Harper Perennial (p.24), 1996.
Hanna, Julia, Getting Down to the Business of Creativity, May 14, 2008.
Sternberg, R. and Lubart, T., An Investment Theory of Creativity and its Development, Human Development 34, 1991.
168
Creativity involves a combination of cognitive elements that involve the ability to “connect ideas”, “to see
similarities and differences”, be “unorthodox”,” be “inquisitive” and “to question societal norms”.403 Many of
these personality elements are common to artists and creative people.
4
Conclusion on research findings
Invariably, artists and cultural practitioners – that’s to say some of the people who most evidently display
creative skills - find creativity difficult to describe. Creativity remains a very complex phenomenon which
cannot be reduced to a formula.
We propose the following summary of the different approaches to defining creativity.
Creativity would be:
-
a cognitive process which is triggered by motivation and interest in the new and which has no
intrinsic link to the ability to score highly in intelligence tests for example
not genetic
usually the result of long periods of hard work and the acquisition of knowledge, as spontaneity
requires a fertile ground
is usually related to a specific field of activity
requires an audience assessment and is subject to cultural constraints (the social process) or
subject to industrial constraints (in many of the creative industries).
In his book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell404 offers an account on the importance of context and environment
which set the opportunities for the expression of talents. He shows why some people achieve more than
others and “the secret of their success.” Talent is as much as consequence of the date of birth, hard work,
emotional intelligence, historical circumstances, demographics or social contexts as analytical intelligence.
For Gladwell the response to the question “where are these persons from?” will provide more answers on
the creativity capacity of a person than the response to the question “what is this person like?” Creative
people are more the result of the world in which they grew up, the circumstances which provide the
opportunity to shine (for instance, the ability to succeed also depends on how old you are when
transformation in society happens).405 Furthermore, imagination would be a better yardstick than
intelligence to assess creativity.406
The different perspectives highlight that creativity comes from different combinations of ability and personal
environment in other words individual pre-disposition and a social context.
403
Sternberg, Robert J. and Lubart, Todd I The concept of Creativity: Prospects and Paradigms; Handbook of creativity,
Edited by Robert J. Stenberg, 1999, 2007.
404
Gladwell, Malcolm, Outliers – The Story of Success, Allen Lane/Penguin Group 2008. He shows for instance that a
Nobel Prize winner can come from any school and the best high school students do not perform better p.81.
405
ibid p.62 and 65. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt were all born between 1953 and
1956; the perfect age to be part of the digital revolution which started in 1975.
406
Ibid p.86-90 on divergence and convergence testing that creativity and intelligence alone are not correlated.
169
170
APPENDIX 2
REVIEW OF A SELECTION OF NATIONAL STRATEGIES
AND INITIATIVES TO STIMULATE CREATIVITY ACROSS
THE EU
Member States reflecting on cultural / creative industries
The economic contribution made by creative industries has been measured in a large number of Member
States (Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain,
Sweden and UK). The state of reflection on policies varies from one country to another: Some Member
States are still at a mapping stage. Others are working on developing policies in significant ways.
Bulgaria – In 2007 the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture carried out, with the assistance of the World Intellectual
Property Organisation, the first comprehensive mapping of copyright-based industries in the country. This
first survey was undertaken as a manifestation of the “adherence of the Bulgarian government to the
principle that IP protected knowledge is of key importance for the wealth of the nations.”407 The Bulgarian
government is currently preparing a more detailed mapping of its creative industries.
Czech Republic – There is no separate strategy for creative industries. But the “National Cultural Policy
from 2009 – 2014” includes creativity and creative industries in its objectives to increase competitiveness in
other sectors as well as to foster professional and personal development of citizens.408
Germany – The German federal government is developing a national creative industries strategy.409 In a
strategy paper issued in October 2007 by the Department for Economic Affairs and Technology, the
government acknowledges the need to consider the economic as well as the cultural role of the sector and
to examine and optimise all policy issues that relate to its future development.410 In this context, the
government has commissioned an independent study which is currently being carried out. The study
examines the structural challenges and the economic potential of Germany's cultural and creative industries.
Greece – The Eommex, the Hellenic Organisation of Small-Medium Sized Enterprises & Handicraft, carried
out a mapping of creative industries in January 2009 (“The Economy of Culture – Cultural and Creative
407
2007 WIPO Study of the copyright-based industries in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, 2007, p.3.
408
National Cultural Policy from 2009-2014, Czech Ministry of Culture, p. 4.
409
See Website of the federal government:
http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Navigation/Wirtschaft/Branchenfokus/kulturkreativwirtschaft,did=246488.html?view=renderPrint&page=3 (accessed August 2008).
410
BMWI (2007), Initiative Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft, http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/J-L/konzept-
kulturwirtschaft,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf (accessed August 2008).
171
Enterprises in Greece”). Greece has included in its mapping of creative industries those firms which produce
handicraft and artistic products.411
Hungary – A first document stressing the importance of culture and creative industries in social
development and in shaping national identity and tourism was released in December 2006 (“Guidelines for
Cultural Modernisation”). The document set the following priorities: to contribute to rural development with
national cultural development programmes; to strengthen the partnership between culture and education; to
reinforce Hungary’s cultural identity and to promote cultural tourism.
Latvia – The first mapping of creative industries in Latvia was carried out in 2007. The document was
designed at improving the understanding of creative industries in Latvia. The Ministry of Culture prepared in
the summer of 2008 the “Informal Report on Creative Industries’ Aspects” for the Cabinet of Ministers. After
this informal report, the Latvian government has started reflecting on measures to foster creative industries.
Slovenia – The examination of creativity heads has two dimensions: on the one hand, creativity is promoted
in connection with the attitude of entrepreneurs, employees and youth, and on the other hand, is seen in
connection with innovation, especially design.412
Sweden – In its 2007-2013 plan of regional policy the Swedish Government referred to culture and heritage
as important elements to regions’ innovative development and competitiveness.413 In 2008 the Ministry of
Culture and the Ministry of Enterprise and Energy decided to co-operate in order to advance economic
potential within the cultural sphere and to consider the importance of culture in creating an innovative
business climate. In September 2008 the Government decided upon an action plan to be elaborated for the
promotion of creative industries. This action plan follows the recommendations drawn up in 2008 by the
ITPS, the Swedish Institute for Growth policy Studies, which suggested to the government the elaboration of
a common broad policy in order to develop strategic measures for the creative industries.
Finally we would like to highlight a regional initiative from the Nordic region (Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway and Sweden) which is developing a joint approach to the creative industries in order to gather data
on the sector’s performance and develop policies benefiting creative industries. In the Green Paper “A
Creative Economy Green Paper for the Nordic Region” released in 2007, the Nordic region is conceived as
representing a means of connecting all aspects of the creative industries and the wider economy.414
KreaNord, the working group set up to make recommendations for a Nordic strategy addressed to creative
industries should finish its work by 2010.
411
412
The Economy of Culture – Cultural and Creative Enterprises in Greece, Eommex, 2009, p. 4.
National and regional policies for design, creativity and user-driven innovation: Thematic Report- Executive Summary,
Pro Inno Europe, Inno Policy Trendchart, p.19.
413
A National Strategy for Regional Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Employment 2007-2013, Swedish Ministry of
Enterprise, Energy and Communications, 2007, p.15.
414
A Creative Economy Green Paper for the Nordic Region, Nordic Innovation Centre, 2007, p.13-14.
172
National initiatives supporting creative / cultural industries
Over the last five years a large number of Member States have adopted strategies to promote the growth of
creative industries. The latter are perceived as a very important engine of economic development.
Denmark – The strategy “Denmark in the Culture and Experience Economy - 5 new steps – the Danish
Growth Strategy” issued in 2003 aims at better exploiting the synergy between the cultural and corporate
sectors and aims to promote the potential for growth in the culture and experience economy through the
strengthening of conditions pertinent to innovation, allowing improved access to knowledge, fostering
competence and strengthening incentives available to the culture and experience economy for commercial
production.415
Estonia – In Estonia there is no single national strategy to promote creative industries but rather a number
of different initiatives. These initiatives are all based on the 2007 Operational Programme on
Entrepreneurship and Economic Environment. The Ministry of Culture is developing different sub-sector
strategies (e.g. design, museums, libraries, cultural heritage, handicraft, and architecture).
Finland – Finland has stressed the necessity to create a favourable operating environment to enhance
creative industries at regional and national levels as well as to develop high-quality products which are
internationally competitive.416 The Ministry of Employment and Economy is preparing a specific Creative
Industries Development Project.
Italy – The “White Book on Creativity”417 aims at developing an Italian model to foster creative industries in
the country. Italian creativity is reflected in a model which prioritises quality of life and community wellbeing.
Italy has included “the industry of taste” (industria del gusto) which is primarily based on individual aesthetic
preferences in relation to areas such as fashion, gastronomy and the agro-food industry.418
Lithuania – The 2007 “National Strategy for the Development of Creative Industries” is designed to gather,
analyse and disseminate information about the development of the creative industries in Lithuania. It also
proposes policies to professionalize the sector and develop a favourable environment.
Netherlands – The interaction between creativity and prosperity has been highlighted by the Dutch strategy
“Our Creative Potential – Paper on Culture and Economy” issued in 2005. The strategy seeks to boost the
economic use of culture and creativity in the Netherlands. To fulfil this objective, the Dutch government has
launched the Programme for the Creative Industries aiming at improving the interaction between creative
415
Denmark in the Culture and Experience Economy - 5 new steps – the Danish Growth Strategy, Danish Ministry of
Culture, 2003, p.14.
416
Development Strategy for Entrepreneurship in the Creative Industries Sector for 2015, Finnish Ministry of Trade and
Industry (since 1 January 2008 Ministry of Employment and Economy), 2007, p.4.
417
Libro Bianco sulla Creativitá, Commissione sulla Creativitá et Produzione di Cultura in Italia, Italian Ministry of Culture,
2007
418
Ibid., p. 251.
173
businesses and other industries or education, improving financial support, reviewing the intellectual property
regime, intensifying internationalisation as well as the professionalization of the sector.419
Poland – The “National Strategy for the Development of Culture 2004-2013” is focused on balancing the
development of culture in regions. The effectiveness in cultural management, the increase of participation
regarding accessibility of artistic education and cultural goods and services and the development of cultural
infrastructure have also been set as objectives of the strategy.420
Spain – The “Plan to Promote Creative Industries” was published in 2008. It seeks to implement new
financial mechanisms to support creative industries, in particular focusing on small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs).421
UK – In its “Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy” published in 2008, the British government
proposed detailed measures to establish a Creative Britain. It is the most far reaching programme in Europe
as it examines all aspects of policy ranging from education, to research and innovation aspects including
strategies on IPR or the promotion of the UK as the world’s creative hub.422 In October 2008, the UK
Government commissioned Lord Carter to undertake a review of Digital Britain and this will also have an
impact on policies designed to stimulate creativity and innovation.
Member States with sector specific strategies (essentially in relation to design and architecture)
Some Member States have adopted specific strategies essentially in the field of design which is identified as
a key sector for economic competitiveness. In general policy documents recommend the setting up of
dedicated design centres, the promotion of design in enterprises, notably SMEs, through financial support,
the provision of business training to designers and support for international marketing. Policies on
architecture emphasise the importance of the preservation of the cultural heritage and the value of
architecture as a mean to promote sustainable economic development as well as social cohesion.
Austria – In 2005, the Austrian National Parliament passed resolution no. 91/E (XXII GP) aimed at defining
the architectural policies of the country. The legal document states that “Architecture creates, defines and
informs human spheres of living and human relationships. Hence is it a determinant factor of our quality of
life as well as an important cultural factor. In addition, architecture as part of the creative economy also
423
provides important impulses for a number of industries.”
Among the various objectives of this
architectural policy are the preservation of the cultural heritage and an increase in public awareness of the
importance of contemporary architecture and building culture.
419
Our Creative Potential – Paper on Culture and Economy, Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs and of Education,
Culture and Science, 2005, p. 4.
420
Résumé of the National Strategy for the Development of Culture in 2004-2013, Polish Ministry of Culture, p. 12.
421
Plan de Fomento de las Industrias Culturales, Spanish Ministry Of. Culture, 2008, p. 2.
422
Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, UK, 2008, p. 6.
423
Available at: http://www.baukulturreport.at/index.php?idcatside=129&sid=acd1a42a61b4638e9e32cb2a537e54b0
174
Denmark – With its 2007 strategy “DesignDenmark”, the Danish government aims to promote the use of
design in the economy. To fulfil these objectives, the strategy sets the following priorities: to raise
awareness of the potential of design for the corporate sector424 and to enhance collaboration between
design and other corporate sectors425; to strengthen the internationalisation of Danish design426 and to
enforce IPR protection.427
The same year, the Danish government adopted a policy on architecture (“A Nation for Architecture
Denmark – Settings for Life and Growth”). Its aim is to stimulate architectural quality in a broad sense – from
single-family detached houses to national planning, from education to global marketing.428
Estonia – The Estonian government adopted in 2003 its policy document “Establishing the basis for the
Estonian design policy measures”. The SPINNO Programme of Enterprise Estonia has been supporting
design and innovation since 2004.429
The Programme for Implementing the Architectural Policy for the period 2004-2008 was ratified by the
Estonian Parliament on 17 June 2004. The programme has three objectives: to increase the architectural
administrative effectiveness of national and local government under the guidance of experts, to support the
architectural education and research, and to foster international contacts for Estonian architecture.430
Finland – “Design 2005” is the Finnish Programme for Industrial Design Technology. The Programme is
designed to strengthen the competitiveness of Finnish production. It gave priority to increasing expertise in
design through education and research.431 Other priorities were to develop the utilisation of design in
product development and business strategies and to develop the competence of design firms and
strengthen their service operations.432
Ireland – For the period 2002-2005 the Irish government pursed an “Action on Architecture”, a policy on
architecture. Among its objectives was the promotion of innovation in architecture notably through the
fostering of young designers and architectural projects.433
424
DesignDenmark, Danish Government, 2007, p.12.
425
Ibid., p.14.
426
Ibid., p.19.
427
Ibid., p.30.
428
A Nation of Architecture – Denmark Settings for Life and Growth, Danish Government, 2007, p 4.
429
National and regional policies for design, creativity and user-driven innovation: Thematic Report- Executive Summary,
Pro Inno Europe, Inno Policy Trendchart, p 8.
430
The
Programme
for
Implementing
the
Architectural
Policy
for
the
period
2004-2008
available
at:
http://www.arhliit.ee/uploads/files/the_prog._implementing_the_architectural_policy_20042008.pdf
431
Design 2005 – The Industrial Design Technology Programme, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation,
p.2.
432
Ibid., p.4.
433
“Action on Architecture 2002-2005” available at :
http://www.efap-fepa.eu/dbfiles/document_0052_en_AOAwithcover.pdf
175
Latvia – The Programme for Promotion of Business Competitiveness and Innovation for 2007-2013
highlights the role of design to boost the competitiveness of companies. The programme enhances the
utilisation of professional design in industrial businesses, promotes design audits in companies and the
provision of design consulting services to increase the added value of products.434
The Latvian Ministry of Culture is currently planning an architectural policy. The latter is defined in the draft
“Guidelines for Architectural Policy” for the period from 2008 to 2015. Its aim is to promote and support “the
creation and sustainability of high quality living space through high value architecture”.435
Netherlands – The “Designworld- Premsela Policy Plan 2009−2012” lays down policy proposals for
design.436 It has a strong social and cultural element. The plan recommends making professionals, young
people and society more aware of the value of Holland’s design heritage and its importance for cultural
identity; enhancing exchange of best practice and reinforcing networks between designers; placing design
and fashion in an ethical perspective; promoting the participation of society in design; organising
conferences and debates on design, and developing a design methodology in order to tackle social issues.
The Netherlands has pursued an architecture policy since the beginning of the 1990s with the aim of
promoting spatial quality. The third policy document, “Shaping the Netherlands”, defined the architectural
policy of the country for the period from 2001 and 2004. Under this policy, the government launched several
activities to foster increased architectonic and spatial quality at every level and to highlight and increase the
input of design disciplines in architectural projects. For the period 2005-2008, the Netherlands set up an
“Action Plan on Spatial Planning and Culture” that combined both architectural policy and the Belvedere
policy (aimed at promoting the influence of cultural history in spatial planning).437
Poland – Polish industrial design is being fostered through the Operational Programme Innovative Economy
2007-2013 in the framework of the EU Structural Fund. The programme is designed to help prepare a
manual on the design of new products; raise awareness through the promotion of good practices; design elearning activities, and organise seminars addressed to both entrepreneurs and designers.438
434
Programme for Promotion of Business Competitiveness and Innovation for 2007-2013, Latvian Ministry of Economics,
2007, p.44.
435
Guidelines for Architectural Policy 2008-2015, Latvian Ministry of Culture, p.12.
436
Designworld – Premsela Policy Plan 2009-2012, Premsela Foundation, 2008, p.6-7.
437
The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, of
Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, of Economic Affairs, of
Defence and of Foreign Affairs, Action Programme on Spatial Planning and Culture – Architecture and Belvedere Policy –
2005-2008, September 2005, available at:
http://www.efap-fepa.eu/dbfiles/document_0053_en_spatialplanning.pdf
438
National and regional policies for design, creativity and user-driven innovation: Thematic Report- Executive Summary,
Pro Inno Europe, Inno Policy Trendchart, p.18.
176
Spain – The “Programme for Design Support” for the period 2007-2013 seeks to improve the
competitiveness of small enterprises. It has been developed by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and
Commerce.439
UK – “The Good Design Plan” adopted in 2008 aims at building the UK’s capacity to support the effective
use of design in business and the public sector. The policy recommendations are focussed on; the
development of a design-innovation programme to support public service innovation; the launching of a
platform for community-led innovation and public engagement to improve people’s life and create
sustainable communities; the interaction between design and education under a national Design Skills
Alliance.440
Member States which have integrated creative industries’ support in their innovation policy
Some Member States have specifically integrated creativity in their innovation policies.
Austria – The “Third Austrian Report on Creative Economy” of 2008, based on the study “The Contribution
of Creative Industries to the Innovation System in Austria” of 2008, provides an exhaustive overall analysis
of the innovation potential of activities within the creative industries. It examines product-and process
innovation, education and the skills of employees, the use of new technologies as well as the need for
innovation from other parts of industry to show that creative industries innovate in their own sector but are
also fostering innovation in other parts of the economy.
Finland – The Innovation Strategy of 2008 underlines that the development of innovation depends on the
fostering of creativity.441 It also stresses the connection between innovativeness and individuals’ creativity
and skills.
Germany – Industrial design activities are designated as R&D activities and public funding is made
available through various R&D and innovation programmes.442
Greece – In its Strategic Plan for the Development of research, technology and Innovation 2007-2013, the
Greek government identified cultural heritage as one of its thematic areas. The objectives pursued are to
develop scientific knowledge in the field and preserve and use this knowledge to ensure the integrity and
authenticity of cultural heritage, and to develop innovative tools, products and services with cultural content
in order to link heritage to tourism and the leisure economy.443
439
440
Ibid p.20.
The Good Design Plan – National Design Strategy and Design Council Delivery Plan 2008-2011, UK Design Council,
2008, p.19, 22, 26.
441
Proposal for Finland’s National Innovation Strategy, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland, 2008, p.4.
442
National and regional policies for design, creativity and user-driven innovation: Thematic Report- Executive Summary,
Pro Inno Europe, Inno Policy Trendchart, p.11.
443
Strategic Plan for the Development of research, technology and Innovation 2007-2013, Ministry of Development,
Hellenic Republic, 2007, p.74-75.
177
Malta – In its National Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation 2007-2010, Malta has highlighted energyenvironment as one of the key areas for public funding. In 2008, the government introduced incentives and
training in relation to energy saving buildings through notably innovative design. Moreover, the Malta
Enterprise Act of 2007 has as one of its key objectives the promotion of design.444
Netherlands – The promotion of creativity is also the aim of the 2008 Strategic Research Agenda of the ICT
Innovation Platform for Creative Industry. The platform is proposing to make available to the creative
industries a number of financial support vouchers: for the production of creative ideas, or the coaching of
creative entrepreneurs.445
Spain – The programme InnoEmpresa (2007-2013) aims at fostering innovation in SMEs with design as a
focus area.446
444
445
446
Ibid p.15.
Ibid, p.16.
Ibid, p.20.
178
APPENDIX 3
TOWARDS A CREATIVITY INDEX:
EUROPE’S CREATIVE POTENTIAL
MEASURING
A number of indicators have been established by international organisations and government bodies such
as the OECD or the European Union to measure social and economic developments in different countries.
PISA is the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment and ranks countries according to
their student’s abilities for full participation in society.447 The World Values Survey assesses the state of
social, cultural and political values of different countries around the world. Its results feature in several
international comparator exercises.448 In the economic domain, the World Economic Forum has been
assessing the competitiveness of nations for nearly three decades.449 Its global competitiveness report
examines the factors enabling national economies to achieve sustained economic growth and long-term
prosperity. The Index identifies 12 pillars of competitiveness, including innovation, technology, human
capital (“to nurture a well educated workforce”) and institutions (including intellectual property). As is the
case with many indicators, it does not recognise the role of creativity in fostering innovation.
As part of its Lisbon Strategy the European Commission in 2000 developed a European Innovation
Scoreboard to provide a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States. This
scoreboard has developed into an important tool of pan-European policy learning and succeeded in putting
innovation high on the agenda of policy makers in European Member States and Regions. It is based on a
wide range of indicators covering structural conditions, knowledge creation, and innovation but has for long
underestimated the role that creativity plays in the innovation process. As will be shown in this section, this
may be subject to change in the near future.
Measuring creativity is most certainly as challenging as measuring innovation. Innovation can rely on data
that is already captured by Eurostat, the European statistical body: this includes number of science and
engineering graduates, R&D expenditure, venture capital expenditure in ICT, patent application, etc.
However, European and national statistical agencies collect far less detailed data concerning the role of
creativity, such as number of art students, expenditure in film, games development or A&R.450
Despite this lack of data, the following examines different strategies for measuring creativity at the individual
as well as environmental level. On the basis of this assessment we concluded that it is preferable to build a
creativity index that focuses on the social and economic factors that influence creativity. In order to identify
indicators that could be included in an ECI we reviewed national and international indexes linked to
innovation, creativity and cultural consumption.
447
See PISA Online, http://www.pisa.oecd.org/ (accessed January 2009).
448
See data sets at the project website: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.com/ (accessed January 2009).
449
The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008 Palgrave Mc Millan, 2007.
450
Artist & Repertoire – money invested by record companies to sign and develop new artists.
179
1.1
Measuring individual creativity: a challenging task
Traditional notions that considered creativity as a divine ingenuity have not passed the test of time and
belong to the past. At the individual level, creativity is nowadays often considered as an individual capacity
to make unusual associations and to develop unexpected solutions. Yet, research long stayed clear of any
attempts to measure this creative capacity by means of standardised tests, as it was believed that standard
evaluations could not capture the full nature of a person’s creative abilities.451
In this context, several psychological experts have attempted to define and measure creativity in the past 50
years. For example, Guilford452 made the distinction between two kinds of thinking. While convergent
thinking aims at providing the “single best, correct answer”, divergent thinking seeks to “generate new and
unexpected answer”. The latter characterises our western understanding of creativity. In terms of measuring
creativity three aspects of thinking are generally evaluated: fluency (quality of answer), flexibility (variability
of idea categories in the answers) and originality (uncommonness of answers). Elaboration (complexity and
completeness of answers) or effectiveness (link to the constraints of the real world) may also be included in
some tests.
The most widely used test concerning individual creativity is the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT),
developed for the first time in 1966. It includes two sections: a verbal section (“thinking creatively with
words”) and a non-verbal one (“thinking creatively with pictures). The first section provides data on fluency,
flexibility and originality. The second one attempts to measure fluency, flexibility, elaboration, abstractness
of titles and resistance to premature closure.
However, as previously illustrated creativity is also context-dependent. It can be assessed by analysing
psychological properties (“personality attributes”). The two main methods to measure such the non-cognitive
aspects are biographical inventories and personality tests. The first seeks to collect data on people’s life
history such as experience, family background, hobbies, education or life achievement. One of the first
biographical inventories was developed in 1968 by Schaefer and Anastasi.453 As for the second approach,
it aims at assessing personal properties such as extraversion, emotion, tolerance, independence or values.
Opinions on reliability, validity and necessity of any of the above ways to test creativity diverge and its
context dependency may be a key reason for this. Wallach454 concludes that “tests tell us little about talent.”
And while it is possible to test creativity in theory it is not clear whether a person that scores high in a test
will also produce creative outputs in real life. That said, creativity tests are today certainly better predictors of
potential creativity in real life than, say, IQ tests or school grades.455 In any case, many scholars (such as
451
Cropley A. J., Creativity in education and learning : a guide for teachers and educators, Routledge Falmer, London and
New York, 2001.
452
Guilford, J P., Creativity, American Psychologist, 5, 1950, p.444-54.
453
Schaefer, C E and Anastasi, A., A biographical inventory for identifying creativity in adolescent boys, Journal of Applied
Psychology, 52, 1968, p.42-48.
454
Wallach, M A, Tests tell us little about talent, American Scientist, January-February 1976, p.57-63.
455
Cropley A.J., A five-year longitudinal study of the validity of creativity tests, Australian Journal of Psychology, 6, 1972,
p.119-24.
180
Helson456 or Kitto, Lock and Rudowicz457) suggest considering the results of individual creativity tests as
indicators for potential creative abilities rather than as clear proof of a person’s creativeness.
For Sternberg458, creativity is as much attitude as ability. Creative personalities enjoy risk taking, intrinsic
motivation, curiosity, autonomy, flexibility and divergent thinking. As such, creativity is again largely
dependent on social and environment factors. It is therefore not only a capacity but a process emerging from
interaction between an individual and his or her social and cultural environment.
Nevertheless, large international surveys, such as PISA or TIMMS, measure some aspects of creativity. Yet,
they mainly make use of convergent thinking tests. In a short review of these tests Ernesto Villalba
concludes that they are not very reliable and that creativity remains context dependent, thus illustrating the
difficulty to compare levels of creativity from one country to another.459
Taking these different perspectives and commentaries into account it becomes clear that measuring
creativity remains a difficult proposition. Similarly to other cross-national indicators we therefore suggest to
focus on the environmental factors that stimulate creativity rather than to measure creative capacities. As
such, the ECI will include a range of indicators concerning the creative potential of any EU Member State.
1.2
Review of existing indexes
To review all possible indicators which could potentially contribute to benchmarking the creative potential of
EU Member States the team assessed several creativity- and innovation related indexes. These can broadly
be grouped in three categories:
1.
2.
3.
456
457
Indexes that measure factors of creativity
A Cultural Life Index that measure the cultural vitality of a society
Innovation Indexes: Characteristics of the indexes – objectives and scope
Helson, R., A longitudinal study of creative personality in women, Creativity Research Journal, 12, 1999, p.89-102.
Kitto, J, Lok, D and Rudowicz, E, Measuring creative thinking : an activity-based approach, Creativity Research
Journal, 7, 1994, p.59-69.
458
Sternberg (2006).
459
Ernesto Villalba – On creativity – JRC Scientific and Technical Report European Communities, 2008.
181
INDEXES
Creativity Indexes
OBJECTIVE
SCOPE
Hong Kong Index460
- capture the characteristics of
the socio-cultural parameters
and illustrate the interplay of
various factors that contribute to
creativity.
Set of cognitive, environmental
and personality variables that
interact to create creative
outputs in Hong Kong’s territory.
Euro-Creativity Index461
“3Ts”:
Technology,
- list elements that would attract The
the “creative class” to a location Tolerance and Talent
Flemish Index462
- benchmark regional innovation
Technical innovation, entrepreneurship and openness of
society.
Cultural Life Index
Finnish Report463
460
- compile indicators of cultural The cultural sector including:
music, dance, theatre, fine arts,
life
cultural
heritage,
libraries,
cinema and video, magazines
and newspapers.
The “Hong Kong Creativity Index” developed by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative
Region Government published in November 2004.
461
The “Euro-Creativity Index” developed in the report “Europe in the creative age” by Florida and Tinagli in 2004 on the
basis of “The Rise of the Creative Class” published in 2002.
462
“A Composite Index of the Creative Economy” by Bowen, H.P., and Sleuwaegen, L. from Vlerick Leuven Gent
Management School and W.Moesen from the Catholic University of Leuven, 2006.
463
The report prepared for the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture by Picard, R.G., Grölund, M. and Toivonen, T. on
the “Means for Overall Assessment of Cultural Life and Measuring the Involvement of the Cultural Sector in the
Information Society” published in 2003.
182
Innovation Indexes
EIS464
- rank the most innovative
Member States
Oslo Manual465
- have a better understanding of Economic output as well as
human capital (education, talent)
the innovation process
1.2.1
Technological innovation
The Hong Kong Index (HKI)
With 88 indicators, the HKI is the richest and most thorough attempt to “illustrate the interplay of various
factors that contribute to the growth of creativity.”466 It encompasses four domains – human, social, cultural
and institutional – that contribute to such growth. It also highlights that “the accumulated effects and
interplay of these different forms of capital are the measurable outputs/outcomes of creativity.”467 As such,
the index was a source of inspiration in relation to identifying relevant indicators for the ECI, especially with
regards to the following areas:
–
–
–
–
–
human capital (notably educational qualifications)
the social capital conducive to creativity (including level of tolerance and diversity)
cultural participation as well as cultural offering (museums, venues) as a factor to simulate
creativity
institutional parameters conducive to creativity (intellectual property, fiscal incentives, technology
infrastructure).
Outcomes of creativity (importance of creative industries)
However, the extensive scope of the HKI is also challenging with regards to the purpose of our assignment.
As it mixes a range of indicators that are related to technology roll out and scientific advances it may be
somewhat prone to undermining the impact that cultural factors have on creativity. Furthermore, the vast
amount of indicators used seems impractical for a trans-national survey, due to reasons of data collection
464
The “European Innovation Scoreboard 2007” prepared by the Directorate-General for Enterprises and Industry of the
European Commission under the Lisbon Strategy.
465
The “Oslo Manual: the Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities, Guidelines for collecting and interpreting
rd
innovation data”, 3 Edition, a joint publication of OECD and Eurostat , 2005.
466
“A Study on Hong Kong Creativity Index” commissioned by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region Government published in November 2004.
467
Ibid.
183
and availability. A European index requires fewer indicators to remain manageable across disciplines for
which data can be collected.
1.2.2
The Euro-Creativity Index
This 2004 follow-up European version of Richard Florida’s work in the US, published in collaboration with
UK-based think tank Demos, further elaborates the importance of place in a global competition to attract
talents and creativity to Europe’s cities and regions. Florida’s index has certainly acted as a source of
inspiration in relation to the development of our openness and diversity indicators – both factors contributing
to the establishment of an environment that is conductive to creativity and innovation (see description of our
main pillars of creativity in 1.3).
However, the definition of creativity used in Florida’s Euro-Creativity Index is much broader than the one
used in this study. For example, a large number of indicators selected for his index are assessing sciencebased factors of creativity (patents, R&D expenditure, number of scientists, etc.) and have thus not found
their way into our index, which is related to culture. Other criticisms of the index include the argument that
the correlations between different data sets are not sound and don’t allow to make the conclusions that
Florida brings forward.468 Nevertheless, given the big focus that public as well as private bodies put on
creativity his theory’s contemporary relevance seem unquestionable.
1.2.3
The Flanders Index
The Flanders Creativity Index has been developed by Flanders DG, a regional body responsible for
fostering entrepreneurship and innovation in Flanders as well as to stimulate economic relations with several
creative partner regions throughout the world (Baden Württemberg, Catalonia, Flanders, Lombardy,
Maryland (USA), Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Quebec (Canada), Rhone-Alpes, Scotland). As such, it has a distinct
regional focus and could not be applicable for cross-country comparisons.
Similarly to the Florida Index the Flanders Approach considers creativity to be a much wider concept than
the one used in this study and links it to notions of scientific and technological innovation and
entrepreneurship. It does not, however, put any remarkable emphasis on the role of culture in stimulating
creativity. The Flemish Index gives great importance to the notion of openness and explains that a city
environment in terms of urban population and diversity (share of foreigners and of foreign students in total
population) has an impact on creativity. As will be seen, this notion of openness will be reflected in our set of
indicators.
1.2.4
The Finnish report
The Report on Cultural Life by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture is a compilation of indicators of
cultural life (62 indicators). It is broken down into three sub-indices: cultural availability, cultural participation
468
Malanga, S. The curse of the Creative Class, City Journal, winter, 2004, pp 36-45 or Boschma, R.A. and Fritsch, M.
Creative class and regional growth – Empirical evidence from Eight European Countries. The Jena Economic Research
Papers, 2007.
184
and cultural production. It enables to weight the creative potential of a country in relation to the availability of
cultural resources and cultural participation. It serves to illustrate the importance of cultural participation and
infrastructure to stimulate creativity and divergent thinking in a given society. It is assumed that a rich
cultural environment benefits creativity and that social life triggered by cultural activities supports the
creative economy.469
1.2.5
The European innovation scoreboard
The European Innovation Scoreboard was introduced under the Lisbon strategy and first published in 2001.
Since then, it has provided an annual assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States. The
assessment is based on a wide range of indicators covering structural conditions, knowledge creation,
innovative efforts by firms, and outputs in terms of new products, services and intellectual property.
It has to be acknowledged that the Innovation Scoreboard has successfully contributed to putting innovation
on the policy agendas of national and regional policy makers alike throughout Europe. Yet, to some extend,
this may be the result of a somewhat controversial ranking of EU Member States’ innovation capacity, which
has led to criticism of underlying methods and selected indicators. For example, Schimbany et al detected a
certain high-tech bias in the Scoreboard and claimed that such would favour countries with a certain
industrial structure although innovation could also take place outside high-tech sectors.470 This bias of EU
innovation policy (and especially funding) towards technology has long been criticised by European content
stakeholders.
However, the most recent publication of the 2008 Scoreboard (released in January 2009) recognises such
bias and highlights the importance of non-R&D innovation, including creativity and design:
“An important part of non-R&D innovation is creativity and design. As a contribution to the 2009 European
Year of Creativity and Innovation, a Design, Creativity and Innovation scoreboard was constructed using a
range of novel indicators. The analysis of this scoreboard shows that countries with a good creative climate
tend to have higher levels of R&D and design activities and also strong overall innovation performance.
These findings point to the need to consider design and other non-R&D activities as part of the broader
approach to innovation policy as well as to the strong links between creativity and innovation.”471
Yet, while non-R&D indicators (such as innovation expenditure not related to R&D) are included in the actual
Scoreboard the creativity and design related indicators will be published as part of a separate document in
2009. Preliminary findings of this document were taken into account during the course of this assignment by
discussing similar approaches taken at a European Commission-organised workshop the measurement of
creativity.
469
See in particular Elizabeth Currid, The Warhol Economy, How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City, Princeton
University Press, 2007.
470
Schibany, Andreas and Gerhard Streicher, “How not to compare innovation performance: A critical assessment of the
European Innovation Scoreboard”, Joanneum Research, 2008.
471
UNU-MERIT, European Innovaiton Scoreboard 2008, Inno Metrix, 2009.
185
With regards to the 2007 version of the Scoreboard we adopted indicators concerning the following:
–
–
The relevance of ICT infrastructure as a tool to enable the development of creativity472
Ways to measure human capital formation in society
There are several interferences of the new design-related innovation indicators which will be included the
2009 paper on creativity, design and innovation and the creativity indicator proposed in this study. These
include:
–
–
–
–
Approaches to measure the value of creative education
Cultural expenditure
Approaches to measure openness and tolerance in society
Value added by cultural and creative industries to national GDP
A difference is, however, that the EIS indicators are primarily geared towards innovation by enterprises while
the proposed indicators in this assignment examine the wider contribution of culture to creativity in economic
and social domains in the EU.
1.2.6
The Oslo manual
The Manual is the basis for most innovation surveys in the EU and around the world. Encompassing a wide
range of possible innovations, the third version of the Oslo Manual offers us a rich understanding of the
innovation process.473 Contrary to the previous Manual, it does not focus exclusively on technological
innovation (product and process innovations) but also includes organisational and marketing innovations.
For the first time, the 3rd version of the Manual investigates the field of non-technological innovation and the
linkages between different innovation types. However, as is the case with the European Innovation
Scoreboard, the Manual does little to consider the role of culture and creativity in fostering innovation.
In conclusion of the existing indexes or reports are based on different definitions of creativity and innovation.
They have different objectives and scopes with different geographical remit. They essentially focus on
scientific and technology innovation and take little account of art and culture as an indicator of creativity.
However, what they have in common is to highlight concepts that are relevant to assess creativity:
–
–
–
–
–
human capital (education)
technology infrastructure and usage
social environment (including attitude towards diversity)
industrial property
institutional and regulatory environment.
472
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/tl/research/index_en.htm DG Information Society.
473
OECD, Guidelines for Measuring Innovation Data, The Oslo Manual, http://www.oecd.org/ (accessed January 2009).
186
1.3
Establishing the European Creativity Index (ECI)
The European Creativity Index (ECI) is a new statistical framework for illustrating and measuring the
interplay of various factors that contribute to the growth of creativity in the European Union. As other
indicators it measures the performance of a phenomenon using a set of indicators which highlight some of
the key features of that phenomenon. It is inspired by existing indexes concerning creativity, innovation and
economic performance but introduces elements that are more specifically related to art and culture in order
to ensure that a cultural dimension is taken into account when measuring the creative and innovative
potential of Europe. Due to the nature of the assignment the proposed creativity index is by definition
primarily assessing environmental factors rather than individual creative capacities.
A focus on the cultural dimension of creativity implies taking into consideration a number of factors, many of
which are usually not included in other indexes. These include, but are not limited to:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
education in art schools
cultural employment
cultural offering
cultural participation
technology penetration
regulatory and financial support to creation
economic contribution of cultural industries
We group these indicators into 6 pillars of creativity, illustrated in the graph below:
Institutional Environment
Human Capital
Creative outputs
Openness and Diversity
Technology
187
Social Environment
1.3.1
Analysis of the pillars of creativity
1.3.1.1 Human Capital
Human capital – defined by the OECD as "the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes embodied in
individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being." – has long been
acknowledged to stimulate economic growth and social progress.474 While it is shaped by a range of
external factors (including economic status and cultural norms and values) learning and education are
important indicators concerning the levels of human capital in any given society.475 Increasingly, the role of
lifelong learning is also acknowledged as essential in stimulating human capital formation.
Chapter four of this report illustrated the vital role that learning and education have in facilitating the
development of creative talents. Nevertheless, there are also arguments opposing this positive influence of
education and training on creativity. After all, education often provides us with thought patterns most
common to society and not necessarily with the tools to exploit original ideas and disrupt the status quo. Are
we “educating people out of their creativity”, as Robinson claims?476 Following this line of thought,
Claxton477 highlights that traditional teaching is mainly built on dispositions of analytical thinking and tends
to neglect other qualities of mind, such as imagination, intuition and intrinsic curiosity – skills that are key to
creativity.
Policy documents increasingly seem to acknowledge that the way we learn and develop human capital
needs to involve more interdisciplinary, non-cognitive and communicative approaches.478 As shown in
Chapter four, culture-based interventions in schools, higher education and life long learning can facilitate
this creativity shift in learning: “The arts provide an environment where the learner is actively engaged in
creative experiences, processes and development.”479 “Research indicates that introducing learners to
artistic processes, while incorporating elements of their own culture into education, cultivates in each
individual a sense of creativity and initiative, a fertile imagination, emotional intelligence and a moral
“compass”, a capacity for critical reflection, a sense of autonomy, and freedom of thought and action.480
474
OECD, “The Wellbeing of Nations – The Role of Human and Social Capital”, OECD, 2001.
475
Barro, R.J., “Education and economic growth”, in Helliwell, J.F.ed. The contribution of Human and Social Capital to
Sustained Economic Growth and Well-Being, OECD, 2001.
476
Robinson K., “Do schools kill creativity?” at the TED conference.
(http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html)
477
Claxton G., “Cultivating positive learning dispositions”, to appear in Harry Daniels et al. Routledge Companion to
Education, Routledge, 2008.
478
OECD, ibid
479
UNESCO “Road Map for arts education” The World conference on Arts Education: building creative capacity for the
st
21 Century, Lisbon 6-9 March 2006.
480
For examples of research studies and evidence, refer to the reports from preparatory meetings for the World
Conference on Arts Education; cf. LEA International at http://www.unesco.org/culture/lea.
188
Education in and through art also stimulates cognitive development and can make how and what learners
learn more relevant to the needs of modern society.”481
On the basis that culture plays an important role in fostering the creative dimensions of human capital we
suggest a number of indicators related to:
–
–
The potential of culture- and arts-based education (primary, secondary, tertiary) to help foster
creative talents.
The level of creative talents coming out of tertiary education and in cultural employment.
A table listing all indicators and sub-headings is included under section 1.3.2.
1.3.1.2 Openness and diversity
Contemporary notions of economic development put increasing emphasis on the link between open and
diverse societies and their creative capacity – particularly so in an economic development context. While
more research concerning this causation is certainly needed some evidence exists.
Jane Jacobs was the first to suggest that diversity and the exchange of ideas are a source of innovation and
thus play an important role in the creation of powerful and dynamic cities.482 The exchange between
different people from diverse cultural backgrounds increases the diffusion of information. Through a
“learning by doing” effect among creative people in a given city innovative solutions and ideas emerge. Pilati
and Tremblay further review this notion of a creative city in their article “Cité créative et District culturel; une
analyse des thèses en présence.”483
Similarly, Richard Florida showed that creativity cannot flourish without a creative climate characterized by
“a culture that’s open-minded and diverse.”484 Regional economic growth is powered by creative people,
who prefer places that are diverse, tolerant and open to new ideas. Diversity increases the likeliness that a
place will attract different types of creative people. Greater and more diverse concentrations of creative
capital in turn lead to higher rates of innovation, high-technology business formation, job generation and
economic growth. Importantly, the cultural offering of a city or region (whether indicated by the number of
opera houses or the number of underground punk rock bands) makes a place more attractive to these
creative talents. Indeed, many argue that there is a highly dynamic relationship between today’s creative
entrepreneurs (that are increasingly seen as the motor of the general economy) and the publicly funded arts
venues (which stimulate creatives to develop new products and services).
481
482
483
UNESCO Roadmap Ibid.
Jacob, J., The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House Publishing Group, New York, 1993.
Pilati, T. and Tremblay, D.-G., “Cité creative et District cultural; une analyse des thèses en présence », Géographie
économie, société 2007/4, Vol. 9, pp. 381-401.
484
Florida, R.,The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic Books, 2002.
189
On a different level, evidence shows that several substantive freedoms – including freedom of expression
and the requirement to access a plurality of information sources – impact on individuals’ most basic ability to
realise their full potential. Sen’s capabilities approach to development economics is a major contribution in
this field.485 Nussbaum further develops his line of reasoning and examines the importance of more
imaginative, artistic and spiritual ways of individual expression in relation to one’s ability to fulfil individual
potentials.486 The basic idea of such a capability approach is that people who have access to cultural and
information resources as well as the freedom to express themselves creativeness and imaginatively stand
better chances to lead a better life.
We suggest a range of indicators that link issues of openness, diversity and media pluralism to the cultural
domain. Of course, the cultural offering within a certain territory is also vital to fostering openness and
creativity. This important aspect will be included in a separate pillar described below.
1.3.1.3. Cultural environment
Today, few policy strategies in European Member States link cultural participation and the performance of
the cultural and creative sectors to the general progress of society. “Successful societies in the 21st century
will be those that nurture a spirit of creativity and foster the cultural activity which goes hand in hand with it”
claims a British policy document from 2001.487 John D. Ong, Chairman Emeritus of the BF Goodrich
Company claims the same for his business: “People who create in our companies - whether they are
scientists, marketing experts or business strategists, benefit from exposure to art. They cannot create when
they work and live in a cultural sterile environment.”488
The cultural environment – our concert venues, galleries, book stores and cinemas (to name but a few) –
are essential to the development of a creative society. They are the hotspots of disruptive debate and
provide ground for argumentation, idea development and networking beyond one’s restricted circle of
contacts. As Elizabeth Currid points out, “creativity would not exist as successfully or efficiently without its
social world – the social is not the by-product – it is the decisive mechanism by which cultural products and
cultural producers are generated, evaluated and sent to the market.”489 Culture is a driver of creativity
precisely because of its “social properties”. Moreover, various studies have demonstrated that museums
and galleries are “places where creativity can flourish”490 because they “encourage people to think
differently, to take and transmit ideas and to generate new things based on the creativity of the past.”491
485
Sen, A., “Capability and Well-being”, in The Quality of Life, edited by Nussbaum, M. and Sen, A., Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1993.
486
Nussbaum, M.C., Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2000, p.78
487
488
489
UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport, “Culture and Creativity: The Next Ten Years”, 2001 a Green Paper.
Available at: http://www.bcainc.org/news.asp.435.html .
Currid, Elizabeth, “The Warhol Economy; How Fashion Art and Music drive New York City”, Princeton University Press,
2007.
490
Hooper-Greenhill E., Dodd J., Gibson L., Phillips M., Jones C., Sullivan E., Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
and Renaissance, What did you learn at the museum today? Second study: evaluation of the outcome and impact of
190
Yet, it is the exposure to arts and culture that will make people creative – not the mere existence of the
earlier. Evidence shows that cultural participation – which we measure by looking into level of attendance at
cultural events and participation in cultural activities for lack of better statistical data – produces new ideas
and innovative ways of expressing oneself.492 Tony Travers of the London School of Economics and
Stephen Glaister of Imperial College of London highlighted in a report entitled Valuing Museums: Impact and
innovation among national museums493, that “a student visiting a fine art gallery may find inspiration for a
stage design or a fabric. A child visiting a science museum may find inspiration for school that would
otherwise be missing. These kinds of spontaneous use of museum and gallery holdings can together be
seen as creativity.” Similarly, a recent study by Engage looked into the learning benefits of engaging with
galleries of contemporary art and living artists. It shows that cultural participation helps people to discover
intrinsic resources of talent, ingenuity and aesthetic judgment.494
In line with this argumentation we suggest indicators linked to the cultural offer as well as the cultural
participation in a given Member State.
1.3.1.4 Technology
The fast development of digital technology transforms the global cultural sphere. In the past ten years
technology has had both disruptive and unifying effects in art and the cultural and creative industries,
unleashing individual creativity and creating a virtual cultural commons while dismantling traditional business
models. As such, identifying indicators concerning the role of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) in transforming culture and creativity is a contentious task and bound to create lively debate.
However, what is clear is that ICTs will be at the heart of innovative economic and social developments in
the 21st century and that they are a main means to unleash Europe’s creative potential.
As shown by Manuel Castells, digital technology has set free two opposing processes taking place at the
same time: On the one side, culture is becoming global as media companies are able to reach out to the
entire planet and provide a plethora of creative content to diverse audiences. On the other side, culture
becomes customised, personalised, user-generated and more local.495 It also shifts increasingly from being
focused around experience to engagement. Audiences turn into participants and consumers into creators.
Digital is a key driver of this transformation as it enables individuals to express themselves in novel ways
and to connect and share their creations with communities of interest around the globe.
learning through implementation of Education Programme Delivery Plans across nine Regional Hubs, Research Centre
for Museums and Galleries Citation, Leicester, RCMG, 2006.
491
Travers, T. and Glaister, S., Valuing Museums: Impact and innovation among national museums, National Museums
Directors’ Conference, United Kingdom, 2004.
492
Cultural Initiative Silicon Valley, Creativity Community Index Study: Measuring Progress Toward A Vibrant Silicon Valley
2003.
493
494
495
Op cit : Travers, T. and Glaister, S., 2004.
Report Inspiring Learning in Galleries published by Engage, London 2008.
Manuel Castells, L'ère de l'information. Vol. 1. La société en réseaux. Paris, Fayard. 1998.
191
Helmut Anheier and Yudhishthir Raj Isar, in Cultures and Globalization: the Cultural Economy 496, point out
that “the technological products made available to individuals can turn many into creators themselves: from
the personal computer and digital camera to the cell phone, humankind inhabits an increasingly networked
world in which communication and personal expression and development reign supreme.”
In essence, culture and technology share a reciprocal benefit: By facilitating the creative process technology
enables new forms of expression. Artists and creative content in turn drive technology to new levels of
sophistication. Personal computers run software for musical composition, for choreography, theatre design
and architecture. New technologies also produce new forms of creative activities in areas such as computer
animation, sound synthesis or digital graphics.
Our indicators concerning the roll out of digital technology infrastructure and equipment try to capture this
reciprocity between culture, creativity and ICT proliferation.
It would have certainly been interesting to integrate further current trends in digital media production and
consumption in our framework: For example, indicators concerning the development of new business
models related to open-innovation, open content (e.g. the proliferation of open content licences such as
Creative Commons in different Member States) or open source products would have been of interest in this
respect. However, data concerning such phenomenon is limited. The uptake of creative user-generated
content would certainly also be of interest in this context and more research in this area is needed.497
1.3.1.5 The institutional environment
The well being of societies and countries is clearly linked to the transparency, accountability and resilience
of their regulatory institutions, as highlighted by several NGO’s such as Transparency International.498
Michael Porter also identified the clear links between a country’s competitiveness and several institutional
factors, including the rule of law and the appropriateness of public policies.499
Residing primarily within the remit of Member States, cultural policies and support initiatives for creativity
and the creative industries are diverse across the EU (as shown in Chapter five). By assessing each
Member States indirect and direct investments into culture we propose to assess a country’s ambition to
foster an ecosystem conductive to creativity:
–
496
A fundamental mechanism to stimulate creativity and reward creative people or investment in the
cultural and creative industries is copyright (or authors’ right). Copyright is the equivalent to patent
Anheier, H. and Raj Isar, Y., Cultures and Globalization: the Cultural Economy, Sage, Los Angeles, London, New
Dehli, Singapore, 2008.
497
The authors of this study suggest the commissioning of a short content analysis concerning the share of cultural
content within a sample of member profiles on UCG sites such as Myspace, BEBO or Facebook in all European Member
States.
498
The latest Corruption index for the EU and central Europe can be accessed on www.transparency.org (accessed
January 2009)
499
Porter, M. E., The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Macmillan, London, 1990.
192
in R&D; its function is to provide a monopoly right to protect creators and promote investors in
creativity. We propose to evaluate the level of remuneration granted to a category of right holders.
We suggest the remuneration collected by authors of musical works and music publishers because
they are relatively easy to track with the support of rights management societies in the music field.
1.3.1.6 The Creative outputs
Europe’s cultural and creative industries are increasingly considered to be drivers of creativity and economic
growth throughout the economy. The National Endowment of Science, Technology and the Arts’ analysis of
the Community Innovation Survey 2004 and input-output data concerning the trade between creative
companies and companies operating outside the creative industries showed that firms who spend twice the
average amount on creative inputs are 25% more likely to introduce product innovations. It also showed that
firms that have supply chain linkages with creative industries typically offer more diverse and higher quality
products than those who don’t.500
This causation has been a primary interest of this report and we therefore suggest including statistics
concerning the performance of the cultural and creative industries as indicators concerning the creative
potential of a country. To be sure, this does not imply that the economic contribution of the sector in terms of
GDP is equal to its economic relevance for the general economy. It simply recognises that the cultural and
creative sectors are an important motor of creativity and innovation in Europe.
In this context, the index below includes indicators related to the economic contribution of the cultural and
creative industries to a Member State’s GDP as well as indicators concerning outputs of the sector.
1.3.2 The European creativity index
The ECI is thus composed of 32 indicators, grouped over six sub-indexes.
HUMAN CAPITAL
DATA SOURCES
The potential of culture- and arts-based education to help foster creative talents
1. Number of hours dedicated to arts and culture in primary and “Key data on education in Europe in 2005”, by DG EAC, Eurydice
secondary education
and
Eurostat,
available
on
Eurydice
website:
www.eurydice.org/
2. Number of art schools per million population
European Leagues of Institutes of the Arts (Elia) website:
http://www.elia-artschools.org/
• The level of creative talents coming out of tertiary education and in cultural employment
3. Tertiary students by field of education related to culture
Eurostat,
“Cultural
statistics”,
available
on:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
4. Cultural employment in total employment
“Cultural statistics in Europe”, Edition 2007, published by
Eurostat, p.54
OPENNESS AND DIVERSITY
Attitude in population
5. % of population that express tolerant attitudes toward
500
DATA SOURCES
EUMC and SORA
Bakhshi, H. et al., Creating Innovation, NESTA, 2008.
193
minorities
6. Share of population interested in arts and culture in other
European countries
Market data
7. Market shares of non-national European film
8. Level of Media Pluralism in European Member States
9. Share of non-nationals in cultural employment
CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
Cultural Participation
10. Average annual cultural expenditure per household
“European cultural values”, 2007, Eurobarometer 278 requested
by DG EAC
The
European
Audiovisual
Observatory:
http://www.obs.coe.int/
Study on Media Pluralism Indicators carried out on behalf of DG
Infosoc501
Eurobarometer 278
DATA SOURCES
11. Percentage of persons participating in cultural activities at
least one time in the 12 months
Eurostat,
“Cultural
statistics”,
available
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
Eurostat,
“Cultural
statistics”,
available
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
Cultural offering
12. Number of public theatres per capita
Data available from relevant national minister
13. Number of public museums per capita
Data available from relevant national minister
14. Number of public concert halls
Data available from relevant national minister
15. Number of cinema screens by countries
The
European
Audiovisual
http://www.obs.coe.int/
TECHNOLOGY
16. Broadband penetration rate
on:
on:
Observatory:
DATA SOURCES
17. Percentage of households who have personal computer and
video game console at home
Eurostat , « Sciences
and
technology »
:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
“Cultural statistics in Europe”, Edition 2007, published by
Eurostat, p. 142
REGULATORY INCENTIVES TO CREATE
DATA SOURCES
Financial support
18. Tax break for artists or people who work in the creative
sector
19. VAT rates on books, press, sound recordings, video, film
receipts, freelance authors, visual artists
20. Tax incentives concerning donations and sponsoring
21. Direct public expenditure on culture
22. Level of state funding to cinema
23. Level of state funding to public TV
Intellectual Property
24. Amount of right collected by authors in music per capita
501
“Etude sur les crédits d’impôt culturels à l’étranger », mai 2008,
KEA European Affairs, p. 37
Creative Europe, ERICarts Report presented by the Network of
European Foundations for Innovative Co-operation, 2002, p.100
“Etude sur les crédits d’impôt culturels à l’étranger », mai 2008,
KEA European Affairs, p. 28
“The Economy of Culture”, 2006, KEA, MKW, Turun
Kauppakorkeakoulu, p.125
The European Audiovisual Observatory, “KORDA”:
http://korda.obs.coe.int/web/search_aide.php
The
European
Audiovisual
Observatory:
http://www.obs.coe.int/
Available from the International Confederation of Societies of
Authors and Composers: http://www.cisac.org
Currently developed by the University of Leuven as part of a DG Information Society and Media Study on Media
Pluralism Indicators in Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/info_centre/library/studies/index_en.htm (January 2008).
194
OUTPUT CULTURAL PRODUCTION
Economic contribution
25. Values added of creative industries as % of GDP
26. Turnover in music industries per capita
27. Turnover in book industries per capita
28. Turnover in cinema industries per capita
Other outcomes of cultural activities
29. Number of feature films produced per year and per capita
30. Number of recordings released per capita
31. Number of books published per year and capita
32. Number of design applications per million population
DATA SOURCES
“The Economy of Culture”, 2006, KEA, MKW, Turun
Kauppakorkeakoulu, p. 66
IFPI website: http://www.ifpi.org/
Eurostat,
“Cultural
statistics”,
available
on:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
The
European
Audiovisual
Observatory:
http://www.obs.coe.int/
European Audiovisual Observatory, Yearbook 2007 on “Film and
home video”
IFPI website: http://www.ifpi.org/
UNESCO, Institute for Statistics, “Culture and Communication”:
http://www.uis.unesco.org
OHIM/Eurostat
195
196
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Towards a Creativity Index (appendix 3)
INDEXES
Bowen, H.P and.Sleuwaegen L, (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School), Moesen W. (Catholic
University of Leuven ) “A Composite Index of the Creative Economy”, 2006
http://ideas.repec.org/p/vlg/vlgwps/2006-31.html
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Florida R., “The Rise of the Creative Class”, Basic Books, 2002
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“Means for Overall Assessment of Cultural Life and Measuring the Involvement of the Cultural Sector in the
Information Society” published in 2003
http://ideas.repec.org/p/vlg/vlgwps/2006-31.html
BOOKS, ARTICLES AND WEBSITES USED OR QUOTED
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measure innovation in Europe; in Statistics Sweden (ed.) Yearbook on productivity 2007
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new Methodology for 2008-2010,
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Cheltenham, pp. 132-142.
Malanga, S. (2004) The curse of the creative classe, City Journal, winter, 36-45
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(4), 740-770
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DATA SOURCES FOR INDICATORS
“Comendium” Cultural policies and trends in Europe website:
http://www.culturalpolicies.net/web/comparisons-legislation.php
“Creative Europe”, (2002) ERICarts Report presented by the Network of European Foundations for
Innovative Co-operation
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(2004), Department of Studies and Prospective (DEP) of French Ministry of Culture and Communication
“The Economy of Culture” (2006), KEA, MKW, Turun Kauppakorkeakoulu
“Etude sur les crédits d’impôt culturels à l’étranger » (May 2008), KEA European Affairs
Eurostat
website,
sections
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
« Sciences
and
technology »
and
“Cultural
statistics”
“European cultural values” (2007) Eurobarometer requested by DG EAC
http://wvs.isr.umich.edu
“Key data on education in Europe in 2005”, by DG EAC, Eurydice and Eurostat, available on Eurydice
website: www.eurydice.org/
“Key data on ICT in schools in Europe” (2004 Editionà, Eurydice: www.eurydice.org/
NationMaster website, section “Media”: http://www.nationmaster.com
Screendigest website, “Intelligence Services”, “Video”: http://www.screendigest.com/504
“Statistiques culturelles en Europe” (Edition 2007), Cultures chiffres, 2007- Hors série.
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We have to be client to have access to the data.
229
UNESCO, Institute for Statistics, “Culture and Communication”: http://www.uis.unesco.org
Other
Audio
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Video
Boutang P.A. (2004). L’abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze. Editions Montparnasse.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
230
APPENDIX 5
PERSONS INTERVIEWED AND CONSULTED DURING
THE COURSE OF THE STUDY
By alphabetical order of surname
Tsveta Andreeva, Senior Expert, European Integration and International Cultural Cooperation Directorate,
Ministry of Culture, Bulgaria
Pia Areblad, Chief Executive, CEO, Tillt, Region of Västra Götaland, Sweden
Charlotte Arwidi, Innovation policy development, European Commission, Enterprise and Industry
Directorate-General,
Hasan Bakhshi, Research Director, Arts and Innovation, NESTA, U.K.
Eleonora Belfiore, Assistant Professor, University of Warwick, U.K.
Malte Behrmann, Secretary General, European Games Developer Federation, Germany
Kateřina Besserová, Head of Cinematography Section, Media and AV Department, Ministry of Culture,
Czech Republic
Pia Betton, director, 180° Academy, Denmark
Vladimír Bína, Research Coordinator for Culture and Media, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the
Netherlands
Egil Bjornson, Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Warwick, U.K.
Valérie Bobo, Founder, Mona Lisa, France
Lene Bornemann, Director,Arts in Business, Denmark
Fabrice Bousteau, Redacteur en chef, Beaux Arts Magazine, France
Anne Marie Boutin, Président, APCI - Agence pour la promotion de la création industrielle, France
Olivier Bronckaert, Executive Film Producer, Les films du fleuve, Belgium
Tom Brookes, Director Government Affairs EMEA, Apple, Belgium
Gunther Broucke – Manager ‘the art of conducting’ Brussels Philharmonic Vlaams Radio Orkest
Chiara Cardogna, Researcher, Department of Foreign Affairs, Italy
Philippe Chantepie, Chef du département des études, de la prospective et des statistiques , Ministère de la
culture, France
Boyun Choe, PhD student, University of Warwick, U.K.
Ieva Cire, Cultural Policy Department, Ministry of Culture, Latvia
Marc Clerkx, Senior Project Manager, Flanders DC, Belgium
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Christopher Clouder, CEO, European Council For Steiner Waldorf Education, U.K.
Gianna Lia Cogliandro – Secretary General of the European Network ENCATC
Pascal Cools, General Manager,Flanders DC, Belgium
Alastair Creamer, Co-founder, Creamer and Lloyd, U.K.
Ioana Crugel, European Project coordinator, ACCR (European Network for Cultural Centres), France
Cristina Da Milano, Researcher, ECCOM, Italy
Philippe Degeneffe, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Dragone Productions, Belgium
Mary Ann DeVlieg, Secretary General, IETM (International Network for contemporary performing artists),
Belgium
Milena Dragicevic Sesic, Professor, University of Arts Belgrade, Serbia
Peter Dröll, Head of Unit, Innovation policy development, European Commission, Enterprise and Industry
Directorate-General,
Frédérique Dumas, Directrice, Orange / Studio 37, France
Jan Fabre, Theatre-maker, Troublelyn, Antwerp, Belgium
Philippe Feillard, Direction Financière, Responsable du marketing stratégique, Peugeot Citroën PSA,
France
Astrid Fiddelers, Project coordinator, Amsterdam Historical Museum, Netherlands
Marian Fitzgibbon, Head of the School of Humanities, Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland
Sabine Frank, Deputy Secretary General and Coordinator of the Civil Society Platform for Intercultural
Dialogue, Belgium
Paul Gardien, Vice President Research Development and Innovation, Philips Design, The Netherlands
Germaine Gazano, Market Research & Consumer Knowledge Dior cosmetics, France
Agnieszka Ginko-Humphries, Project Manager, The Bielskie Artistic Association Grodzki Theatre, Poland
Fernando Gómez, General subdirectorate of International Cultural Cooperation - Subdirección General de
Cooperación Cultural Internacional, Ministry of Culture - Ministerio de Cultura, Spain
Nina Gran, Specialist Planner, Cultural Office Helsinki, Finland
Andrea Granelli, Advisor to the European Commission for Information Society affairs, Kanso Consultants,
Italy
David Guile, Professor, London Institute of Education, U.K.
Nina Gunia-Kuznetcova, General Director, Valerian Gunia Union of Young Theatre,
Simon Hadjidimoff, Professor La Cambre, Brand Design Manager – Artengo, Belgium
Simon Hampton, Director, European Public Policy & Government Relations, Google, Belgium
232
Ilkka Heiskanen, Secretary General, Finnish Association of Culture and Media Researchers, Finland
Volker Heller, Head of Cultural Department, Senate Chancellery for Berlin, Germany
Julie Hervé, Policy Officer - Culture, Eurocities, Belgium
John Hines, Dove Global R&D Operations Manager, Unilever, U.K.
Bart Hofstede, Senior Policy Advisor, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands
Katarina Höög, Enheten för kultur och kulturskapares villkor Kulturdepartementet, Ministry of Culture,
Sweden
Matt Hunter, Leader Consumer Experience Design Practice, IDEO, U.K.
Fabrice Hyber, Artiste, France
Péter Inkei, Director of the Regional Observatory on Financing Culture in East-Central Europe, The
Budapest Observatory, Hungary
Joris Janssens, Researcher, Vlaams Theater Instituut, Belgium
Kirsi Kaunisharju, Councillor for Cultural Affairs, Kulttuurivientiyksikkö - Cultural Exports Division /
Opetusministeriö - Ministry of Education , Finland
Alain Kerlan, Director of Department for Educational Science, Universite Lyon 2, France
Zsuzsa B. Kiss, Chief Counsellor, Ministry of Education and Culture, Hungary
Steven Kyffin, Senior Director Research Development and Innovation, Philips Design, The Netherlands
Cajsa Lagerkvist, Head of Exhibitions and Research, The Museum of World Culture, Sweden
Anita Lehikoinen, Director, Ministry of Education, (Aalto University) Helsinki, Finland
Patrick Le Quément, Chief Designer, Renault, France
Maria de Lourdes Lima dos Santos, President, Observatorio das Actividades Culturais, Portugal
Lotta Lekvall, Director of Nätverks, Vice-President of the European Network ENCATC (Sweden)
Gerald Lidstone – Director Institute for Culture and Entrepreneurship, Goldsmith College University, UK
Lise Lyck, Associate Professor, Centre for Tourism and Culture Management, Copenhagen Business
School, Denmark
Rasius Makselis, Head of Strategic Planning, Ministry of Culture, Lithuania
Per Mangset, Professor, Telemark University College, Norway
Ruth-Helene Melioranski, Manager of the Estonian Design Centre
Hannah McBain, Creativity and Change Consultant,BBC, U.K.
Hristina Mikic, Lecturer, Higher School for Business Studies
Jacek Mikuszewski, Senior specialist, Department of Cultural Strategy and European Funding, Ministry of
Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
233
Françoise Montenay, Présidente du conseil de surveillance,Chanel SAS, France
Jens Nielsen, Professor, Research Center for Business Development and Management, Copenhagen
Business School, Denmark
Pieter Noordzij, Manager Business Development, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Dr. Claus Noppeney, Managing Director, CNC Consulting, Berlin, Germany
Truus Ophuijsen – ELIA, deputy director
Jan Opstrup Poulsen, Special Advisor, Ministry of Culture, Denmark
Thomas Paris, Universitaire, HEC / Polytechnique, France
John Parton, Strategic Generating Demand Unit, Nestlé, Switzerland
Lucia Pawlikova, State Advisor, Ministry of Culture, Slovakia
Séverine Peruzzo, Project Assistant, HI-Culture, France
Matúš Petričko, Theatre Manager, Divadlo z pasaza, Slovakia
Chantal Pirlot, Administrateur Délégué,Promothea/CIRIUS, Belgium
Roberto Pone, Consultant & Project Manager, Kanso, Italy
Elisabethe Ponsolle des Portes, CEO, Comité Colbert, France
Andy Pratt, Senior Lecturer, London School of Economics , U.K.
Martin Prchal, AEC Chief Executive Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et
Musikhochschulen (AEC)
Hans Joachim Richter, Director Corporate Communications, Nestlé Nespresso, Switzerland
Hans Robertus, Senior Director Research Development Innovation Design, Philips Design, The Netherlands
Christian Salez, CEO, Delvaux, Belgium
Esther Sayers, Head of Raw Canvas + education programmes, Tate Modern, U.K.
Maria Scherbjal, Project Manager, Theatre Grodski, Poland
Enno Schmidt, Artist and Lecturer for Social Sculpture, Frankfurt, Germany
Prof. M.J.W. Schouten, Dean, Department of Industrial Design, University of Technology Eindhoven, The
Netherlands
Alain Seban, Directeur, Centre Pompidou, France
Richard Seymour, CEO, Seymour Powell, U.K.
Norbert Sievers, Executive Director, Kulturopolitische Gesellschaft, Germany
Ragnar Siil, Head of Development Department, Ministry of Culture, Estonia
234
Jaro Slavik, Business Development Manager Eastern Europe, Warner Music, Austria
Cas Smithuijsen, Director, Boekman Foundation, The Netherlands
Yrjö Sotamaa, Rector, Professor, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland
Philip Spedding, Senior Manager, Arts and Business, U.K.
Jorunn Spord Borgen, Senior Researcher, NIFU STEP Norwegian institute for Studies in Innovation,
Research and Education, Norway
Jan Stavik, Managing Director, Norwegian Design Council, Norway
James Stevens, Responsible for overseeing the “Find your Talent” programme,DCMS UK, U.K.
Petra Tarjanne, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Employment and Economy, Finland
Barbara Taylor, Programme Director, Engage, the National Association for Gallery Education, U.K.
Zlatko Teodosievski, Director, National Art Gallery Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Michael Thomson, President, Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA), U.K.
Patricia Thomson, Professor of Education, University of Nottingham, U.K.
Baiba Tjarve, Assistant in Cultural Management, Latvian Academy of Culture, Latvia
Mireille Toussaint, Direction Stratégie et Produit Groupe, Innovation et prospective, Peugeot Citroën PSA,
France
Maxime Traband, Orange/FT Group,Orange, France
Laurent d'Ursel, Artiste, Belgium
Ingrid van der Wacht, Project Manager, City of Eindhoven, Design Connection Brainport (Design
Management Europe)
Philip Vanneste, Head of the Office of Innovatie Centrum,Innovatie centrum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Marianne Verkest, Arteconomy, Belgium
Inga Wellmann, Creative Industries Consultant, Berlinpolis, Berlin, Germany
Armelle Weismann, Directrice Associée, Troistemps, Paris, France
Rolf Witte, International Relations Officer, German Federation for Cultural Youth Education, Germany
Shân Wareing, Dean, Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design, University of the Arts London,
U.K.
Dr. Adrian Woolard, Head of BBC Innovation Culture Team, BBC, U.K.
Karsten Xuereb, Attache for Cultural and Audiovisual Matters, Government of Malta, Belgium
Karolina Zielinska, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Poland
235
236
APPENDIX 6
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS AT THE
ORGANISED ON 3 FEBRUARY 2009
ROUNDTABLE
Pia Areblad
Chief Executive, CEO Tillt, Region of Västra Götaland, SE
Tillt, Region of Västra Götaland, SE, Göteborg
Malte Behrmann
Secretary General
EGDR - European Games Developers Federation, Berlin
Valérie Bobo
Founder
Mona Lisa - Art for Business Development, Paris
Lene Bornemann
Director
Arts in Business, Frederiksberg
Valéria Cantoni
Managing Director
Trivioquadrivio, Milano
Christopher Clouder
CEO
European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, Brussels
Pascal Cools
General Manager
Flanders DC, Antwerp
Marie Anne DeVlieg
Secretary General
IETM (international network for contemporary performing arts), Brussels
Jo de Wachter
Director of Outreach Programmes
IMEC (bio and nanotechnology research centre), Leuven
David Edwards
Founder
237
Le Laboratoire, Paris
Bernd Fesel
Project manager city of creativity
Ruhrmetropole 2010, Essen
Ilona Kish
Secretary General
Culture Action Europe, Brussels
Simon Hadjidimoff
Product Designer
Joost Heinsius
Kunstenaars & Co, Amsterdam
Michael Hutter
Research Director, "Cultural Sources of Newness"
Social Science Research Centre Berlin, Technical University Berlin, Berlin
Philippe Le Moine
Director External Relations
Festival d'Avignon, Avignon
Giovanna Massoni
Creative Lab, Brussels
Alok Nandi
Architempo, Brussels
Claire Newman-Rebaud
Chargé de Mission Europe - Culture et Industries Créatives
Nantes Métropole, Nantes Cedex 9
Paul Owens
Director
BOP Consulting, London
Francesca Palchetti
Università degli Studi di Urbino, Urbino
Chantal Pirlot
Administrateur Délégué
Prométhéa, Brussels
238
Elisabeth Ponsolle des Portes
CEO
Comité Colbert, Paris
Ragnar Siil
Head of Development Department
Estonian Ministry of Culture, Tallinn
Jan Stavik
Managing Director, Norwegian Design Council, Vice President Bureau of European Designers Associations
Norwegian Design Council, Olso
Roberto Travaglini
Specialist in cognitive studies and psychopedagogy
Università degli Studi di Urbino, Urbino
Milica Vukovic
Government Relations Manager
Design Council, London
Armelle Weismann
Directrice Associée
Troistemps, Paris
KEA EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
Philippe Kern
Managing Director
Jan Runge
International Project Manager
Elodie Vaisberg
European Affairs consultant
Allison Reekie
Events Manager
Elodie Cadiou
239
European Commission
Odile Quintin
Director-General, DG EAC
Katarina Mathernova
Deputy Director-General, DG REGIO
Vladimir Šucha
Director, DG EAC
Xavier Troussard
DG EAC
Sylvain Pasqua
DG EAC
Anna Athanasopoulou
DG EAC
Charlotte Arwidi
DG ENTR
Marta Beck
ESTAT
Lewis Dijkstra
DG REGIO
Pascal Dissard
DG RTD
Pierre Godin
DG REGIO
Cristina Marcone
DG EAC
Anna Melich
BEPA
Candelaria Negri Biasutti
DG EAC
Marielle Riche, DG REGIO
240
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The Importance of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace | Thomas.co
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DIVERSITY & INCLUSION | HR BLOG
The Importance of Cultural Diversity
in the Workplace
13 MINUTES | UPDATED 24 MAY 2023
By Jayson Darby
Read our 63
Trusted Site
Let’s face it, today’s business world is set on a global stage.
Technology is just one factor that’s making our world
smaller and giving companies of all sizes the freedom to
recruit the best people, wherever they are. And as
technology takes great strides into the future, the people
who access it are jogging along in tandem.
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Millennials are shaping the workplaces of today and the
future. And the words on everyone’s lips is “cultural
diversity.” It’s a trend that’s most definitely here to stay. But
first, what exactly is cultural diversity?
For an actual definition, turn to The Oxford Dictionary. Here
you’ll find it described as, “the existence of a variety of
cultural or ethnic groups within a society” [1]. In other words,
it’s a population where all differences are represented. From
a business perspective, types of workplace diversity include,
“race, ethnicity, age, ability, language, nationality,
socioeconomic status, gender, religion, or sexual
orientation” [2].
31:41
And with our political and worldwide backdrop, it’s
imperative to understand what cultural diversity in business
looks like. It’s not about tokenism and conforming to
expectations.. From creating varied perspectives, to driving
innovation, there’s a lot to be said for fostering this culture.
In this article, we’ll run through the importance of cultural
diversity and its benefits. Designed as an expert guide to
cultural diversity, we’ll answer those key questions. Through
helping you improve understanding of this topic within your
organisation and develop a guide on how to promote
cultural diversity in the workplace.
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The Importance of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace | Thomas.co
What is cultural diversity?
Culture is what shapes us, it is the reason we have certain
beliefs, influences how we behave and is what gives us our
identity. Cultural diversity is the representation of different
cultural and ethnic groups in society.
When talking about cultural diversity in the workplace, it is
the inclusion of employees from different backgrounds,
different races, different sexual orientations and different
political views [3]. The term cultural diversity encourages an
environment of inclusion, with representatives from a range
of various backgrounds that come together to work as a
team.
It’s easy to talk about the theory and definitions of cultural
diversity, but when it comes to creating that within an
organisation, it very much depends on the practices used
during the hiring process.
Why is cultural diversity important?
We’ve touched on the idea of the benefits cultural diversity
offers, but equality and diversity are something that hasn’t
just received lip service within the media. There’s been
extensive research into its positive effects and the
importance of business inclusivity.
Studies looking at why cultural diversity is important give us
solid stats to work from when thinking about its benefits. For
instance, economically, research shows that the 43 most
diverse public corporations were 24% more profitable than
the S&P 500 [4]. Other studies show that almost 95% of
directors agree that diversity brings unique perspectives [5].
Ultimately, workplace diversity and inclusion allow
businesses to build teams that bring different viewpoints
and talents to the mix, increasing innovation and driving
higher revenues.
Types of workplace diversity
To get a deeper understanding of what cultural diversity
looks like, you need to start with a rundown of different
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types of recognised workplace diversity.
We are all defined by characteristics that go beyond the
basic HR capture forms. We could write an everlasting list
with all the types of cultural diversity with this theory in
mind.
In HR terms, there are a few primary types of diversity
characteristics to bear in mind [6]:
Gender – women make up a bigger percentage of the
workforce than ever before. But there is still a gap in terms of
fair pay and the percentage of women in leadership roles.
Race and ethnicity – as ethnic and racial identities evolve,
standardised forms with ethnic groups fail to hit the mark. By
opening the conversation with employees and candidates on
race and ethnicity, this goes a step towards improving
cultural diversity.
LGBT – the LGBT community includes a complex range of
people in terms of backgrounds, experiences and challenges.
To work towards eliminating discrimination, careful attention
needs to be paid towards a strategy as an LGBT employer.
Age – both younger and older workers can be discriminated
against in terms of preconceptions. Through steps like
opening apprenticeships to all ages and providing crossgeneration mentoring programmes, these prejudices can be
addressed.
Workers with disabilities – disabilities can cover many
differences, from the ability to form social relationships to
physical disabilities. Part of this can be helped with a
neurodiversity programme, as well as fighting against
negative perceptions.
Mental health – focusing on mental health along with
workplace wellness support can combat a variety of issues,
from absenteeism to behavioural problems.
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The Importance of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace | Thomas.co
Neurodiversity – recognising and providing a supportive
environment for those with neurological differences that
include dyslexia, autism and Tourette’s helps organisations to
celebrate differences and the benefits they can offer in wellmatched job types.
Thought style – different personalities and thought styles
can enhance creativity if the individual and the role are well
matched. In contrast, it can cause stress if ill-matched.
It’s worth noting that this is by no means an exhaustive list.
To be truly diverse, researching and considering other
differences from marital status, to education, language and
accents, all come into the mix [7].
Six benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace
The benefits of diversity are long and varied. But here are
our headline three benefits to foste