Five major trends in entrepreneurship
As we discovered after many interviews with scholars and experts, there are five major entrepreneurial trends in Taiwan to pay attention to:
(1) Internet start-ups emphasize management of online communities, and these are the kinds of investments that venture capital firms are looking for.
Cloud technology allows consumers to purchase goods and services across platforms and locations, while the prevalence of smartphone ownership creates mobile profit opportunities. Entrepreneurs with creativity and the right technology merely need to master the “3C’s” of “content, community, commerce,” and, equipped with nothing more than a notebook computer, can do business anytime, anywhere.
(2) Established firms are branching out into new areas, and second-generation company heirs are establishing new brand names.
An enormous number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) arose in Taiwan back in the 1970s, and today these are facing challenges of upgrading and transfer of control to the next generation. Manufacturers who mainly did OEM work must begin to consider how to differentiate themselves and establish brand names. The “second entrepreneurial wave in established firms,” led by the sons and daughters of the founders, is rapidly gathering pace.
The first-generation founders of these firms were often hands-on types who managed right on the factory floor, and the prize for which they battled was cold hard cash. The second generation consists of young people who grew up with money and plenty of schooling, and they are motivated more by developing a brand and creating something that has some cultural content.
(3) People before profits! “Social enterprises” are increasingly in vogue.
Many entrepreneurs are focused not on maximizing profits, but on contributing to society, loving the planet, and giving the disadvantaged a hand. They want to have work that gives their lives meaning. This idea fits right in with Taiwan’s traditional culture of enthusiasm for the public good. Social enterprises can make profits within the context of sustainability.
“Sandwishes Studio” was the 2012 winner of the top prize for cultural and creative industries under the U-Start Program of the Ministry of Education. The founders were three students at Taipei National University of the Arts, who worked as art therapy volunteers at the Happy Mount care center in the Bali District of New Taipei City and then went on to develop a line of art therapy teaching materials and creative products based on the work produced in their class, with some of the money going back to the original makers.
(4) The rise of “cultural and creative enterprises” (CCEs) means that the commercial character of new enterprises is different.
The main obstacles that CCE entrepreneurs face are (a) they don’t want everything (or even most things!) to be about money, yet they usually have such small financial resources that they need to quickly start turning a profit; and (b) they see the objects they produce as individual “works,” not “products” that will go into the market.
However, after several years of development, these dreamers have learned to be more practical. Many designers have now realized that self-expression alone will not necessarily resonate with consumers, and without that resonance, they will never attain industrial scale.
(5) Passion for “living small” can drive significant trends.
Small firms with distinctive products or personalities are popping up everywhere. Whether they sell coffee or clothing or whatever, what their founders want to earn is “a life,” and what their customers want to buy is “creativity.” Few of these small entrepreneurs, with shops hidden away in lanes and alleys off the main commercial thoroughfares, have any grandiose ambitions. They only hope to have a steady enough stream of customers to keep them in business, so that they can find meaning and enjoyment by doing something they love.
Many of Taiwan’s older small and medium-sized enterprises are getting a makeover as the second generation takes over management and pursues innovative strategies like creating their own brand names. One example is the clothing label XuXu Wear, the brainchild of the father and daughter of the Xu family, owners of the textile trading company Black Lion Enterprise Company.