The role of managers, entrepreneurs and the literati in enterprise performance and economic growth

Economic growth theory has underplayed the importance of the management of the business enterprise in economic growth and development. In today's global economy, business enterprises must be able to sense opportunities, seize or execute on such opportunities, and reconfigure and transform as circumstances dictate. In order to accomplish this, management must be intensely entrepreneurial. Moreover, success in high technology sectors requires the employment and effective use of many skilled individuals (the literati). This has its own peculiar challenges for management and organisation, including the need to design collegial organisation structures with low authority, good incentives, and a culture of commitment. Industrial models of organisation with deep hierarchies need to be abandoned in favour of distributed leadership models where the employment relation is understood in non-traditional terms.