Motivation of Cluster Theory as an MBA Dissertation

I come from a country where GDP, interest rates and currency value are always putting our country as one of the least competitive countries in the world.  However, the economic landscape still is operational.  People find ways to survive and manage to look after their families.  So, there must be something fundamental at work here.  Therefore, from a theoretical perspective stumbling across the competitive strategy theory of Michael Porter became the cornerstone of my research.  It occurred to me that perhaps countries like South Africa are competitive through other measurements of which classical economics ignores. 

From an empirical perspective, consistently watching emerging markets never really emerging into emerged or developed countries in spite of endless infrastructure development since they gained independence from their colonial predecessors continued to boggle the mind.  What is it about African governments in general that inherit governance structures that cripple them into continuing to conduct business as usual?  They fight for only the political change forgetting that is just a quarter of their battle.  They need to understand not only the system they inherit but how to use it for the betterment of the country.  Or alternatively, how to change the system to encourage the development of the less privileged or previously excluded individuals.   So, therefore, looking at the Energy industry made sense, particularly the fact that they are considered to be the greatest employer compared to other sectors in Sub-Sahara.  How do they maintain their longevity to continue to be the provider of jobs? How do they continue to supply that resource to people who did not originally have access to it as a result of the De Klerk and Botha Regime? 

Now I have presented the theoretical perspective and the empirical perspective.  So, in identifying the gap between them, how does one link these two perspectives?  I have some suggestion(s) to share.  The answer lies in the ability to be innovative.  However, to put this in context, innovation from advanced economies perspective means being a market leader.  Whereas, innovation from a developing, or emerging markets perspective is about remaining relevant in the global community.  So the next investigative question is what is the relevant-indicator of the Energy Sector in South Africa and how will I be able to measure that?  More specifically how competitive are we from an innovation perspective in the Renewable Energy (RE) sector?  What are the implications of an un-innovative RE sector?  To answer this question, I had to look current RE business model to understand whether it is sustainable or not.  Why sustainable?  Being part of the global community that consistently strives to meet the demands of a growing population requires South Africa to be participants in managing their own socio-economic developments.  


Copyright @ Monday August 15, 2011 on BlogSpot by Tambudzai Ndoro, Non-Executive Director of Global Business Assignments Inc,

Building Sustainable Business Models

I have just concluded my MBA thesis a week ago where we had to write a business research report in a ‘scientific method.’  This is the most challenging aspect of my academic life as I had never really had to write one and they forgot somehow to tell us during our interview process that the Sustainable MBA programme will stress so much on the ‘scientific methods’ of writing a business report as opposed a strategic document or just using business research methodology, (Arbnor, Ingeman & Bjerke, Bjorn 2009), that business consultants, have been using since the birth of management consultants in 20th century.  Nevertheless, I saw this opportunity as both a challenge and an opportunity to combine the social science theories that I had come across during my internship and explaining and applying it at a practical level, relating language and action at one world at a time, (Arbnor, Ingeman & Bjerke, Bjorn 2009).   After all, this is why I chose to do an MBA degree.  In addition, the whole concept of sustainability, is about linking the world of practical professors with that of the academic professors.  The 20^th century of safeguarding one’s research and development in fear of a competitor gain competitive advantage propagated a culture of closed innovation, (Chesbrough 2003), that has resulted in companies building highly mechanized and specialized operations, (Morgan 2006), in response to market that was mainly driven by stakeholder maximization, with little regard to social rate of investment.  A case in point is Nike.  In 1996 the company accused of violating several human rights related to wages and working conditions.  This scandal for Nike, created ripple effects not only for the mega multibillion dollar enterprise but also sent shock waves to the manufacturing industry.  This revealed that that consumers are no longer satisfied with Nike products until they start seeing real change not only in company policy but also in how they conduct business at a social level.  The irony is this concept is not foreign.  The United Nations Framework Convention Centre (UNFCC) has long spoken about sustainable development and the importance of government involvement at a macroeconomic level.   This means that a country’s trade and fiscal policy needs to build into its national and local strategy.  This vision is noble indeed.  How do nations operationalize this new way of thinking?  Or better yet, how to combine the old way of thinking of private rate of investment (profitability) with social/public rate of investment (people and planet), (Glavan 2008)? Well, I have since identified 3 key points which I would like to share of which is already common knowledge amongst business practitioners:

1.  Private Public Partnerships (PPP) – private sector working in partnership with government to promote socio-economic development

2.       Governance Structures with the motto ‘Think globally, develop locally,’ (UNDP)

3.  Education – educating the consumer at a product level, educating the employee at skill and development level, educating the leaders at a management and business level

This highlights the fact that in the 21^st century of industrial economy, national governments have to simultaneously address sustainable development both in environment and socio-economic terms through investment decision.  Too often national governments formulate and adopt strategies without any real input from private sector as the governance structures are not conductive for the business environment.  Too often the lack of government involvement in R&D results in poor innovation management systems to support the market structures i.e., free or subsidized educational programs to generate more scientists, engineers, doctors etc. 

In summary, the new world order requires us to be team players, both businesses and academia need to rid-the-speak of ‘us’ and ‘them’.  We are batting on the same team.  Academia needs business to create jobs and a quality of life at a micro-level; business needs academia to continue to research and innovate so they will be able to operationalize the scientific findings in a more practical manner.    One cannot live without the other.  Economists call this comparative advantage, David Ricardo et al 1817.  Strategist simply call it a Joint Venture (JV) J.

Come let build sustainable business models in communities we choose to participate in!
Copyright @ Monday August 8, 2011 on BlogSpot by Tambudzai Ndoro, Non-Executive Director of Global Business Assignments Inc,

Cross Cultural Intercessions in South Africa

I was invited to give a 15 minute presentation to the first annual Cross Cultural Event Day, hosted by Aarhus School of Business (ASB) on the 31 March 2011.  The objective of my presentation was to share my professional experiences working abroad. As simple as it was, I found it quite difficult to put my various thoughts on paper in a way that would communicate my Cross Cultural Professional experience in an insightful and enriching way. Why was this important?  The audience I was presenting to was a mixture of Danish professionals, PhD academics, Researchers, Students (local and international) and ASB Alumni members.  Therefore, I had to ensure that my message had to be communicated using some of the European theoretical frameworks, (Hofstede, 2001) and incorporating some aspects of it in a way that incorporates the practical lessons that I have experienced in the university of life!


It is also important to note that  the ratio of Danes to International peers was visually-low. So, the question is who really is/was our target audience or the interested customer for this special event?  I will leave that question to the market research experts to investigate this visual disparity.

So what was my talk about?  The theme of my topic addressed the Cross Cultural Intercessions in South Africa as a young budding Entrepeneur.  I focused on two major points:

1) National culture vs Individual Culture
2) Power-Distance culture


The main discussion points of my talk challenged the theoretical notion of 'national culture' as the pre-assessment to understand the culture of another in a professional setting.  For example, it is so easy for foreign investors seeking to do business in South Africa or Southern Africa to ask questions like: "What are the right communications/negotiating tools in business to use when talking to a South African?"  Well, my response was well, which South Africans do you want to talk to, (inspired by Professor Horacio Falcao, INSEAD - Negotations from Cultural Factors, 2008)?  Using the same cultural framework presented by Professor Horacio Falcao interview on the topic in 2008, I stated in a nutshell that South Africans have different cultures beyond just being South Africans (Educational Culture, Religious Culture, Gender Culture, Race Culture) therefore, the answer-question is do you want to speak to a South African from Johannesburg or from Cape Town, etc...; do you want to speak to a South African who has studied abroad and returned home or do you want to speak to a South African who never left their home town, let alone the country?  Get the idea?  The point is professionals make the mistake at using the 'national culture' notion to go into international negotiations and therefore, are either negatively or positively surprised by the direction these negotiations end up taking!  So, what do we do?  Well, one of them is to open your mind in understanding that there are other types of cultures as indicated above.  For example, let's look at Educational Culture.  What does that mean in the South African/Southern African context?  Well, for one it means that education is privilege and not a human right.  In comparing the South African government to the Danish Government we do little in offering FREE education from Creche/Kindergarten right up to Phd Tertiary Level.  Therefore, the rightfully-educated South African that a foreign-national will be exposed to, is someone who usually comes from a 'privileged' background.  Keeping in mind that the context of 'privilege' I refer to is relative and can encompass many variables that can be discussed under a separate topic.  Now where does 'attaching-a-national-flag' to this individual represent the status-quo of ALL professional South Africans from an  international intercessions point of view?  Perhaps we need to consider that every interaction/intercession you have as a professional working abroad IS cross-cultural exercise.  Why? Whenever, we disagree with a point of view from someone who is from a different country in a professional setting it is so easy to blame everything on the 'national culture'; it's so easy to attach their way of thinking to the 'national flag'!

The second main discussion point looked at the power-distance culture that exists in South Africa and provided my professional experiences in addressing the high power-distance culture that at most times impedes or acts as a barrier-to-entry on the entrepreneur's ability to generate revenue.  As a result, affecting the entrepreneurs ability to be a functional and positive contributor to South Africa's socio-economic developments, for example creating employment for skilled and unskilled labour workforce in their business'.

So, in conclusion Cross Cultural Intercessions Internationally particularly in South Africa are much more complicated and can not prescribe all of Hosfedes theoretical framework especially in this increasingly globalized network we are finding ourselves in!  Therefore, unless you personally or professionally experience cross cultural intercessions in your lifetime, accepting the theoretical notions without the practical applicability in testing these theories is like committing professional suicide!

Visit: http://expatindenmark.com/Documents/Invite_Cross%20Cultural%20Day.pdf

Copyright @ Friday April 1, 2011 on FB, (Reposted on BlogSpot Friday April 1, 2011) by Tambudzai Ndoro – Non-Executive Director of Global Business Assignments Inc,

Notes from my Recruitment Memoirs

Rejection is a painful experience.  Whether it is romantic relationships, a deal gone south or you did not get the dream job or enrolled in the course or programme you wanted.  That is the evolutionary process of life, Darwin (1868).  Unfortunately, for most of us, no matter how much theory of positive psychology, Martin Seligman (2000), we read about we always have a natural tendency of taking it personally, especially if the thing we wanted most forms part of your basic need/desire, Abraham Maslow (1951).

I was recently hand-picked to be the external/corporate representative for AIESEC Denmark (www.AIESEC. org /denmark) Student Review Board today from 10h00 - 14h00 and six great profiles had been shortlisted out of a series of interviews to make a decision on when the students can go on an internship as a representative of AIESEC and Denmark to the respective places that AIESEC Denmark is in partnership with.  At the end of the review, we approved 5 out of 6 candidates.   If I was a one man island, it would have been 4 out of 6 but nonetheless, it was good to know that the entire process had not been left to US only to decide who gets to embark on the next chapter of their lives.

However, the 1 out of 6 candidate who did not manage to go through turned out to be the most academic qualified candidate out of the shortlisted finalists.  They had a CV I wish I had in my 10 years of work experience!  But it turns out that it did not come through effectively in the interview.  Whilst it's good to be transparent and open about your experiences for some reason they seem to have missed the  lesson of the motivational theory of Maslow (1951).  It is important that at some point in our life we seek to discover the inner voice in us, what drives us, what motivates us, and our role as global citizens.  Having the academic qualifications is one thing, but being the right person for the job/role is another thing.  That is what I learnt, through my personal journal on my career development.  It is unfortunate I learnt this lesson only in my third decade of my human existence.  After numerous trials of believing that it is more important to be excellent at the job and minimizing the importance of social/human interactions is secondary!  Newsflash!  As the world becomes more global and diverse, it becomes more critical to adjust our lenses from an 'individual' culture perspective to a 'national' culture perspective, Hofstede (2001).  This means, YES, hold on to your principles and beliefs but learn to accommodate the ones that enable you to move forward in your career!  Some people may call this compromise, I call it periods of growth or crisis, much like in a business life-cycle, Greiner model (1961), but to which I am using it to refer to the individual context of personal growth.

So, how does one move forward if they find themselves STUCK much like this candidate, who felt they were entitled to the opportunity because of their stella qualifications, or more like the old version of me who felt that EXCELLENCE was the only criteria to get the job?  Well, I identified three steps that have worked for me to this point:

1. Allow yourself to go through the grieving cycle, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1969)
2. Self-reflection or journaling your reflections/thoughts allows you to talk with yourself and identify perhaps how you may have contributed to the negative experience
3. Identify an action plan.  This allows you to look at where you are now, where you want to be and how to get there --> taking the actual first step.

Then ofcourse, repeating the process again.

I use this model for both my negative and positive responses from my experiences.  I am a firm believer, in improving on what you already know how to do well in, however, if for example your emotional quotient (EQ), David Wechsler (1940)  is the reason that  is stepping between you and your goal, perhaps it would be a good idea to go through my suggested steps or whatever works for you to get you back on TRACK!

Dr. Jim Richards once said:  "Sometimes we get the grace to move the mountain sometimes we get the grace to climb the mountain. Either way, God’s grace is sufficient."  But after all that had been said and probably done :)  my wise mother once added -  "Sometimes we get the grace to go round the mountain." - Gloria R. Ndoro-Mkombachoto.

So go on - BE INSPIRED and go around the mountain!

Copyright @ Saturday February, 26 2011 on FB, (Reposted on BlogSpot February 26, 2011) by Tambudzai Ndoro – Non-Executive Director of Global Business Assignments Inc,

The New Consciousness: Sustainability

Why Sustainable MBA?  That was a question that many of us had at the beginning of the course when we started, that is what attracted the 16 of us to this particular programme that Aarhus School of Business had started September 2010.


Though we asked how many of us really understood the difference between the traditional methodology versus what Aarhus School of Business was offering?  It become apparent to me, that we each had to seek out our own meaning and definition of what it should mean to us individually!  Not the webster definition or wikipaedia definition! What does it mean to us at an individual level so that we can meanifully participate in this new perspective on Sustainability.  To be honest, I did not think I had a good answer until today when my Aunt with a Phd Small Business and Women Development from the esteemed Rutgers University, Newark where she is also a part-time lecturer and advocate for Small Business enterprise and Women Development interrogated me and inquired what exactly is Sustainable MBA? She proceeded to state: "some establishment are just slapping the label as a marketing tool for their products/services!!! It like the old hype of "organic" before then "natural"...."  My answer was well it's a combination of both!  You can not market what you do not believe in!  Therefore it is not surprising that I send her the following response to on her status:


What makes it sustainable is looking at sustainability not in the context of financial returns and social welfare but drawing the focus away from traditional methodology of development without succession planning and sustainability intentionally built in the model and focus more on developing new methodology with succession planning and sustainability built into every aspect of PESTEL from an individual, corporate, national and global perspective. The strengths of this course of action is that there will be more to go around and we learn to conserve our natural resources and better quality of life. The limitations of this course of action is that the initial investment costs are high and people need to be prepared to sacrifice the comforts of what they are used to for the sake of surviving the next century as a race! That is why it is called the Sustainable MBA because we challenge the traditional methodologies specifically in  the European Industrial Organizations from an Economic, Strategy and Business perspective and how their ways have led us to this point but also identify what works and keep what works in the traditional model but building into it sustainability and success planning.

What was her response?  I don't know, am still waiting for it.  Does it matter if I convince her? Yes! My aunt represents my current and future clients, my future colleagues  post the Sustainable MBA programme.  It is important that they see past the marketing gimic and see the value add of the programme.  After all, for sustainability to work she needs to also be part of parcel of the success-in-progress not just the privileged few with the insights and the access and influence to make a difference!  Like direct network externalities (Martin,S 2001  First Ed)., sustainability model works when every client, individual or stakeholder is deriving value from one-single-product; when the value of this model to a consumer is greater.  Therefore, the more number of people understand the concepts that sustainabilty offers and the more consumers become the drivers of the process aka sustainability model.

What the way forward?  Be part of the solution and not the problem.  If you see problems in the model, stake a scenario-based thinking approach to it and evaluate each alternative, be emergent in your outlook and approach in tackling these issues!  After all Rome was not built in one day!

Copyright @ Wednesday October, 27 2010 on FB, (Reposted on BlogSpot January 8, 2011) by Tambudzai Ndoro – Non-Executive Director of Global Business Assignments Inc,