Aims of Project
The ultimate aim of the project lies in assessing the application of Joseph Schumpeter’s innovative entrepreneurship theory in the activities of Ooredoo, the leading telecom company in Qatar. As such, the project will explore the Schumpeterian theory in order to increase the understanding of business innovation and its role in social development. In addition, the study will examine whether some of recent Ooredoo’s activities align with the innovative entrepreneurship concept. Lastly, the project will use Ooredoo’s case to trace the potential changes in Schumpeterian theory.
Context
Despite its age, Schumpeter’s theory of innovation entrepreneurship remains one of the most influential socio-economic models of the modern era. In 1934, Schumpeter introduced his famous “creative destruction” argument, directly associated with business innovations. According to Schumpeter (1934), an introduction of a new product or technological innovation instigates market competition, leading to higher productivity and economic growth (cited in Crudu, 2019, p. 38). Schumpeter’s idea found continuation in Acs et al. (2009) and Pontus et al. (2010), who developed the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship (cited in Crudu, 2019, p. 38). In this neo-Schumpeterian theory, economically relevant knowledge plays the most significant role in socio-economic development, whereas entrepreneurship links knowledge and economic growth through commercialization. In general, an entrepreneur acts as a disruptive force that breaks the stalemate in the economy through innovation. According to Malebra and McKelvey (2020), an entrepreneur performs the following actions:
- Takes risks and reaps profits;
- Turns knowledge into market innovations;
- Enables new combinations;
- Faces and overcomes uncertainty;
- Creates opportunities by driving and adapting to the changes in the external environment.
In the Ooredoo case, research primarily focuses on studying the impact of innovative business practices or a company’s contribution to technological advancements. For instance, Khalid and Unal (2021) mention Ooredoo in the context of 5G technology spread in Qatar. Koch (2020) offers Ooredoo as an example of commercial nationalism, thus noting its social contribution to the Qatari national identity. However, limited research explores Ooredoo’s activities through the Schumpeterian innovation entrepreneurship theory. Meanwhile, it would be valuable to understand how Ooredoo contributes to the socio-economic development of Qatar and how the innovation entrepreneurship theory finds an application in the real-life economy. Therefore, this paper attempts to evaluate Ooredoo through the lens of the Schumpeterian innovation entrepreneurship theory. The study’s findings might be valuable both for the Qatari companies willing to develop or adopt technological or business innovations and for demonstrating Schumpeter’s legacy relevance in the modern era.
Objectives
The following objectives will be accomplished in order to reach the project aims:
- Extended review of secondary sources on Schumpeter’s innovation entrepreneurship theory;
- Extended review of secondary sources on Ooredoo’s recent innovative business activities;
- Evaluation of Ooredoo’s activities in the context of Schumpeter’s innovation entrepreneurship theory.
Preliminary Literature Review
Schumpeter’s Entrepreneurship Theory and the Concept of Innovation
Due to its historical legacy and modern-day relevance, Schumpeter’s innovative entrepreneurship theory is frequently discussed in the academic community. The most common concepts in the conversation around Schumpeter’s theory and its descendants are innovation, risk, social structure and regional change, and the impact of Schumpeterian innovations on socio-economic development. In particular, Asbari, Santoso, and Prasetya (2020) linked Schumpeterian innovation to the implementation of new products, services, business, and organizational practices. Consequently, creativity can be considered a vital feature of a successful entrepreneur since it acts as a prerequisite for innovation and market competitiveness. Mehmood et al. (2019) claimed that neo-Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship should be implemented at the state level as a guarantee of economic development. In this regard, Schumpeter’s theory can explain the rise of entrepreneurship that is not averse to risk-taking. Innovative entrepreneurship seeks solutions instead of focusing on the problem, which aligns it with economic and technological development.
In addition, innovative entrepreneurship is considered powerful enough to serve as a driver of social and regional changes. According to Grillitsch (2019), innovation systems created by entrepreneurship foster the cumulative development of knowledge and resources in specific industries and fields. Henning and McKelvey (2020) argue that innovative entrepreneurship drives the regional transformation process through the development and diffusion of knowledge. Crudu (2019) found innovative entrepreneurship more present in countries with higher development and income levels. In this regard, the author perceives Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship both as a long-term predictor and an outcome of economic growth. Malebra and McKelvey (2020) emphasized the role of knowledge by proposing the neo-Schumpeterian knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship (KIE) model, in which existing knowledge is transformed to generate innovation within the innovation systems. Finally, Chatzinikolaou and Vlados (2019) developed the neo-Schumpeterian Stra. Tech. Man approach that has a constant goal of effective innovation for the firm’s survival and development. Overall, Schumpeter’s innovation entrepreneurship theory and its neo-Schumpeterian descendants perceive knowledge as the most valuable resource for driving innovation and positive socio-economic change.
Business and Organizational Innovations Implemented by Ooredoo
The research on particular innovations implemented by Ooredoo is relatively scarce; however, the preliminary literature review has yielded certain results. In accordance with Schumpeter’s innovative entrepreneurship theory, academic sources divide Ooredoo’s innovations into two main categories. The first part of the selection explores Ooredoo’s innovative products and services. For instance, Khalid and Unal (2021) noticed Ooredoo’s innovative approach in the introduction of 5G technology in Qatar, as the company launched a live 5G network ahead of its competitors. Koch (2020) demonstrated how Ooredoo creatively used the National Day of Qatar in the promotional campaigns for the company’s services. Finally, Al-Hilali and Shaker (2021) describe Ooredoo’s blockchain initiative aimed at supporting the companies willing to adopt the new technology. From these examples, one can conclude that Ooredoo values the element of technological innovation in its products and services and perceives it as an important competitive advantage.
The second part of the research explores Ooredoo’s innovations in business and organizational practices. For instance, Al Hbabi and Alomari (2020) noted that Ooredoo pays significant attention to knowledge management processes, which aligns with the role of knowledge in Schumpeter’s entrepreneurship theory. Al Thani and Obeidat (2020) found that Ooredoo shows interest in adopting strategic leadership practices, which positively contribute to the development of corporate mission, vision, and culture. According to Al Thani and Obeidat (2020), the learning dimension of leadership was particularly important for Ooredoo, which corresponds with the Schumpeterian emphasis on knowledge. A study by Aissa, Thabit, and Hadj (2018) shows that Ooredoo has become highly reliant on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology, which illustrates the company’s capacity to adapt for survival. Lastly, Abderrahmane (2021) found evidence of internal marketing policies adoption to boost the employees’ organizational commitment. Given these preliminary findings, it is possible to find further traces of Schumpeter’s theory’s influence on Ooredoo’s activities.
Methodology
The paper will be based on secondary data sources, such as credible academic articles on Schumpeter’s entrepreneurship theory and Ooredoo’s innovations and business activities. Essentially, a case study of Ooredoo’s business and organizational innovations will be performed in order to confirm the real-life application of Schumpeter’s theory and trace its possible evolution in the Qatar setting. The research design can be defined as a traditional narrative literature review, which is neither a quantitative nor a qualitative method. This methodological approach was selected due to its appropriateness for reaching the project’s research aims. The narrative review design allows one to trace the internal functioning of innovations and link the real-life innovation cases in Ooredoo with the key elements of Schumpeter’s theory. Overall, the research design fits the goal of finding and synthesizing the information on the subjects.
Date of publishing, language, and thematic were the main criteria for secondary sources of data selection in the preliminary stage of research. In particular, the sample was limited to academic articles written in English and published within the last five years, starting from 2017. Furthermore, the topics were limited to Schumpeter’s innovation entrepreneurship theory, neo-Schumpeterian approaches to innovation, and Ooredoo’s business and organizational activities. However, an extension of the inclusion criteria might be possible in the future.
Ethical Challenges
An emphasis on the secondary data sources implies that this study faces relatively minor ethical challenges. The potential inclusion of primary sources, such as questionnaires and interviews, would have resulted in the need to ensure respondents’ anonymity and voluntary nature of participation. However, the traditional narrative literature review format leaves only a single ethical issue — all authors of secondary sources must be properly credited for their work and ideas.
Concluding Remarks
In summary, the project’s success will depend on the amount of credible and relevant sources on Ooredoo’s business and organizational innovations. One of the study’s goals lies in exploring the evolution of Schumpeter’s innovative entrepreneurship theory, which is feasible due to the richness of theoretical material. However, finding sufficient evidence of Schumpeter’s theory application by Ooredoo might be significantly more challenging due to the relative scarcity of information on the subject. Therefore, an effective project undertaking will require a particularly extensive search for secondary sources of data on Ooredoo’s activity in terms of innovation development and implementation. Finally, aligning the innovative actions and policies of Ooredoo with Schumpeter’s theory will require developing a set of specific criteria for qualifying particular innovations as Schumpeterian in nature.
Reference List
Abderrahmane, D. (2021) The impact of internal marketing policies in attaining organizational commitment: the case of Ooredoo company. SME Research & Innovation Laboratory University of Mascara, VII(3). Web.
Aissa, S. A. H., Thabit, T. and Hadj, H. (2018) ‘The impact of customer relationship management on customer behavior: case study of Ooredoo for telecommunications’, Revue Des Sciences Commerciales, 17(1). Web.
Al Hbabi, K. N. and Alomari, Z. S. (2020) ‘The impact of knowledge management processes on organizational innovation’, Asian Social Science, 10(11), pp. 949–967.
Al Hilali, R. A. and Shaker, H. (2021) ‘Blockchain technology’s status of implementation in Oman: empirical study. International Journal of Computing and Digital Systems. 10(1), pp. 715–736.
Al Thani, F. B. H. and Obeidat, A. M. (2020) ‘The impact of strategic leadership on crisis management’, International Journal of Asian Social Science, 10(6), pp. 307–326.
Asbari, M., Santoso, P. B. and Prasetya, A. B. (2020) ‘Elitical and antidemocratic transformational leadership critics: is it still relevant? (a literature study)’, International Journal of Social, Policy and Law, 1(1), pp. 12–16.
Chatzinikolaou, D. and Vlados, C. (2019) ‘Schumpeter, neo-Schumpeterianism, and Stra. Tech. Man evolution of the firm’, Issues in Economics and Business (International Economics and Business), 5(2), pp. 80–102. Web.
Crudu, R. (2019) ‘The role of innovative entrepreneurship in the economic development of EU member countries’, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 15(1), pp. 35–60.
Grillitsch, M. (2019) ‘Following or breaking regional development paths: on the role and capability of the innovative entrepreneur’, Regional Studies, 53(5), pp. 681–691.
Henning, M. and McKelvey, M. (2020) ‘Knowledge, entrepreneurship and regional transformation: contributing to the Schumpeterian and evolutionary perspective on the relationships between them’, Small Business Economics, 54(2), pp. 495–501.
Khalid, F. and Unal, D. (2021) ‘An overview of the fifth generation (5G) networking technology’, Qatar University. Web.
Koch, N. (2020) ‘The corporate production of nationalism’, Antipode, 52(1), pp. 185–205.
Malerba, F. and McKelvey, M. (2020) ‘Knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship integrating Schumpeter, evolutionary economics, and innovation systems’, Small Business Economics, 54(2), pp. 503–522.
Mehmood, T. et al. (2019) ‘Schumpeterian entrepreneurship theory: evolution and relevance’, Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 25(4). Web.