Entrepreneurship the Psychological Shift Associated

¶ … Entrepreneurship

The psychological shift associated with intellectual knowledge having value has created, a sincere interest in the manner in which knowledge in addition to goods are transferred and more importantly valued. For this reason the creative industries have become a point of interest for research and even legitimization in law and standard. What was once a paten system that isolated objects and products for individual right to produce is one that stresses the need to focus on the design principles and knowledge used to produce such items. Changes in intellectual property rights and laws has been massive over the last ten to twenty years and therefore creative industries and even cultural arts have begun to be addressed as equal to or greater than those that in past years would have been focused exclusively on the products themselves. There is no industry that is more reflective of this than the fashion industry.

The fashion industry, and especially high fashion has benefited in that the design aspect of fashion has begun to be stressed over the physical objects that are produced by these designs. This shift has created a whole system of branding and marketing that is demonstrative of the newly established importance of the ideas and their exclusive use, as apposed to the products themselves. In other words creativity and the creative arts have recently garnered a great deal more prestige, than the anonymity and assumptions they lived in the past. Nations all over the world, but especially those in Western society are finding it important to define creative industries and more importantly design systems of production, sales, branding, marketing and development that better support creative industries. ("Britain Urged to Power," 2005, p. 35) ("DTI to Harness 'Creative," 2005, p. NA) (Williams, 2008) (Bennett, 2007) (Dolfman, Holden & Wasser, 2007)

One significant example of this change can be found in the development or rebirth of the Prada label. Prada like many other designer brands originally started in Europe, and came to the U.S.A. once he realized how loved his merchandise was becoming. The originator of the Prada company was a man by the name of Mario Prada. Prada originally started selling leather handbags, trunks and shoes in 1913 in Europe, and moved to the U.S.A. And opened two boutiques in Milan once he realized how big of a success he was becoming. In 1950, Mario had a daughter named Miuccia, she helped with innovate ideas for the Prada line, she inspired the Pocone bags, backpacks that were made out of a waterproof fabric. This innovation turned out to be one that was most effective in the transition of the company to international greatness and universal recognition.

In 1979 Miuccia took over the company, and completely ran the entire business. Sales at the time were way down, and many believe Prada wouldn't still be in production if she hadn't taken over the company. Prada is about the only family ran luxury fashion brand, though many others began this way they have changed hands and are now more often international conglomerates, supported and developed as part of larger company structures. In order to take Prada back to the top in the designer fashion industry, Miuccia expanded the company into manufacturing luxurious backpacks and tote bags made out of black nylon. Prada successfully transitioned the company into one that took a single creative idea and turned it into pure profit. It is not a coincidence that Miuccia Prada's take over of the company also coincided with the beginning of the shift from product to development as the focus of value of a company and/or organization and Miuccia, effectively utilized this shift to develop and maintain a brand that is recognized, sought after and highly prized wherever luxury items are coveted.

Some would find it offensive to assume that the regeneration of the Prada company, at the hand of a woman was in any part due to her gender. Yet, the reality is that Miuccia Prada represents a significant movement regarding creative industries, as women's traditional roles as creative industries developers have been downplayed in the past but are emerging as creative industries become more recognized as essential aspects of economy. "There are two technologies in which women express a much higher interest than men: environmental technologies and creative industries." (Harrison & Mason, 2007, p. 445) Women are highly adept at creative industries development and in an increasingly recognized manner have essential skills needed to translate this recognition of creative interest into business prowess. Speaking of Miuccia Prada an expert on the changing face of the fashion industry sites her ingenuity as a designer that was willing to transform a high end leather good product line into something (though expensive by label) was significantly less pretentious.

A her black nylon backpack, which brilliantly undermined contemporary status symbols, like the "gilt 'n quilt" Chanel purse. Prada soon became known for her fashion-forward styles, which unerringly combined classicism and audacity. For younger and/or more playful women, she launched her secondary line Miu. (Steele, 2000, p. 16)

Prada had an eye and a mind for challenging the traditional ideals of the fashion and creative industries, with regard to the nature of high end and luxury goods.

Though Miuccia Prada may not have had the need to develop roles outside her art, as a result of the early success of her father's business women entrepreneurs and other artists frequently have to do this as their creative industries businesses become more successful and central to the economics of their family life. This is not always the case, as many individuals' women and men who pursue varied creative industries pursuits often find themselves with multiple irons in the fire, developing businesses and holding down work for others that stress the need to simultaneously support a family and produce their artistic goals. (Bennett, 2007, p. 133) the issue of the need to develop more than one line of business at a time, holding down a job outside or inside the creative arts in order to support a creative pursuit that may or may not ever result in a solid base of financial support for a family or individual may be one of the most significant problems needed to be addressed in the creative industries trend.

The individual and/or organization must find a balance that allows the creative pursuit to engender enough of his or her time to be developed fully, while simultaneously putting food on the table. (Brown et al., 2007, p. 133) This need to multi-task often to an extreme degree has likely frequently stifled businesses and ideas that might have been very successful in development, if they were recognized and/or marketed effectively as a result of a singular focus. This problem will likely never be fully eliminated, as it is a problem really of all business germination but across the world business germination and entrepreneurial organizations and focuses, especially on what in the past would have been called cottage industries is answering this problem to some degree. The international trend of micro-financing is one of the greatest social movements of our time and it has specific and needed focus on the creative industries. Micro-lending is a new trend in creative development, that offers small scale lending to individuals, often women, to allow them the opportunity to pursue small businesses that can provide significant income for themselves and their families.

We came to an agreement for that loan, and I could see the others in the room scouring their brains for creative new ideas. By the time I left that meeting, they were all asking, 'Yunus, when are you coming back? Bring money next time!" (Yunus, 1999, p. 183)

Micro lending has significant impact for the fashion industry and other creative arts because frequently the kinds of business entrepreneurs that need and utilize alternative financing programs are interested in and germinating domestic arts businesses that focus on fashion. There is some sense that fashion, and especially high fashion has also developed the desire to support systems that help germinate creative businesses as they seek new and innovative ideas and hope to help, at least in some minor way through stewardship to assist NGOs and microfinance organizations to develop and build clientele. (Yunus, 1999, p. 223)

Another trend that is demonstrative of the creative industries trend, is that of the development of expanded marketing. Marketing has created a blue collar desire for luxury goods, such as Prada bags and the like and has begun to develop into alternative design and production programs that sell products with the coveted label, at limited costs for limited times.

A the central movement in worldwide marketing since the 1980s has been to move more and more objects up into luxury brands. Think Prada, Montblanc, Mercedes, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Evian, Starbucks, Rodeo Drive, Lexus, and the like. it's what Martha Stewart is doing at Kmart and why Shaft, the Harlem private eye of the early 1970s, is now wearing Armani. So many products are claiming luxury status that the credibility of the category is strained. Even poor De Beers seems flummoxed. (Twitchell, 2002, p. xv)

Some consider this trend, of luxury for the every day buyer a negative trend as non-luxury brands claim luxury status and luxury brands like Prada are pressured to provide their products for a lower scale market, yet the trend is essential to international and national creative industries development.

In fact one trend in international creative industries is a system nicknamed "grey marketing" where goods and services are sold outside the traditional contracts and supply systems but are not sold illegally, such as is the caser of black marketed items. In other words industries, such as the fashion industry are populated by organizations that are willing to make alternative contractual agreements with companies that might sell their "labels" for lesser prices, such as in the case of overstock or in some cases even exclusive sales of products that might require less cost to produce, but are designed to mirror the products that are more top shelf in nature. One example of this type of system can be seen in nearly every American mall, stores like ROSS Dress for Less and Marshall's sell products that are overstock label goods, where labels have limited sales on certain items that have traditionally been made to order but no longer can be due to manufacturing cost, time and skill and do not sell in traditional marketplaces at the rate expected. Another example in the fashion industry is the Target (department store) marketing agreement that has done a great deal to bring luxury designs to the people, by providing limited time label sales of luxury fashion items that are primary, rather than second run designs. Designer Patricia Robinson had this to say about an exclusive contract she developed with Target in 2006;

When Target called and asked if I'd be interested in doing a collection, it took me about 30 seconds to say yes," recalls Robinson, 40, from the company's New York showroom, where racks and racks of samples from his Target collection hang. "Working with them has given me the opportunity to make brilliant clothes that a greater number of people can afford and wear. Target's really focused on making beautiful products, and they dig design." (Chance, 2007, p. 192)

Though not all designers and brands in Fashion and other areas of creative industries are as excited about matriculated luxury goods the trend is one that answers many concerns about the staying power of fashion labels as well as legitimizing the development of luxury like goods for everyday buyers.

As we enter a new millennium, fashion journalist Teri Agins proclaims the End of Fashion. Of course, fashion has not ceased to exist. We are not all identically dressed in a unisex uniform of tee-shirts and chinos. Nor are we likely to be. Many people still care passionately about the way they look. Yet fashion, as we have known it, is definitely disappearing. Certainly, over the past fifty years, fashion has been completely transformed. (Steele, 2000, p. 7)

Prada might not be selling items at high yield department stores, they are the proud owners of the new trend store front, called "outlet" store where overstocks are sold to consumers at significantly lower process than they are in first run stores.

Miuccia Prada started using nylon fabric around the time she took over her grandfather's business in the late 1970s. But it wasn't until she came out with this minimalist bag in 1985 that her career really took off. Made from parachute fabric and designed for urban living, the backpack that matched everything developed a cult following." (Kowitt, 2009, NP) One convincingly interesting representation of the difference between traditional industry and creative industry structures offers an image map of how they differ and are similar in the business world.

Figure 1 / Figure 2 (below)

Though it is not fair to say that all creative industries have the kind of structure associated with these two divergent cluster maps the reality is that Figure 2 demonstrates an idea of how creative industries work in the real world, gleaning sources of ideas and products from all over the place, both small and large designers and producers to create a cohesive system of distribution and possibly even a larger market base than industry economies. The creative industries have the freedom to seek out alternative sources and ideas and support new and innovative designers and producers and even to some degree focus on so called cottage industry production and standards. Cottage industry is the term given to small scale production that can or does occur within the confines of a home (hence cottage) that was once the traditional means of employment and economy for skilled crafts and trades. Even larger companies during the industrial revolution took raw goods and pieced them out to home workers (often women) to produce finish products with. This was often a large source of income for a single family as other industries, such as farming provided very little actual cash.

2007) a return to this type of work has been seen within the last few years as more and more people develop small and very small businesses and/or work from home for larger organizations, in much the same way that they did at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Transition is the common word, associated with fashion and the creative industries in general as most are under complete scrutiny with regard to how they fit into the international creative arts move toward globalization and intellectual/knowledge transfer emphasis. This has created a system that is creating a resurgence of old style marketing, with a new and vocal twist toward modern means of market display and transportation.

References www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5023042807

Bennett, D. (2007). Creative Artists or Cultural Practitioners? Holistic Practice in Australia's Cultural Industries. Journal of Australian Studies, (90), 133+. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5023042807 www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5011610188

Britain Urged to Power on to Lead in Creative Industries. (2005, December 2). Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), p. 35. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5011610188 www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5024995608