Identifying the new opportunities and threats in the Creative Economy

Abstract

Purpose

The author observes that as customer-focused innovation takes hold in more and more industries, the result is a business environment that is coming to be known as “the Creative Economy,” an operating arena with unique “physics” that successful practitioners are beginning to be able to describe.

Design/methodology/approach

The author interprets the insights of both a successful serial entrepreneur and cutting-edge academics to shed fresh light on how to distinguish between real and false opportunities and threats in the new operating environment of the Creative Economy.

Findings

The author examines serial entrepreneur Peter Thiel’s seven – sometimes surprising – tools for implementing market-making innovation in the Creative Economy. They are, “the seven questions that every market-creating business must answer.”

Practical implications

A key insight of the article is that “All truly successful market-creating firms are de facto monopolies.”

Originality/value

For both practitioners and academics, the article provides a guide to assessing market-making innovations and connects the experience of successful entrepreneurs with new conceptual models by thought leaders like John P. Kotter and Clayton Christensen.

Citation

Denning, S. (2014), "Identifying the new opportunities and threats in the Creative Economy", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 42 No. 6, pp. 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-10-2014-0075