“Enterprise Culture, Creativity, and Innovation are believed to play a vital role in social as

well as economic development. Define these three concepts, discuss the relationship
between them and examine how they contribute to social and economic progress.”

In present times, due to rapid changes in technology, the world is becoming increasingly
globalized. This means competition for an enterprise is now not only limited to its own local
market but it now has to face international competition also. For an enterprise to have an impact
on the social and economic development of its country, it needs to stay ahead of the competition
and stay relevant in the industry. A major way that an organization can attain this goal is by
utilizing its ability to create and innovate. Creativity and Innovation are two practices that can go
hand in hand and become a source of achievement for an enterprise. The higher the creativity
levels are the more innovative the enterprise is, thus leading to it becoming sustainable as well as
effective in competitive markets. However, for an enterprise to realize the importance of the two
concepts mentioned above and to actually thrive in these processes, the culture of the enterprise
is something that ensures it. In recent times, an organization's culture is also seen to contribute to
economic development (Petrakis et. al., 2015). Culture drives innovation and develops creative
skills helping enterprises to grow and thus leading to economic development. Moreover,
enterprise culture, innovation, and creativity are also things that lead to social development by
promoting the feeling of inclusion, teamwork, and self-worth.

Firstly, taking the culture of an enterprise and defining what it actually means we see that the
tasks of the people of an organization revolve around the shared understanding the members
have about the organization, how things are done in it, and the way they are supposed to behave.
This shared understanding is how the members perceive the characteristics of an organization.
This is the culture of an enterprise, it defines the rules of the game. This culture is supported by
solid rules and regulations which ensure that the employees will act in a uniform and predictable
way. In this case, for an enterprise to be innovative, it is often characterized by its open,
unconventional, and vision-driven cultures. Such cultures have become a driving force in
developing human capital. Culture is something that is responsible for creating such an
environment that promotes activities that are beneficial and can prove to be profitable for the
enterprise. However, culture may also hinder such activities. If the culture of an organization
revolves around the same beliefs of the employees, then they’re more likely to feel valued and
comfortable. This is directly related to the successes that businesses achieve and thus contribute
to the growth of the economy. When the social order of a business aligns perfectly with the
personal values and needs of the members, culture can unbind hidden passion and lead the
business to prosper (Groysberg et. al., 2018). Every organization’s culture is different and it is
important to find what suits your brand and makes it unique. Some cultures take the form of
aligning the vision, purpose, and goals of the organization while some follow cultures of
appreciation where all team members are frequently provided recognition for their work. There is
also a culture of trust where people rely on each other making the environment more comfortable
to work in. Some cultures exist where performance is the top priority of the business. In such
companies, employees motivate each other to excel and thus eventually help the company to
ensure greater productivity. However, even though we have seen how the culture of an enterprise
can help them to strive there are always setbacks also. Promoting values within an organization
can sometimes lead to the creation of toxic cultures. This usually happens when there is no trust
or concept of communication between the employees or their superiors. Members may feel
trapped if they're not able to voice out their concerns or share their thoughts. Similarly, if the
priority of the business is to maximize profits only then that can also create a negative culture as
employees may then be expected to change their values and change their ethical beliefs in order
to line up with the mission of the business (Sherman, 2019). If these types of cultures continue to
grow within an enterprise, employees would start to feel that they have no reason to continue to
work for such companies. Their decreased motivation would lead them to underperform in their
tasks and increase in turnover rates of the company. After some time, the company would stop
being productive and would eventually go out of business. Thus, culture is something that can
make or break an enterprise. A positive culture prevailing within an organization benefits
employers, employees, and the mission of the business. In the long run, effective work cultures
have proved to be more successful than negative ones. This is because when the members of the
organization are in good relationships with each other they tend to become more motivated and
enjoy working on and polishing their abilities. This acts as a barrier against the negative
experiences they might have to face in pessimistic work cultures such as stress or demotivation.
Enterprise cultures are hence very important as they attract loyal employees and well as leaders
and help in bringing out the strengths of the business. This helps the organization in achieving
higher levels of productive performance and eventually contributing to economic and social
development (Seppälä & Cameron, 2015).

Moving on, we see how the world struggles daily in order to transform itself in such a way as to
keep up with the rapid changes in everything around us. For a business to stay relevant in such
times, creativity is something that may save it by overcoming challenges and finding solutions to
whatever obstacles it may face. Nowadays, one of the most important skills that businesses look
for while hiring is the creative thinking of the employees. Encouraging such a skill can help
businesses outshine their competitors and thus attract more customers. So, what exactly is
creativity? This is the tendency to develop new ideas using one's imagination and applying these
ideas in different situations. This inspires employees to think outside of the box and experiment
with their ideas. Similarly, a creative mind looks at situations from a different angle from the
rest. This quality helps in innovation and problem-solving from diverse perspectives. As
mentioned earlier, many businesses have to face and overcome the difficulties they have to face
from the constantly changing environment. It is the duty of the professionals to analyze the
changes as quickly as possible and develop strategies in order to proceed with the activities of
the business accordingly. All businesses experience the same changes around them thus only a
creative mind can come up with a different game plan than its competitors and stay ahead. It is
also important to sustain this creative mindset as creativity is one of the driving forces behind the
success of a business as discussed earlier. Losing touch with it means the business may fail to
compete with its competition. To sum up, creativity is an important skill that must be encouraged
in businesses. The more successful businesses are the higher the levels of economic and social
development there is in the home country as the business starts to perform better if it is coming
up with new ideas and solutions.

Another important factor that may lead to economic and social development is the ability of
firms to innovate. Innovation occurs when an organization conceptualizes and brings imaginative
ideas to reality (Purcell, 2019). Businesses may take up different types of innovation in order to
grow and adapt to the ever-changing market. Some of these decisions may be risky for the
business, however, if the long-term goals look promising that's all that matters to them as they
would do anything to survive in a competitive market. An example of a business embracing
innovation in an efficient manner and benefiting from it is Apple Inc. In the late 90s, sometime
before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. In an
interview with PBS Wallstreet Week Program, when asked what went wrong with Apple, Jobs
replied that before he left Apple the foundation of the company was built on its ability to
innovate. However, when he left the people who were put in charge were more focused on profit
maximization rather than the output that was being produced. Jobs was of the belief that the way
for Apple out of this crisis was not to burn it but to innovate and that's what they did. It partnered
with Microsoft - a company that was seen as the enemy. This was the turning point for Apple as
it shaped its entire corporate philosophy. This partnership started an era of innovative risk-
taking, leading to all the successful Apple products we see today (Golson, 2011). This proves the
fact that in order for businesses to remain relevant in today's modern and changing world, they
have been forced to adapt and grow like never before. Thus, we can conclude that innovation
leads to higher productivity, which eventually leads the business to achieve a greater output
which directly contributes to economic development. Similarly, innovation may also lead to
social development as it adds value to public services and caters to the needs of the populations.

After defining these three important concepts, namely enterprise culture, creativity, and
innovation, it is important to find a link between them. As discussed earlier, innovation and
creativity can only thrive if the culture of an enterprise allows them to do so. For companies that
are set to innovate over anything else, their main priority is to cultivate a culture of innovation in
order to maintain a competitive advantage. On the other hand, innovation can also help create a
positive work culture. Taking Google as an example, this company is well-recognized for its
unique culture. Here, the employed are encouraged to spend up to 20% of their time on their own
projects and ideas. This makes the employees feel appreciated and respected thus making them
loyal to the brand they work for. This shows that by promoting innovation within the individual
employees, a culture is created that makes them feel comfortable which is important. Cultures
where productivity is rewarded, social progress is encouraged and change is openly accepted, are
where innovation is amplified (Rothwell & Wissema, 1986). Similarly, toxic cultures may hinder
innovation as they may not allow employees to have an open mind, or they may refuse to
upgrade their technology (Shane, 1995). In some companies, it was evident during research that
where apparent hierarchy was present the motivation and creativity of individuals were
suppressed (Schwartz, 2005). Thus, cultures that promote innovation have higher chances of
performing better in the long run (Petrakis et al., 2015). We have also seen that innovation and
creativity are both skills that work together for the success of the enterprise. Where creativity is
the process of thinking of new ideas from different perspectives, innovation is what allows
enterprises to put these ideas into action. (Tubagus, 2016). As today’s world is becoming more
and more knowledge-based, creativity and innovation have become increasingly popular in the
cultures of enterprises (Martins & Terblanche, 2003). Innovation can only prevail if the culture
and the creative mind work together within an enterprise (Tubagus, 2016). An organization’s
culture directly affects creativity, but more specifically it affects creativity at an individual level.
To conclude the relationship between these concepts, we can now see that all three of them are
linked to each other in one way or the other. In a research conducted on 759 firms across 17
major world economies, it was found that culture was the strongest driving force of innovation
and creativity as compared to the rest of the factors including labor, capital, and the government
(Tellis et al., 2009).

After defining and linking the concepts of culture, creativity, and innovation, it is also important
to see how they are contributing to economic and social development. Economic and social
development refers to those activities through which the quality of life and the well beings of
individuals and communities are improved. Economic development is often associated with
higher productivity. As we have proved time and time again that positive cultures promote
creativity and innovation which eventually leads to higher productivity levels within the
enterprise. When new and improved ideas are created with creative minds they are put into
action through the process of innovation. Once this process is successful the number of goods
and services produced also rises. This leads to an increase in the wage rate of the laborers
involved in the production process thus improving their standard of living. Selling more goods
and services helps in making businesses more profitable and expand. They are then able to give
employment to more people thus reducing the unemployment rate within the country. As the
world goes through rough patches of different problems including high inflation rates, war,
poverty, or diseases, it is important to find solutions for such social issues as quickly as possible.
This is where these concepts come into play. Creative minds can be put to work to come up with
innovative ideas which align with business goals and social benefits. Only through creativity and
innovation can such social problems be fixed quickly. Conclusively, economic and social
development is greatly dependent on the culture of an enterprise which in turn allows for
creativity and innovation to take place which contributes towards the success of the business.

References
- https://bizfluent.com/info-12296154-causes-ethical-dilemma-conducting-business.html
- https://innovation-entrepreneurship.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13731-021-
00163-7
- https://hbr.org/2015/12/proof-that-positive-work-cultures-are-more-productive
- https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/importance-of-creativity-in-
business
- https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/importance-of-innovation/
- https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/educational/explainers/tell-me-more/html/
growth.en.html#:~:text=Simply%20 put%2C%20 innovation%20can%20 lead,other%20
words%2C%20the%20economy%20grows.