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Technology Ventures From Idea To Enterprise 5th Edition Ebook PDF
Technology Ventures From Idea To Enterprise 5th Edition Ebook PDF
F I F TH EDITION
THOMAS H. BYERS
RICHARD C. DORF
ANDREW J. NELSON
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
vii
BRIEF CONTENTS
Foreword xv
Preface xvii
PART I V E N T U R E O P P O R T U N I T Y A N D S T R A T E G Y
PART II
C O N C E P T D E V E L O P M E N T A N D V E N T U R E
FORMATION
PART III I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O P E R T Y,
O R G A N I Z A T I O N S, A N D O P E R A T I O N S
ix
x Brief Contents
PART IV
F I N A N C I N G A N D L E A D I N G T H E
ENTERPRISE
References 467
Appendices 487
Glossary 535
Index 544
CONTENTS
Foreword xv Chapter 3
Preface xvii Vision and the Business Model 51
3.1 The Vision 52
3.2 The Mission Statement 53
3.3 The Value Proposition 54
I
3.4 The Business Model 57
PART VENTURE OPPORTUNITY 3.5 Business Model Innovation in Challenging
AND STRATEGY 1 Markets 62
3.6 Spotlight on Spotify 64
Chapter 1 3.7 Summary 64
The Role and Promise
of Entrepreneurship 3 Chapter 4
1.1 Entrepreneurship in Context 4 Competitive Strategy 67
1.2 Economics, Capital, and the Firm 7 4.1 Venture Strategy 68
1.3 Creative Destruction 11 4.2 Core Competencies 71
1.4 Innovation and Technology 13 4.3 The Industry and Context for a Firm 72
1.5 The Technology Entrepreneur 15 4.4 SWOT Analysis 76
1.6 Spotlight on Facebook 20 4.5 Barriers to Entry 78
1.7 Summary 21 4.6 Achieving a Sustainable Competitive
Advantage 79
Chapter 2 4.7 Alliances 84
Opportunities 23 4.8 Matching Tactics to Markets 88
4.9 The Socially Responsible Firm 91
2.1 Types of Opportunities 24
4.10 Spotlight on Uber 95
2.2 Market Engagement and Design
4.11 Summary 95
Thinking 29
2.3 Types and Sources of Innovation 34
2.4 Trends and Convergence 37 Chapter 5
2.5 Opportunity Evaluation 40 Innovation Strategies 99
2.6 Spotlight on Airbnb 46 5.1 First Movers versus Followers 100
2.7 Summary 47 5.2 Imitation 105
xi
xii Contents
5.3 Technology and Innovation Strategy 106 8.3 Product Prototypes 175
5.4 New Technology Ventures 111 8.4 Scenarios 178
5.5 Spotlight on Alphabet 115 8.5 Spotlight on Teva Pharmaceuticals 180
5.6 Summary 115 8.6 Summary 180
Chapter 9
Marketing and Sales 183
PART II
CONCEPT
DEVELOPMENT AND VENTURE
9.1
9.2
Marketing 184
Marketing Objectives and Customer
Target Segments 185
FORMATION 119
9.3 Product and Offering Description 187
9.4 Brand Equity 189
Chapter 6
9.5 Marketing Mix 190
The Business Story and Plan 121
9.6 Social Media and Marketing
6.1 Creating a New Business 122 Analytics 195
6.2 The Concept Summary and Story 123 9.7 Customer Relationship Management 197
6.3 The Business Plan 127 9.8 Diffusion of Technology and
6.4 The Elevator Pitch 130 Innovations 199
6.5 An Annotated Table of Contents 131 9.9 Crossing the Chasm 202
6.6 Spotlight on Amazon 135 9.10 Personal Selling and the Sales
6.7 Summary 135 Force 205
9.11 Spotlight on Snap Inc. 208
9.12 Summary 208
Chapter 7
Risk and Return 139
7.1 Risk and Uncertainty 140 Chapter 10
7.2 Scale and Scope 148 Types of Ventures 211
7.3 Network Effects and Increasing 10.1 Legal Form of the Firm 212
Returns 152 10.2 Independent versus Corporate
7.4 Risk versus Return 157 Ventures 215
7.5 Managing Risk 158 10.3 Nonprofit and Social Ventures 217
7.6 Spotlight on Dropbox 159 10.4 Corporate New Ventures 221
7.7 Summary 159 10.5 The Innovator’s Dilemma 226
10.6 Incentives for Corporate
Entrepreneurs 227
Chapter 8
10.7 Building and Managing Corporate
Creativity and Product Development 163 Ventures 229
8.1 Creativity and Invention 164 10.8 Spotlight on OpenAg 235
8.2 Product Design and Development 169 10.9 Summary 235
Contents xiii
PART III
INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY, ORGANIZATIONS,
13.3
13.4
Location and Cluster Dynamics 292
Vertical Integration and Outsourcing 295
13.5 Innovation and Virtual Organizations 298
AND OPERATIONS 239
13.6 Acquiring Technology
and Knowledge 299
Chapter 11 13.7 Spotlight on NVIDIA 301
Intellectual Property 241 13.8 Summary 302
11.1 Protecting Intellectual
Property 242 Chapter 14
11.2 Trade Secrets 243 Management of Operations 305
11.3 Patents 244 14.1 The Value Chain 306
11.4 Trademarks and Naming 14.2 Processes and Operations
the Venture 247 Management 308
11.5 Copyrights 249 14.3 The Value Web 313
11.6 Licensing and University 14.4 Digital Technologies and Operations 317
Technology Transfer 249
14.5 Strategic Control and Operations 319
11.7 Spotlight on Apple 251
14.6 Spotlight on Samsung 322
11.8 Summary 251
14.7 Summary 322
Chapter 12 Chapter 15
The New Enterprise Organization 255 Acquisitions and Global Expansion 325
12.1 The New Enterprise Team 256 15.1 Acquisitions and the Quest for
12.2 Organizational Design 260 Synergy 326
12.3 Leadership 263 15.2 Acquisitions as a Growth Strategy 328
12.4 Management 267 15.3 Global Business 333
12.5 Recruiting and Retention 269 15.4 Spotlight on Alibaba 339
12.6 Organizational Culture and Social 15.5 Summary 339
Capital 272
12.7 Managing Knowledge Assets 277
12.8 Learning Organizations 279
12.9 Spotlight on Intuit 284
12.10 Summary 284 PART IV
FINANCING AND
LEADING THE ENTERPRISE 343
Chapter 13
Acquiring and Organizing Resources 287 Chapter 16
Profit and Harvest 345
13.1 Acquiring Resources and
Capabilities 288 16.1 The Revenue Model 346
13.2 Influence and Persuasion 290 16.2 The Cost Model 347
xiv Contents
xv
xvi Foreword
financing and the choice of investors are key, unless the challenges discussed in
the preceding sections are overcome, it is unlikely that a new venture, even if
well financed, will be successful.
In looking through this book, my reaction was, “I wish I had read a book like
this before I started my first company (MIPS Technologies in 1984).” Unfortu-
nately, I had to learn much of this in real-time, often making mistakes on the
first attempt. In my experience, the challenges discussed in the earlier sections
are the real minefields. Yes, it is helpful to know how to negotiate a good deal
and to structure the right mix of financing sources, especially so employees can
retain as much equity as possible. However, if you fail to create a sustainable
advantage or lack a solid sales and marketing plan, the employees’ equity will
not be worth much.
Those of us who work at Stanford and live near Silicon Valley are in the
heartland of technology entrepreneurship. We see firsthand the tenacity and
intelligence of some of the world’s most innovative entrepreneurs. With this
book, many others will have the opportunity to tap into this experience. Expo-
sure to the extensive and deep insights of Professors Byers, Dorf, and Nelson
will help build tomorrow’s enterprises and business leaders.
PREFACE
E
ntrepreneurship is a vital source of change in all facets of society, empower-
ing individuals to seek opportunities where others see insurmountable prob-
lems. For the past century, entrepreneurs have created many great enterprises
that subsequently led to job creation, improved productivity, increased prosperity,
and a higher quality of life. Entrepreneurship is now playing a vital role in finding
solutions to the huge challenges facing civilization, including health, communica-
tions, security, infrastructure, education, energy, and the environment.
Many books have been written to help educate others about entrepreneurship.
Our textbook was the first to thoroughly examine a global phenomenon known as
“technology entrepreneurship.” Technology entrepreneurship is a style of business
leadership that involves identifying high-potential, technology-intensive commer-
cial opportunities, gathering resources such as talent and capital, and managing
rapid growth and significant risks using principled decision-making skills. Tech-
nology ventures exploit breakthrough advancements in science and engineering
to develop better products and services for customers. The leaders of technology
ventures demonstrate focus, passion, and an unrelenting will to succeed.
Why is technology so important? The technology sector represents a signifi-
cant portion of the economy of every industrialized nation. In the United States,
more than one-third of the gross national product and about half of private-sector
spending on capital goods are related to technology. It is clear that national and
global economic growth depends on the health and contributions of technology
enterprises.
Technology has also become ubiquitous in modern society. Note the pro-
liferation of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, and the Internet in the
past 25 years and their subsequent integration into everyday commerce and our
personal lives. When we refer to “high-technology” ventures, we include infor-
mation technology enterprises, biotechnology and medical businesses, energy
and sustainability companies, and those service firms where technology is criti-
cal to their missions. At this time in the 21st century, many technologies show
tremendous promise, including computational systems, Internet advancements,
mobile communications platforms, networks and sensors, medical devices and
biotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D manufacturing, nanotechnol-
ogy, and clean energy. The intersection of these technologies may indeed enable
the most promising opportunities.
The drive to understand technology venturing has frequently been associated
with boom times. Certainly, the often-dramatic fluctuations of economic cycles
can foster periods of extreme optimism as well as fear with respect to entrepre-
neurship. However, some of the most important technology companies have
been founded during recessions (e.g., Intel, Cisco, and Amgen). This book’s
principles endure regardless of the state of the economy.
xvii
xviii Preface
APPROACH
Just as entrepreneurs innovate by recombining existing ideas and concepts, we
integrate the most valuable entrepreneurship and technology management theo-
ries from the world’s leading scholars to create a fresh look at entrepreneurship.
We also provide an action-oriented approach to the subject through the use of
examples, exercises, and lists. By striking a balance between theory and prac-
tice, our readers gain from both perspectives.
Our comprehensive collection of concepts and applications provides the
tools necessary for success in starting and growing a technology enterprise.
Throughout the book, we use the term enterprise interchangeably with venture,
business, startup, and firm. We show the critical differences between scientific
ideas and true business opportunities for these organizations. Readers benefit
from the book’s integrated set of cases, examples, business plans, and recom-
mended sources for more information.
We illustrate the book’s concepts with examples from the early stages of
technology enterprises (e.g., Apple, Google, and Genentech) and traditional ones
that execute technology-intensive strategies (e.g., FedEx and Wal-Mart). How
did they develop enterprises that have had such positive impact, sustainable
performance, and longevity? In fact, the book’s major principles are applicable
to any growth-oriented, high-potential venture, including high-impact nonprofit
enterprises such as Conservation International and the Gates Foundation.
AUDIENCE
This book is designed for students in colleges and universities, as well as others
in industry and public service, who seek to learn the essentials of technology
and high-growth entrepreneurship. No prerequisite knowledge is necessary,
although an understanding of basic accounting principles will prove useful.
Entrepreneurship was traditionally taught only to business majors. Because
entrepreneurship education opportunities now span the entire campus, we wrote
this book to be approachable by students of all majors and levels, including under-
graduate, graduate, and executive education. Our primary focus is on science and
engineering majors enrolled in entrepreneurship and innovation courses, but the
book is also valuable to business students and others including the humanities and
social sciences majors with a particular interest in high-impact ventures.
Our courses at Stanford University, the University of Oregon, and the
University of California, Davis, based on this textbook regularly attract students
from majors as diverse as computer science, product design, political science,
economics, pre-med, electrical engineering, history, biology, and business.
Although the focus is on technology entrepreneurship, these students find this
material applicable to the pursuit of a wide variety of endeavors. Entrepreneur-
ship education is a wonderful way to teach universal leadership skills, which
include being comfortable with constant change, contributing to an innovative
team, and demonstrating passion in any effort. Anyone can learn entrepreneurial
Preface xix
WHAT’S NEW
Based upon feedback from readers and new developments in the field of high-
growth entrepreneurship, numerous enhancements appear in this fifth edition. The
latest insights from leading scholarly journals, trade books, popular blogs and press
have been incorporated. In particular, Chapter 18 has been improved significantly
to reflect the latest developments in venture finance. Every example in the text-
book has been reviewed with many updated to reflect up-and-coming, technology-
intensive ventures in multiple industries and based around the world. The special
Spotlight sections highlight 10 new companies that further illustrate key insights
in that chapter. Video resources have been revised to reflect recent compelling
seminars distributed through Stanford’s eCorner series. Cases in Appendix B have
been updated, streamlined, and augmented with the addition of Gusto.
FEATURES
The book is organized in a modular format to allow for both systematic learn-
ing and random access of the material to suit the needs of any reader seeking
to learn how to grow successful technology ventures. Readers focused on busi-
ness plan and model development should consider placing a higher priority on
Chapters 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, and 17–19. Regardless of the immediate learning
goals, the book is a handy reference and companion tool for future use. We
deploy the following wide variety of methods and features to achieve this goal,
and we welcome feedback and comments.
Principles and Chapter Previews—A set of 20 fundamental principles is
developed and defined throughout the book. They are also compiled into
one simple list following the Index. Each chapter opens with a key question
and outlines its content and objectives.
Examples and Exercises—Examples of cutting-edge technologies illustrate
concepts in a shaded-box format. Information technology is chosen for
many examples because students are familiar with its products and services.
Exercises are offered at the end of each chapter to test comprehension
of the concepts.
Sequential Exercise and Spotlights—A special exercise called the “Venture
Challenge” sequentially guides readers through a chapter-by-chapter
formation of a new enterprise. At the end of each chapter’s narrative, a
successful enterprise is profiled in a special “spotlight” section to highlight
several key learnings.
Business Plans—Methods and tools for the development of a business
plan are gathered into one special chapter, which includes a thoroughly
xx Preface
Part I Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
The Role and Opportunities Vision Competitive Innovation Venture
Promise of and the Strategy Strategies opportunity
Entrepreneurship Business Model and strategy
Part II
6 7 8 9 10
Concept
The Business Story Risk and Return Creativity and Marketing Types of Ventures
development
and Plan Product and Sales
and venture
Development
formation
Part III
11 12 13 14 15
Intellectual
Intellectual The New Acquiring Management Acquisitions
property,
Property Enterprise and Organizing of Operations and
organizations,
Organization Resources Global Expansion
and operations
Part IV
16 17 18 19 20
Profit The Sources of Deal Presentations Leading Ventures Financing
and Harvest Financial Capital and Negotiations to Success and leading
Plan the enterprise
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have made this book possible. Our wonderful research assistants
and special advisors affiliated with Stanford University were Kim Chang,
Stephanie Glass, Liam Kinney, Trevor Loy, Emily Ma, and Rahul Singireddy.
Our excellent editors at McGraw-Hill were Tina Bower and Tomm Scaife. We
thank all of them for their insights and dedication. We also thank the McGraw-Hill
production and marketing teams for their diligent efforts. Many other colleagues
at Stanford University and the University of Oregon were helpful in numer-
ous ways, including the Stanford students who kindly supplied their sample
business model for Appendix A. We are indebted to them for all of their
great ideas and support. Lastly, we remain grateful for the continued support of
educators, students, and other readers around the globe.
Thomas H. Byers, Stanford University, tbyers@stanford.edu
Richard C. Dorf, University of California, Davis
Andrew J. Nelson, University of Oregon, ajnelson@uoregon.edu
McGraw-Hill Connect® is a highly reliable, easy-to-
use homework and learning management solution that
utilizes learning science and award-winning
adaptive tools to improve student results.
▪ Connect integrates with your LMS to provide single sign-on and automatic syncing
of grades. Integration with Blackboard®, D2L®, and Canvas also provides automatic
syncing of the course calendar and assignment-level linking.
▪ Connect offers comprehensive service, support, and training throughout every
phase of your implementation.
▪ If you’re looking for some guidance on how to use Connect, or want to learn
tips and tricks from super users, you can find tutorials as you work. Our Digital
Faculty Consultants and Student Ambassadors offer insight into how to achieve
the results you want with Connect.
www.mheducation.com/connect
The fifth edition is supplemented by two websites, collectively bringing students
and instructors the most extensive resources available for technology and high-
growth entrepreneurship courses. Visitors to the Stanford-based website at
http://techventures.stanford.edu can access the Video Resources featuring entre-
preneurs, CEOs, investors, educators, and other thought leaders noted at the end
of each chapter.
xxiv
P A R T I
Venture Opportunity
and Strategy
E
ntrepreneurs develop novel solutions to key challenges, fueling progress
in societies worldwide. They use innovation and technology to foster
positive impact and activity in all facets of life. Entrepreneurs identify,
develop, and communicate the essence of an opportunity that has attractive po-
tential to become a successful venture. They describe the valuable contributions
of the venture, and they design a business model that can adapt to changing cir-
cumstances. The venture team creates a road map (strategy) that can, with good
chance, effectively lead to the commercialization of the new product or service
in the marketplace with a sustainable competitive advantage. ■
1
C H A P T E R 1
The Role and Promise
of Entrepreneurship
E
1.1 Entrepreneurship in Context ntrepreneurs strive to make a difference in
1.2 Economics, Capital, and the Firm our world and to contribute to its better-
ment. They identify opportunities, mobilize
1.3 Creative Destruction
resources, and relentlessly execute on their visions.
1.4 Innovation and Technology In this chapter, we describe how entrepreneurs act
1.5 The Technology Entrepreneur to create new enterprises. We identify firms as key
1.6 Spotlight on Facebook structures in the economy and the role of entrepre-
neurship as the engine of economic growth. New
1.7 Summary
technologies form the basis of many important
ventures where scientists and engineers combine
their technical knowledge with sound business
practices to foster innovation. Entrepreneurs are
the critical people at the center of all of these
activities. ■
3
4 C H A P T E R 1 The Role and Promise of Entrepreneurship
What organization would you add to the list? What organization do you wish you
had created or been a part of during its formative years? What organization might
you create in the future?
Entrepreneurs seek to achieve a certain goal by starting an organization that
will address the needs of society and the marketplace. They are prepared to re-
spond to challenges, to overcome obstacles, and to build an enterprise.
For an entrepreneur, a challenge is a call to respond to a difficult task and to
make the commitment to undertake the required enterprise. Richard Branson, the
creator of Virgin Group, reported [Garrett, 1992]: “Ever since I was a teenager,
if something was a challenge, I did it and learned it. That’s what interests me
about life—setting myself tests and trying to prove that I can do it.”
Thus, entrepreneurs are resilient people who pounce on challenging prob-
lems, determined to find a solution. They combine important capabilities and
skills with interests, passions, and commitment. In 2004, Elon Musk realized that
environmental sustainability was not a priority for the car industry, and that
legacy car manufacturers were reticent to make the investments necessary to
develop electric cars. He founded Tesla with the mission to introduce a high-
performance, mostly electric car. Musk raised financial capital by drawing on his
connections in Silicon Valley to start a paid waiting list for the company’s first
model, the Tesla Roadster. Tesla was late to deliver and, in 2007, Silicon Valley
blog Valleywag named the Roadster its “#1 Tech Company Fail of the Year.”
That negative media attention, combined with a declining economy that heavily
impacted the automotive industry, caused many of Tesla’s investments to dry up.
In 2008, Musk invested his own money into the company and pleaded with in-
vestors to match him. Tesla released the Roadster that year and subsequently
raised another round of funding. In 2012, Tesla released the Model S sedan,
which became the best-selling plug-in electric car of 2015. In 2018, Tesla re-
leased the Model 3, with a price comparable to that of other nonelectric sedans.
Musk's ability to identify an opportunity within a challenge and resilience to
push through adversity have allowed Tesla to make significant progress toward
achieving sustainability, both environmentally and financially.
Musk and other entrepreneurs identify the direction of needs in society and,
drawing upon available knowledge and resources, respond with a plan for
change. This typically involves recombining people, concepts, and technologies
into an original solution. In the case of the Roadster, Tesla partnered with exist-
ing companies such as Lotus to leverage their knowledge of car design and pow-
ertrains, developed their own in-house technology where needed, and matched
the final product to a network of Silicon Valley investors. Musk matched his
passions and resources to capitalize on an opportunity.
An opportunity is a favorable juncture of circumstances with a good chance
for success or progress. Attractive opportunities combine good timing with real-
istic solutions that address important problems in favorable contexts. It is the job
of the entrepreneur to locate new ideas, to determine whether they are actual
opportunities, and, if so, to put them into action. Thus, entrepreneurship may
be described as the nexus of enterprising individuals and promising opportunities
6 C H A P T E R 1 The Role and Promise of Entrepreneurship
Attractive opportunity
∙ Timely
∙ Solvable
∙ Important
∙ Profitable
∙ Favorable context
The
sweet
spot
Interest, passions, Capabilities
and commitment and skills
∙ Enjoys the tasks ∙ Good at the
∙ Enjoys the challenge needed tasks
∙ Committed to do what ∙ Willingness
is necessary to learn
FIGURE 1.1 Selecting the right opportunity by finding the sweet spot.
[Shane and Venkataraman, 2000]. As illustrated in Figure 1.1, the “sweet spot”
exists where an individual’s or team’s passions and capabilities intersect with an
attractive opportunity.
Entrepreneurship is not easy. Only about one-third of new ventures survive
their first three years. As change agents, entrepreneurs must be willing to accept
failure as a potential outcome of their venture. But, a person can learn to act as
an entrepreneur, and can minimize the downside of failure, by trying the activity
in a low-cost manner.
After identifying a problem and a proposed solution, the first step is to rec-
ognize the hypotheses associated with an idea: What assumptions is the entrepre-
neur making when concluding that an identified problem is really a problem and
that a proposed solution is good and realistic? Then, the entrepreneur can test
these hypotheses by engaging with knowledgeable individuals, such as potential
customers, employees, and partners. Through these small experiments, the entre-
preneur not only develops contacts and mentors critical for executing upon an
idea [Baer, 2012], but also learns more about the opportunity, and what changes
1 . 2 Economics, Capital, and the Firm 7
Entrepreneurs
Financial capital as agents of
progress
financial assets, such as money, bonds, securities, and land, which allow entre-
preneurs to purchase what they need to produce goods and services.
Intellectual capital includes the talents, knowledge and creativity of peo-
ple, the efficacy of management systems, and the relationships between various
people and organizations. The sources of intellectual capital are threefold:
human capital, organizational capital, and social capital. Human capital (HC)
is the combined knowledge, skills, and abilities in a population. For example,
Google seeks to maximize its human capital by attracting talented individuals at
the top of their respective fields. Organizational capital (OC) is the hardware,
software, databases, patents, learning capabilities, cultural features, and man-
agement methods that support the human capital. For example, Amazon's peer
feedback system ensures that good work does not go unnoticed and encourages
a more open atmosphere. Social capital (SC) is the quality of relationships be-
tween people and organizations, along with the impact of these relationships.
For example, Asana sponsors team outings and culinary programs to build com-
munity among its employees. These elements of intellectual capital appear in
Table 1.3.
The economy as portrayed in Figure 1.2 consists of the summation of all
organizations, for-profit as well as nonprofit and governmental, that provide the
beneficial outputs for society. These are the organizations that we study and will
label as enterprises or firm.* Entrepreneurs constantly form new enterprises to
meet social and economic needs.
The purpose of a firm is to establish an objective and mission and carry it out
for the benefit of the customer. Thus, the purpose of Merck Corporation is to
create pharmaceuticals that protect and enhance its customers’ health. To carry
out its purpose, each individual firm transforms inputs into desirable outputs that
serve the needs of customers.
A model of the firm as a transformation entity is shown in Figure 1.3. The
transformation of inputs into desired outputs is based primarily on the entrepre-
neurial capital and the intellectual capital of the firm. Entrepreneurial capital
(EC) can be formulated as a product of entrepreneurial competence and entrepre-
neurial commitment [Erikson, 2002]. Entrepreneurial competence is the abil-
ity to (1) recognize opportunity, and (2) gather and manage the resources
necessary to capitalize upon the opportunity. The accretion of knowledge and
experience over time leads to increased competence as people mature.
* Henceforth, we use the terms enterprise and firm interchangeably to represent organizations such as
businesses, startups, and ventures.
10 C H A P T E R 1 The Role and Promise of Entrepreneurship
FIGURE 1.3 The firm as transforming available inputs into desired outputs.
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.