Cultural and communication industries: Myth and logic of the terms creativity and entrepreneurial innovation

Abstract

Politicians, economists, diverse institutions, including the university, advertisers, and the media repeat in their discourses, over and over again, the mantra of entrepreneurship and innovation as sacred formulas that can put an end to the economic, political and social crises in which the globalised world is immersed. This article aims to clarify the myth and logic of these concepts, based on the case study of the cultural and media industries. Methods: The study is based on the Socratic method. Bibliographic and hemerographic analyses were carried out to answer the following questions: What are the different meanings associated to the terms creativity and innovation? Which of the different meanings that are associated to the terms creativity and innovation do public and private authorities refer to in these times of crisis? Why? Which are the valid meanings? How can the case study method be applied to the cultural and media industries in this regard? Results: The case studies show that the true meaning of the terms creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurs have little to do with the meanings mostly invoked by the public and private powers. Conclusions: the critical analysis puts into question the different theoretical contributions that identify extraordinary mental processes as the basis for acts of creation and innovation. Anyone who knows the workings of the cultural and media industries and their political, economic and social environments can come up with a creative solution to a problem if this solution involves a previously unknown method. In other words, this is the logic of the entrepreneur who creates and innovates in any of the seven areas of opportunity identified by Drucker: the unexpected; the incongruity; the innovation based on process need; changes in industry and market structure; demographics; changes in perception, mood and meaning; and new knowledge, both scientific and non-scientific. The article explains these areas of opportunity based on the case studies of the cultural and media industries.