Where the Art is:Defining and Managing Creativity in New
Media SMEs
Mark Banks,David Calvey,Julia Owen and
David Russell
This paper examines the definition and management of creativity in the‘creative industries’.Initially the paper sets out the economic and cultural context for the emergence of the creativeindustries,before
留学生论文网 going on to argue that there are gaps in our understanding of
代写留学生论文the role ofcreativity and particularly the management of creativity within these industries.Based onresearch undertaken with new media SMEs in the North West of England,the paper thenexplores the ways in which creativity is defined and managed within this sub-sector.It isshown that the meanings attached to creativity are variable and contested and that the precisedefinition and management of creativity is strongly determined by the internal workplaceculture,and the external social and economic conditions within which firms operate.It isfurther suggested that while creativity is often seen as a‘must have’attribute for new mediafirms it may also,conversely,be considered a barrier to commercial success.The paperconcludes that if we are to understand work and production in the creative industries,andoffer institutional support for firms to develop and sustain creativity for competitiveadvantage,it may be necessary to develop a more detailed understanding of the role ofcreativity and creative management as both a general and specific,socially embeddedprocess.
Introduction
Given the growing interest in the‘creativeindustries’there is a surprising lack ofknowledge and understanding of the specificrole of‘creativity’within this sector(Lead-beater&Oakley,1999;Davis&Scase,2000).
The aim of this paper is to examine more fullythe role of creativity,and ways of definingand managing creativity,within small andmedium sized enterprises(SMEs)working inthe creative industries.The diverse and fast-growing sub-sector of‘new media’is chosenas a case through which to analyse the issueof creativity.While new media productionis only one of many activities routinely cat-
egorised as a‘creative industry’,given therapid growth of this sub-sector and its in-creasing convergence and integration withother sub-sectors(Preston&Kerr,2001;Pratt,
2000;Scott,2000),we suggest an analysis ofcreativity in new media firms may offer somepertinent insights that could be tested more
broadly across the creative industries.The paper begins by setting the economicand cultural context for the emergence of thecreative industries,before going on to argue
that there are gaps in our understanding ofcreativity,and the management of creativitywithin this growing sector.We argue thatmuch of the contemporary literature oncreativity has failed to show how the mean-ings attached to creativity are variable andcontested,and how,within firms,the defini-
tion and management of creativity may behighly context specific,being strongly deter-mined by the internal workplace culture,andthe external social and economic conditions#p#分页标题#e#
within which firms operate.The core of the paper is selections of findingsfrom our researchthat show how new mediaSMEs
define and manage creativity in thecontext of production.The findings are drawnfrom in-depth interviews with managers and#Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.108 Cowley Road,Oxford OX4 1JFand 350 Main St,Malden,MA 02148,USA.Volume 11 Number 4 December 2002owners from over 20 new media firms in theNorth West of E
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