Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Table of Contents
6. Introduction
7. Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Definition and its Key Role in
Advancement
7.1. Catching Opportunity
7.1.1. Making and reviewing Vision, Mission & Goals
7.1.2. Risk Taker
7.1.3. Encourage Innovation
8. How could the ability of the entrepreneur be captured within an
existing company to provide higher growth potential?
8.1. Inspire
8.2. Create
8.3. Compete
9. How do entrepreneurs operate so that their ventures survive and
prosper?
9.1. Identification of Attractive Industries
9.1.1. Review of potential growth rate
9.1.1. Review of past revenues and sales rate
10. Recommendations
11. Conclusions
Introduction
Innovation and entrepreneurship are some of the most highly valued skills of today. While some may rely on their talents in other fields, entrepreneurship is slowly making its way as a highly valued ability. Entrepreneurship cannot be learned. One is born with the ability of being an entrepreneur. But just what exactly is an entrepreneur? In a definition taken from , an entrepreneur is someone who has an eye for unheard of, new, risky and possibly profitable undertakings. This person capitalizes on these endeavors and seems to be able to profit from it. In another definition, this person seemingly is able to keep a positive outlook, despite fallbacks on chosen businesses. The following excerpt from a reference essay talks about the person behind IBM, Steve Jobs.
From the minimum wage worker playing a costumed character from Alice in Wonderland at a shopping mall, Steve Jobs parlayed his parents' good humour and a VW microbus into Apple Computer P/L and half a billion dollars in under five years. And less than five years after that he was fired from Apple, by his own Board; In leaving Apple he sold more than six million shares of Apple stock at a ridiculously low price for reasons that made no business sense at all.
In between these high and low points were all the grand product intros, the screaming, the huge houses without furniture, the posing, seducing, and general acting-out that is Steve Jobs, according to some that claim to know him. He used the cover of Time magazine to try for a date with Diane Keaton. Joan Baez used Steve's ego to extract Mac after Mac after Mac from his Woodside garage, each of which she gave away to some friend. Those were the days of Armani suits and stiff collars, the days when Apple didn't even have a budget because the company couldn't imagine how it could ever spend all the money coming in. Those were the days. Steve Jobs was then asked to return to Apple as CEO and in a couple of years Apple was profitable once more after nearly $2 billion in losses.
Some of the history of the between years included the founding of NeXT Inc. First, Steve seduced and abandoned the education market, then the hardware market, then his own employees, and then his investors, causing so much damage that Canon, which lost $350 million in the NeXT debacle, has sworn it will never again build computers. In a time when families are fashionable again, Steve is a family man, doing the dishes some evenings. When greed is no longer good, he has been generous with some of the loyalists from NeXT. When efficiency has become a way to measure business success, he talks about turning Pixar into a machine for making cartoons, rather than the haven for artists he liked to describe a decade ago.
The above excerpt was taken from a reference article about the business entrepreneur, Steve Jobs. But this paper generally focuses on entrepreneurial opportunities, keeping and seemingly nurturing the chosen business’s growth. But for reference and example purposes, I shall choose to retain Steve Jobs as my main reference and example.
7. Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Definition and its Key Role in Advancement
Entrepreneurial knowledge is important, not only academically speaking,
but also economically, since entrepreneurs acts as pivots, pushing our economy forward (2003;1997). Likewise, entrepreneurial knowledge is vital in harboring entrepreneurial opportunities and exploitation. Some researchers even incorporated the definition of entrepreneurial opportunities into research by stating, "... the scholarly examination of how, by whom, and with what effects opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered and evaluated" (2000). But just what are entrepreneurial opportunities? In some definitions, it is described as "... situations in which new goods, services, raw materials, markets and organizing methods can be introduced through the formation of new means, ends, or means-ends relationships" (2003). But in another article, it is broadly defined as, “…as being a set of environmental conditions that lead to the introduction of one or more new products or services in the marketplace by an entrepreneur or by an entrepreneurial team through either an existing venture or a newly created one.” ( 2005).
7.1. Catching Opportunity
In the following numbers, there would be a number of discussions on how entrepreneurs capture opportunity. Through the following segments, we can examine the possibilities and the keys on catching attractive businesses and opportunities.
7.1.1. Mission, Vision and Goals. In accordance with previous reports and essays regarding Innovation and Entrepreneurship, I would once again recommend making and reviewing Vision, Mission and Goals. Vision, Mission and Goals can give one a sense of direction. One can be able to keep track of what he is doing, whether he is moving forward or not. Mission, Vision and Goals can help shape a person’s future, depending on how he perceives it. But having mission and vision statements, as well as goals are not only limited to large organizations. One can also have goals and mission and vision statements. As was mentioned, these things help define one’s personal journey into advancement. Also, by doing such, a person can be able to know what his intended undertakings are. In the context of entrepreneurship, these can help point out profitable and possible good business undertakings. The following tips are taken from the article entitled, “Mission and Vision Statements: Envision your Business, Realize your Goals”
Convey your company values;
Inspire and motivate your organization toward objectives that are fundamentally key to the culture that you wish to establish;
Use long-lasting ideals, not fashionable statements based on current business or market trends; and
Keep your statements clear and easy to understand for anyone coming on to your organization.
7.1.2. Risk-Taker. According to the article, 10 Mindset Web Entrepreneurs Must Have to Succeed by Sheri McConnell, one must able to take risks.
“Web entrepreneurs must understand that one of the keys to accomplishing our goals is to be willing to take risks. This "active" mindset means there will definitely be failures. But failures are just indicators of which direction to go next.” (10 Mindset Web Entrepreneurs Must Have to Succeed).
It is definitely a good trait of a good entrepreneur when he is able to take risks. When a potentially profitable endeavor may come into play, it may have with it certain downsides. But a good entrepreneur would be able to identify the shortcomings and if ever, would encounter failure; one can get up easily and would once again take the risk, if opportune moments call for it.
7.1.3. Encourage Innovation. In an article, “Creating an Environment for Innovation”, , mention was made of nurturing an environment that encouraged innovation. In the following excerpt, specifically the conclusion, mention of the effects of innovation is made.
“Setting an atmosphere in which innovation is encouraged is often highly correlated with the long term success of a company. Each of the elements explained above is critical to the effective innovation process. Challenge yourself and your senior management team to develop the skills and the atmosphere in which effective innovation becomes a part of your ongoing strategic planning. It is highly probable that your long term survival and viability depend on it.” (2003).
Time Horizon
1-2 years
3-6 years
7-20 years
Type of Innovation
Incremental
Step function
- longer term platform for annual features and options
Breakthrough
Incentive
individual basis
this year's profits
team basis
medium term options with matched vesting period
personal security, salary, tenure, fame, secure retirement, sabbaticals, long vesting stock
Team Size
small (1-3)
bigger (10-100)
very large
Mgt. Style
fast, decisive, ego driven
team based, consensus
bureaucratic, nurturing
Pricing/Marketing
skim pricing with mark downs
tprice for volume to get down experience curve first, target price
price for long term profits, defensive- keep others out, monopoly prices if protected
(source:)
The table above demonstrates the different aspects in innovation. As was explained in the article, Time Horizons differ, depending on the different aspects that make up the innovation process.
Encouraging innovations in the company can well mean that the company is on the verge of a major shift, positively. In the context of entrepreneurship, innovation can help make the entrepreneur get his wanted business opportunities.
8. Utilizing the Entrepreneurs Abilities: Secret to Increasing a Company’s Growth Potential
An entrepreneur’s ability can be harnessed into making a better company by these three aspects: Inspire, Create, Connect. In the following paragraphs,
detailed explanation of these three aspects will be provided. An entrepreneur, with his abilities and skills may be able to up the growth potential of his company despite major obstacles in his way.
8.1. Inspire. An entrepreneur may not only have eyes for business. He may also have the abilities to inspire and encourage his subordinates. The mission, vision and goals of the company should be integrated and imparted to each and every one of the employees so that they would know the scope of the work that they are doing. But, an employee should be given the right to freedom of making mistakes and should also enjoy the liberty of correcting and learning from it. Ridicule is out of the question. Every employee should be given the right to make mistakes and should also be treated with respect. As a good entrepreneur, one must be able to see the difference between putting a person down and correcting him in the right manner. By doing so, one is not only able to gain the respect of his subordinates but is also able to inspire others.
8.2. Create. As being an entrepreneur, one is often tied with being the patron of innovations, thus, is always on the brink of doing something creative. Ideas and inspirations are a must for a company that wants to up its growth potential. Thus, an entrepreneur must be able to find potentially profitable idea and put it into action. The brimming entrepreneur must be able to come up and encourage ideas that may seem to be able to be beneficial to the company.
8.3. Compete. To be able to keep up in a competitive world like today, one must have the ability to compete with other rising entrepreneurs. A rising entrepreneur must be able to recognize the needs and wants of his clients and he must be able to meet those needs. Innovation and invention came about because of man’s needs. As the say, “necessity is the mother of invention.”, so an entrepreneur must recognize these needs and be able to come up with a solution to it, before competition sets in.
Also, the consumers are not as they used to be. The consumers of today are better informed, more advanced than the consumers of the bygone years.
“Enterprises are recognizing that stronger and more-enduring customer relationships are critical to long-term profits. Most marketing organizations are at least conceptually well-situated to drive customer centricity, via a more-strategic approach that is focused on delivering value around customers and customer segments. To be effective, however, the marketing function must evolve from focusing on products and transactions into placing more emphasis on customers and relationships that are aligned with enterprise goals and strategies. However, most marketing organizations face several critical challenges: “()
In accordance with the above statement, an entrepreneur must establish good relations with his customers to be able to win and keep their trust. In a competitive world as ours, consumers mean a whole lot than anything else. Their comfort and trust must be first put into mind before anything else. Therefore, a rising entrepreneur, in order to help up his company’s status, must be able to compete with other rising entrepreneurs, in terms of productivity and innovation, and he must also be able to create a strong relationship with his clients, in terms of customer service.
According to most theories on strategic management, the customer is the ultimate judge of competitiveness; that is, by buying the products of a firm, the customer indirectly decides which firms will continue to exist and which firms will go bankrupt. This corresponds to the famous slogan by Alfred Sloan of GM: doing better by doing good; that is, if a firm makes money then that is good for society ( 2002).
In order to attain good edge on competition, worldwide and locally, an entrepreneur must always be updated with the newest and most effective marketing strategies available and must be willing to work hard to apply these strategies. Of course, the company must also keep its products to the highest degree possible. They should of course maintain the quality of the goods they are selling in order to keep the demands at a high degree. By doing so, they not only ensure themselves of a high demand for their products but also keep for themselves a respected name.
9. Entrepreneurial Operations: Survival
Entering the world of entrepreneurs is on its own, a hard task to accomplish. What more is the process of maintaining the company and surviving the huge competition in the markets today? An entrepreneur must have an eye for industries with high possible productivity rate. Alongside that, he must also be cautious enough to look into their past revenues and their potential growth rate.
One must also have the ability to keep in touch with his employees. He must not, at all costs, be a distant figure to his employees. Long-Term goals are also very much needed for directional purposes.
9.1. Identification of Attractive Industries. To start a business, one must be able to identify businesses with are really “in”, in the industry as of today. One must know what businesses consumers find attractive and will be able to withstand competition with other entrepreneurs. There are a number of factors to consider when wanting to acquire an attractive industry. One is when one tries to see if this business is a necessity to the public. If it is a necessity, such as food and electricity, then it may be a good investment. The public cannot go on ignoring their needs.
Also, I located some tips in starting out a business. The following is an excerpt from an article by Bruce Hodgman, entitled “How Do You Start a Successful Business? Planning, Planning and More Planning”.
*What do I like to do with my time?
*What technical skills have I learned or developed?
*What do others say I am good at?
*How much time do I have to run a successful business?
*Do I have any hobbies or interests that are marketable?
Then you should identify the niche your business will fill. Conduct the necessary research to answer these questions:
*Is my idea practical and will it fill a need?
*What is my competition?
*What is my business advantage over existing firms?
*Can I deliver a better quality service?
*Can I create a demand for your business?
The final step before developing your plan is the pre-business checklist. You should answer these questions:
*What business am I interested in starting?
*What services or products will I sell? Where will I be located?
*What skills and experience do I bring to the business?
*What will be my legal structure?
*What will I name my business?
*What equipment or supplies will I need?
*What insurance coverage will be needed?
*What financing will I need?
*What are my resources?
*How will I compensate myself?
(Source: 2007)
9.1.1. Review of potential growth rate. Business outcomes are difficult to predict by just looking at them. An entrepreneur must be cautious enough to pore into its possible growth rate. He must try to look into other entrepreneurs who entered this type of businesses and if possible, should conduct interviews in order to view the growth rate of his chosen venture.
9.1.2. Review of past revenues and sales rate. Another way in which an entrepreneur can ensure the stability of the industry his company may choose to venture in is to review past sales rate and revenues of the industry. If the industry chosen seems to have a lot of sales in the past decade, it would be a worthwhile investment. Though maybe at times industries tend to fluctuate, it may get back up on its own. That is a good signal of a good industry to invest in.
9.2. Long-Term Goals. A rising entrepreneur must also come up with long term goals in order to have direction to which the company can veer its attention and energy. The following are some recommended long-term goals that a company must have:
Long-term strategies must include:
- Implementation of new information systems
- Development of employees who are well rounded and well capable of multi-tasking
- Must have a program that would address key issues ad complaints involving the employee and the company
- Translate desired culture into specific employee behavior
- Have a back-up plan on the undertaking chosen. If in any case the chosen plan fails, there would be an alternative plan
- Knowing several languages (incorporation in curriculum)
- Improvement, development and innovation of infrastructure of all centers
9.3. Connect with Employees. Having a horde of employees would not answer your call of change and modernization. Instead, it may only cause frustration and headache. Even a few well chosen employees will be able to address the needs of the company. The company should, in all possible ways, provide for itself a high standard for accepting employees. They of course must possess certain qualities that would help further the increase on company profits and development. Of course, the company should employ the help of skilled panel of interviewers that could well determine if the applicant is fit for the job or not.
At the individual level, the performance management system (PMS) must drive employee engagement, focus, and alignment. People perform best when they:
Ø Understand and agree with what they are expected to achieve at work;
Ø Gain specific feedback and agree with others’ assessment of their progress based on objectives and relevant information; and
Ø Are encouraged to take responsibility for their own performance and plan their own development.
The company wants its employees to have control, choice, and self-help; but it also wants to make sure its employees’ contributions are aligned with business objectives. That is possible if employees have good, collaborative conversations with their managers.
A strategy that may help in the continuous good stature of company and employee relations is to continually train and keep transparency between employees and the management. Also, training must be continually done in order to help facilitate the employee on his exposure to new tools of the trade and other innovations.
10. Recommendations
The company can strategically implement the enumerated short-term and long-term plans through specific goals and objectives. By identifying all the possible problems arising in the company, an entrepreneur can think of some solutions and in turn boost the morale of their employees to regain their trust for the company, and therefore, maintain the company’s good reputation. An employee’s motivation serves as the key when it comes to his or her performance in a certain business firm or company.
For established firms in a product category, focus is initially on current customers because marketing to this target is most cost-effective if saturation has not occurred. At some point, firms discover that targeting current customers limits brand growth. Exiting needs of the customers should be given priority in the design and manufacture of cars. Trusted research tools and methods that are applied for marketing throughout the years such as interviews and market surveys can be used to identify such needs and to test new product concepts.
What is an appropriate strategy when faced with the situation of targeting customers? Should the firm focus on its loyal but declining customer base or should it shift its attention to higher growth segments? The answer depends on both the reason for stagnant or declining growth and the relationship between current customers and higher growth segments of the population (2001).
Entering the Global Market. This, to a certain degree, is also very much needed and very effective for helping the company’s revenue go up. Entering the global market may not only help in putting the company up on a pedestal but also increase its revenues and income per annum. Alongside that, the product or products produced would be introduced to a new set of audiences and that they will have more of a variety of consumers who would possibly be good potential buyers and business partners.
To a certain degree, penetrating the global market would be a high achievement for any entrepreneur, considering the fact that there are a lot of competition existing. Though it may seem humanly impossible and really unpredictable, it may greatly help struggling entrepreneurs business undertakings. If the products he chooses to sell are widely accepted by a variety of audiences, it may be a very good move for him. It hardly is something you would call a “day-to-day” marketing plan. But if it all works, then it is a guaranteed solution to the company’s dilemma.
. The entrepreneur should also invest on his employees. They are, after all, the wheels of the company. The employees of the company should also be given the freedom to make for themselves individual and attainable goals. They should be able to envision the things that are attainable for them. Instead of bludgeoning them on the company goals and policies, they should also be encouraged to for their own goals and objectives. This will give them a better sense of themselves and a sense of well-being and freedom.
11. Conclusions
We are on the verge of the 21st century. Entrepreneurs should create and make better the strategies that they have now in order to have the edge in the competitive world. They must be able to recognize and meet the consumer’s needs. Having said so, someone wanting to be an entrepreneur must be able to have the needed skills and abilities.
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