Leadership and Creative Characteristics of an Entrepreneur - Essay Example

? 4th December Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship entails starting a business after analyzing allthe threats and the opportunities that exist in the current business arena. One of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship is that an individual starts his or her own business based on a business idea that is generated by a need to create wealth and enhance employment opportunities. Being driven by passion to succeed, entrepreneurs are always ready to face any risk that may arise in the course of their day to day business operations. To be an entrepreneur, one should be a risk taker with extensive capabilities to innovate. According to Nicolaou and Shane 17, an entrepreneur should be able to introduce new technologies, generate new products, and enhance productivity in his or her venture thus creating employment to other members of the public. Individuals who qualify to be entrepreneurs must be creative with abilities to come up with solutions to curb the emerging challenges in the business atmosphere. As a result of their efforts to utilize the resources available and exploit the opportunities available, entrepreneurs enjoy rewards in the form of increased profits and strong customer loyalty. Leadership and creative characteristics of an entrepreneur One of the major leadership characteristics of an entrepreneur is the ability to form strong teams that are vital in the achievement of their own goals as well as those of the entire business. Additionally, management skills are essential for the success of any entrepreneur. For example, since most of the entrepreneurs are manage and control their employees without being accountable to the directors or other senior people, they should have excellent management skills. In this way, they are able to formulate effective policies that guide other employees in their responsibilities. In the same way, entrepreneur must have adequate marketing skills. In this way, they will be able to come up with innovative products that will effectively face off their competitors in the market. Skills in customer care and environment analysis are additional characteristics that assist an entrepreneur in maintaining high level of customer loyalty. Skills in environment analysis are fundamental in the sense that they helps an entrepreneur when undertaking a SWOT analysis especially when expanding his or her venture, while contemplating on going global or when forming merger with related firms. How to become a successful entrepreneur One of the major ways to become a successful entrepreneur is by doing what you enjoy most. By undertaking a business venture in the field that one enjoys, an individual will gain from personal satisfaction and financial gain. To ensure a successful business, an entrepreneur should adopt the culture of planning all his or her undertakings. Business planning is vital on the bases that it helps business owners in analyzing business situation thus making a viable conclusion. Additionally, business planning assists entrepreneurs in developing individual and corporate goals. Being used as a yardstick of raising the business to the next level, business plan is used by successful entrepreneurs, as an avenue of raising extra capital from the investors and financial institutions. Successful companies manage money wisely. In order to ensure that businesses meet the short-term and long-term liabilities it is fundamental to ensure that cash outflow is maintained at the minimum level while the inflows are maximized. A successful entrepreneur must be able to pay for the inventory and services as well as replace tools and equipments that are used in the production facility. One of the major ways of effective money management is to ensure that income generated from the exchange of goods and services is appropriately utilized. In this way, a business is able to meet its goals. Secondly, an entrepreneur must ensure that adequate money is kept to cater for wages, supplies and inventory that are vital for the daily operations of the business. One of the major ways to identify a successful entrepreneur is by evaluating the rewards that are generated from business operations. The primary goal for any business venture is to make profit. This implies that any entrepreneurship that is not generating adequate income to cover its expenditure is not viable. In order to ensure adequate rewards are generated, it is essential for any business to ensure a constant follow up. Through a constant follow up, a business owner ensures that all the prospects are turned into potential customers by meeting their needs. In the same way, it increases the frequency of buying from the existing customers thus expanding the sales of the business. Being a business that is focused at maximizing profits and increasing the number of customers, entrepreneurship faces stiff competition from other private companies and government owned corporations. This implies that an entrepreneur must take risks in order to be successful. One of the major ways of enhancing the profitability of an entrepreneurship is by diversifying its products. In this way, a business owner will be able to increase his or her sales. In the same way, poorly performing products will be removed from the marketing and highly demanded products launched in the market. Despite efforts by Richard Cantillon and Adam Smith in the 17th and 18th centuries, to advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of facing economic challenges that were facing mankind, it was not taken seriously until in the 20th century. Based on the efforts by Joseph Schumpeter among other economists, entrepreneurship was seen as a way of converting the inferior innovations that were leading to scarcity of goods and services to advanced innovations that resulted to extensive production of goods and services thus creating employment. According to Schumpeter, entrepreneurship is a creative destruction that resulted to creation of new business models thus leading to economic growth. One of the major implications of the entrepreneurship as depicted by Schumpeter is that it did not only lead to emerging of new industries but also it enhanced the combination of inputs to generate outputs that meets the needs of the consumers. One of the major characteristics of early and modern entrepreneurship is the use of technology to improve production. Additionally, business owners adopted extensive advertising through avenues such as newspapers, magazines and word of mouth to enhance consumer’s awareness. Historical entrepreneurs and how do they differ from todays Entrepreneurship has been in existence since industrial revolution. Based on the contribution of the early entrepreneurs, the face of business has drastically been changed leading to reduction of poverty in the developing countries. One of the key early entrepreneurs was Henry Ford. Being the pioneer of the assembly-line techniques, Ford led to the making of US a leader in the production of motor vehicle. On his part, Benjamin Franklin highly contributed to the culture of entrepreneurship in US. Being a renowned inventor and a printer, Benjamin created employment opportunities for majority of US citizens. In the same way, he acts as a model for majority of business owners across the world. Another notable entrepreneur who significantly contributed to the growth of entrepreneurship is Howard Hughes. For example, his contribution in the aviation industry, led to the development of high speed military planes that led to the growth of air military operation not only in US but also in other countries. As a result of the advancement in the science of aviation, Howard was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 1939. One of the major innovations that were initiated by Howard was H-4 Hercules. Even though it was not successful at its initial stages, the military air-boat plane was a vital starting point for the recent developments in the aerospace industry. Being a renowned risk taker, Howard also highly contributed to the film industry that acted as a pacesetter for the current film makers. The need to improve her appearances and address the ailments that affected her hair, Sarah Breedlove McWilliams made a significant contribution in the cosmetics industry. Through emulating of extensive marketing strategies, Sarah who was commonly known as Madame CJ Walker, effectively distributed her products in Europe and US continents. Additionally, she established a learning institution in Pittsburgh where young people could undertake various thus improving their entrepreneurial skills and creating employment opportunities. Despite being a self-made millionaire, Sarah who was culturally an African-American woman created employment opportunities for over 3,000 people without considering their races (Tannenbaum, and Schmidt 15). This made her cosmetics products to be demanded by majority of consumers both in the local and international markets. Based on her spirit of innovation and development of employees, Madame CJ Walker’s created conducive environment that ensured her employees contributed to the cosmetics industry. For example, one of her employees Marjorie Joyner invented a wave machine that became famous among the black and white women. Even though Marjorie did not significantly benefit from her innovation, she highly contributed to the growth of Walker Company. Modern Entrepreneurs Due to the emerging technologies and cut-throat competition, modern entrepreneurs have adopted various marketing strategies to expand their customer base. For example, more than 85% of the modern entrepreneurs are utilizing social media to market their products in the international market. Based on the increased use of the social media such as face book and twitter by young people, demand for products produced by modern entrepreneurs has increased resulting to creation of more job opportunities and economic growth. One of the major aspects of the modern entrepreneurship is that more women have emerged with the intention of creating employment opportunities for the increased global population. One of the modern entrepreneurs who have significantly contributed to the development of communication and business is Mark Zuckerberg. Being a young person with excellent information technology skills, Mark in collaboration with other entrepreneurs founded face book that is currently being used by large number of consumers and business owners across the globe. Having been raised in New York, Mark identified an opportunity that no one else has though of. By exploiting that opportunity and using the available resources, Mark was able to establish a social site that enhanced connection between consumers and companies in all parts of the world. Chad Hurley also an American, is a modern entrepreneur who founded YouTube, a popular website used to show videos. Together, with Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, Chad dedicated a lot of his time and resources to ensure that his objectives were achieved. This aspect made him a famous entrepreneur making him a role model in the technology industry. After its sale to Google Incorporation in 2006, YouTube generated significant revenue that was shared among the three partners with Chad getting more that $345.6 million. One of the key factors that made Chad to be successful was his strong interest and passion in computers and electronic media. Modern development As a result of the advanced technology modern entrepreneur has been adopted by many countries as a source of employment for young graduates. To ensure that ample income is generated by business owners, most governments have taken initiatives to allocate adequate funds to finance new ventures. This is based on the financial requirements by the entrepreneurs as specified by their business plan. Being a source of new employment and foundation of economic growth, entrepreneurship is not only recognized by developed countries but also in the third world countries. For example, in US more than 30% of new employment comes from businesses that are not more than 5 years old. Major aspects that have resulted to the expansion of entrepreneurship in many countries include extensive research and development, political support, adequate legislation and support by international partners such as World Bank among others. Based on their need to expand and maximize their profits, majority of entrepreneurs prefer to handle management issues without seeking the assistance from other people. In the same way, the need to be independent and reduce the costs of operations, entrepreneurs undertakes management courses rather than employing external managers to oversee the activities of their businesses. Entrepreneurs adopt three major types of management that includes classic craftsman and coordinator. Classic management style This entails hiring people with adequate skills and adopting strict supervision to ensure that the goals of the venture are achieved. Additionally, entrepreneurs using classic method of management take responsible of doing all crucial jobs such as procuring of raw materials, training of the employees among other duties. One of the major criticisms of this method is that entrepreneurs do not like to delegate duties thus hindering the development of the employees. As the business expands, business owners face the challenge of managing due to increased number of employees and responsibilities. In such cases, business owners have no other option but to hire managers. However, since the entrepreneurs are not willing to delegate, they do not trust their managers an aspect that demotivates other employees leading to low performance of their ventures. This implies that business owners adopting this kind of management should decide whether or not it is essential to delegate their duties. If they perceive delegation as impossible, then they should ensure that their businesses do not become complex. Craftsman Craftsman is another styles used by some business owners. According to this style, everything that concerns the business is done by the owner. As a result, this method has the disadvantage of limiting the growth of a company. One of the major justifications of adopting this method is when a business is focused at attaining high quality of its products. According to the individuals adopting this method of management, expenses are reduced while everything is done at the right way. Additionally, business owners argue that by use of this style the problems faced while working with employees are avoided. However, it is worth to note that as a result of the use of craftsman business leaders perform the tasks they like as well as those they dislike. Coordinator The use of coordinator styles implies that business owners employ few workers who help them in the day to day running of their entities. In this way, an entrepreneur organizes all the operations of his or her business as well as coordinating the employees to ensure that the goals of the firm are achieved. One of the primary advantages of this method of management is that it allows firms to expand based on the contributions of employees who possess advanced skills in their areas. Management style in corporate environment Within a corporate environment, business leaders adopt a number of management styles. One of the notable styles is the democratic style. This style allows managers to include their employees in the decision making process. Additionally, it allows communication from the top to the bottom and vice-versa. Being a modern management styles that is used by large firms, democratic style provides job satisfaction and team work that is needed for the growth of any company. Another notable style is the autocratic style. This method gives the manager powers to make vital decisions without consulting his or her employees. Based on the limitation of the employees in the management of an entity, their performance is hindered thus lowering the profitability of a company. As the competition becomes stiff, companies that are focused at maintaining their employees are adopting chaotic management style. This style entails making the employees to be fully engaged in the decision making process. One of the notable companies that have adopted chaotic style is Google. Comparison While the management styles adopted in the entrepreneurial environment limits the employees, companies’ styles of management are mostly focused at making the employees feel part and parcel of their company. For example, through the use of democratic style, employees are at liberty to question their managers without being victimized. In this way, a strong positive relationship between the employees and their employers is achieved leading to higher performance by the company. One of the management styles shared by the entrepreneurs and corporate environment is the autocratic style. Even though business owners are focused at keeping close control of their firm, autocratic style is not appropriate especially where a leader want to develop his or her employees. Conclusion To address the economic challenges that are currently faced by the developing countries, it is fundamental to advocate for entrepreneurship that acts as the major source of employment. Based on lack of capital, individuals with good business ideas lack ability to put their skills into practice. In this regard, it is essential for government authorities to provide financial support especially to the upcoming entrepreneurs who may lack adequate collateral to acquire loan from financial institutions. In the same way, learning institutions should establish entrepreneurial courses as a core unit for every student. In this way, fresh graduate will not heavily rely on being employed. In the contrary they will create employment opportunities leading to an economic growth. Despite efforts by business owners to reduce costs of operations, it is imperative to hire skilled manpower. Even though experienced human resources may ask for huge salaries, entrepreneurs should take into consideration the long-term implication of their employees. This implies that such employers should emulate management styles that are adopted by big companies thus motivating their employees. Works Cited Nicolaou, N. and Shane, S. Can genetic factors influence the likelihood of engaging in entrepreneurial activity? Journal of Business Venturing, 2009, 24: 1-22. Tannenbaum, R., Schmidt, W. (1973). How to choose a leadership pattern. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1973. Print. Read More