Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development - Assignment Example

? ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Entrepreneurship and small business development Introduction Many view entrepreneurship as only starting a business but it is more than commencing a business. This is a fact well elaborated by the various, well-known entrepreneurs in the world. The following review will look into the successful business lives of various famous entrepreneurs who have applied several qualities in order to achieve several targets such as imposing turnovers and creating many job opportunities among other successful endeavors. In the review, I have chosen different entrepreneurs, where each displays different qualities such as motivation, leadership, invention, innovation, and change. A study of the factors that have motivated Donald Trump in the course of his business start-up Entrepreneurship is a difficult practice to start and become successful; it is highly influenced by many factors such as motivation. Motivation refers to encouragements one gets as he is doing something to be successful. It can be inform of incentives, encouraging words, and showing someone else hat you are proud of their work. Donald Trump ventured into business with his mentor, his father, who by then was a real estate dealer under Trump organization. The following is a literature review of the biography of Donald Trump, which looks at his path to success, clearly looking into what motivated him as an entrepreneur who clearly became successful in his businesses. Donald’s father, Fredric C. Trump, was an enormous influence and a significant motivator of Donald. Donald exemplified exquisite wok after joining his father’s company after college. In his endeavors, while working under his father’s wing, he made prodigious deals on behalf of Trump organization making his father proud. Subsequently, as a way of motivating his son, Fredrick encouraged by showing it through proud comments such as “some of my best deals were made by my son, Donald….everything he touches turns to gold,”(Bio 2011). Moreover, Donald also admitted that his father was an ardent influencer in his business life; occasionally he could confess that his father was a terrific mentor as he had the opportunity to learn a lot about the construction industry, a fact that has always boosted his career in the real estate industry. Soon after, a young Donald Trump moved to Manhattan, where he started-off his business, which has continuously expanded over the years. Factors that have motivated Bill Gates in the course of his business start-up The following analysis consists of a review of the path Bill Gates followed on his way to success. The review is of an article detailing the motivations that saw Gates to his success as he incorporated one of the most successful companies in the world. Bill Gates faced many challenges following his drastic measure to quit Harvard University and venture into creating operating software programs for computers. However, he had various things that motivated and kept his dreams afloat such as having a strong vision. Gates, as one of the most renowned entrepreneur, in the world, had an incredible vision as he started his career. In his mind, he dreamt of every desk having a computer as one of the vital tools one needed as they work. On starting his business, in the year 1975 and 1976, Bill gates, in his operations, posted losses, but this did not deter him from pursuing his dream (Famous People 2004). Bill is an entrepreneur consumed by the hunger of making money; hence, from the start this factor always motivated him at work. As an entrepreneur, he is out to acquire returns; hence, he is motivated by this fact such that, he hires the best and ensures that his employees are well rewarded. Downfalls in business are a reason as to why many companies close down, and Bill Gates’ Microsoft Company is among the many that have faced some of the backlashes such as lack of release dates of their products among other problems. However, Bills strong will and motivation has seen the company through the sheer turmoil eventually making it to a multibillion-company level (Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development 2011). Steve Jobs’ leadership qualities that saw Apple through to the helm After the dreadful demise of Apple’s cofounder on October 5, 2011, The New York Times published an article clearly describing his triumphs, downfalls, and qualities. Hence, I took the opportunity to analyze and review any leadership skills he displayed in his work as he led Apple Incorporation to the helm. Jobs’ alongside Steve Wozniak founded Apple Incorporation back in 1976 in California. Unfortunately, in the early 80s, a disagreement between the two led to Job’s break away from Apple. During this time, he displayed distinct leadership qualities where he led a small group of employees from Apple to forming a new company by the name NeXt Computer. It is crucial for a leader to be a guide of his followers and provide them with innovations, just as Jobs displayed. In 1996, Jobs, as the leader of NeXt Computer sold it to Apple Incorporation, a move that saw him going back to Apple as a product team leader. Whilst in this position, Jobs led Apple Incorporation into breathing new life into various gadgets such as iPods, phones, computers, and iPad among others (The New York Times 2011). Steve Jobs also showed other leadership skills while in Apple Incorporation, such as being the taste arbiter of the company’s products. A job well done by the fact that Apple’s products are among the best gadgets in the world markets. Mr. Job as a leader was quite creative as after his move from Apple Incorporation, in the 80s, he started his own company as an independent entrepreneur. As a leader in the entrepreneur world, one has to be creative and ready to start a new notch when the previous activity fails (Angelelli 2007). How Michael Dell’s innovations that resulted to him moving from a dorm room to a boardroom The Academy of Achievement published an article of how Michael Dell shaped his way out from a dorm room to a boardroom using innovation as a key aspect in his work. The subsequent appraisal is a detailed examination of the path Michael Dell followed as he headed for success and as he incorporated Dell Incorporation. Michael Dell’s parents urged him to become a medical student; thus, he joined the University of Texas. However, Dell’s innovative mind had always focused on gadgets and business and with time, he was determined to combine the two. While in high school, Dell took up a job in selling newspaper subscriptions. However, he did not just supply the known customers he innovated a new strategy that saw him earning up to $18,000 per annum. He applied data research to identify the untapped customers, thus, venturing into these areas and earning well due to low competition. As a young entrepreneur, Dell was quite innovative, and in the university, he continued applying his innovative skills as when in his first year, he started selling, to the students, computer disk drives (American Academy of Achievement 2008). Dell’s company came into existence based on innovations, where after establishing a vast customer range within the University, outsiders also got interested in his products. He applied innovation by venturing into assembly of computers from scratch subsequently selling them at a cheaper price. His innovative strategies led to Dell attaining more clients than his competitors. As an addition to his strategies, he used to assemble computers on demand; hence, there were no spare parts in stock thus saving on space. As for his competitors, they used to stock their shops waiting on customers to purchase thus consuming a lot of space (Dell 2011). As an entrepreneur, Dell displayed prominent skills in innovation, and with time, the strategies paid off, evidence by the now multibillion-company he incorporated, Dell Company. Milton Hershey on his road to building a successful business and a sweet town Barbara Klein and Steve Ember, in their article, ‘Milton Hershey, 1857-1945: He Built a Successful Business and a Sweet Town’, share the life of Milton Hershey as an entrepreneur. The following review is an analysis of the article describing how innovation in Milton Hershey’s works assisted in establishing a unique candy factory. Innovation, a powerful ingredient once applied by various entrepreneurs led them to success in the world of business. Milton Hershey, founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company, despite discouragements from people, still applied his innovative strategies and ended up manufacturing one of the best candies in America. Milton, in his early teen hood, started by working in Lancaster in an ice cream and candy shop after dismissal from a German language newspaper publisher. Whilst working in the candy shop, he acquainted himself with various ways of making candy using water and sugars. Later on, he moved to Philadelphia and by this time, he had acquired many skills regarding candy making. With this knowledge, he set up a candy shop in Philadelphia but unfortunately, it failed. He did not lose hope as he moved to Colorado and once again, worked in a candy shop, which specialized in manufacturing caramels. To add onto his knowledge, Milton used this as an opportunity to learn how to manufacture caramel. Milton set up shops in both New York and Chicago but, unfortunately, they all failed (Polyak 2006). As an entrepreneur, Milton did not give up as on his return to Lancaster he applied various innovative ideas with the aid of his mother and sister. He commenced by introducing changes to how caramel products were manufactured. He applied his own methods of manufacturing using fresh milk. In turn, this resulted to caramel products that were different and better than his competitors were. He named his company Lancaster Candy Company that became a success after an English importer tasted the caramels (Sutcliffe & Parlin 2004). Where on tasting, the English exporter became interested in the product, and placed a massive order for the caramel, giving Lancaster Candy Company an epic financial boost. Milton’s innovative ideas did not halt there; he attended the Chicago World's Fair, in 1893 and witnessed chocolate making machines from Germany. On going back to Lancaster, he sold the Lancaster Candy Company after purchasing the chocolate making machines and moving to Pennsylvania. It was while there that he build a large chocolate manufacturing factory and turned the city into a place occupied mainly by his workers (Klein and Ember N. D.). Thus, The Hershey Chocolate Company came into existence and as one of his innovative strategies; he used fat free milk to manufacture his products. This idea set him apart from his competitors thus, gaining advantage over them due to his innovations. How the chairperson and founder of FedEx Corporation brought change in the world of package delivery “Father of the overnight delivery business,” an article well published by the Academy of Achievement clearly shows the life of Fred Smith as he brought change in the delivery industry and as he achieves his dream. The review that follows looks at his path as he underwent various discouragements but from the research done clearly elaborates the changes he brought about to the delivery industry. Fred Smith, the pioneer of FedEx Corporation, commenced the now international package deliverer in 1971. While Smith was in campus undertaking economics, he wrote a term paper where he clearly detailed the idea of incorporating a courier company that would deliver packages overnight within major cities of US. However, his professor never shared the view and gave him a grade C in the term paper. Smith joined the war in Vietnam under the Marine Corps, but on return to the United States, he revisited his brilliant idea of changing the way package delivery took place in the United States. As an entrepreneur hungry for change, Smith started by purchasing and selling corporate jets, but that was not enough as he still eyed the change in the package delivery industry. Subsequently, he established a concrete plan where he determined that air, and ground transport were the main means of delivering the packages and the best thing was to use them maximally. The chief hindrance Smith faced was the lack of adequate capital to commence operations. However, he did not give up as he went ahead on a massive advertisement campaign where he asked for any corporate funding from any interested parties (Smith 2007). Finally, after successfully selling his idea, in 1971, he started Federal Express Corporation with corporate funding of $91 million, in addition to $4 million, from his inheritance. As time passed, he acquired jets and vans and by 1971, he had several of them, which supplied their package delivery services to 25 cities. Change was not easy to establish as this came up with high costs of fuel, advertisement and maintenance, despite these entire, Smith was still determined. To ensure that his dream to change the delivery of goods came true, he developed a new strategy where he involved his company in delivering of all types of goods such as documents, fragile goods, and sensitive goods. This move led to a boost of the customer number and a guarantee of increased profits. As Smith realized his dream of making deliveries at the shortest time possible of all packages within the United States and other countries, his company faced stiff competition but still made it to the helm and Smith as an aggressive entrepreneur brought radical change in the delivery service industry proving his university lecturer wrong (American Academy of Achievement 2008). Conclusion In relation to the literature reviews established above, it is evident that entrepreneurship is a combination of many skills and with the right blend of qualities, one is bound to be successful in the business world. Motivation, leadership, innovation, invention, and change are all vital qualities displayed by prominent entrepreneurs who established different companies, which are multibillion establishments. Education is essential in the lives of many but some of the entrepreneurs proved this wrong as some dropped out of school to seek their dreams and develop their skills. As for those who stayed in school, an example being Fred Smith did not perform excellently; however, he did not depend on his education but rather developed his skills and followed his dreams. It is not conclusive that education is not necessary, but as Donald Trump said, passion drives an individual to success. One will perform excellently if he does something that he adores. List of References Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development 2011, Stories of Success, Viewed 10 November 2011, < http://www.adced.ae/akoun/success.html#> American Academy of Achievement 2008, ‘Father of The Overnight Delivery Service’, in Academy of Achievement, viewed 10 November 2011, American Academy of Achievement 2008, ‘From Dorm Room to Board Room’, in Academy of Achievement, viewed 10 November 2011, Angelelli L. 2007, Steve Paul Jobs, Viewed 10 November 2011, Bio 2011, Donald Trump biography, Viewed 10 November 2011, Dell 2011, Michael S. Dell. Viewed 10 November 2011, Famous People 2004, Bill Gates, Viewed 10 November 2011, Klein B. & Ember S. n.d., ‘Milton Hershey, 1857-1945: He Built a Successful Business and a Sweet Town’, in Voice of America Special English, viewed 10 November 2011, Polyak A. 2006, Hershey, Milton Snavely, Viewed 10 November 2011, Smith, F 2007, Breakfast with Fred, Gospel Light, California. Sutcliffe, J & Parlin, T 2004, Milton Hershey, Lerner Publications, Minnesota. The New York Times 2011, Steve Jobs, Viewed 10 November 2011, Read More