Starting and Developing a New Venture - Essay Example

?Entrepreneurial characteristic al affiliation The word entrepreneur is usually used to depict a person who manages and controls a business or several of them taking very expensive risks with an aim of salvaging profit from the risk. According to Hisrich, & Peters, 2002, p.13 , an entrepreneur is a person who unites all factors of production- capital of one, the labor of another and the land of yet another and therefore producing a product which can be a good or a service. By selling the product in the market he generates wages for labor, interest on capital, rent for land, and saves the remaining as part of his profit. He diverts economic resources to an area of higher yield and productivity for an area of low usability. An entrepreneur takes an initiative and accepts risks of an undertaking so as to gain in the near future. In looking at the careers of Stelios Haji Ioannou (Easy jet) and Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines) common entrepreneurial traits are attributed to them I regard to their line of work and which may have helped them become insiders and business mogul. Stelios Haji Ioannou a self labeled serial entrepreneur studied Economics and later Shipping, Trade and Finance. He started working for his father and later set up his own shipping company with the capital he was given by his father. Haji started Easy jet in 1995 some years later after being acquitted by courts on charges of poor maintenance, manslaughter, intimidation and attempting to bribe witnesses. Haji held one of his serving crew responsible for the accident. On the other hand Richard Branson ventured into business at a tender age of 16. Though Branson had dyslexia and poor academic performance as a student, he later discovered his ability to connect with others (Roddick, 2007). Common entrepreneurial traits of Haji and Branson are discussed below. PROPENSITY TO TAKE RISK Most researchers suggest that efficient and effective entrepreneurs are restrained or reasonable risk takers. Most entrepreneurs prefer a neither calculated move when it comes to risk and are neither risk averse, neutral nor risk loving. However they take risks head on. In some scenarios they will accept a bargain which has an uncertain payoff. In most cases they are induced by bargains with high expected values. In the case of Haji he started Easy jet airliners after leaving Stelmar Tankers, his own shipping company by persuading Lucas to lend him ?5 million. He started Easy jet a low cost budget airline using two rented 737s and ?29 one-way fares to Glasgow. By starting Easy jet Haji was not bowing to the pressures of risk but took an imperative measure even though he had been charged earlier with counts of poor maintenance of his vessels and manslaughter. Moreover he started Easy jet by borrowing money. It is a known fact that borrowed money attracts interest and the principal money has to be paid and therefore it becomes, quite impossible to get promising returns in the first years of business.< Abcnews.go.com> In his autobiography Richard Branson reckons that his passion in doing business is motivated by setting huge goals that are apparently unachievable, and staying focused to rise above them. This shows that Branson was aware of the risks involved in a huge venture when he set up Virgin Atlantics. Besides in 1993, Branson took the greatest risk by venturing into the railway business. This project was very costly and most people though he would not make it. It goes without taking that Branson and Haji took a partial path when it came to risks and only took the initiative of such ventures when they deemed them worthwhile in the long run. LOCUS OF CONTROL The locus of control is the power in the principle that one can formulate and implement things. Most entrepreneurs have a high locus but in most cases they are poor in delegating duties. They are upbeat when it comes to venturing into business. They tend to be more practical and positive about their business ventures. In 1993, Branson took what most people thought was a very risky: the railway business. This is a good signal that he could do the impossible and make it happen in the practical world. Entering into the railway business for Branson was no weak point on his person but was by far and thick a measure of his ability to make things happen. For Haji taking on his business and making his firm the biggest budget airline corporation in Europe is not a small thing. By engaging in such a big venture against all odds Haji was taking the path often taken by very few people. Locus of control goes beyond setting up a venture and consists of such things like formulation, control and implementation. Branson and Haji are in that breed of entrepreneur who have managed to set themselves up and avail that consistent locus of control (Bower, 2000, p.108). NEED FOR AUTONOMY Autonomy refers to freedom and liberty of ones will and achievement. It refers to the state of one being independent in what they do and plan to achieve. This trait is intertwined with the locus of control but differs on several grounds. A good entrepreneur distinguishes between people who are in for something to rule over and keen on establishing their authority over other people. Branson and Haji have shown consistence of autonomy both as business people and citizens. It goes without taking businessmen who do not have control of a situation tend to depend on other people’s ideas often letting their own thinking being overtaken by such small tendencies. Haji has over the years being in the limelight for having such a control of his ventures even when the world was keen on disintegrating his overtures. In the libel cases that have been brought against him Haji has shown control of both the situation and his business. It has taken him simple but guaranteed spoils in managing his business well. Though Branson's business empire is owned by a complicated series of offshore trusts and companies he has demonstrated his ability to control them independently without engagements from authority bound people. He has time and again taken a proactive stand on his business activities. Need for autonomy has therefore been instrumental in the business successes of Branson and Haji (Jone, 2005, p.58) GOOD LEADERSHIP Most entrepreneurs in the world have shown strong tendencies of building and engaging a strong team of hardworking and talented people who oversee duties on behalf of the owners. They have over and over again shown good leadership skills that their juniors can imitate, thereby creating a litany of business people. There has to be a general solidity in the marketing of a product which is pushed higher by teamwork and strong-willingness of employees. Branson was viewed as a transformational leader in all levels of management where he worked. He was involved in the entire operations of the organization giving guidance and doing practical demonstrations in areas that were complex to comprehend (Branson, 1998, p.67). CREATIVITY Curiosity and creativity is the quintessence of entrepreneurism. New products, new solutions and new ways are the core of creativity and in general entrepreneurism. It is about willing to think of all possibilities and opening one’s mind to creative things through being inquisitive of what is going on in the globe and quite often generating a gimmick of stuff that suggests one’s ability to create new products that other people are afraid of thinking. Branson has been termed as one of the new generation of the creative world. He took products that were already in existence and made them look original. He has revolutionized the airline business by integrating it with other business ventures like the Virgin Fuels and Space tourism. Virgin Fuels was designed to respond to global warming and exploit the insistence spikes in fuel expenditures by offering a revolutionary, less costly fuel for machines and, in the near future, aircraft fuel. Branson stated that he was formerly a global skeptic and his decision was influenced by Al Gore. (ABC news) On September 25th 2004, Branson declared the signing of an agreement under which a new space tourism organization, Virgin Galactic would license a technology—funded by Microsoft co-founder Allen Paul and planned by legendary American aeronautical visionary and engineer Burt Rutan—to transport paying passengers into the suborbital space. That is what creativity is all about. Haji on the other hand has been instrumental in revolutionizing his Easy jet business. He has low cost car rentals, low cost transportation between airports and city centers and low cost accommodation. Both men have shown tremendous creativity in their line of duty and have been influential in the today business empire worldwide. SELF CONFIDENCE Entrepreneur all over the world have demonstrated self confidence that surpasses other traits. To them self confidence is a must for one to become a renowned and a prominent entrepreneur. They regard failure as a stepping stone and hence use that experience that failure has negated to climb to greater heights. From his early life Branson has shown a self confidence that speaks a lot of volume of his person. At a tender age of 16 he ventured into business. This is shows that even in his early ages he was controlled and placed esteem of his confidence in what he was about to undertake. Haji goes without being ambiguous relating to his business ventures. By engaging in the budget business consisting of low cost transport and housing he was showing resilient of a man that was not bound to pressure for him to deliver. To him self-confidence has been and will always be the driving force (Branson, 2008, p.56). NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT Entrepreneurial people show strong need for success. They have enhanced self respect and high value of what they do. They never quit and have such a high tenacity that cannot be broken. Beyond the path the take they know for sure that value is on the offing for the strong willed and the therefore do whatever is in the capacity to engage well and break even. For them the choice is only achievement and giving up is never a choice. Branson and Haji have shown strong willingness to achieve even when everything is working against them. For instance Branson ventured into the railway business knowing very well of the risks involved but he was willing to achieve what he was bound to no matter what. With their common attributes however entrepreneurs have shown differences in their traits and some traits are not common to them. There are some traits that cannot be found in all the entrepreneurs. This contrast in traits is of significant importance as it instills competition and diversity in production. INNOVATIVE For all intents and purposes Branson is much more innovative than Haji. This is dissimilar or a divergent trait that can be attributed to shifts and nature of their business. For all his business ventures Branson has demonstrated an innovative mind unlike Haji. Virgin Fuels and space tourism just shows how Branson is such a high innovative maverick unlike Haji (Jones, 200p.95). OPPORTUNISTIC This is a case where somebody takes advantage of a weak situation and by all means benefits from such situation in such a high degree that it seen as if he really exploited a situation. When their lives are critically examined one is bound to say that Branson is much quicker to opportunities than Haji. In all his life Branson has seen opportunities and grabbed them, taking advantage of a situation and in some cases benefiting more from the situation than other people. . REFERENCES "ABC News: Breakfast With Al Gore Persuades Branson to Pledge Billions to Global Warming". Branson, Sir Richard. Losing my virginity: The autobiography, 2005 http://www.stelios.com Bower, T. (2000). Branson. London: Fourth Estate. Branson, R. (1998). Losing my virginity: the autobiography. London: Virgin Pub.. Branson, R. (2008). Business stripped bare: adventures of a global entrepreneur. London: Virgin Books ;. Carsrud, A. L., & Bra?nnback, M. (2007). Entrepreneurship. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Hisrich, R. D., & Peters, M. P. (2002). Entrepreneurship (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Jones, L. (2005). EasyJet: the story of England's biggest low-cost airline. London: Aurum. Roddick, D. A. (2007). Exceptional entrepreneurship: real-life lessons from top business leaders. London: Global Professional Publishing;. Abcnews.go.com. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 14 April, 2013 Read More