Creative Journal about Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

Creative Journal-Entrepreneurship Table of Contents Journal 2 – Creative Thinking & problem Solving 4 Journal-1: Entrepreneurship The 5 Dimensions: The entrepreneurial orientation of a person can be measured using 5 dimensions mentioned below. I have undertaken a self assessment of my entrepreneurial ability based on the 5 dimensions. Based on the GET 2 survey questionnaire I have come to the following conclusions: Need for Achievement: I have scored high on need for achievement which is proved from the fact that I don’t like routine work and love to take up assignments that stretch my ability. My tendency not to worry about the future and live in the present proves that I have a strong need for achievement. Need for Autonomy: This is an area where I have scored less than need for achievement. I prefer consulting and thinking of others before taking up any new project. I like to take a lot of guidance when doing a work and I am more comfortable working in a team. Creativity: I have a low score in creativity which is proved by the fact that I do not tend to look for lot of information for finding a solution. I do not have an inclination towards new technologies, gadgets and new ideas. Risk Taking: I have scored moderate in risk taking ability. I do not prefer a moderate income and sometimes prefer borrowing some money and venture into something new if it has potential. Locus of Control: I have scored high in this. I believe that people fail because they do not exploit the opportunities that come their way. I do not believe in luck and I believe one should try to find the way to achieve what he wants. Areas of Development: The areas where I need to improve are: Creativity: I need to be more focused on new technologies, ideas and products. I also need to look for more information unless I find a solution. Need for Autonomy: An entrepreneur should have the ability to handle projects independently. Since I have a low score in this, I need to work upon this. Risk Taking Ability: I have moderate risk taking ability. I tend to think a lot before venturing into something new. Organization and entrepreneurial talent: The organization I am working for highly encourages innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. The policies of the organization are such that it gives lot of autonomy to the managers to take decisions independently. It follows a flat organizational structure where every employee is allowed to express their views and their suggestions. The organization has developed a separate department called “Entrepreneurship and Innovation”. Employees are encouraged to participate in various activities organized by the department in order to hone their entrepreneurial skills. Organizational Culture and My Entrepreneurial Orientation: The organization that I have worked for has helped me a lot in honing my entrepreneurial orientation. I have actively participated in activities like leadership skills development workshops, activities which help in team building and lectures on entrepreneurship and innovation. I was given the responsibility of leading a team. It helped me a lot in taking important and crucial decisions. There were times where I had to stretch myself and follow unconventional paths of solving a problem which helped me hone my entrepreneurial skills. Journal 2 – Creative Thinking & problem Solving Creative thinking is referred to the specific thought processes, which enhance the creativeness of an individual. Creative thinking is the art of thinking deliberately in specific ways that are likely to improve the process of occurrence of new thoughts (Anonymous-a, Creative thinking). Different people have different approaches to creative thinking. As far as my process of creative thinking is concerned, it is more of the stature of ‘combining ideas’. I choose two random words. Then I think about various other words that characterize these two words. Once these words are listed, I try to mix them up. The entire process can be better explained with the help of an example. For instance I choose stone and camera. The words that characterize a stone are hard, roundish, mineral, smooth etc. On the other the words that characterize the word camera are photos, pictures, film, pin-hole, digital etc. Now if the words that signify a stone are applied to a camera then a creative thing is likely to be formed. For example, a camera can be made in the shape of a stone or a stone can be made like a digital camera. Like creative thinking, problem solving approach also varies from individual to individual. I believe that the approach or technique of problem solving depends on the nature of problem itself. I follow a general approach in which I first try to identify the problem. Once the problem is identified I then try to analyze it to gain a comprehensive insight. Once the problem is clearly understood, I try to figure out the possible solutions. Finally the best possible solution is chosen from these probable solutions. 2. Some of the common barriers of creative thinking process are lack of effort to challenge the obvious, fear of looking odd, quick evaluation etc. (Anonymous-b, Creative Thinking workshop). As far as my creative thinking process is concerned, the first factor (lack of effort to challenge the obvious) is the main barrier. 3.a) The problem that bothers me especially when I am working in a team is ‘different perception of different team members’. In other words my team and I are affected by the lack of consensus in the team. This problem can be explained in the context of a problem solving process that involves the creation of rich pictures. In a rich picture enabled problem solving process, each of the members in a group is required to come up with two pictures – one that describes the present situation and the other that explains the situation that is likely to be in future. As far as this problem is concerned it can be solved by creating a rich picture which will contain different views of each of the members. Once these views are presented in terms of pictures, different facets of the problem will be clear to everybody’s mind. Finally, a solution can be found out by examining each of the pictures and prioritizing them according to their importance in the performance of the team. 3. b) Whenever I work in a team, the usual approach of solving problems like lack of coordination or lack of consensus is to ‘seat and talk’. However after learning the approach of rich picture, I realized that the previous approach of addressing problems is basically an unorganized approach which cannot be practiced in any kind of situation and most importantly it is in no way helpful in obtaining the best possible solution. Developing a rich picture is one of the most organised ways of solving problems occurring in a group or a team. Moreover, an approach that involves rich picture, views of each and every individual are listened to. As a result the solution is likely to be more acceptable as compared to the solution derived from a usual unorganized problem solving approach. Journal 3: Innovation An innovation that has impacted my life: Among the recent innovations, the one that has affected my life significantly is mobile phones. A mobile phone is a wireless communication electronic device which is used for communicating with others (Anonymous, n.d.). The invention of cell phone was a technological innovation. It has affected the way I used to work before and the way I work now. For example before the discovery of mobile phones it was extremely difficult to coordinate among my team mates and my colleagues. With the invention of cell phone it has become much easier to control and coordinate with others. Innovation Awareness: Innovation awareness refers to the way the target audience becomes aware of the new technology. In case of cell phones, companies spent massively on marketing communications like advertising, direct marketing, etc which increased the awareness very rapidly. Moreover being in the early majority, I had the option of taking feedback from the early adopters. Type of Adopter: I was a pragmatist in terms of adopters and hence adopted the new innovation a little late than others. Being a pragmatist, I belong to the category of “Early Majority”. Early majority are those adopters who have some inclination towards new technology, but are influenced more by practicality. This is an important segment for all companies because of the size of the segment (Moore, 2010). This also follows from the fact that I scored low points in creativity in the GET 2 Survey questionnaire. Innovation Decision Process: The decision to adopt the new innovation takes place through a process called diffusion. Diffusion is the process through which the new innovation is communicated to the target audience through various channels. I adopted the new innovation based on the following: Relative Advantage: It offered me greater advantage than traditional forms of telecommunications. A cell phone was a highly flexible product compared to traditional phones. Complexity: The innovation was not very difficult to understand. It was extremely user friendly. Compatibility: Being small in size and mobile, cell phones were highly compatible with the busy life style. Trial Ability: The companies opened up kiosks where customers could try the cell phone and understand its intricacies which boosted trial purchase. Observability: Observability refers to the extent to which the utility of the innovation is visible to others. Cell phone technology was something whose usefulness could be easily appreciated by the customers. Key Factors: The key factors among the above which affected my decision network were: Relative Advantage: Cell phones offered me great advantage in terms of flexibility of communication with my team. It helped me improve my effectiveness. It helped me coordinate with my team easily and thus I became an ardent user of cell phone. Complexity: The ease with which the cell phone could be operated was an important factor for adopting this new technology. Although it was a breakthrough technological innovation, it was not very difficult to understand the technicalities of a cell phone. Journal 4: Financing a Venture: Venture: I have never tried to fund a venture till now because of lack of a proper venture and also because of lack of knowledge on ways to fund a venture. I have been thinking of various ideas but I could not proceed because of lack of funds and also because of the uncertainty of the success of the venture. However, I have been working on a new plan which seems highly lucrative and want to implement the plan by finding some venture capitalist who would be interested in my project. The Idea and the Venture Funding: I am planning to develop an alternative material for plastic since plastics have become a major threat to the environment. Plastics are an important material for various industries and are used extensively worldwide. It is only recently that the government of every country is trying to educate the citizens on the harmful effects of plastic. I propose to get it funded by a seed capital since the product is at a very conceptual stage. Using a seed capital would not only help me financially but will also give me access to non financial benefits like advice and networking referred to as psychic capital. Issues in Fund Raising: Various issues are likely to crop up during the process of fund raising. The most pertinent question would be regarding the nature and viability of the project. Firstly, the project involves huge investments in research and development. The time frame of the project cannot be foretold because research might take considerable time. Venture capitalists may not be interested in the project because of the time frame that would be involved in completing the project. Secondly, identifying a venture capitalist would be a big issue. Moreover even if venture capitalist is identified, it might be difficult to convince the venture capitalist to fund such a huge project. Planning v/s Implementation: Planning and implementation are crucial aspects of a project. Project planning is done based on situation analysis, problem identification, goal detection, strategy formulation, work plan design and finally budget preparation. After the plans is ready, actual groundwork starts after implementing the plan. Project implementation involves mobilization, utilization and controlling the resources in order to successfully complete the project (Bartle, n.d.). Planning forms the backbone of a project. The project plan has to be prepared very carefully because the implementation depends on the manner in which the project is planned. The project would be implemented based on the planning and hence if anything goes wrong in the planning it becomes extremely difficult to re-schedule the entire project. On the other hand if a mistake is made during implementation it is relatively easier to rectify it compared to the planning errors. Location factors: Location factors do not have a major impact on the kind of project that is being undertaken since plastic hazard is a global issue and all the governments are trying their best to eliminate plastic. On the other hand this kind of a venture is likely to be supported by any government. Journal 5: value of intellectual property (IP) Intellectual property is the result of creative thinking, hence the exclusive property of the individual thinker. The intellectual property needs to be protected so that nobody can copy and misuse it. I have found an interesting online article regarding the value of intellectual property. It was published by Bloomberg-Business week on their website on May 18, 2010 and the author of the article is Ellen Rosen. The article talks about ‘patent’ which is one of the most important tools of protecting the value of intellectual property. This article focuses on the patent related issues that involve two of the biggest organizations (Microsoft and VirnetX) in the world. The article says that software giant Microsoft has agreed to pay $200 million to VirnetX Holding Corporation. The amount is paid to end a dispute regarding patent. VirnetX was seeking help from the court in order to block the illegal use of its technology in the Windows operating system of Microsoft. The lawsuit was launched on the ground of patent infringement and VirnetX won almost $105.8 million. However, Microsoft said that the value of the patent was below $15 million. After winning this case VirnetX filed another case against Microsoft saying that the patent is also infringed in case of Windows 7 (Rosen, E. Microsoft, Hyundai, Cable TV: Intellectual Property). I choose this article because it focuses on the value of the intellectual property rather than on the organisations. It is clear from the above mentioned content that the value of any intellectual property can amount to millions of dollars. Moreover, infringement of any intellectual property can even cause huge fine to a reputed company like Microsoft. Another important aspect that can be discussed in this regard is the intellectual property management. VirnetX has managed to win the case against the giant Microsoft, as it has maintained a very effective intellectual property management policy. Role of patent as an important tool of protecting intellectual property is clear from this article which justifies my choice of this article. Journal 6 – Reflective Overview All the study materials in this session are regarding entrepreneurship and innovation, two of the most investigated topics in the world of business. There are several aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation. Lecture notes have given me a brief overview of all the possible kinds of entrepreneurship. Chapter 1 has given me a clear idea about the basic concept of the term entrepreneurship. I have learnt what exactly are meant by the terms ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘entrepreneur’. Furthermore this chapter has also helped in understanding the major traits of an entrepreneur. ‘An entrepreneur is made or born’ – is a big debatable issue. I have gathered some knowledge about the topic which has helped me to frame my own perception about the issue. I have learnt about ‘innovation’, its different types, topology, sources, and lifecycles from this chapter. I have gained insight into some of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship such as common characteristics of entrepreneurs and various tests available for measuring the varied degrees of entrepreneurship. I have also learnt about the common mistakes that are made by the entrepreneurs. The chapter is special for containing an important model of entrepreneurship - Daviddson’s Model. Chapter three provides a clear idea about the process of creative thinking and its significance in entrepreneurship. Chapter four is one of the most important chapters as it talks about a crucial topic – ‘intrapreneurship’. It is a debatable topic, since the process involves creating a new venture within the existing organisation. I have learnt the core concepts of intrapreneurship and various aspects related to it. Chapter five has helped me in identifying the differences between owner-managers and entrepreneurs. I have also learnt about the entrepreneurial growth cycle in case of any small firm. I have understood the requirement of balance strategy, resources and structure for owner-managers. Chapter 6 deals with innovation. I have learnt about the process of innovation. I have gained a clear idea about the process of innovation diffusion and adoption. Moreover, I have also learnt about the principle reasons behind the failure of innovation diffusion and adoption. The process of entrepreneurship starts with writing a business plan. I have learnt about the process of writing an effective business plan. Moreover I have also gained some understanding about different business models. In addition to writing business plans, I have also learnt about the process of venturing any new project. Moreover the reading materials have helped in gaining knowledge about the disrupting technologies and their significance in any new business. In the present business environment, strategic management plays an important part and it is also likely to prove the same in case of any new venture. As a result, implementation of various strategic management models is crucial for any new venture. I have gained a clear understanding of the importance of these models in a newly launched business. Prior to the reading of these materials, I used to think that entrepreneurship and innovation are two of the simplest topics in the business world. However, after reading these materials I have realised that there are some complex processes involved in entrepreneurship and innovation. References: Anonymous. History of Cell Phones. No Date. Thinkquest. June 03, 2010. Anonymous-a, Creative Thinking. No Date. Brainstormingu. June 03, 2010. < Anonymous-b, Creative Thinking workshop. 2004. iEarn Egypt. June 03, 2010. Moore, G. Book Summary: Crossing the Chasm. July 9, 2007. BizThoughts. June 3, 2010. Bartle, P. Monitoring, Planning and Implementation, Integrating the Monitoring at All Stages. No Date. Community Empowerment. June 3, 2010. Rosen, E. Microsoft, Hyundai, Cable TV: Intellectual Property. May18, 2010., Bloomberg-Business week. June 04, 2010 < http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-18/microsoft-hyundai-cable-tv-intellectual-property-update1-.html> Read More