Personal Enterprising Activity Portfolio - Essay Example

Enterprise Portfolio 14. Corporate entrepreneurship The competitive landscape facing modern day industries has been marked by acute competition among the players causing emergence of competitors interested in specific market segments. Similarly, the macro environment faces intense technological changes which has neutralised the available customer oriented solutions. Therefore, only organisations that continually seek to develop and acquire new technological advances with regard to the changing business environment would gain competitive advantage. Companies around the globe have become more entrepreneurial to perceive and exploit business opportunities. Coupled with innovation and change, entrepreneurship describes how successful companies become competitive. Scholars and researchers alike still do not agree on the definition of corporate entrepreneurship. As such, different authors would use varied terms in reference to this including corporate ventures, intrapreneurship, internal corporate venturing and venture management. Nonetheless, the definition revolves around the creation of a new venture within an existing organisation; pursuance of renewal by large firms through new resources combinations so as to alter the relationship with the environment (Ferreira 2002; Wolcott & Lippitz 2007). Therefore, corporate entrepreneurship could be considered as the effort aimed at extending the competitive advantage of an organisation through internal innovations which alters the competition balance within the industry of operation. According to Ferreira (2002), corporate entrepreneurship could be externally or internally oriented. Internal activities include development in an organisation and independent units leading to creation of internal test markets and improved technologies, staff services and production methods in the organisation. These cover administrative innovations, processes and products at different levels. External entrepreneurship encompasses combination of resources that would be dispersed in the environment together with an organisation’s own resources leading to creation of a new independent resource combination. These external efforts include joint ventures, mergers, venture spin-offs, corporate venture and venture nurturing among others. Wolcott and Lippitz (2007) identified four models through which corporate entrepreneurship could be achieved. The opportunist model suggests that all companies began as opportunists and therefore, corporate entrepreneurship would proceed without any resources being specifically assigned for it. An example would when Zimmer, a research and development firm informally approached surgeon Mears with an idea on hip replacements surgery with minimal invasion. The two soon met the top management of Zimmer and their innovation approved, with Zimmer offering the resources for the venture. Surgeons were then trained on the new procedure and the eventual result was improved patient outcomes. This works well where there is mutual trust among players. The enabler model allows employees in an organisation to develop new concepts as long as they would be given adequate support. For example, Google supports employee projects deemed to maintain the organisation’s interests. The company is said to support over 100 emerging business concepts at varied stages at any particular point (Wolcott & Lippitz 2007). Companies that adopt the advocate model intentionally provide modest budget to employees to create new business. Considering that E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company had its returns improve with its growth declining, the CEO had to form a group to revamp the company’s growth. Finally, companies like Motorola and IBM establish and support formal organisations with adequate funding so as to encourage latent entrepreneurs and cross unit collaboration. 15. My enterprising activity After completing my High School education, I looked forward to starting an income generating activity now that my parents were not well off financially to give my life’s material desires. Coming from a densely populated region of the country gave me an idea of developing a business venture for mass consumption. I had some basic concepts on business from my business studies in school. I also had a clique of friends who would support me in seeing my ideas coming to fruition. But one requirement failed me, resources. The idea was to open a fast food restaurant in my neighbourhood which largely comprised of middle income earners working class that had limited time at their disposal and strained budgets. I sought for financial support from my friends and relatives and managed to raise about a third of my budget. This prompted me to re-think my idea leading to me thinking of opening a coffee shop. My inspiration to open a coffee shop came from my love of coffee and having done background research on coffee farming and selling. My coffee shop was to cater to professional and young adults in Denver. The high foot traffic particularly after working hours, lunch hour and pre-working hours inspired the lower downtown location of the coffee shop. Since my childhood, I had seen the population of Denver almost double. From research, I found out that the demand of coffee had been on the increase for the last over a hundred years. In 2011, two-fifths of young adults between 18 and 24 confirmed to take coffee daily with the fraction rising to 54% for those between 25 and 54. Similarly, 29% of these people experienced better financial situation than the previous year. Most of these people therefore depended on coffee to keep alert and functioning. For the past about 15 years, I also found out that it had become fashionable to be seen around with coffee cups, a trademark for the busy people who would just have time to grab a cup of coffee. The market was also competitive with shops in every corner of the town. I could hardly compete with renowned brands like Java and McDonalds and therefore sought to start small. In my coffee shop, I introduced varied beverage flavours with the aim of increasing value to my customers. This would be important in differentiating from the other shops. Customer base would always increase with increased choices hence the ability to capture a broader customer range. As the business grew, small meals were introduced at reasonable prices. Affordable products would allow consumers in the town to keep up with their strained budgets and still afford decent wholesome meals at my coffee shop. Additionally, wireless internet connection was enabled in the coffee shop to allow the busy ones catch up with their work as they have something for their stomachs. After all, Kuratko and Lodgetts (2008) argue that innovation is a key component in entrepreneurship. Customers could also be served in their own cups at a discounted rate. 16. The success of students’ canteen Right outside the school I attend is a canteen that has been serving students from my school since 1982. The canteen is in a small room in a storied building and sells different kinds of goods and has started offering phone call services. Among the items likely to be stocked in the canteen include stationery, airtime and snacks. The business has been run by a sole proprietor since its inception and it is just recently that the running of the business was handed over to the proprietor’s son as the founder became too old to effectively run the business. The target market has been majorly the students from the school though members of staff also provide viable market for the business enterprise. The school also provides a market for the canteen through its regular purchase of journals, newspapers and other miscellaneous items needed in the school. It faces competition from the students’ canteen located within the school compound. I had an interview with the founding entrepreneur of the canteen when he recently visited the school to collect some payments due to him. During the 30-minutes interview, the old man pointed to me that the business was began by chance when his late father handed over the small room to his son to start a business after his colleague gave it to him as a gift. The entrepreneur by then was still young and energetic and though with little formal education, he was determined to make ends meet now that his father gave him a second chance after he dropped out of school. He particularly feared business studies and other subjects that involved mathematics. Nonetheless, this would not deter him from venturing into business. The enterprise had grown to be a successful business empire with the entrepreneur making sales of not less than $260 per day, figure much higher than what was posted by the canteen within the school, with profit margins of about 15%. The enterprise could even afford to sell some of its products on credit to the school throughout the month and receive payments at the end of every month. The entrepreneur invested his profits in real estate and though he chose down town location for his investments, the achievement was worth. The driving force of this old entrepreneur was a vision to be a successful businessman in the town and prove his critiques wrong that he had to pass in business education to be a successful business person. One trait that propelled the entrepreneur to success was his openness to experience, a trait pointed out by Kuratko and Lodgetts (2008) as core among successful entrepreneurs. Whenever new ideas, fashions and tastes would sweep through the students, the entrepreneur would adapt to the same in his business. He was therefore able to remain competitive in the market and fulfil his customers’ needs. His extraversion enabled him get information on the new trends among students. The entrepreneur was also conscientious, demonstrating hard work, dependability and perseverance in his work. He would source his stock from far if only to get them cheaply and make considerable profit margins. He ran the business single handed with occasional assistance from his wife. In fact, the business became synonymous with him. The success in this entrepreneur disregards the argument by Laser (2007) that there are some aspects of entrepreneurship that must be taught. This old man never had any interests in business education but grew a successful business venture on his own. This would be a perfect example of born entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, the failure of the investment arises after his retirement, when a considerable number of students switched their loyalty. The old man did not prepare for transition to the next proprietor. 17. Famous quotes on entrepreneurship and motivation Scholars, researchers and practitioners in entrepreneurships have been quoted for various motivational quotes. These continue to inspire upcoming entrepreneurs and guide the already made entrepreneurs in their operations. Mohan quotes Virgin Atlantic’s Sir Richard Branson’s famous quote, “business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another coming” (2012). This encourages entrepreneurs to always think of new ideas thus promoting innovation and corporate entrepreneurship. Innovation has been pointed out to be a critical component of entrepreneurship (Kuratko & Lodgetts 2008). The idea would be to discourage the attitude that all business ideas have been exploited but to challenge everyone to be creative. This indicates the importance of creativity in entrepreneurship. But Steve Jobs, the late father of Apple inspires entrepreneurs to be proactive by noting that, “you can’t ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new” (Mohan 2012). In support of this, Peter Drucker argues that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” Hence, an entrepreneur should always be a step ahead of the customer and whether through informed thinking or research and development, an entrepreneur should be able to predict the future opportunities and threats in the market (Wolcott & Lippitz 2007). Entrepreneurship calls for strategically adapting to changes in the business environment. And since these changes would always be present, organisations should develop mechanisms to respond to these changes swiftly so as to maintain their competitive advantage. Jim Rohn’s argument that “formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune” according to Mohan (2012) raises the famous question in entrepreneurship: are entrepreneurs born or made? The past about 15 years has seen a lot of effort towards trainings on entrepreneurship, teaching ambitious people to start business ventures. Laser (2007) argues that while there could be certain proficiencies like business plan development that should be taught, entrepreneur’s basic profile would be embedded in an individual’s personality structure. Finally, entrepreneurs should be ready for failure. Failure would not always mean the end of an entrepreneurial idea. After all, Michael Jordan says that, “I accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying” (Mohan 2012). Failure should just inspire another opportunity to try again as argued by Sir Branson who visualises opportunities as buses; you miss one, you catch another. 18. Enterprising competition According to Kuratko and Lodgetts (2008), most young people would shun entrepreneurship because of the fear of sharing their ideas. Most of them sleep on major innovations that could see the world move to the next level. Similarly, lack of adequate resources could hamper implementation of innovative business ideas. It would be against this backdrop that a competition would be proposed to be aired on national television. The competition would require three judges, who would be renowned entrepreneurs drawn from different sectors of the economy. Twenty one contestants would be drawn from around the country and would include final year students drawn from various institutions of higher learning. The competition would be conducted from an academy in one of the leading commercial banks which would be the proposed lead sponsor of the 9-week programme. Sponsors would also be sought to give financial and any other form of support deemed appropriate for attainment of the competition’s objectives. The objective of the competition would be to have the contestants share their business ideas and how they plan to implement them. During recruitment, as many applicants as possible would be considered from each institution, the limitation being availability of resources. Contestants whose proposals would impress the judges would be shortlisted for the competition. The contestants would be given weekly tasks against which the judges would make their decisions based on key measurement points. The weakest two contestants would leave the competition every week. Until the last three would be left. These activities would not only be individual assignments but would also encompass group work so as to reflect the ability of the contestants to work in a team. The judges would be keen to analyse key entrepreneurial traits which have been highlighted by Kuratko and Lodgetts (2008). Creativity should cause an entrepreneur to innovate and come up with new ideas on processes and products. Entrepreneurs should be adventurous such that they do not sit in their comfort zones but explore the various opportunities in the market and make business out of them. Being visionary is another key measurement of an entrepreneur. Such persons should be able to visualise the future of their business enterprises and work towards its attainment. Empirical studies have also indicated that extraversion could highly lead to entrepreneurship. Judges would thus seek to identify sociability, ambition, talkativeness and assertiveness among the contestants. Finally, the conscientiousness would be indicated through contestants had work, dependability and perseverance. Judges would rate contestants weekly in an appropriate scale and have the weakest performers dropped up to the end of the competition. The overall winner would have an account opened by the sponsoring bank where the winning prize would be deposited. This amount should be prevailing market’s average start up capital across all sectors. Various incentives would also be provided according to the availability of resources. The first and second runners up would also have consolation prizes. This exercise would be important in impacting entrepreneurial skills in the young minds. Going by the argument by Laser (2007), the proficiencies that could be imparted through teaching would be delivered in the best possible ways by the moderators. As they assist the contestants with their activities, not only do the contestants benefit but also viewers who would be catching the activities through television. The winner would have an added advantage in that other than gaining entrepreneurial skills from the academy, there would be start up capital to kick off the idealised business venture. This would be a way of empowering the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs. It would trigger innovation among the younger generation intending to venture into business. 20. Business start-up opportunity in China UK Trade and Investment (2012) recognises china as the greatest story in economy in the last 30 years. In 2009, the country’s growth of 8.7% was the best globally, beating all major economies. While acknowledging this fact could be easy, business enterprises have to constantly catch up with developments in the country’s large but complex market space. Entrepreneurs have vast opportunities in trading, selling, franchising or investing opportunities in this Asian country. While reporting for a Chinese daily English newspaper, Xhinua (2011) noted the rise in Chinese middle class trend which would be sustained in future as the country looks forward to entering the middle class status. The young generation in China prefer products from the West due to brand and quality. As such, suppliers of products from the West stand a greater chance to excel in the market. After all, so many chain stores from America and other European countries have excelled in the market. China’s population comprises about 20% of the world’s population. This in itself provides vast opportunities for entrepreneurs to tap. The economy of the country has been reformed from a soviet type to a market oriented type which has led to rapid growth of the private sector. Though only about a third of all the enterprises are owned by the government, the largest of them are state owned. There are 159 state owned enterprises. Agriculture and industry have been the domineering sectors in China which employ about 70% of the population combined. Nonetheless, the industry sector has advanced more rapidly in technology, productivity, labour and income as compared to agriculture. The country is renowned for being the leader in production of rice, soybeans, cotton and peanuts. However, its factories are ill-equipped and still employ traditional methods of processing. Technological companies together with strategic advisors could use this weakness as an opportunity for business ventures. The UK Trade and Investment (2012) points to some specific areas that present ready opportunity for business in China. There are opportunities in building and construction and has plans to set up an institute that would exhibit modern technology in solar thermal equipment, ventilation, harvesting of rainwater and terrestrial heat. Other opportunities would be availed in manufacturing and automobile industries. However, the challenge that faces start up businesses in China includes inaccessibility of finance as financial institutions focus on large corporate organisations. Reference Ferreira, J 2002, Corporate Entrepreneurship: A Strategic and Structural Perspective, International Council for Small Business. Kuratko, DF & Lodgetts, RM, 2008, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice, Cengage Learning Inc., Mason, OH, USA. Laser, SA 2007, Are Entrepreneurs Made or Born? Vol. 1, no. 1. Mohan, M 2012, 99 Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Entrepreneurship, viewed 11 March, 2012, http://www.minterest.com UK Trade and Investment 2012, Business Opportunities in China, Viewed 11 March, 2012, http://www.ukti.gov.uk Wolcott, RC & Lippitz, MJ 2007, The Four Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship, MITSloan Management Review, vol. 49, no. 1, p. 75 – 85. Xhinua, R 2011, ‘U.S. expert sees new business opportunities in China’, People’s Daily, 30 March, viewed 11 March 2012, http://english.people.com.cn Read More