Topics and Area of Interest - Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

Topics and area of Interest Topics and area of Interest Introduction Entrepreneurship has greatly contributed to thedevelopment of the world’s greatest economies in this 21st century. Small companies have grown to be multinational corporations that are now operating globally. One of the reasons behind these great developments was the invention of technology. Most technology has contributed to numerous inventions and innovations, which most entrepreneurs have adopted and implemented in their businesses. This has led to great success of these multinational corporations that has been aided by resourceful and able networking among the stakeholders involved and the investors, (Stevenson & Jarrilo, 1990). During the course, one of the areas that interested me was the development of the social capital. This is because, in the long term, it helps in achieving great internationalization. The essay will summarize all what I have learnt in this course and the areas that interest me. Body Areas that interests me Start-ups They are used in developing and building social capital to achieve great performances and both local and the international levels. Different strategies have to be analyzed I order to determine which are best suited in order to conduct different international ventures. Most startups have emerged and developed due to the innovations brought by the impact of the attest technology that has been adopted by entrepreneurs in the global market (Stevenson,1997). They are known to improve the internationalization performance. This is achieved through strong networking ties with other investors and stakeholders in the industry. Most scholars who have dedicated their time and resources to study this area that is greatly revolving have argued that the industry still faces a number of entrepreneurial and managerial threats to achieve the internationalization process effectively. Most of the firms that are planning to go global are mostly small firms that have come up with different start-ups (Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004). Hence, generating the social capital that is needed to achieve internationalization is one of the challenges that they face. However, with the development of the network ties, they can successfully mitigate inter-firm network that is an added advantage to the new firms in the global market. This requires these firms to plan effectively and implement different strategies in order to take up the global market. In my opinion, young and upcoming entrepreneurs should focus and invest in their startups, and the future seems to be very bright. Promoter Becoming ambidextrous is what every entrepreneur should strive to become. In the recent years, most companies have discovered they can develop radical innovations and still protect the traditions that their businesses uphold. This can be easily achieved through creating organizational distinctive units that should be tightly integrated at the executive level. Moreover, they should focus on exploiting the present by taking advantage of the latest technology that is bringing a revolution in the world of business in all sectors. Further, they should focus on exploring the future in terms of the opportunities that are in and will be in existence. Alignment To start with, they must ensure that their firms have a secured and maintained employee’s growth to support their activities. Employees in different departments in the firms run different roles and responsibilities. The management of the firms must ensure that they possess the skills and the knowledge that is required to perform their roles and responsibilities (Han, 2006). Investing through their training on the latest trends that are happening in the global market is also essential to ensure that they are always up to date with any change that is happening. In my view, these firms should adopt the latest technology as most clients in the global market are turning into this. Secondly, these firms should ensure that they have a few numbers of investments in different countries. This is because different countries have different market structures and different competitors. However, firms planning to venture into this must ensure that they have the right information before they invest any of their time and resources into this. Further, they should ensure that they have a fewer number of products and so many subsidiaries (Han & Celly, 2007). This is important in ensuring pooling together of risks and their capital bases. Organizational change and behaviour / Adaptation Further, in developing social capital to run different start-ups, a number of changes and developments occur in their firms. Organization change and behaviour is one of the vital areas that need to be focused onto. Our main focus during my entrepreneurship classes which my professor insisted on was the organizational behavior. Most employees in different firms have adopted different cultures in their working places. This has both positive and negative impacts to achieving greater heights in the internationalization of their performance and achieving high levels of success in a competitive global market. One of the key players in this department is the participants who are expected to implement the laid strategies by the management of the firm. It is important for every firm to ensure that they have certain rules and regulations, which their employees follow in the course of operation to ensure professionalism in the place of work. Secondly, the environment also changes when the firm or the organization ventures (Meyer et al., 2009) into the global market. This is why it is important to ensure that the employees have the required skills and knowledge in their fields of specialization and that they are responding well to the changes in trends in the global market. Thirdly, their behaviour and adaptation into a different environment is also a topic of concern to most players in this industry. In my opinion, firms planning to venture into the international market must first ensure that they have the right capacity and capabilities that are required in order to be successful in the global market. Further, they should ensure that they have developed that right strategies to realize and actualize their dreams. Finally, firms should ensure that they have the right people to run their operations. Strong network ties could also be a good stronghold. Opportunities and threats Internationalization of start-ups faces new environmental threats and opportunities in the new environments. This is why it is important to conduct a comprehensive market survey in order to determine how different factors in that specific environment interact. This helps in predicting the market trends and studying the market share in different territories. A special focus should be n the resources that are available in the new environment. This could be the capital that is required to run the start-ups, or employees who are involved and the necessary infrastructure that is required to facilitate all the activities of the firm. However, control on everything should be undertaken in the right way to prevent any misuse and exploitation of the resources. Research in international ventures Information gathering is very essential and vital in order to achieve this great process of internationalization (Sarasvathy, 2001). This could be easily achieved by conducting online surveys to determine views of clients in different parts of the world. Social media platforms have provided a great opportunity to most social entrepreneurs as they can easily seek the opinion of their clients using different sites such as yahoo, twitter facebook among others. Resources are another crucial part that should be considered by stakeholders and investors planning to venture into the global market (Dutton & Jackson, 1987). They must come up with viable sources of capital that will be used to steer different start-up that they have established. This could be through cloud funding that is the latest innovation in the world today. However, entrepreneurs planning to venture into this can display their start-ups in different conferences and competition where different investors can fund their projects to become a reality. After establishing valid sources of information and resources, proper analysis and conclusions should be established in order to come up with concrete answers to the issues (Han & Celly, 2008). After collecting and analyzing the information regarding time, resources and gaps that are existing. It is important for the players in this industry to turn all these into specific capabilities that will be the actual internationalization of their startups. With the assistance of the networking ties with different players in the global market, their ideas can be turned up into reality with the full actualization of their projects. Accumulation of resources mostly through social capital can enable entrepreneurs to achieve their goals and dreams. However, this has to be done through establishing different strategies in the global market in order to realize these great achievements. Most of the entrepreneurs who decide to go global with their startups always start small in their countries with a certain number of employees and capital to run their firms (Oviatt & McDougall, 1994). However, as they expand in the global market, new and unexpected needs arise and it their responsibility to take care of them as they come up. Therefore, they key players must ensure that these strategies are followed and implemented by their firms and companies. Social capital Building social capital is a process that has different phases that most entrepreneurs follow in order to achieve start-up internationalization. The first step or level in the process is identifying the opportunities that are available and unexploited in the global market (Davis & Luthans, 1980). Technology has brought about so many opportunities in the global market which most entrepreneurs and investors ought to take advantage of them. Most of them are identifying the gaps that exist and coming up with solutions that are the business opportunities. A good example could be a mobile phone industry where most programmers and developers are coming up with different apps that are used by users in the global market. Due to the invention of the android and windows phones, investors and stakeholders in the industry established the need that most users prefer certain applications on their phones. Hence, they decided to invest they time and resources to develop products that their clients will prefer and adopt them. This is made it possible through establishment of strong ties between the developers and network providers. Clients can easily purchase these apps from different stores using their network providers. Causation and diversity Another issue that is adamant in the international ventures is the issue of strategic management. Firstly, the involved personnel and stakeholders must ensure standardization of all products and services that are offered in the global market. This ensures that their products and services are secured by issuing them with certification that is required in order to operate in a competitive global market. Secondly, the firm involved must ensure that is supports and promotes innovations and inventions within and outside the firm. The technology in today’s world has brought up man changes and trends that most clients prefer. Hence, these firms must strive to ensure that they keep up with the trends in the international market (Baum & Oliver, 1991). Further, these firms must ensure that they have established international operations in many countries. This is important as it enables them to expand their market share, which maximizes their profits in the end. Consumers are also able to establish their brands and remain loyal to their brands. However, they should maintain a standard number of international investments. The reason behind this is that different economies experience different economic times. Therefore, it is important to conduct an extensive market survey and ensure that the region or the environments, which they are planning to venture into, are secure (DiMaggio, 1997). Finally, when planning to venture into the international market, they must focus on performance-profit dimension. When planning to expand their territories into the global market, they must be profit oriented in order to achieve their goals and sales levels in different regions of the world. Their performance should also be traced via the growth levels in different countries in the world (Aldrich, 1999) where they have established themselves. Institutions planning to venture in the international market, must ensure that they have the required resources to facilitate all their activities as well as entry strategies that will be implemented to ensure success in the global market (Han, 2007) Analysis and opinion The business world today has provided numerous opportunities to entrepreneurs, and it is their duty to take up these opportunities and utilize them fully to their potential. Technology has led to numerous inventions and innovations in terms of start-ups, which are currently trending in the business world. The units in the course have briefly given an overview of what an entrepreneur should do in order to maximize the available opportunities. Development of social capital has been helpful as entrepreneurs have a source of capital, which they can use to finance and develop their start-ups. Another factor, which they must consider, is the process of internationalization and expands their businesses to new territories and the market share. It is evident that there are a lot of gaps in terms of opportunities which can be filled up by their established start-ups. However, it is always advisable to undertake a proper research and assessment on the prevailing conditions in the global market. Despite the opportunities that are available, there are threats which they must know and devise ways to deal with them. Further, they must understand the rules and regulations that are required in order to comply with the international standards. In my opinion, this course was very important and insightful as i wish to become a tech-entrepreneur and it has enabled me to learn all the basics that are required. Conclusion Entrepreneurship is an important unit that should be taught in all tertiary institutions in order to expose learners to changes and trends that are happening in today’s business world. During the course, I have been able to have a clear understanding of different market structures in the international market and research on different ventures that are conducted online. Most start-ups require social capital in order to establish and actualize them into reality. One of the latest developments to fund such start-ups in today’s world is through cloud funding. Through my research in different projects, I was able to establish that this is an online platform where investors can view and plan on different projects that are viable to them. Hence, this area interested me because I want to be a social entrepreneur after school. The reason behind this is that technology has brought up so any opportunities, and I want to take advantage of them. References Aldrich, H. (1999). 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