Models of Entrepreneurial Intentions - Essay Example

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction Since my early years as a student, I have always believed that I can be one of the best entrepreneurs in the world. I have strived by all means to ensure that my dream will one day come to pass. Over the years I have expanded my knowledge of entrepreneurship, and I believe in creating my business ideas that can help me achieve my objective. I have been a creative and critical thinker throughout my life as a student. I have sharpened my knowledge and skills. Instead of waiting to be employed, I will create my employment opportunity. This is just a stepping stone to my great business ideas in the near future. This portfolio seeks to release the findings of the analysis done on my personal skills, abilities, capabilities and experiences that can make me be an entrepreneur. It also covers the analysis of the class text and the lesson I learn from the lectures. Critical analysis of the results In the GET2 result, I managed to score 85%; this shows that my enterprising ability is very high. Moreover, the results clearly show that I can start and manage different projects. The result found out that I had a high need for achievement, and I like to be in charge of various activities. Again the results suggested that I can use opportunities. I am also innovative and able to take a risk in order to attain success. A supporting evidence for this can be seen in my online marketing and sales strategy that I established as a new venture while I continue studying. My main aim was to be successful in my vision. I have taken charge of my invention and use the available resources to be successful. Again I am innovative since I came up with the online marketing strategy. The findings also depicted that I have attributes of achievement. The result suggested that I had a high level of performance; rely on my ability and not on the ability of others. I have strong time management, and I am orientated towards the future. This can also be seen from my sales and marketing online. The use of technology to promote sales shows my ability and determination to achieve. I am optimistic about a better future. My will is to work extra hard and make my innovation succeed. Autonomy is another key finding. The result indicated that my need for autonomy was very high. I feel I should be doing my things alone. I prefer to work alone and am not ready to respond to the pressure from the public. I am always determined towards achieving my goals. Supporting evidence for my autonomy can be still seen in my online marketing and sales strategy. Since I am the innovator, I am not ready to involve any third party. I always have the urge to implement my new strategy the best way I think is appropriate. I am also not very creative. The results stated that I had a medium score; this showed that I prefer the already tested ideas. This is true as evident in my online sales and marketing strategy. Other companies had adopted the idea. Many companies have used the strategy to promote their products. By adopting the creative ideas that have been created by others it can be stated that my creative abilities are medium. I however believe that not it is possible to adopt the ideas of other and make new ideas out of them. On Calculated Risk Taking, my score was high. This showed that I am goal oriented; I set different goals and strive to achieve the set goals. I have self-awareness, and I can access my capabilities. The result further stated that I am analytical and able to identify the benefits I can get from my transactions. This can as well be seen from my online marketing and sales strategy. I am goal oriented and want to achieve my vision. I take the calculated risks and try out my new strategies in the online platform although they may not be profitable. This shows how I am a good risk taker. Finally, the result was on the locus. The significant results showed that I had a great control of the locus. An evidence of this is from my online marketing strategy. I am opportunistic and I also like making proper use of any opportunity to create something good for myself. I am self-confident that my online marketing will prosper. Furthermore, I believe that my plans and goals will succeed. The results adequately reflected on my entrepreneurial ability. Antecedent Influences One of the antecedents is self-efficacy. According to Chen et al. (2000), self-efficacy is the ability of an individual to believe that he or she can perform several tasks or roles of entrepreneurship. They measure self-efficacy is in terms of marketing, management, innovation, financial control and risk taking. It is also believed that students who study entrepreneurship have high self-efficacy and control of the locus. This clearly shows that I have self-efficacy since I can perform, and the results also indicated that my locus of control is very high. Another antecedent factor is the perception of opportunities. Shane and Venkataraman (2000) highlight that the knowledge of opportunities is the ability to identifying business opportunity for creating new ventures. The prospective entrepreneurs’ often perceive different opportunities in the early stages of the business. This will make an individual identify a given opportunity and make good use of it. I feel I can perceive different opportunities and come up with the proper business venture. Like my online marketing strategy, this is an example of an entrepreneurial opportunity that I identified. The prior knowledge of the other entrepreneurs is another key antecedent. The knowledge of other entrepreneurs acts as a reference point and a role model to the entrepreneur (Steier, 2000).When entrepreneurs use this method, they can form a good relation with other entrepreneurs and exploit different business opportunities. This antecedent does not apply to me since I like to do things by myself. I think that in future in order to be a good entrepreneur I should strive to improve on my autonomy and relate well with other entrepreneurs (Steier, 2000). The last antecedent is the fear of failure. Many entrepreneurs fear to fail in their actions and activities. They often step back and rethink before making any decision. It is likely that the entrepreneurs fear failure in business (Smith 2001).An individual may not be aware of the risk and uncertainties in any business this will make him fear for failure. This antecedent also applies to me since I fear failure. My aim is to achieve success by all means. Self-reflection Entrepreneurship can be seen as the drive of many economies in the world of today. Entrepreneurs innovate and implement new business ideas. The entrepreneurs fulfill not only their self-interest but also the interest of the whole society (Muzyka and Birley, 2001). I am an entrepreneur. I possess the entrepreneurial thought and ideas and I am moved by some of the successful entrepreneurs. One of the entrepreneurial contributions that inspire me most is the role played by Bill Gates to the revolution of information. A times I do wonder how the world would be without this great contribution by Bill Gates In my life have always had different entrepreneurial thoughts.I have considered innovations that can bring significant change to the world. My main aim has been to identify and come up with innovations that can make life easier and make different people enjoy their livelihood. There are several reasons that make me feel I am an entrepreneur. The best reason is that many of people who inspire me are great entrepreneurs. Bill Gates being the best of my role models.When he was a student, he became creative and innovative enough to identify how development in software was able to solve the problems of different individuals (O’Neill and O'Neill , 2009). Bill Gates never stopped his discoveries at the academia level, but he later persuaded his discovery and implemented relevant knowledge. Another of my role model is Richard Branson of the Virgin Empire. Branson’s beliefs do inspire me a lot. Branson can identify a problem, and he does not avoid the problem.He faces the problem and finds possible solutions to the problems. Again, my innovative nature tells me that I am an entrepreneur. I am very innovative although sometimes I also adopt the ideas of others and make them better. I am capable of finding solutions to different problems using my innovative skills. Since my early years, many of my classmates depended so much on me when they had various problems. I have used my innovative idea and interest in IT in several ways. I have managed to prepare and implement software application that has enabled me to solve different problems. At home, I made a software application that can solve several problems. And alongside my colleagues, we presented various software applications that helped to manage the welfare of students in our former school. I do believe in myself; this increases my qualities of being an entrepreneur. I always believe in my capability of bringing new changes to the society and ensure the changes are of value to the members of the community. Even if other people dislike my assertive nature, I always see it as a gift and use it to help other people. My inside drive does help me overcome any adverse reaction or negative opinions from other people. The business venture I have in my mind is the online sales and marketing. I developed this idea due to the development of the information technology that has greatly influenced the culture and the people’s way of life (Burns , 2008). In this new information era, the conventional means of doing business cannot be successful. The new era of information requires the structuring of different businesses to be in line with the new technology. The Leans philosophy (Ries, 2011), is another motivation to the online sales and marketing. Many products that are usually sold in the end always have high prices compared to the cost of production. The added cost is due to the influence of the middlemen. Online marketing and sale make it easy to sell a given product directly to the consumer. Online marketing and sales involves the use of information technology in marketing and sales. My main intention as an entrepreneur is to use my skills to help the business venture grow through the internet. I also wish to help the business implement to achieve direct sales of their goods online. My broad knowledge in information technology, marketing application programming will help me a great deal. My capability to identify any complex thing will make me overcome any challenge of starting marketing and sales. I do find sales and marketing important to everyone in the society. Sales and marketing always presents products to the market and ascertains that customers buy the products taken to the market. Production role may not be essential without sales and marketing. As to this, I have a great feeling that the use of information technology in the role of marketing will be of great importance. The issue of online marketing and sales is not new. Many companies have websites where prospective customers can see the product before they decide to buy the product. My vision is to create an online supermarket in which individuals can access different products online and prepare for their purchase. Education has greatly improved my business ideas. The knowledge and skills I have gained can be useful to the company. Communication, analytical and problem-solving skills are very helpful to the business. My innovativeness together with the self-drive and the relevant skills I have will make me achieve my online vision of marketing and sales. My strengths and weaknesses The test conducted made me realize my strengths and weaknesses as an efficient entrepreneur. The valuation made in my online marketing and sales business that I started and I want to expand. My online marketing idea is an information based type of business. The business requires me to take the burden of other companies or businesses marketing and sales and do it on their behalf. I also intended to develop an online supermarket. My strength is innovativeness and creativity (Williams and Florida 2002). My innovative nature allows me to find different solutions the problems of marketing and sales affecting other business organization. My knowledge of information technology is of great importance to the business (Maria 2003). This experience will enable me come up with different online solutions with a no difficulty. The online marketing and sales will be able to deal with any complexity in the market. The analytical skill I obtain from class will help me find logical solutions to different problems that may arise. From the test, I can seek opportunities and use different resources to achieve my plans. This is an essential quality for any entrepreneur. This will help me deal with people and find any opportunity in the society. I will also be in a position to negotiate with other business partners. According to Rae (2007), another key element to entrepreneurs is the problem solving ability. From the test, it was seen that I had the good problem-solving ability. Online marketing and sales entail the capability to solve the problems of other people. This ability will allow me to handle my client’s problems with little or no difficulty. Some of the problems observed in the test is that I am not able to have a good relationship with the employees, clients, and the suppliers. My leadership was also seen to be self-centered.I did not accept opinions from other people. To overcome my challenges, I will ensure I take to ideas of others and find better solutions to various problems. On the part of leadership, I will try and register for leadership trainings to acquire the necessary leadership skills. Conclusion From the assessment of the result, I am certain that I am a great entrepreneur.This is due to the high score I scored in the assessment test. I can create new business ventures and create concrete ideas that can help the members of the society. I am also able to use my abilities to innovate new ideas in the business enterprise. There are different antecedents that influence my work as an entrepreneur. I can identify the antecedents without any difficulty. My real life experience as an entrepreneur can be seen from my online sales and marketing project that I started. I can access my weaknesses and strengths from my innovation. References Anil K , 2008, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, New Delhi. I. K. International Pvt Ltd, Birley S and Muzyka D, 2001, Mastering Enterprise, UK. Financial Times. Bridge S and O’Neill, 2009, Understanding Enterprise, Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan Burns Burns R, 2008, Business Research Methods and Statistics Using SPSS, Thousand Oaks. SAGE Chen, C. Greene, P. And Crick, A. 2000, ‘Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy distinguish Entrepreneurs from managers?’ Journal of Venturing in Business, 13( 4), pp295- 316. Krueger, N, Carsrud, A and Reilly, M, 2000, ‘Competing models of entrepreneurial Intentions’, Journal of Business Venturing, 15( 5) pp 411-432 Manjunath V.S, 2010, Entrepreneurship & Management, India. Pearson Education India.   Maria J, 2003, Information Technology: Its Application On The Small Scale Industries Sector, Delhi, Discovery Publishing House. Poornima M,2005,  Entrepreneurship Development and Small Business Enterprise , India. Pearson Education India. Rae, D, 2007, Entrepreneurship from Action to Opportunity, Basingstoke. 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