Entrepreneurship Tasks - Assignment Example

Entrepreneurship Assignments Name Institution Entrepreneurship Assignments Introduction The entrepreneurship research field has widely flourished and grown in the recent years. Something which began like a tiny seed more 25 years back is now advancing to maturity (McMullen & Acs, 2007). Nonetheless, in spite of the broad interest this field has gotten recently, debates and discussions concerning the key aspects of the entrepreneurship research is continuing. In the recent past, Parnell and Lester (2007, p.75) argued that entrepreneurship research has majorly centered on assessment of the entrepreneurial opportunities and converting such opportunities to successful businesses. In the process, several businesses have been spotted by keen and enthusiastic entrepreneurs in their localities as they attempt not only to solve societal needs but also to make themselves successful (Holcombe, 2003, p.28). Therefore, this report will define and describe an “Entrepreneurial Opportunity” for the chose company Healthy Habits. The report will also identify the key problems the company Healthy Habits wants to address. In the process, the report will also develop a mini-case which will talk about the company in focus and analyze it using elements of stage 6 of the framework such as protection, value proposition, sources of finance, stakeholder analysis and team. Entrepreneurial Opportunity Shane and Venkataraman (2000, p. 221) described entrepreneurial opportunity as "a case where new services or products, organizing methods and raw materials can be developed and launched into the market at higher cost than that of production. Such opportunities are regarded as the objective cases, although their being is not recognized by all the agents. In their argument, Shane and Venkataraman (2000, p. 224) argued that entrepreneurial opportunities focuses on creating value by improving the effectiveness of producing and selling existing products and services. Management theorists held that for entrepreneurship to happen, opportunity requires to be determined and capitalized. Both these steps entail a considerable number of the subjective factors. Entrepreneurial opportunities are there fundamentally due to the fact that diverse societal members hold dissimilar beliefs concerning the comparative value of the resources, especially the prices that markets ought to clear (McMullen & Acs, 2007, p.7). In nutshell, the company identifies a market need and develops a product or service to close the gap and fulfill the need and in return the company gets a profit. Healthy Habits itself was formed as a result of need to provide healthy fast foods in Victoria, Australia. Therefore, entrepreneurial opportunities for Healthy Habits Restaurant were to develop new products or service and sell into Victoria Market. Pirouz (2011) claimed that the truth is that Katherine Sampson took over the restaurant and renamed it Healthy Habits Restaurant as it was dilapidated and offered unhealthy fast foods. Major problems Identification In the 21st century, there are several businesses making people to think that most discoveries and ideas have been exploited. However, Parnell and Lester (2007, p.76) state that the truth is that there are numerous out there which are being discovered and that are yet to be exploited. Entrepreneurs are normally intelligent to spot opportunities within there are environment and use them to fulfill needs and transform their own lies. Studies conducted about health fast foods in Australia particularly in Victoria claims that Katherine Sampson is one of the entrepreneurs who have used her intelligence and entrepreneurial skills to contribute to employment, improve growth of the town and satisfy consumer needs (Smartcompany, 2009). Well, during one of her outings in Victoria in 1992, she came across one of sandwich bar in a dilapidated condition and decided to buy it. She went ahead and refurbished it and gave it a name “Healthy Habits” (Pirouz, 2011). It soon turned into busy store in food industry after McDonalds and KFC. She felt the store was a success; she decided to expand into new market; that’s where she established the second and much more. Pirouz (2011) claimed that after the first outlets were successful she decided to franchise because she realized an opportunity in the market with Healthy Habits as the market leader in the sandwich bar segment. So in reality, she felt good about the opportunity of offering unique and product to market. It is evident that there was a societal need which required to be met. Although Victoria had several fast foods, most of them did not offer health first foods as some customers now wants. It was just Healthy Habits that offered healthy foods such as Sandwich but was in a deteriorated state and offered poor services to clients (Smartcompany, 2009). Australia and the US are some of the countries which have been discovered to have a high rate of obese and for that reason, most consumers have become health conscious and now wants healthy fast foods with low fat contents. IBISWorld (2014) posited that in 2014, Australian healthy fast sales went up by nearly 30% to $506 million from 2013 showing a potential in the market segment. At the same time, consumers now make purchase decisions based on physical state of the organization and form of services offered by the company. The restaurant had potential, but was in poor state and offered poor services. Katherine Sampson identified the problem and embarked on solving the renovating the building, renaming and introducing healthier fast foods. Value proposition using the 6-stage thinking framework Value proposition has become an important factor for entrepreneurs due to the fact that it enables a business to attract more customers (James, Nirmalya & James, 2007). Entrepreneurs can use value proposition to the whole business or part of it on customers, products or service. As a marketing strategy, entrepreneurs have used Value proposition to customize their service or products based on the needs of customers through efficient use of company’s scarce resources. In developing value proposition, entrepreneurs are often guided by 6-stage thinking framework known as a Value Proposition Builder. According to Rintamäki, Kuusela and Mitronen (2007, p.35) six components of Value Proposition Builder include market, customer experience or value experience, benefits, offering, Alternatives and differentiation and proof. Market represents the target market for which value proposition is created. In this case, Healthy Habits’ targets market is young adults who are in the age of 16 to 39 who are now more concerned with health hence more interest on healthy fast foods and delicious sandwiches (Pirouz. 2011). Customer experience entails what the target market value highly. In Victoria, Australia, consumer valued healthy fast foods free of high fat content. Katherine Sampson understood the need and took it upon herself to provide a value proposition by setting up a company which offered health fast foods. Offering within the 6-stage thinking framework entails the products or service sold by the company. In, this case, Healthy Habits offers Sandwich, roasted Chicken, Tuna and Chicken Teriyaki, Meatball Marinara, wraps salad, and Steak and Cheese which have low calories (Health Habits, 2014). As a result, customers have derived benefits from company value proposition by getting healthier and living a longer life. An entrepreneur must always have a proof that they are offering value proposition so as to guide them on their next step in the market. In any perspective, a proof can majorly by prove if the company has attracted several customers and are loyal (Health Habits, 2014). Value proposition has made Healthy Habits one of the successful organizations in Australia. Company Background Healthy Habits is fast food restaurant founded in Victoria in 1992 by Katherine Sampson (Health Habits 2014). Health Habits website (2014) claimed that the business has since expanded and currently has 35 stores across Australia in locations like Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and ACT. Katherine aims at expanding the fast food restaurant further to global nations. With the rate of obesity in Australia going up, Healthy habits has found a massive opportunity to concentrate on in the food sector by providing healthier alternatives. Healthy Habits is well-known for its gourmet sandwiches. Nonetheless, Smartcompany (2009) opined that the restaurant added other product portfolios and now offers healthy snacks, yoghurt and fruit salad to present its clients with balanced healthy alternatives in different times such as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Healthy Habits’ website (2014) claims that every week nearly 50,000 consumers purchase sandwiches, juices and salads because they deliver quality brand. Protection The market has become very competitive in the current times. As a result, entrepreneurs have become fond of stealing other peoples’ idea to make them their own (McMullen & Acs, 2007, p.14). Sometimes it is very difficult to stop the vice establishing a start up. In such circumstance, marketing experts advise entrepreneurs to look for ways they can protect their ideas so as to make their business survive in the market. Some of the way to protect business ideas is innovation, product development and patenting. An interview with Healthy Habits’ owner revealed that company has often used the three strategies (Smartcompany, 2009) Customer value proposition Experts claim that every entrepreneur has to always endevour to create a strong value proposition. Failure to do this, your brand will have a weak Brand salience (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). Introduction of Oven Roasted Chicken in the market by Healthy Habits Restaurant is assigning that the company has discovered that its existing products can no longer create maximum customer value as it used, hence diversifying into a health and nutritious product will. IBISWorld (2014) argued that health concerns have made people move away from unhealthy fast foods with a lot of fats and now prefer low fat content foods with vegetables. Oven Roasted Chicken with vegetables has ensured that consumer can prolong their lives through health living (Helpguide 2014). The healthy products and quality services offered by the company has made the customers to throng at the restraint each single day. Team Shapiro, von Glinow and Cheng (2005, p.44) claimed that team formation has become very critical factor of competition in the 21st century. Entrepreneur may not need a team at first when they are formulating an idea but may need it in the implementation stage. For instance, during the implementation stage, the first and main thing Katherine Sampson required to make an outstanding brand was to outsource an experienced branding strategist (Pirouz. 2011). Bringing in a brand strategist ensure that a company has better marketing strategies because the company will be able to convince customers with the products and be accepted and connected. Later Katherine Sampson when also needed employees to work as team the realization of company goals. Sources of Finance McMullen and Acs (2007, p.10) held that in entrepreneurship, finance sometimes becomes a major challenge in implementation of an idea. However, there are many sources of finance to entrepreneurs who are keen to solve societal needs. Some of the sources include bank loans, private Loan, credits and grants. The entrepreneurs can also raise funds through partnerships or trading part of their assets to get funds to set up their businesses. In fact, Katherine Sampson faced the same problem when starting Healthy Habits Restaurant but acquired a bank loan to renovate and start up the business (Pirouz, 2011). The next phase face of the company also experienced financial constraints since Katherine Sampson absolutely undervalued the cost of starting the business. At some points, she was even prompted to trade off some assets to carry on growing the business venture. In this process, Smartcompany (2009) stated that she then required a partner who could help me with funds to take the Healthy Habits to the next phase. Stakeholders Analysis Over the years, the company has received more stakeholders which have continued to shape and influence its performance (Fitzsimmons & Fitzimmons, 2011). Some of the Healthy Habits’ stakeholders include the owner, employees, customers, suppliers and the community. Owner as a stakeholder, his actions affect and also affected by the business. However, they have a huge responsibility because they identify and represent the needs of the society. Conversely, customers are affected by business actions and strategies such as pricing and quality. Customers’ behavior also affects the company. For instance, IBISWorld (2014) asserted that customers normally want healthy fast foods at affordable prices. Most customers are willing to pay premium prices, but only if the quality also reflect the product characteristics. Slight differences in pricing and quality will see customers to rival companies. Conclusion This report has established that Entrepreneurial Opportunity research and activity rapidly increasing as individuals now wants create new products or services to increase their competitive advantage. The Report has found out the consumers have a fast changing needs and require unique products or services to satisfy them. Therefore, entrepreneurs have improved their skills, creative concept and a greater capacity to implement their idea. In addition, the report has established that value proposition is now part and parcel of entrepreneur’s idea and must be implemented in the business. In so doing, the business will not only attract new customers but also retain the old ones. All in all, the entrepreneurs like Katherine Sampson must also remain updated about the market to continue satisfying customer needs through value proposition. References Fitzsimmons, J. & Fitzimmons, M. (2011). Service Management, 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill International Edition. Health Habits. (2014). Healthy Habits Official Website. Retrieved on 14th November 2015 http://www.healthyhabits.com.au/ Helpguide. (2014). Healthy Fast Food: Tips for Making Healthier Fast Food Choices, Retrieved on 14th November 2015 http://www.helpguide.org/life/fast_food_nutrition.htm Holcombe, R. (2003). The origins of entrepreneurial opportunities. Review of Austrian Economics, 16, 25-43 IBISWorld. (2014). IBISWorld Industry Report H4512: Fast Food Services in Australia, Retrieved on 14th November 2015 http://clients1.ibisworld.com.au.ezproxy.lib.uts.edu.au/reports/au/industry/default.aspx?entid=2005 James, A., Nirmalya, K., & James, N. (2007). Value Merchants. Harvard Business School Press Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G (2010). Principles of Marketing, 13th (Global) ed. Boston, Pearson Education, Inc McMullen, J.S., & Acs, Z.J. (2007). What is an entrepreneurial opportunity? Max Planck Institute of Economics Group Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, 1-25 Parnell, J.A., & Lester, D.L. (2007). Reevaluating the Entrepreneurship-management Conundrum: Challenges and Solutions, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 12(4), 74 - 77. Pirouz. A. (2011). Katherine Sampson of Healthy Habits shares her franchising success secrets. Retrieved on 14th November 2015 http://mybusiness.com.au/case-studies/katherine-sampson-of-healthy-habits-shares-her-franchising-success-secrets Rintamäki, T., Kuusela, H., & Mitronen, L. (2007). Identifying Competitive Customer Value Propositions in Retailing. Managing Service Quality, 17(6), 34-47. Shapiro, D., von Glinow, M., & Cheng, J. (2005). Managing multinational teams: global Perspectives. Advances in International Management, 18(2), 43-56. Shane, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2000). The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 217-226. Smartcompany. (2009). Katherine Sampson: It's been hell. Retrieved on 14th November 2015 from http://www.smartcompany.com.au/leadership/profiles/7974-katherine-sampson- its-been-hell.html Read More