Understanding the Entrepreneur, Critique of Definition, Concept, and Reasoning - Essay Example

CRITICAL REFLECTION ON DEFINITION OF ENTERPRENEURESHIP Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Understanding the entrepreneur, critique of definition, concept, and reasoning To start with, it's essential to look at the origin of entrepreneurship. The word entrepreneurship came from a French word ‘entrependre’ meaning to undertake or take in between. Now the term entrepreneurship, means the capacity to scan the business environment, spot business opportunities, mobilize local resources and turn such opportunities into growth-oriented business ventures. It is the act of being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is one tool that boosts humanity and civilization. It creates and distributes wealth, leads to industrialization and the overall growth of a nation through creating value and development of society. In this essay, I will showcase my understanding of the entrepreneur, discuss the entrepreneurship journey and appropriately apply theories, models, and concepts. All these will be achieved by use of appropriate, high-quality academic journals. Entrepreneurship, in general, can be referred as a subject that deals with the analysis of producing, distributing and the use of the final product by the end user. The key thing contributed by entrepreneurship, as an art, is that it creates wealth and distributes money through forward and backward linkages, and a host of other activities that contribute to economic development and growth. According to Juan Jose (2015), an entrepreneur is simply a beginner. A person who comes up with something which was initially not there in the market, something new. It can either be a business enterprise, a new venture, initiative or activity. After conducting the interview, I think this is not enough to define an entrepreneur, to add to Jose’s work, an entrepreneur is someone who innovates, looks for a finance and starts the business to transform his idea into a business enterprise. Jose never mentioned about innovation which seems like an essential keyword which helps in achieving the full meaning of entrepreneurship. Any entrepreneur must be very innovative. It's one of his major characteristics. Innovation can be termed as the father of entrepreneurship. The interview revealed that it's through innovation and creativity that he was able to start his business venture. Critical discussion of the entrepreneur journey, start-up, and development including sourcing of ideas The origin of entrepreneurship can be marked back in 17,000 BCE in Guinea where entrepreneurs traded with an item known as obsidian used to make arrows. This went on developing as people settled in communities and the beginning of domestication of both plants and animals. With domestication, people owned various essential things like different animals. Since no one had the capacity to domesticate everything they needed, circumstances forced them to trade so as to exchange the various commodities they had for survival. Now across the world, there are many entrepreneurs and from their experience, it's clear that there are very many sources of entrepreneurial ideas. One source of a business idea is the customer. A customer is a key source of a business idea. Potential customers have different needs and addressing these needs can become a great business opportunity. The view of these potential clients can be through a formal or an informal survey in which they express their opinion about existing products and services. An entrepreneur can get a very good idea from these views. An idea can also come from an already existing company. This is achieved through monitoring and evaluating what another company is offering regarding services and the goods they are selling. Someone can only borrow from them and start a similar venture. The government can also be an excellent source of a business idea. This is when it gives some regulations of producing new products and services. Individuals can venture in the business of buying and selling of these new goods and offering of services which makes them entrepreneurs. Someone can also start entrepreneurship from his expertise. Many entrepreneurs across the world get the idea of entrepreneurship from their personal experience. For instance, someone who has been as a teacher can comfortably start an academy as an entrepreneurial venture. The mass media is another source of many people, get their ideas to start a business from the mass media. This includes the radio and television network. Other sources include; friends and family members, failed projects and current trends for example accidents and terror. The entrepreneur should choose the business with qualities such as; It should be viable and achievable, demanded the customers should be willing and able to buy (target group), healthy returns from the investment, should not be against the culture and social norms of the society, it should comply with the law of the country, it should have a scope of growth and diversification (expansion), it should be able to optimum utilize the available resources e.g. the raw materials, it does not require frequent and extensive changes in technology, it is easy to exit (dissolve) if necessary, it does not require excessive investment, it is possible to manage, it requires operational skills which are available and or can be achieved with minimal training, it involves minimal risks, it has short gestation (break even point) period, it is compatible with the owner’s goals and interest. After getting a solid idea, the entrepreneur undertakes an important process which sees through the implementation of his idea. This process is as illustrated below: This entrepreneurial process involves getting the required courage to start.Courage means getting the right information and advice from experienced business people who have worked in a similar venture. This means that what influences a potential entrepreneur to venture into business. This includes: Internal factors i.e. need for security, need for independence, and need for self-actualization and the external factors, i.e., peers, profits margin, educational background, and massive demand. Identification of business opportunity is another part of the process an entrepreneur should come up with an idea and try to implement it. The upcoming entrepreneur should use the following methods to come up with an idea: Market research-to find out needs and problems of the potential customers, discussion with business minded individuals, consultation with business consultants or advisors, brainstorming sessions with existing employees, discussions with existing customers or dealers and observation at market places. Evaluation of opportunities is another part of the process. This is evaluating whether the idea is viable. The factors to consider include return on investment, market size, profit margins, capital requirements, and breakeven period. Each opportunity should be evaluated properly; the person should conduct a feasibility study for every option. The cost can be measured regarding resources required, its gestation period, its legality, risks involved and manageable available market. Then the entrepreneur should select of the most viable entrepreneurial venture. The entrepreneur needs to go for a detailed analysis of shortlisted opportunity. The entrepreneurs advised taking a business idea which is the most feasible. The best option for the entrepreneur would be the one with the lowest investment capital and the highest rate of return. The entrepreneur then decides on location. It is an important decision; the entrepreneur has to take in respect of locating the business enterprise. There should be the proper location of the firm unit not only for production purpose but also for distribution of products. These factors are as highlighted below: Certain factors must be considered before locating the plan or unit, law and order (security) situation in the locality. Labor relations in the area, infrastructure facilities, incentives from the government, proximity to the source of raw materials, skilled workers force available and the social infrastructure such as health centers, educational facilities. The next step should be to develop an entrepreneurial plan. An entrepreneurial program shows the idea, its feasibility analysis, and its future cash flows: both cash inflows and cash outflows. It is one of the critical requirements needed by someone to enable him to start an entrepreneurial adventure. The idea identified is put down on a paper where it is described in the form of an entrepreneurial plan. This is usually given the finance for funding purposes. Parts of a business plan include –description plan, marketing plan, management/organization plan, operational plan and financial plan. Identifying what is needed for the adventure to commence is another part of the process. The business man should first identify the resource required to undertake the business venture these are: financial resources-funds required to conduct and run the business, human resources managers and non-managers (skilled and unskilled labor hired) and the physical resources-plant and machinery, buildings, equipment. Identify resources, opportunities and start his new adventure. Then the entrepreneur should start organizing the business venture. When the entrepreneur have acquired all the necessary requirements, he should mobilize them to implement the entrepreneurial plan. As far as the employees are concerned, the entrepreneur may organize training programs, and there should be proper placement of employee’s. The organization must adopt appropriate control systems. Periodic review is the last part of the process. There must be a regular review to monitor the new business venture. Periodic reports must be obtained from the employees to find out the performance of the new project. The actual performance must be compared against the planned targets to see the progress of the project. If there are any deviations, the causes of the same must be identified, and adequate measures must be undertaken to correct the deviations. Critical reflection of both the entrepreneurs To start with, the regardingeconomic activity the first entrepreneur is an opportunistic entrepreneur. When he started the business, engaging many workers was one of his goals. This worker would most probably come up with new ideas and expertise which were of much help to the entrepreneur. Looking at the other business man on the same basis, he is an internal entrepreneur. He came up with an idea which never existed in the company where he used to work and grew it into a successful adventure. Even if he had no shares in the company, he used exactly similar ways as to those of a business operator. Using the basis of attributes, the first entrepreneur is an idealist. He liked creating new things and trying out new adventures. Looking at the other business man1on the same basis, I can refer tom him as a very hard working entrepreneur. He sacrificed most of his time in the firm so as to grow the adventure and make more profits. He liked the challenges the company first presented to him. He kept working hard and at the end, he succeeded. However, I still noted that the entrepreneurs had shared characteristics which I have summarized as Total commitment, determination, and perseverance. Drive to achieve and grow as an entrepreneur, opportunity and goal orientation, taking initiative and personal responsibility, persistent problem-solving, the tenacity and drive, a strong Passion, excellent organizing skills Skill at organizing. A future direction – the ability to visualize opportunities in the future, placing value of achievement over money and Having a strong confidence in their capacity to succeed. Other main features of entrepreneurs include; Confidentiality, determination, diligence, foreseeing risk and being optimistic. Also, the entrepreneur should be someone who wants to achieve, should set clear goals, be time conscious, be aggressiveness, and show commitment. It is also important for an entrepreneur, to be honest, show integrity, haveSelf-efficacy, be opportunistic, Spot new opportunities, become more pro-active, Design and adopt more appropriate strategies to counter threats, and ideas are within the business environment. References Bruce B, 2009. Entrepreneurship lessons for success, FT press: New Jersey 07458 Davis S Landes, 2012, The Invention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to modern times, Princeton University Pres, Oxford. Daniel, G. (2013). Five start-up ideas. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from https://hbr.org/2013/11/five-sources-of-start-up-ideas Janakiram, B. (2011). Entrepreneurship development, text excel and case. Excel Books: New Delhi. Oluwasegun, A. (2016). Great sources to generate ideas for business. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://www.practicalbusinessideas.com/2015/04/sources-of-business-ideas-investment-opportunities.html Ryan, A. (2014). The history of entrepreneurship. Creating a better world through entrepreneurship.Virgin. Retrieved 29 August 2016, from https://www.startupguide.com/world/the-history-of-entre/ Robert F Hebert, 2009. A history of entrepreneurship: Origin of entrepreneurship, Taylor and Francis group, London. William, S. (2012). Understanding the entrepreneurial process. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://savannahnow.com/bis/2012-09-05/understanding-entrepreneurial-process Read More