What Makes an Entrepreneur Different from a Businessperson, and How They Survive - Research Proposal Example

Entrepreneurs and Businesspersons Name Institutional Affiliation Date What makes an entrepreneur different from a businessperson, and how they survive? Introduction In vocabulary, both businessperson and entrepreneur are synonymously alike. Both of them have to form a business enterprise, solve solutions, sell products to customers, as well as, pay their dues. However, many people prefer to be regarded as entrepreneurs rather than businesspeople. On the other hand, the term businessperson in itself defines individuals who are money oriented and have minimum time procrastinating with other people. Nonetheless, there exist differences between businesspersons and entrepreneurs in terms of character, thinking, and the way of looking at things (Gasparski & Kwiatkowski, 2010). In the business world, the terms entrepreneurs and businesspersons cannot be used interchangeably and this can raise a lot of curiosity on what makes the two terms different from each other. Background The approaches of businesspersons are calculative. This means that a businessperson will be prudent when resources are scarce, in order, for them to survive. Moreover, a businessperson will never sacrifice himself or herself to fulfill his or her initial vision (Galindo,Guzmán & Ribeiro, 2008). Unlike businesspersons, money is not the only lure for an entrepreneur to commence operating a business. Furthermore, the mental model also distinguishes entrepreneurs from businesspersons. In this aspect, entrepreneurs are possibility thinkers whereas businesspersons are analytical thinkers (Kumar, 2008). This means that entrepreneurs will undertake a business obligation with the intention of succeeding in future. Entrepreneurs are not concerned with the short-term benefits, but they value more the possibility of succeeding in future (Gergen & Vanourek, 2013). On the other hand, businesspersons first analyze both the benefits and costs of undertaking a business obligation before they commence their operations. Moreover, the focus of businessperson is not innovation and invention, but more of ensuring a business is generating profit. On the contrary, the focus of an entrepreneur is to generate value, and this value can be social, aesthetic, emotional, or financial (Brown, 2003). In addition, businesspersons focus a lot on making small improvements on existing situations, while entrepreneurs try to make a problem an opportunity, and an idea a reality. Furthermore, whilst businesspersons prioritize on becoming rich, entrepreneurs prioritize on adding or increasing the utility of their customers (Organization for economic co-operation and development, 2010). This means an entrepreneur will be more motivated when his or her enterprise is satisfying his or her customers than when the business is making profits out of exploiting people by selling counterfeit products to the customers. In addition, entrepreneurs are visionary; they stress more on development and research than attainments of short-term goals. Entrepreneurs care in a big perspective, including social responsibility and humanitarian community whereas businesspersons are nearsighted; they focus mainly on monthly sales. Business sources also highlight that businesspersons trade to trade whereas entrepreneurs builds to trade. Many individuals also outline that businesspersons strategize on exploitation whereas entrepreneurs believe in the development of human resource. This is what makes businesspersons to consider their employees as costs. However, in the case of entrepreneurs, employees are assets because they generate value for the business. The differences between entrepreneurs and businesspersons are limitless. These differences major on the aspects that distinguish both of them in terms on business activities. However, this research goes beyond the obvious differences between entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Whilst there is recognition of opportunity cost in the economic literature, perceived intangible and tangible advantages derived from exploitation of new opportunities are different between businesspersons and entrepreneurs (Landström, 2005). The research will try to analyze reasons that make one an entrepreneur and not a businessperson. Consequently, the research goes deep to identify characters, mental models, rewards, and emotions of both businesspersons and entrepreneurs. Moreover, the research article will also focus on two central considerations namely strategic activities and growth planning methodologies of both entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Growth of an entrepreneurship is influenced by the vision of the owner whereas the strategic decisions of businesspersons are influenced by the existing circumstances (Reynolds & Curtin, 2011). Therefore, the research question will try to analyze what motivates both the entrepreneurs and businesspersons to make varied decisions at any given circumstance. Moreover, the term value has different meanings to both entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Moreover, both the entrepreneurs and businesspersons posses varied perceptions on the value of combined resources or portfolios. Both of them perceive combination of resources differently and this makes them possess unique and varied ideas when it comes to solving of solutions in the business (Hatten, 2012). Entrepreneurship majors on the exploitation and discovery of profitable opportunities. This discovery results when an entrepreneur observes a set of resources and makes a supposition that such resources are not utilized properly. The differences between non-entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs do not only lie in their distinct personalities, but on how they perceive situations (Yeung, 2002). Research objective To identify reasons that makes one an entrepreneur and not a businessperson To identify characters, mental models, rewards, and emotions of both entrepreneurs and business persons To study the strategic activities and growth planning methodologies of both entrepreneurs and businesspersons To identify ways in which entrepreneurs and businesspersons approach their problems and how they perceive them To find out whether entrepreneurship is a learnt skill or an in born skill Research questions The research questions seeks to answer the following questions What motivates both entrepreneurs and businesspersons to make varied decisions at any given circumstance? What does the term value mean to entrepreneurs and to businesspersons? What character differentiates entrepreneurs from businesspersons? What skills do one need to possess to be an entrepreneur or a businessperson? Which aspects of planning methodologies segregate entrepreneurs from businesspersons? Who is a businessperson and who is an entrepreneur? Intended methodologies Philosophy of Methodology According to Brown (2003), philosophy is an essential process in the methodological design, which assists in identification of a system to adopt in the methodology of research. Philosophy identifies the content, the process, knowledge, as well as language of the methodology required for any particular research. In this case, you will be required to use qualitative research methodology. Qualitative methodology will assist in getting new knowledge about the differences between entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Data collection method In data collection methods, questionnaires will be formulated. These questionnaires will entail research questions, which the respondents will be required to answer. Moreover, interviews will also take place in the data collection process. The kind of interviews will entail personal interview and will have a limitation of twenty minutes in every session. Sampling The research focuses on differences between entrepreneurs and businesspersons. The population of interest for this research will include owners of business enterprises. In this case, random sampling will be used where 50 owners of business enterprises will be randomly selected. Twenty of these people selected will fill in the questionnaires while the other thirty will take part in interviews. Data analysis This process of data analysis will consist of applying of statistical and mathematical tools on the data to allow formation of inferences of the data gathered. This process will commence with summarization of responses from the techniques used, categorizing the responses, and then coding the responses in SPSS programs. These programs will assists in changing the data from raw form to visual form such as charts and graphs. References BROWN, J. (2003). Entrepreneurship, networks, and modern business. Manchester u.a., Manchester Univ. Press. GALINDO MARTÍN, M. A., GUZMÁN CUEVAS, J., & RIBEIRO, D. (2008).Entrepreneurship and business a regional perspective. Berlin, Springer. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=371769 GASPARSKI, W., RYAN, L. V., & KWIATKOWSKI, S. M. (2010) Entrepreneurship: values and responsibility. New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers GERGEN, C., & VANOUREK, G. (2013). Life entrepreneur’s ordinary people creating extraordinary lives. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass. http://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com . HATTEN, T. S. (2012). Small business management: entrepreneurship and beyond. Mason, OH, Southwestern Cengage Learning. KUMAR, S. A. (2008). Small business and entrepreneurship. New Delhi, I.K. International Pub. House. LANDSTRÖM, H. (2005). Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research. Boston, MA, Springer Science, + Business Media, Inc. http://proxy.uqtr.ca/login.cgi?action=login&u=uqtr&db=springer-eb&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1007%2Fb102095. REYNOLDS, P. D., & CURTIN, R. T. (2011). New business creation an international overview. New York, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7536-2. ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT. (2010).Open for business: migrant entrepreneurship in OECD countries. [Paris], OECD YEUNG, H. W.-C. (2002). Entrepreneurship and the internationalization of Asian firm an institutional perspective. Cheltenham, U.K., Edward Elgar Pub. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=449278. Read More