Planning, preparing and creating a Business - Research Paper Example

Planning, preparing and creating a Business Many people have the opinion that money is the most important resource needed to start abusiness. But in reality, money is the last resource needed for starting a business. Money can be arranged from various sources like financial institutions, from the family or friends. However, the success of a business depends mainly on the identification of opportunities. The business idea successful at one place need not be succeeded in other places because of the changes in the business environments. “An effective work environment is vital to the success of small businesses and large corporations alike” (Kingston). Business environments have been changed a lot in the recent past because of Globalization, Privatization and Liberalization. It is easy for an entrepreneur to set up business in overseas countries easily at present because of the changing business environment. In other words, before starting a business, an entrepreneur should evaluate the possibility of competition not only from the domestic firms, but also from international firms as well. The business idea should be selected after the careful evaluation of all internal and external parameters of business. The fluctuations in world economy in the recent past have affected almost all types of businesses badly. The waves of recession not only created problems to poor countries or developing countries, but it has created big problems to even developed economies like America Britain etc. Before starting a business in the changing business environment, an entrepreneur should take extreme precautions. This paper analyses various dimensions of starting a business like planning, preparing etc. Lots of people have very good business ideas, but they often fail to implement their business ideas successfully because of the poor planning and implementation. Many people stay away from because of the financial constraints even though they have better business idea. As stated in the earlier, money is the last thing required to start a business. It is not necessary that a person with enough financial capabilities may become good entrepreneurs; at the same time there are many successful stories of entrepreneurs who started their business without enough financial resources. Innovative business ideas and proper implementation of the business ideas at the right place at the right time with the help of the right people are the major success factors of a business. The entrepreneur should be accurate and realistic while presenting of his business to the public (Start Up Planning). Conceptualization of business is an important aspect as far as an entrepreneur is concerned. The meaning of business, product/services, customers etc should be well defined before the start of the business. The entrepreneurs should find answers to the following questions before starting a business; what business are we in? What do we want to do? What are we committed to? What results do we want to achieve? The answers to these questions help shaping the mission and the vision of a business before starting it. Shaping a mission and a vision helps the small business owner to remain focused and this will bring results in his work. The mission and vision should be fully understandable and viable to the customers since it is the customer who ultimately decides the success and failures of a business. For example, in order to start a baby cloth store, the vision and mission should be focussed entirely on the wellbeing of the babies. The vision should offer complete comfort and a germ free, healthy dressing experience to the babies. It should ensure protection of the babies from the changing climate conditions. Moreover the vision should ensure cheap price along with better quality of the products, as these are the two main factors mostly the customers are looking for. “If you’re thinking about starting a small business, you should start by weighing the pros and cons, so that you can make a wise decision” (Starting a Business). Before the business starts running, it is imperative to have a business plan and a business strategy. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling are the basic management functions of every business. The business idea should be selected after the evaluation of the business environments at the place where the business is supposed to start. It is foolishness to start a grocery near a hypermarket or a coffee shop in a place where lot of other coffee shops are functioning. The business idea should be developed after evaluating the possibilities in the market. Scarcity of a commodity always brings demand in the market according to the economic theories. The smartness of the entrepreneur lies in his ability in identifying the demand at the right time. For example, when most of the other mobile phone manufacturers thought about the normal mobile phones, Apple thought differently and introduced the touch screen phone (iPhone) in the market. iPhone succeeded in the market because of Apple’s successful forecasting of the market opportunities. Economic factors are one of the major factors which determines the success and failures of a business. For example, recession caused immense damages to the real estate industry and it is not wise to enter the real estate sector at present because of the poor economic conditions in most of the countries. Global, national, state or local economy should be considered seriously before starting a business. Global economies are highly interdependent at present because of globalization and problems occurring at some part of the world can affect other parts of the world at present because of this interdependence of economy. If the economy is growing at a rapid rate, the public will get the benefit of it and hence they will have more money in their hand for spending. On such occasions they will spend lavishly even on nonessential commodities. On the other hand in recession times, the public will take extreme care while spending on non-essential commodities. The entrepreneur should realize these differences in the spending habits of the consumers before starting or selecting a business. “Howard Stevenson and his colleagues at Harvard Business School points out that entrepreneur seek to use the minimum possible amount of all types of resources at every stage in their venture's growth. These resources include human resources, financial resources, assets and a business plan (Ganguly) Resources in the form of man power, materials, machineries and money are the basic requirements for starting a business. The ability to plan control and manage these resources judiciously makes a person successful in his business endeavors. “High need for achievement, internal locus of control and risk-taking propensity is the basic characteristics of a successful entrepreneur” (Korunka et al). The entrepreneur should have certain qualities in order to excel in business. Risk taking attitude is necessary for an entrepreneur to succeed in business. Those who are in dual mind, when opportunities arise, may not succeed in business. He should have strong emotional controls in order to take wise and quick decisions whenever needed. According to modern business philosophy, social responsibility of the entrepreneur has a prominent place in determining the success and failures of business. Earlier, entrepreneurs injudiciously exploited the resources for maximizing their profits. At present it is difficult for the entrepreneurs to exploit the resources injudiciously because of the increasing awareness of the people about the necessities of protection of the environment. Sustainable development is a popular term in the business world because of the above awareness. No entrepreneur can continue their business activities if it goes against the interests of the people. The multinational giant Coca Cola has been sacked from countries because of their failure to identify the people’s interests. They have exploited the ground water resources of the public immensely and the pure water shortage led the public to protest against Coca Cola. To conclude, identification of business opportunities, selection of business idea, proper planning, preparation, implementation, managing, controlling, etc are the major things required to start a business. The entrepreneur should have the confidence in his abilities and he should be able to take wise and quick decisions based on the changing business environments. In general, the success of a business lies in the ability of the entrepreneur in identifying the opportunities and grabbing it using proper business mechanisms. Works Cited 1. Ganguly, Shilpi, “Entrepreneurial Approach to Resources”.2009. Web. 18 February 2011. 2. Korunka, Christian., Frank, Hermann., Lueger, Manfred and Mugler, Josef, “The Entrepreneurial Personality in the Context of Resources, Environment, and the Start-up Process--a Configurational Approach”. 2003., Web. 18 February 2011. 3. Kingston, David. “Creating a Positive, Productive and Successful Work Environment”. 2007. Web. 18 February 2011. 4. “Starting a Business”. US Small Business Administration. Web. 18 February 2011. 5. “Start Up Planning”. 2007. HomeBizTools Web. 18 February 2011. Read More