Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship - Assignment Example

? Entrepreneur interview & personal analysis Contents Contents 2 Part A 3 Rationale for the Interview Questions 3 Evaluation of the Entrepreneur 4 Part B 9 Reflective Discussion 9 References 11 Appendix 12 Part A Rationale for the Interview Questions The questions prepared in regards to taking an interview of Mr. Thomas Mathews are basically open ended in nature. A set of eleven questions are prepared based on which the interview would be conducted. The questions are prepared in such a manner as to reflect the separate entrepreneurial traits in the interviewee that helped him to gain success in his entrepreneurial venture. These questions also reflect on the different factors that led the person to for a business venture. It would also reflect that whether the person in question has taken any creative or innovative pursuits in helping to gain business productivity. Further the questions also endeavour to understand the vision with which the person had sought to open up the business venture and the process through which he has achieved success in motivating his staff to adapt to the changing needs. The questions would thus help one to understand that whether the entrepreneur performs his actions with an outside eye and the manner in which changes are incorporated in the enterprise context. The questions also tend to evaluate whether the entrepreneur in question conducts activities in regards to the protection of the social and natural environment in and around the business firm. Further through the use of the questions an understanding can be made of the several entrepreneurial traits in regards to the individual in questions. It seeks to understand whether the person is quite self confident in managing changes in the external business environment and also share the same confidence while decentralising the whole gamut of business tasks among separate units. The pattern of questions designed would also reflect on the several influences social, economical and technological which made the entrepreneurs form such an enterprise in carrying out new sets of business activities. In total the questions prepared would help the interviewer in getting a personal insight in the understanding of how Mr. Thomas Mathews aged somewhere in thirties has been able to design a productive entrepreneurial venture though somewhat small in nature. The interview questions are prepared keeping in mind theoretical guidelines which would help in effectively evaluating the entrepreneurial capacity of the interviewee. Open ended questions are rendered so as to get an elucidated understanding of the entrepreneurial mind of Mr. Thomas Mathews. The specific attributes of Mr. Thomas Mathews which had helped him in becoming a successful businessman is thereby successfully explored through the questions outlined. Evaluation of the Entrepreneur The evaluation of Mr. Thomas Mathews would be conducted from point to point based along the separate questions which can be rendered as follows. A.1 The entrepreneur in order to bring about enhanced productivity in his venture is required to incorporate large amount of changes both in the business process. This change in the business process is made to help the concern address the needs of the external environment. Such change in the business process is made through modification of the business resources both technical and human resources (Ricketts, 2003, p.72). Mr. Thomas Mathews is also found to incorporate changes in its business process through dividing a single project in the hands of double or multiple individuals and assigning a person as responsible for the monitoring of such. This process would help the company in getting a large number of projects within the same time period. A.2 The entrepreneurs are required to motivate their staffs in a large manner to rightly adapt to the changes incorporated in the process and philosophy of the business organisation. The staffs of the firm need to be adequately trained which in turn would enhance their competence and skills to enhance the business productivity (Green and Butkus, 1999, p.189). Herein also Mr. Mathews motivated the employees to work in such change atmosphere through the policy of generation of incentives based on the extra points they score beyond their stated targets. These incentives would be generated out of the extra income the company gains through the new projects gained. A.3 Many social and economic factors along with technological changes require the entrepreneur to take up the new entrepreneurial venture. Thus the entrepreneurs are also considered the change leaders whose activity helps in creating both social and economic development. The entrepreneurs are required to also conduct activities in regards to changes in the social and economic dimension to meet changing tastes (Casson, 2003, p.176). Herein, Mr. Mathews through his entrepreneurial mission helped in enhancing the educational productivity of the people involved in colleges and universities through the solving of research papers. This process also helped in bringing in large amount of revenues from foreign countries which also enhanced the economic climate of the region. A.4 The entrepreneur is required to possess a strategic vision to help in gaining a larger market share in the industry. This entrepreneur is required to have a vision which would help the company in delivering the right product and service which in turn meets the culture of the region where the entrepreneur desires to conduct his business operation (Shimazaki, 1992, p.3). Herein also Mr. Thomas Mathews is found to venture into an educational business which helped the students of the region and of other global areas to develop in their answering and learning skills. A.5 Mr. Thomas Mathews’ entrepreneurial venture mainly operates in the designing of question papers mainly for competitive exams which helps the students in both his home country and also those belonging to other regions to gain chance in popular universities. Further the entrepreneurial activity would also help in designing of research papers to help the students pursue research operations in foreign universities. Mr. Mathews operating in the online paradigm seeks to gain further business opportunity through the writing of blogs which would help in the creation of articles to be mainly used for editorials and newspapers. This business opportunity sought would help the concern gain enhanced revenues. A.6 The entrepreneur in order to be successful in his business operations is required to largely incorporate the factors of innovation and creativity in his endeavour to enhance the productivity of the business enterprise. Such innovation and creativity need to be ingrained in the minds of the people to help bring enthusiasm and excitement in the business operations (Wee, Lim and Lee, 1994, p.25). Mr. Thomas Mathews is also found to bring about large amount of creativity in his entrepreneurial ventures through incorporating a Human Resource Information Scheme which would help the act like an online tracker for the employees. Similarly the Performance Tracking System was also rightly incorporated to generate automated feedbacks to the employees about their performances and areas which need improvement. This practice helped in improving the parameter of transparency in the business concern. A.7 The entrepreneurs whether managing a large or small business organisation happen to encounter large amount of business risks both in regards to the legislative climate and other economic and financial distortions. Things like changes in the policy and legal structure of the region combined with effects like job and financial crunch happen to render large amount of business risks (Longenecker, et al., 2005, p.8). In this regard Mr. Mathews also faced the crisis of the global financial crunch which largely impacted the business revenues of the entrepreneurial firm. The reduction in the value of the dollar happened to cause a reduction in the revenue pattern of the online educational services rendered by the entrepreneur. A.8 The business entrepreneurs in order to gain the support of both the government and the society need to fulfil certain amount of responsibilities towards them. In that the entrepreneurs are required to operate both on an ethical basis and also to invest considerably in the enhancement of social and environmental resources (SAGE Publications, 2011, p.61). Mr. Thomas Mathews is also found to invest the large amount of funds derived for the designing of training institutions which would help the students in getting prepared for the competitive examinations. Having gained experience in such field the entrepreneur with the help of professionals in such field happened to build up a prospective institution. A.9 The business entrepreneur in order to achieve success in the business is required to not only motivate the staffs through proper training and rendering of performance based incentives are also required to carry out strict monitoring through unit heads. Such monitoring would help in enhancing the productivity and skills of the employees if conducted in a specific manner to minutely trace the different faults and thereby to take corrective actions (Nandan, 2007, p.85). Mr. Thomas being an entrepreneur is also found to enhance the productive pursuits of the employees through collaborating with the team leaders of the different units. These team leaders are directed to monitor the work of the team members in a minute manner so as to render potential feedbacks in regards to mistakes identified. A.10 The concept of entrepreneurship had its birth mainly in relation to the small and medium business sectors. Thus the people acting as entrepreneurs are not only required to possess large amount of creative and innovative pursuits but are also required to possess large amount of professional and mental confidence in regards to pursuing such business pursuits countering changes in respective spheres (Bridge, O’Neill and Cromie, 2003, p.36). Mr. Thomas Mathews also reflected large amount of business confidence while tending to address the educational needs of the students on a global base. The entrepreneur in the course of his work endeavoured to track the changes in the rating system of the different global universities and designed the question papers accordingly. In that collaboration was sought from the different universities to help them modify the question patterns of the entrance test. This in turn enhanced the confidence of the students towards the concern who desired to procure the papers for preparing for the tests. A.11 The entrepreneurs in order to sustain growth in business is required to possess a large number of values like possessing an extraordinary vision that would serve as a guiding force for future business operations. Similarly the entrepreneur must tend to share the business vision with the workforce teams in that reflecting feeling of trust and significant respect for the people working with him. Again in regards to multinational corporations the entrepreneur is required to reduce the bias relating to different culture and gender groups. Ethics and honesty are the strong pillars which the entrepreneur should possess and thereby guide the organisational people to deliver productivity through enhancing clarity and transparency (Kauffman, 2011). Mr. Thomas Mathews herein also reflects a strong sense of integrity and shared understanding with his organisational people in regards to the pattern of work required by them to perform. The products prepared thus carry a sense of authenticity and are not copied from internet sources. Part B Reflective Discussion It is found from the interview taken that the entrepreneur in question endeavours to strongly fulfil the traits which are required from an entrepreneur managing a small or big commercial firm. The entrepreneur in question, Mr. Thomas Mathews appears to be an individual who counters the different risks emanating from the business atmosphere through the qualities of innovation and creativity. Mr. Mathews is also found to motivate the employees through sharing of potential business information with them and also through the generation of performance related incentives. The entrepreneur is also found to possess a strong entrepreneurial vision and also locates large amount of growth opportunities in the business atmosphere. Other entrepreneurial values reflected by Mr. Thomas are those that help in fostering a sense of honesty and integrity in the concern and thereby guide the people to work in a clear environment. Further the entrepreneur in question also works for the society and natural environment surrounding the business firm. Mr. Mathews is found to help in the creation of more training institutes which would help the students in getting trained to effectively compete in different competitive exams to gain chance in foreign universities. Innovation brought about in the enterprise helped him to enhance the business productivity in the business unit. Moreover his entrepreneurial vision also helped the business to gain additional revenues from both the educational and journalism sectors. The entrepreneur is also found to reflect high sense of confidence while disbursing the business activities in the global plane through the active cooperation of the different people working in the different units of the company. This sense of trust and business confidence helps in enhancing the productivity of the different employees such that their loyalty to the business concern is further enhanced. However in that the entrepreneur like any other business entrepreneur also faces similar risks pertaining to reduction in business revenues happening because of emergence of credit crunch. Close monitoring of the work of the staffs is conducted through the active collaboration with team leads who act as unit heads in the concern. This close monitoring helps in enhancing the business productivity of the employees through sharpening of their skill sets. Thus the above evaluation confirms that Mr. Thomas Mathews has effectively turned out to be an aspiring entrepreneur. References Ricketts, M. (2003). The economics of business enterprise: an introduction to economic organisation and the theory of the firm. Edward Elgar Publishing. Green, T., and Butkus, R. (1999). Motivation, beliefs, and organizational transformation. Greenwood Publishing Group. Casson, M. (2003). The entrepreneur: an economic theory. Edward Elgar Publishing. Shimazaki, H. (1992). Vision in Japanese entrepreneurship: the evolution of a security enterprise. Taylor & Francis. Wee, C., Lim, W., and Lee, R. (1994). Entrepreunership: A Review with Implication for Further Research. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Vol. 11, No. 4. Longenecker, J., et al. (2005). Small business management: an entrepreneurial emphasis. Cengage Learning. SAGE Publications. (2011). SAGE Brief Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility. SAGE. Nandan N. (2007). Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Bridge, S., O’Neill, K., and Cromie, S. (2003). Understanding enterprise, entrepreneurship, and small business. Palgrave Macmillan. Kauffman. (2011). Entrepreneurship: United by the Power of Ideas. [Online]. Available At: http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/resource-center/the-values-that-sustain-entrepreneurs.aspx. [Accessed on November 13, 2011]. Appendix About the Entrepreneur Mr. Thomas Mathews runs a small business firm mainly catering to the production of test papers and other thesis writings for the students endeavouring to gain entry into different foreign universities. This type of business venture was first conceptualised by Mr. Mathews who through such endeavours attempts to gain a lot of revenue from foreign countries. The enterprise runs with a group of 40 staffs who work on creative pursuits to fulfil the needs of the society. Questionnaire Q.1 As an entrepreneur what changes has you brought in your organization to enhance productivity? Q.2 How have you motivated your staffs to adapt to the change process? Q.3 What influenced you to take up your current entrepreneurial venture? Q.4 What is the vision you have in regards to the business organization? Q.5 What business opportunities do you figure in the future in regards to your entrepreneurial venture? Q.6 What type of creative and innovative pursuits have you incorporated in your work to motivate the employees at work to help in enhancing business productivity? Q.7 What types of business risks you have countered while going about with your current state of business operations? Q.8 What type of social activities you have pursued in regards to the natural and social environment of your business? Q.9 How do you motivate and control the operations of the staffs pertaining to the different departments of your enterprise? Q. 10 Are you confident enough with the sustenance of the business enterprise and the entrepreneurial venture taken by you? Q.11 What sense of values do you foster in making your entrepreneurial vision a grand success? 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