The Internationalization of Entrepreneurship - Case Study Example

? Entrepreneurship How to Conceive and Achieve Your Entrepreneurial Venture Teacher Introduction It takes a special type of person to become an entrepreneur. I know there will be a lot of hard work to make the venture successful and it won’t happen overnight. It almost never does. People get into business for a number of reasons. Among the most prominent reasons is that a potential entrepreneur is sick and tired of working for someone else and wants to now go out on his own and make his own way (Kuratko & Hodgetts 1998). Another reason is that someone gets fired or laid off from work and tries hard to get another job. After a year and a half of unemployment benefits now running out and no job in sight, a person has to resort to extraordinary measures to make money or lose the home, car and even the family in some cases. Times can get really hard for these people. Whatever the reason for my finally becoming an entrepreneur, there are certain principles of business and marketing that have to be consolidated first before even getting started. What will I be selling or promoting? That is the heart of my business and, whatever the choice, the product or service must stand out in some way to attract the attention of potential clients (Kiyosaki 2012). My idea is that I would like to start a photography and graphics business as I love digital photography and working with graphics to make unusual and original graphic art. The Entrepreneurial Personality The personalities of entrepreneurs will tend towards those who are willing to take risks in order to achieve a goal and I certainly have that characteristic. They also are willing to devise a plan on their own to build a product or service that others will need or want and to put it out there for the entire world to see and comment on. It takes a change of mindset from being an employee where one is told what to do and when to get it done (Kuratko & Hodgetts 1998). That change for me will not be hard to do. The entrepreneur, at some point, moves beyond that point by seeing a way to do something different and deciding to develop that and be in control of it. This also means taking control of one’s life, career and destiny from that point onwards. It is also moving out of one’s comfort zone into the unknown and nothing is guaranteed except the freedom to be responsible for oneself (Action Coach 2012). Entrepreneurial Risk Taker Fig. 1(DCTC 2010) Research must be done on how to proceed and that means finding out what others did and how they did it which is something I have already done. It is one thing to be in an office setting where everything is laid out and most of the hard part is already taken care. An entrepreneur now is in charge of not only developing the product or service, but also the funding, setting up the structure of a business, creating the financial system of operation, designing and building a website for promoting the product and finally, for ensuring its success in the marketplace. At some point, I will hire people to take care of the financial books and office work so I can create the art. All of this takes an organized mind, a lot of determination, a plan of the product or service and a planned structure of the business overall along with marketing procedures (Action Coach 2012). The person therefore, must have the strength and will to take risks, to get back up when falling down, to revise and redevelop as needed, and to study others who may be in the same field or genre of product and service. I have already made some mistakes but view these as a learning process before getting right down to creating my business. Ultimately, I view myself as strong, innovative, utilizing creative thinking in solving problems and always open to making changes for the better without going overboard. It is essential not to grow too fast but only enough that control is maintained over every part of the business (Action Coach 2012). The following table shows what the entrepreneur is typically responsible for within the structural framework of a new business. Fig. 2 (Kraus & Kauranen 2009) Sustainable Development in Entrepreneurship In the age of environmental and social awareness, producing products and services that avoid waste and impact on a physical level, is essential to sustainable development. In choosing photography and graphic design as a future business, I love the current state of technology, which has made this type of business much more environmentally friendly. Even two decades ago, photography and developing of film was done in a studio using various chemicals to get pictures out for publication in a document or a newspaper (Hall, Kaneke & Lenox 2010). I certainly won’t have to worry about chemicals, which is very important to me. With today’s digital cameras, all pictures are saved on my camera’s internal removable drive, which then can be transferred to a laptop and developed through a software program like Adobe’s Photoshop. In this program, colors can be adjusted according to one’s preference and many other adjustments such as cleaning out specks, can be done. In older times, photographic papers had to sit in the right chemicals for just the right amount of time to produce the same effect as can now be done through software adjustment tools. Sometimes, a photograph had to be redone several times using different settings on the negative holder and the light shining through so it hits the paper just right. Therefore, paper was wasted when not done correctly and chemicals had to be used in abundance (Hall et al 2010). With this in mind, no paper is used in today’s version of a photographic process and no chemicals are used. If there is a need to share photographs with a client, then I will utilize a cloud service where pictures can be uploaded and where the client can visit and make comments. This means that paper is never used unless there is a final hard copy book, advertising piece or some other type of publication. For the most part, most photography and graphics will go on the Internet, a website or online journal or magazine (Hall et al 2010). Paring down wasteful spending is essential to most of us because in the first years of business, money is usually tight. Whatever money comes in will be reinvested in the business and its development such as in technical software programs and highly technical computers with enough random access memory (RAM), fast processors and high-level graphic cards to complete business projects efficiently (Hall et al 2010). Entrepreneurships in the Social and Cultural Environment Understanding the social and cultural environment for developing a business through the entrepreneurial process is essential for success. Starbucks, for example, provided coffee to a general population in America first that consisted of business workers who needed that great cup of coffee to start the day off right. That meant having coffee shops that were accessible to coffee lovers. Opening coffee shops downtown where many of the workers were was part of its successful leap forward to its current prominence today on a global level. When moving to other countries, studies were done on the culture aspect of the country’s society, including its religious perspective in order to understand how to attract the customers through culturally correct advertising rather than doing it in the American style (Oviatt & McDougall 2005). When I go to do photographic projects in other countries, I will assess the culture first to know what the cultural and social rules are for taking pictures. Some cultures do not like having their pictures taken, at least without permission. Women and children are sometimes off limits in various cultures and it pays to know in advance how to work socially within another cultural parameter (Thornton, Ribeiro-Soriano & Urbano 2011. Understanding America’s economic environment today means providing a service or a product that is very highly regarded but also within reach of most customers in this economically difficult time. My plan is to market to businesses and online publications. What will bring a customer back more often than most other factors is an exceptional customer service which I definitely will provide as it also helps build a branding image. Having a distinctive logo, a powerful business message and the will to get the job done at all costs along with great customer service, will help ensure success during this time of economic stress. This is especially important as customers tend to keep their wallets shut during these times (Thornton et al 2011). Building and Growing the Entrepreneurial Business The exciting thing about creating a new business with an entrepreneurial background is that the parameters are made entirely by me. While some businesses, usually larger ones, will not be able to do some things that customers need because of rules and regulations, it means this is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to give customers what they want (Hoogendoorn, Pennings & Thruik 2010). It can be the redevelopment of a common service or product, but I set the guidelines such as in how I service a customer, especially if they are unhappy. This is a case where, if something goes wrong, I can solve it any way that I choose instead of being confined by a big company’s rules and regulations (Kraus & Kauranen 2009). In a new and competitive landscape for businesses today, the freedom to operate my business as I choose, allows far more flexibility in operations – so long as there is a suitable framework for guidance in place. This is considered a strategic value, particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. In America, flexibility is considered the business base of America’s economic ability to bounce back from troubled times (Kraus & Kauranen 2009). Strategic management can be considered as based in one of three schools: Prescriptive Schools, Descriptive School I and Descriptive Schools II. A table below shows the divisions between the three types. I fit into the Descriptive School II. Fig. 3 (Kraus & Kauranen 2009) For the most part, the management structure is designed by the upper management of a larger business or corporation, and for a small business it will be the entrepreneur himself who creates the strategic management plan. Indeed, I will be in control of every aspect of how the business’s operations are conducted, whether it is financial operations, social interactions and customer service, and how the product and/or service is designed and developed. That is the true definition of an entrepreneur and some of our greatest businesses were also started in a garage which is where I will start mine. Look for me in the Fortune 500 listings one day! Fig. 4 (Funders and Founders, 6/16/2012, http://fundersandfounders.com/garage-entrepreneurship-infographic/) Bibliography Action Coach 2012, 12 Essential Characteristics of an Entrepreneur, Action Coach Business Coaching Online, Available at http://www.actioncoach.com/_downloads/whitepaper-FranchiseRep5.pdf Cuervo, A, Riberio, D & Roig, S n.d., Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Theory and Perspective, Introduction, University of Valencia, Downloaded from http://www.uv.es/bcjauveg/docs/LibroCuervoRibeiroRoigIntroduction.pdf DCTC 2010, Entrepreneurship: Defining Entrepreneurship, National Association for Community College, DCTC Spring/Summer, Downloaded from http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nacce.com/resource/resmgr/Journals/spring_summer_2010.pdf Hall, JK, Kaneke, GA & Lenox, MJ 2010, Sustainable Development and Entrepreneurship: Past contributions and future directions, Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 25, pp. 439-448. Downloaded from http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/LenoxM/pdf/jbv_se.pdf Hoogendoorn, B, Pennings, E & Thurik, R 2010, What Do We Know about Social Entrepreneurship? An Analysis of Empirical Research, International Review of Entrepreneurship, vol.8, no.2, Downloaded from http://people.few.eur.nl/thurik/Research/Articles/What%20do%20we%20know%20abour%20SE%20Hoogendoornetal.pdf Kiyosaki, R 8/7/2012, Two Key Characteristics of Entrepreneurs, Rich Dad Online, Evaluating the Financial Well-Being of Humanity, Available at http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/August-2012/Two-Key-Characteristics-of-Entrepreneurs.aspx Kraus, S & Kauranen, I 2009, Strategic management and entrepreneurship: Friends or foes?, International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, vol. 4, no.1, Downloaded from http://www.business-and-management.org/library/2009/4_1--37-50-Kraus,Kauranen.pdf Kuratko, DF & Hodgetts, RM 1998, Entrepreneurship: A Contemporary Approach, Dryden Press, Pennsylvania Oviatt, B & McDougall, PP 2005, The internationalization of entrepreneurship, Journal of International Business Studies, vol.36, pp.2-8, downloaded from http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/journal/v36/n1/abs/8400119a.html Thornton, PH, Ribeiro-Soriano, D & Urbano, D 2011, Socio-cultural factors and entrepreneurial activity: An overview, International Small Business Journal, vol.29 no. 2, pp.105-118, Downloaded from http://patriciathornton.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Socio-Cultural-Factors-and-Entrep-Activity.pdf Read More