How Hard is it for a Woman to Start a Food Companie In The Indonesian - Assignment Example

? WEEK 4 INTEGRATION QUESTION WEEK 4 INTEGRATION QUESTION The possibility of a 33 year old woman to start any company of her choice in an emerging market like Indonesia is highly realistic and feasible. This is because much of the factors that determine the success or otherwise of starting a company in an emerging market is dependent on the application of prudent economic principles other than the personal factors like the age of the entrepreneur involved (Hirschsohn, 2008). The gender of the entrepreneur is also not much of a factor that determines the possibility or otherwise of succeeding with the business opening. Again, as to whether the business would survive determines on how well the person, be it a male or female can apply very basic and common economic principles. To this end, it would be said without an iota of doubt that it is feasible for the 33 year old Indonesian woman to start the cooking oil company. Instead of thinking that the age and gender would be a limitation to inhibit the feasibility of the possibility of the business, it they may rather be seen as blessing in disguise because the fact that the entrepreneur is young means she would have more years ahead of her to manage her company, correcting all wrongs that may come her way along the running of the company. As far as the business experience of the entrepreneur is concerned, it can be said that is will never be too late to learn the basic rudiments of business operations. A theory that supports this assertion is the genuine leadership theory that argues that leaders are born rather than made. According to genuine leadership theorists, leadership is an innate characteristic and feature of a person that cannot be acquired externally (Khan & Ghani, 2004). According to the theory, the only time that an external condition comes in is to polish up what is already possessed by the leader (Williams & McGuire, 2010). With this justification, it can be said once this entrepreneur sees herself as a born leader she would not have to worry so much about her experience in business. What must be a concern is how to polish up what she is born with, the result of which is the zeal she has to go into business. With this said, it would be noted that the fact that she sees herself as a respectable person in her school and community will come with a great benefit or advantage in the creation of business connections. As noted by McDermott (2010), the kind of connections that n entrepreneur is able to develop from about her most immediate background goes long way to influence the creation of social capital and socio-economic networks positively. The respectability gained among colleagues in school and community must therefore be a first step into establishing social capital and socio-economic networks. The concentration of food companies in the Indonesian city where she lives would mean that she will be in strict competition, of which she has to device a competitive advantage to survive. Most often, new entrants are identified to face very hostile and stiff competition in emerging markets such as Indonesia. The reason as explained by Salehizadeh (2005) is because government macroeconomic strategies and interventions are often targeted on established firms rather than new and upcoming ones. To this end, new entrants are often forced with the need to structuring their competitive advantages based on microeconomic strategies and interventions. As far as the government biases are concerned, Salehizadeh (2005) has said that governments in emerging markets, the size of their gross domestic products do not often have the luxury of testing the waters. They would rather want to invest where their returns can be guaranteed. The concentration of food companies in the city of the intended entrepreneur is therefore going to be a challenge to entry that must be addressed. As indicated earlier, there could be attempts to use competitive advantage that are structured around the use of more microeconomic based strategies rather than macroeconomic strategies. There is also the option of shifting market center to a location with less concentration of food companies, some of which may include cooking oil companies. But if on the other hand these food companies are those that will be seen as needing cooking oil as raw materials, then the business must be opened in the city, whiles maintaining the microeconomic interventions. As it has now been established that there is much possibility for the company to be opened in Indonesia, it is now important to look at how it all gets started. Based on some of the factors discussed above, a number of business opening options may be applicable. However, as the intended entrepreneur seems quite doubtful about her age, gender, and experience in business and how these may affect her success, it will be suggested that a more dependent and less risky option of business opening be used. With this said, the very first option that comes to mind is the option of a merger with an existing company. With the basic understanding of merger as the joining of capital with another company so that profits and lost be shared according to a quota of capital investment (McDermott , 2010), the advantages that this option presents to the 33 year old lady will then be discussed. The first is that there will not be the need for much capital injection into the company. This is because it will be possible that most of the business startup requirements such as infrastructure, labor and market will already be well laid by the existing company. The second is that the new business can be assured of a much ready market business the customers of the existing market may automatically become customers of the new company. What is more, there would be the sharing of experience between owners and managers of the existing company and the new entrepreneur. Having made the above points on merger, it will be important to sound caution on key factors to look out for before starting the merger. First and foremost, it will be important to ensure that the existing company will not be one that deals directly in cooking oil. Rather, it should be one that deals in a business where the accompanying use of cooking oil is a necessity for its customers. A typical example of this is a food company that sells refined rice to known customers. If the customers of this company is found to have need of cooking oil but would purchase some from a different outfit because the company they purchase the rice from does not deal in cooking oil, then merging with such a company would come with great benefit. This is because the customers of the existing company would just have to switch unto the new component of the merged business that deals in cooking oil. Merging with another cooking oil company would mean that the existing customers of the parent company must increase in order to match up the extra supply that would come into the company. References Hirschsohn, P. (2008) ‘Regulating the “animal spirits” of entrepreneurs?’, International Small Business Journal, 26 (2), pp.181-206, [Online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1177/0266242607086573 (Accessed: 19 September 2013). Khan, J.H. & Ghani, J.A. (2004) ‘Clusters and entrepreneurship: implications for innovation in a developing economy’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 9 (3), pp.221-238, [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=16003800&site=eds-live (Accessed: 19 September 2013). McDermott G. A. Entrepreneurial Strategies: New Technologies in Emerging Markets. Textbook. Salehizadeh, M. (2005) ‘Venture capital investments in emerging economies: an empirical analysis’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 10 (3), pp.253-269 [Online]. Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=24566076&site=ehost-live&scope=site (Accessed: 18 September 2013) Williams, L.K. & McGuire, S.J. (2010) ‘Economic creativity and innovation implementation: the entrepreneurial drivers of growth? Evidence from 63 countries’, Small Business Economics, 34 (4), pp.391-412, [Online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1007/s11187-008-9145-7 (Accessed: 19 September 2013). Read More