Entrepreneurship.Excellent Leadership Qualities and Strong urge for ethics and integrity - Assignment Example

? WEEK 5 DISCUSSION WEEK 5 DISCUSSION Introduction Entrepreneurship is a very demanding and tasking activity that requires entrepreneurs to invest monies into the right type of business with the expectation of gaining profits from their investment (Goedhuys & Sleuwaegen, 2009). There is a common notion that the entrepreneur is only a capital injector into the business and so the actual running and day to day management of the business does not depend much on the entrepreneur but hired managers and administrators. Clearly, this is a misconstrued notion that cannot be accepted in modern business management. Indeed, the modern day entrepreneur is expected to exhibit certain key characteristics, skills, and have certain background to the day to day management of his business, without which the business cannot be expected to grow. In this paper, some of the skills, characteristics and backgrounds that make successful entrepreneurs are discussed with real examples of how these features about some entrepreneurs have ensured success for them. There is specific emphasis and focus on emerging markets, but without any single emerging market in mind. The key characteristics that some entrepreneurs have exhibited over the years in various emerging markets, the aid of which has made them highly successful shall be discussed. Excellent Leadership Qualities The leadership of the company primarily refers to the management of visionary direction for the company. This responsibility is played by several people within the organization, and in some cases, some leaders becoming followers to other leaders (Coy et al, 2007). But as far as the entrepreneur is concerned, he is often seen as the last reporting leader within the organization. This is to say that the entrepreneur acts as the head of the organizational structure and is therefore the ultimate leader. In effect, the kind of leadership qualities that the entrepreneur displays will go a very long way to determine the visional direction that the entire organization will have. With the question as to what excellent leadership qualities are, Capelleras et al (2010) explained that it involves the ability of the leader to be identified with as many leadership styles as possible and learn to rightly apply each of them as and when they become necessary for an organizational scenario. In effect, a leader’s leadership must always be seen as appropriate in practice; and this is what constitutes an excellent leadership quality. Strong urge for ethics and integrity Show me a leader without ethics and integrity and I will show you a dying company and this is according to Benzing, Chu & Callanan (2005). Ethics and integrity constitute a personal and behavioral characteristic that is needed by the entrepreneur to make him trustworthy and credible in the area of business that he is involved in. with the advent of corporate image and corporate branding, stakeholders including customers, shareholders and suppliers are looking for corporate managers and leaders who represent not just a money making machine but an overall of credibility and trust when left with the finances and welfare of a larger group of people (Benzing, Chu & Callanan, 2005). Commonly, the way of thinking is that when entrepreneurs cannot on by themselves proof to be credible, they can easily use manipulative and unacceptable means of making their businesses grow. In an emerging market where most of the local customers are considered as vulnerable to market marketing mix strategies as lower prices, such entrepreneurs who are suspecting in their ethics and integrity can be tagged with dubious means of making their prices cheaper such as the invasion of taxes or use of unwholesome raw materials in manufacturing. Empowered Self Motivation Motivation comes in several forms, commonly intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In most cases, intrinsic motivation has been identified to be that type of motivation that keeps a person driving on when all other factors suggest that there cannot be success and so there is the need to give oneself a break (Capelleras et al, 2010). A typical example of such form of intrinsic motivation is self empowerment or self motivation. An entrepreneur who is approaching new markets, there is the need for the understanding that the market could be highly challenging and produce possible failures. In effect, empowered self motivation is the only characteristic that is needed in overcoming such fears to thrive. Studies have showed that most entrepreneurs who have been very successful in emerging markets, such as Aliko Dangote of Nigeria trace their success to a time in their business growth when all indicators showed that they must give up, but with the single characteristic of empowered self motivation, they continued to hold on to their dreams till success came (Benzing, Chu & Callanan, 2005). Today, Mr. Dangote is the riches black person. Education and Learning Education is an important prerequisite to be a successful entrepreneur. Often, the debate with Bill Gates of Windows and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook being school dropouts at one point in their lives have often led to several people concluding that education is not a very important factor in becoming a successful entrepreneur. But this should bring to the question of what education in its entirety is. Clearly, education is not just about going to school to learn a number of subjects and courses that do not relate to one’s area of study. To be successful, it is important that an entrepreneur becomes an academic authority in his area of venture (Goedhuys & Sleuwaegen, 2009). With this, none can argue that Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are minors in information and communication technology. Apart from education, learning should be another important driving force. When talk is made of learning, meaning is being given to the need to constantly keep oneself abreast with changes in the sector of business where he has ventured into. Conclusion From the discussions so far, there is evidence that the entrepreneur entering an emerging market has so much to offer in order to make his investments profitable and useful. Generally, the entrepreneur is expected to be seen as the brain and breathe of the company. In emerging markets, the competition an challenges that await business expansion and growth are numerous. In effect, a refusal to have a comprehensive backroom command and control over one’s own business cannot bring about the desired results. From the discussions, it has been established that true competition among business start from a competition about entrepreneurs who have the best academic and professional understanding of the business venture he is undertaking. Without this academic and professional understanding, the market will be controlling the entrepreneur instead of the entrepreneur controlling the market. Apart from the academic and professional qualities, there are also attitudinal and personal qualities that must drive the business growth and expansion agenda. Mostly, these attitudinal and personal qualities refer to how well the entrepreneur can manage the people around him through excellent leadership styles and leadership attitudes (Le & Nguyen, 2009). On the whole, it can be said that one cannot expect to have a good business without being a good entrepreneur. References Benzing, C., Chu, H.M. & Callanan, G. (2005) ‘A regional comparison of the motivation and problems of Vietnamese entrepreneurs’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 10 (1), pp.3-27, [Online]. Available from: http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/lpu?title=Journal+of+Deve lopmental+Entrepreneurship&volume=10&issue=1&spage=3&date=2005 (Accessed: 19 October 2010). Capelleras, J-L., Greene, F.J., Kantis, H. & Rabetino, R. (2010) ‘Venture creation speed and subsequent growth: evidence from South America’, Journal of Small Business Management, 48 (3), pp.302-324, [Online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1111/j.1540- 627X.2010.00296.x (Accessed: 19 October 2010). Coy, S.P., Shipley, M.F., Omer, K. & Khan, R.N.A. (2007) ‘Factors contributory to success: a study of Pakistan’s small business owners’, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 12 (2), pp.181-198, [Online]. Available from: http://sfxhosted.exlibrisgroup.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/lpu?title=Journal+of+Deve lopmental+Entrepreneurship&volume=12&issue=2&spage=181&date=2007 (Accessed: 19 October 2010). Goedhuys, M. & Sleuwaegen, L. (2009) ‘High-growth entrepreneurial firms in Africa: a quantile regression approach’, Small Business Economics, 34 (1), pp.31-51, [Online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1007/s11187-009-9193-7 (Accessed: October 2010). Le, N.T.B. & Nguyen, T.V. (2009) ‘The impact of networking on bank financing: the case of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam’, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, 33 (4), pp.867-887, [Online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00330.x (Accessed: 19 October 2010). Textbook. Entrepreneurial Strategies: New Technologies in Emerging Markets. Chapter 9, ‘External Networks of Entrepreneurial Teams and High. Technology Venture Performance in Emerging Markets’, pp.187-205 Read More