The Entrepreneurial Initiatives Taken by Donella Parker - Case Study Example

Synopsis Case Donella Parker: R Cubed The case discusses the entrepreneurial initiatives taken by Donella Parker who fell a victim to the unemployment because of the economic factors in the environment; this led her to pursue her own venture and when became unsatisfied by the bureaucratic organizational policies went on to set up her own business exploiting the expertise and the potential she had; and also the resources that were available like a few trusted friends, capacity to talk into her customers taking the along. The firm that Donella Parker pursued to form was a research company which focused on the needs of the tactical level problems of the client firms. It basically identified their problems and moved forward to resolve their issues. The company was not only result driven but the processes were established to establish rapport with the clients in the process of serving them well. Donella Parker, Steve Allen and Reg Price though common in terms of leaving the same company because of their personal frustrations at work had diversified skills to manage the new venture i.e. R Cubed had different profiles in terms of contrasting backgrounds and expertise they brought to the business. Steve had sales and marketing background with analytical abilities and the administrative domain; Reg was a total marketer having relationship oriented skills; whereas, Donella's prime asset was her expertise in research and which was also backed by a considerable amount of experience both in terms of number of years she worked and the client base she had established. The three started of with the 35 old clients and as a part of the financial strategy did not opt for long term debt to leverage profits instead focused on utilizing the bank overdraft facility which they learned from their past experiences. The three divided the work according to the functional proficiency that each possessed. Initially they limited themselves to serving the needs of the business themselves rather than hiring a large amount of the work force because they knew the pressures of growth would lead them to another hassle rather than focusing on their customers' needs well. An important part of business planning was that it was relatively shorter term and was done every four months; a benefit of this type of approach was to focus on the quick changes that were occurring the environment and affecting the business in any of its development. The business was designed and structured to be as customer friendly as possible by making use of available technology by guiding clients, making use of visual summaries, reports etc. The processes employed are quite transparent and employees at all time are welcome to analyze the processes and point out employees' strengths and weaknesses, visit the website for any polls that reflect and critically evaluate the company and the employee potential. The company rewards its employees that are very much compatible with the industry benchmarks and provides them with bonus shares for their above par performance. The evaluation criteria is set on the basis of value addition the employee has made to the company and towards the serving of the customer needs. The company's organogram was structured to foster efficiency and a climate to motivate the people working. As the company moves forward and faces the compounding pressures of growth in size and the changes in the environment, it has to reconsider its strategic direction and align itself with the environment; move into new areas by market development like moving into Australian market and also focus on product development such as moving from tactical level research to helping organizations with their strategic planning also as a part of its growth strategy. Its not only the pressure of business but what matter is successful rebalancing of the family and the business life too. Case 2: Otila Williams: Positive Career Solutions Otila Williams is into the recruitment business which she set up because she was value driven and was motivated by the fact that she had to give something back to the society in which she lives and operate. Her resignation triggered her to start a new company which she started with the support of her husband. Though she did not plan formally regarding how she will go about setting the company but learning from her husband's experience who was also a small business manager led her to think of the pros and cons of the business and she knew the risks and the rewards involved all will be hers. Otila saw a more human side of conducting the business in the way she was doing and was relieved of getting an opportunity to give it all back to the society. Otila's business management skills could not at all be under estimated as she had a thirteen year experience towards such a business. Otila started her business from home with not much capital requirements for it. One of the foremost and the important strategy for the Otila was that she used mystery shoppers to evaluate the competition around her and how can she sustain her competitive advantage in the industry. The company formed by Otila was a limited liability company which she thought would help her maintain and demonstrate the company image and also coule let her raise money easily for future expansion purposes. The company had proper systems in place and counselors for accounts, finance, bank and tax purposes. What sets the Otila's company apart is that she is very selective in choosing her employees and does them through her own due diligence criteria. She looks for people who are enthusiastic, motivated, have common sense etc. in short, no hi-fi criteria is set. Employees are provided with perks such as gym memberships, medical insurance and training etc. The Positive Career Solutions provides temporary and permanent employees to its clients; it basically acts as a head hunter and recruit people for others. But, as the time progresses and business expands, Otila feels there might be some need that she has to divide the business into two companies as the growth brings pressures for large taxes, and other legal matters. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The organizational structure at R cubed was functional in design and had integrated structure to create synergy between the different departments of the company. Employees seemed to be empowered with respect to the processes that were designed; and the drive to efficiency was the main idea to serve the customers better and provide them value at all costs. Whereas, on the other hand organizational structure at Positive Career Solutions was much more informal as it looks from the case since no specific job description of the owner and the employee is explicitly mentioned. STRATEGIES: The two organizations started from scratch; R cubed had the three experts behind it whereas, the master mind behind the Positive Career Solutions was a single lady; but what made the difference was that the later was not very formally planned. R Cubed focuses on developing relationships with clients and providing them with customized solutions to their problems by interacting with them at the very personal level. Financial strategy focused on avoiding any use of long term debt instead it used overdraft facility as a means of financing. Later, in its life cycle it had its ownership more diluted in a larger number of hands to obtain financing. Whereas, Positive Career Solutions didn't take any loan for start up and started from the minute capital of the entrepreneur Otila herself. The organizational strategy of both the companies was similar in the sense that both adopted the limited liability company's type of organization. With the human resources strategy the two companies faired quiet oppositely one restrained itself from hiring many people because it thought its better to satisfy the external customers rather than fulfill the needs of the employees who will be hired. On the other hand Positive Career Solutions looked for employees and hired people from the very early stages. When we talk about future strategies that the companies are likely to adopt the intensive strategies for growth purposes; market development and product development are the two main choices. R Cubed is more likely to move into new markets for research based clients and it can also develop a market space online, to reduce the work load it will have to outsource at some stage in time to tackle the growth pressures. Positive Career Solutions also can move into new markets but I think it is important for the company to also diversify its product base. It looked as if R Cubed was more formally runned compared to Positive Career Solutions and also had systems in place to keep the organization up and running by formally meeting and planning every quarter. But since Otila was the only one who envisioned she never needed to plan. ENTREPRENEURS: The two entrepreneurs were different in terms of the situation that landed them into setting up an own business but both were proficient to what their nature of work was. Donella Parker, the owner and the manager of R Cubed was fired because of weak economy, later she couldn't find the job that could keep her interested so she with her colleagues ended up forming a company; her entrepreneurial spirit never died because of the negative attitude that she received. She was young, energetic and still was unsettled in terms of family life. Otila Williams of Positive Career Solutions herself resigned because of the ulterior motive of being socially responsible and giving back to the society from where she earned. She was quite a risk taker as opposed to Donella Parker; Otila never planned the business formally, but had in her blood how to run that small business, backed by her husband's support. INFLUENCE OF IDEAS: Since Otila was the sole owner her influence on the business was strong and overpowering, but Donella Parker's business had 3 partners or directors thus there were many people to contribute to the strengths and weaknesses of the business. They had different areas of expertise and somehow complemented each others' efforts, supporting one another in good times and the bad. MOVING FORWARD: To create an entrepreneurial culture and keep the spirit ingrained the two organizations need to focus on either of the business strategies such as new business venturing, self renewal, proactiveness or organizational innovativeness by employee empowering. Both companies should create an intrapreneurial culture, and be broad minded in terms of ideas and the implementation. They should get rid of conservative decision making process. Though both are growing but still should have flatter organizational structures with more emphasis on teamwork; networking and mentoring are important to keep up with the environmental changes and train employees for the values that underlie the organizations' formations and beliefs of the initiators respectively. Close working relationships and trust building should be favored. The creativity of employees should not be inhibited like Donella's and Otila's was before they were self employed. What is most important for the two organizations is to operate on the frontiers of technology, encourage experimentation of new ideas and focus on trial and error rather than criticizing any failures that might occur. All the resources required to foster creativity and innovations should be provided with out many sign offs and red tape structure of obtaining them. Like Donella Parker multidisciplined teams should be developed to capitalize on the difference in expertise of the different members. Another important thing is that the organizations should look forward to the long term positive and stable gains rather than few short term profits. Employees should be awarded and rewarded monetarily and non monetarily for the risk, energy and the effort that they have put in into the business. And at all stages the top management should stay involved keeping themselves committed for any physical, psychological or the financial help they can provide. Donella and Otila being the leaders of their company should have clear vision as to where there organizations are headed; they should understand the environment well and analyze the changes that are taking place and adapt themselves and steer the company in the right direction by being flexible enough to such needs. They should encourage open discussions and team work and stay persistent to achieve there goals. Donella Parker's R Cubed should operate on the frontiers of changing technology and can operate in the market space through internet and also physically in the market place. It can move into new areas by training employees and venturing with the locals so as to get know how of the domestic cultures. R Cubed can expand its research and offer consultancy services as a next step to the product development. Otila William's Positive Career Solutions should get itself more formally structured with specified job descriptions for each and every employee and her own self; she cant be the master of all traits hence as the company grows she has to take care of such needs. References: Hisrch, R, Peters, Shepherd, Entrepreneurship. Longnecker, J, Moore, C, & Petty, J Small Business Management. Barringer , B, & Ireland, D Entrepreneurship:Successfully launching new ventures. Read More