A Critical Portrait of a Successful Entrepreneur - Essay Example

However, despite this background, Dyson was still an innovator and a successful entrepreneur. Dyson is an innovator, one of the primary aspects of being an entrepreneur. He is innovative not only in product design, but in finding the right market environment to sell his products. For instance, when Dyson first attempted to get his first vacuum design marketed to the retail environment, the British retailers would not carry it for threats of competition (McGregor, 2006). Rather than giving up like many upstart businesspersons might, James Dyson instead found a Japanese catalog which was willing to spotlight his vacuum.

Where no demand existed, Dyson created it in a foreign environment, giving him and his business the opportunity to understand how to operate in a multinational sales territory. This gave his business a very strong competitive edge and strategic position right from the start of the entrepreneurial venture. One successful entrepreneur was asked to offer which qualifications would be most efficient for setting up one’s own business, responding that training and structured learning are most important (All Business, 2004).

This suggests having a focus and a plan of business action as well as working to appropriate business deadlines and using academic knowledge with practical experience to view the bigger business picture and create a plan which best suits the long-term expectations. James Dyson did all of this and more by identifying potential, unorthodox methods of getting his product promoted and spotlighted in a Japanese product catalog. Dyson utilised his personal expertise in being able to design and manufacture a new vacuum variety along with an understanding of marketing distribution options to build an initial buying public.

It was not an easy road for Dyson, however, as the initial high-suction vacuum prototype took 5,127 attempts to perfect a