The Essence of Entrepreneurship - Case Study Example

SECTION A The essence of entrepreneurship is recognizing and creating opportunity. When an entrepreneur starts a new business, it is usually an attempt to utilise a market opportunity. He or she must be skilful in analysing and scanning the environment to establish a gap in the market where there are consumer needs that are not adequately satisfied. In other words, an entrepreneur must add value and needs to be creative by creating an organisational structure geared towards needs satisfaction and survival (Lamb et al 2008). It is the duty of the entrepreneur to adapt a marketing strategy that effectively utilises the marketing mix to appeal to a specific group of potential buyers in the target market. Brilliant ideas about the target market will help the organisation to develop products that can satisfy the needs of the customers. Ideas can be natured through involvement of the customers in gathering information pertaining to their needs in a particular product offering. Obstacles likely to be encountered in gathering such information can be overcome through the use of new information and communication technology such as the internet so as to reach a wide range of people. Essentially, the ideas of the potential customers in the new market determine the success of the initiative to open new business hence the need to open channels of communication to overcome all the obstacles likely to affect creativity. The members of the organisation must also be given the autonomy to be part of the decision making process so that they will be able to be creative and contribute to the success of the organisation. SECTION B 2. Entrepreneurs are as varied as the kinds of businesses they start. Basically, pathway to entrepreneurship is a concept that is used to describe different approaches taken by different entrepreneurs as they start their own business. In some instances, an entrepreneur will start by launching a product in the market then launches an effective marketing campaign that is meant to highlight awareness among the targeted customers about the benefits of the new product offering. For instance, an entrepreneur launching a cool drink in the market can first introduce it to the market and this will be followed by a marketing campaign to raise product awareness among the consumers. On the other hand, the other entrepreneur can take a different approach where he will start by embarking on a drive to gather information about the market in a bit to establish a gap that may exist in as far as the needs of the consumers are concerned. Having identified that gap, then the entrepreneur will carefully design a product that will be able to satisfy the needs of the customers that may be overlooked by the other actors in the industry. The approaches to entrepreneurship may differ but the goal will be the same in most cases. 3. “Growth is directly proportionate to promises made: profit is inversely proportionate to promises kept,” (John Peers, President, Logical Machine Corporation, 1979). In as far as growth of the business is concerned, the marketers of that organisation should strive to fulfil the promises made to the customers so as to create a mutual relationship with them which will mean continued business. Essentially, the main aim of being in business is to satisfy the needs of the customers profitably. Where the needs of the customers are satisfied, then there will be assurance that the organisation will be poised to grow since more revenue will be collected through sales to many customers. In case of lenders, they would need to establish if the organisation will be generating enough profits to be able to reimburse the money back in the event that the lenders have decided to invest in the venture. Customer satisfaction and profitability in an organisation are somehow interconnected in that if the organisation promises something to the customers and fulfils it, chances of creating loyalty among them will be high and this spells the organisation’s profitability. 4. Collecting information about the competitors is one of the most difficult parts of researching for any venture. It is imperative for ventures to conduct such researches in order to be better positioned to distinguish between the industry and the market. Basically, an industry can be loosely defined as a particular branch of trade. Manufacturing of clothing is a different industry from baking bread or manufacturing automobiles. In one particular industry, the trade is more or less the same because the organisations involved will be dealing with one identifiable type of product. Emphasis is on the type of product or service offered and the means these are created. Collecting information about a particular industry can be mainly done through the media or analysing financial reports about the organisations operating in that particular industry. The internet for instance is one viable source of information about any industry given that almost all the information about a particular subject area is readily available. Usually, the captains of industry will compile quarterly or yearly results of the performance of their respective industries and this information can be readily available on the internet or financial reports upon request. This information is very useful in understanding how the industry will be performing. 5. Business ethics refers to values, principles and standards that operate within business and these attempt to make a distinction between something that is morally good from bad (Rossouw 2004). The concept of business ethics mainly derive from the value system obtaining from a business set up. Basically, values are described as the “essential and enduring tenets” that help define the company and are “not to be compromised for financial gain or short term expediency,” (DesJardins 2006:5). Simply put, these are regarded as beliefs that often incline businesses to act in certain ways which are different from the others. In pursuing these different values in business, there is need to take into consideration the concept of business ethics which is more concerned with serving the ends of human well being. Ethics may immensely benefit business in the long run given that mutual trust between the organisation and the customers will be created if the organisation upholds principles of fairness and integrity such as avoiding using unfair means of making profits such as cheating. On the other hand, (Strydom 2004 p.11) concurs that “Social responsibility is the concept that maintains that businesses are part of the larger society in which they exist and are accountable to the society for their operations.” In other words, there is need for the organisations to strike a fine balance between the needs and interests of customers, needs of the environment and the need for businesses to realise their financial goals. For instance, an organisation manufacturing bricks can be socially responsible by promoting means of manufacturing that are friendly to the environment. It can also plough back to the community by championing developmental projects meant to be beneficial to the members of the society which greatly contributes in creating mutual understanding between the organisation and the members of the society which is advantageous in the long run. 6. A market can be seen as a grouping of customers but getting to the customer is, perhaps, the most critical step in any venture. Indeed, where there is no customer, there is no business venture. In most cases, the customer provides important information about features and benefits desired in the product or service being offered. There are different marketing research techniques that can be used to study customers. Secondary data is useful in studying customers in that it is comprised of existing information about previously done researches about the customers which will save time and money. Survey research is another viable technique that can be used to collect primary data where the researcher interacts with people to obtain facts, opinions as well as the attitude of the customers. Interviews can also be used to study the customers whereby personal, computer assisted interviews or telephone interviews can be used. This also encompasses focus groups where interviews are used on a selected group of people. Of late, the e-mail survey is the latest technique of studying the customers where the market researcher can send email questionnaires to respondents who use email. The use of physical surveys is another technique that can be used to study the customers. References DesJardins J. (2006). An introduction to business ethics. 2nd Edition. Boston. McGraw Hill international Edition. Lamb C.W. (2008). Marketing. Oxford University Press. Rossouw D. (2004). Business Ethics: 3rd Edition. Oxford. Cape Town. Oxford University Press. Strydom J. (2004). Marketing. 3rd Edition. Cape Town. Juta & Co Ltd. Read More