Techniques for Generating ideas

In general, entrepreneurs identify more ideas than opportunities because many ideas are typically generated to find the best way to capitalize on an opportunity.28 Several techniques can be used to stimulate and facilitate the generation of new ideas for products, services, and businesses. Let’s take a look at some of them. 1. Brainstorming A

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Encouraging the development of new ideas

In many firms, idea generation is a haphazard process. However, entrepre- neurial ventures can take certain concrete steps to build an organization that encourages and protects new ideas. Let’s see what these steps are. 1. Establishing a Focal point for ideas Some firms meet the challenge of encouraging, collecting, and evaluating ideas by designating

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LUMINAID: The Value of Validating a Business Idea

At 4:53 p.m. on January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake. The epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude quake was near Leogane, approximately 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital and largest city. The Haitian govern-ment later reported that 316,000 people were killed, 300,000 were injured, and approximately 1 million were left homeless. Two

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Product and Service Feasibility analysis

1. Feasibility analysis Feasibility analysis is the process of determining if a business idea is viable (see Figure 3.1). If a business idea falls short on one or more of the four compo- nents of feasibility analysis, it should be dropped or rethought, as shown in the figure. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of

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Industry/target market Feasibility analysis

Industry/target market feasibility is an assessment of the overall appeal of the industry and the target market for the product or service being proposed. There is a distinct difference between a firm’s industry and its target market; having a clear understanding of this difference is important. An industry is a group of firms producing

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Organizational Feasibility analysis

Organizational  feasibility  analysis is conducted to determine whether a proposed business has sufficient management expertise, organizational com-petence, and resources to successfully launch.7 There are two primary issues to consider in this area: management prowess and resource sufficiency. 1. Management prowess A proposed business should evaluate the prowess, or ability, of its initial man- agement

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Financial Feasibility analysis

Financial feasibility analysis is the final component of a comprehensive fea- sibility analysis. For feasibility analysis, a preliminary financial assessment is usually sufficient; indeed, additional rigor at this point is typically not required because the specifics of the business will inevitably evolve, making it impractical to spend a lot of time early on preparing

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A Feasibility analysis template

First Screen, shown in Appendix 3.1, is a template entrepreneurial firms use to complete a feasibility analysis. It is called First Screen because a feasibil- ity analysis is an entrepreneur’s (or a group of entrepreneurs’) initial pass at determining the feasibility of a business idea. If a business idea cuts muster at this stage,

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HER CAMPUS MEdIA: Executing on an Established Business Model and Preparing for the Future

If you’re a female college student and are looking for an enriching experience, you might consider plugging into your college campus’s Her Campus chapter. Her Campus is the number-one online community for college women. Written entirely by 4,000-plus college journalists and supported by a dedicated staff at its Boston headquarters, Her Campus features national

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Business models and their importance

As stated above, a firm’s business model is its plan or recipe for how it creates, delivers, and captures value for its stakeholders. Glance ahead to Figure 4.2, the Barringer/Ireland Business Model Template. As you can see by looking at the template, a firm’s business model represents the core aspects of its busi- ness.

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General Categories of business models

There are two general categories of business models: standard business models and disruptive business models.5 Next, we provide details about each model. 1. Standard business models The first category is standard business models. This type of model is used com- monly by existing firms as well as by those launching an entrepreneurial ven- ture.

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The barringer/ireland business Model template

Although not everyone agrees precisely on the components of a business model, many agree that a successful business model has a common set of at- tributes. These attributes are often laid out in a visual framework or template so it is easy to see the individual parts and their interrelationships. One widely- used framework

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industry analysis

When studying an industry, an entrepreneur must answer three questions be- fore pursuing the idea of starting a firm. First, is the industry accessible—in other words, is it a realistic place for a new venture to enter? Second, does the industry contain markets that are ripe for innovation or are underserved? Third, are there

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The Five Forces model

The five forces model is a framework entrepreneurs use to understand an industry’s structure. Professor Michael Porter developed this important tool. Shown in Figure 5.1, the framework is comprised of the forces that determine industry profitability.7 These forces—the threat of substitutes, the threat of new entrants (that is, new competitors), rivalry among existing firms,

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The value of the Five Forces model

Along with helping a firm understand the dynamics of the industry it plans to enter, the five forces model can be used in two ways: (1) to help a firm deter- mine whether it should enter a particular industry and (2) whether it can carve out an attractive position in that industry. Let’s examine

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Industry types and the opportunities they offer

Along with studying the factors discussed previously, it is helpful for a new ven- ture to study industry types to determine the opportunities they offer.13 The five most prevalent industry types, depicted in Table 5.3, are emerging industries, fragmented industries, mature industries, declining industries, and global in- dustries.14 There are unique opportunities associated with

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Competitor analysis

After a firm has gained an understanding of the industry and the target mar- ket in which it plans to compete, the next step is to complete a competitor analysis. A competitor analysis is a detailed analysis of a firm’s competition. It helps a firm understand the positions of its major competitors and the

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Introduction to business Plan

1. The business plan As illustrated in the basic model of the entrepreneurial process shown in Chapter 1, writing a business plan is the last activity completed in the step of the entrepreneurial process titled “Developing Successful Business Ideas.” It is a mistake to write a business plan too early. The business plan must

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Guidelines for Writing a business Plan

There are several important guidelines that should influence the writing of a business plan. It is important to remember that a firm’s business plan is typi- cally the first aspect of a proposed venture that an investor will see. If the plan is incomplete or looks sloppy, it is easy for an investor to

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Outline of the business Plan

A suggested outline of the full business plan appears in Table 6.2. Specific plans may vary, depending on the nature of the business and the personalities of the founding entrepreneurs. Most business plans do not include all the elements introduced in Table 6.2; we include them here for the purpose of completeness. 1. Exploring

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