Entrepreneurship and Startup

Running any business is a matter of much dedication, strategy planning as well as having an eye for detail. With proper coordination of your ideas, you can ensure that the company thrives. There are different kinds of business. While some are termed as start-ups, and the others are called entrepreneurship. It is a notable

3 Comments

Entrepreneurship: Characteristics, Importance, Types, and Functions of Entrepreneurship

The word “entrepreneur” is derived from the French verb enterprendre, which means ‘to undertake’. This refers to those who “undertake” the risk of new enterprises. An enterprise is created by an entrepreneur. The process of creation is called “entrepreneurship”. Entrepreneurship is a process of actions of an entrepreneur who is a person always in search of something new and exploits such ideas into gainful opportunities by accepting the risk and uncertainty with the

4 Comments

SUPERJAM: The Classic Entrepreneurial Story

Growing up in Scotland,  Fraser Doherty spent his childhood  coming up with ideas for new products. Not all his money-making ideas were a success— indeed his fledgling egg-selling enterprise ended abruptly when a fox ate all his chickens-but he had a hunger to set up a business. At the age of 14, Doherty gave

1 Comment

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

1. Introduction to entrepreneurship There is tremendous interest in entrepreneurship around the world. Although this statement may seem bold, there is evidence supporting it, some of which is provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). GEM, which is a joint research effort by Babson College, London Business School, Universidad del Desarrollo (Santiago, Chile), and

1 Comment

Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Although many behaviors have been ascribed to entrepreneurs, several are common to those who are successful. Those in new ventures and those who are already part of an entrepreneurial firm share these qualities, which are shown in Figure 1.1 and described in the following section. 1. Passion for the Business The number-one characteristic shared

2 Comments

Common myths about Entrepreneurs

There are many misconceptions about who entrepreneurs are and what mo- tivates them to launch firms to develop their ideas. Some misconceptions are because of the media covering atypical entrepreneurs, such as a couple of col- lege students who obtain venture capital to fund a small business that they grow into a multimillion-dollar company.

1 Comment

Types of Start-up Firms

As shown in Figure 1.2, there are three types of start-up firms: salary-substitute firms, lifestyle firms, and entrepreneurial firms. Salary-substitute  firms are small firms that yield a level of income for their owner or owners that is similar to what they would earn when working for an employer. Dry cleaners, convenience stores, restaurants, accounting

1 Comment

Changing demographics of Entrepreneurs

Over the past 10 years, the demographic makeup of entrepreneurial firms has changed in the United States and around the world. Of the 23 million busi-nesses in the United States,43 women, minorities, seniors, and young people own an increasingly larger number of them. This is an exciting development for the entrepreneurial sector of the

3 Comments

The Positive Effects of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Firms

Entrepreneurship’s importance to an economy and the society in which it resides was expertly articulated in 1934 by Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian economist who did the majority of his work at Harvard University. In his book The Theory of Economic Development, Schumpeter argued that entrepreneurs develop new products and technologies that over time make

3 Comments

The Entrepreneurial Process

The entrepreneurial process we discuss in this book consists of four steps: Step1 Deciding to become an entrepreneur Step2 Developing successful business ideas Step3 Moving from an idea to an entrepreneurial firm Step4 Managing and growing the entrepreneurial firm Figure 1.3 models the entrepreneurial process you’ll study while reading this text. This process is

1 Comment

ICRACKEd: Solving a Problem and Building a Business in an Exploding Industry

In mid-2009, AJ Forsythe had a problem. While a student at California-Poly San Luis Obispo, he broke his iPhone twice within two days. The first time occurred when he was exiting his car. He dropped his iPhone and cracked the screen. That accident cost him $200 and an hour’s trip to the Apple store.

3 Comments

The differences between opportunities and ideas

Essentially, entrepreneurs recognize an opportunity and turn it into a success- ful business.1 An opportunity is a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service, or business. Most entrepreneurial ventures are started in one of two ways. Some ventures are externally stimulated. In this instance, an entrepreneur decides to

3 Comments

Three Ways to identify opportunities

There are three approaches entrepreneurs use to identify an opportunity their new venture can choose to pursue (see Figure 2.2). Once an entrepreneur un- derstands the importance of each approach, s/he will be much more likely to look for opportunities and ideas that fit each profile. We discuss the three ap- proaches in the

1 Comment

Personal Characteristics of the Entrepreneur

How did Michael Dell come up with the idea of a “build it yourself” computer company? How did Dave Roberts, the founder of PopCap Games, figure out that there is a large and growing market for “casual” electronic games? Researchers have identified several characteristics that tend to make some people better at recognizing opportunities

1 Comment

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

1 Comment

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

2 Comments

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

3 Comments

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

1 Comment

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

8 Comments

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

3 Comments