Characteristics of the Entrepreneur and Maximizing Opportunities for Innovation

LEARNING OUTCOME (01) – CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTREPRENEUR

Entry 1

Entrepreneurship is a process carried out by individuals by identifying opportunities and converting them into marketable products or services. Entrepreneur makes an investment, sets up an organisation, markets the product / services and makes profit from it.

In my view, to be a successful entrepreneur, one must be confident, should be able to take calculated risk, flexible and creative. He should be able to lead his organisation to achieve his goal by ethical means (Schaper, Volery, Weber & Lewis, 2011).

I have understood that for entrepreneur to be successful, he has to be literate, possess good interpersonal communication skills and leadership qualities (Birt & Sleeman, 1999).

Entrepreneurs are most likely to succeed when markets are in disequilibrium and customer needs remain unfulfilled.

The entrepreneur has the autonomy and can follow his own lifestyle and I would like to have that freedom. I would prefer to have freedom of creativity and innovation to build and grow my business.

Entrepreneurs may or may not have a business plan. Some entrepreneurs start a business with planned budget to achieve the objectives. These objectives are measurable, feasible and achievable. I feel that an entrepreneur should have a proper business plan so that he can attract investors (Chaston, 2009).

I would prefer to have a business plan and revenue model for opening a business as it is important for the current and future market. Business plan and revenue model are used as a justification for taking the loan from the bank for starting the business.

Entry 2

Opportunity is a situation in which a new product, service or process can be introduced and sold at greater ...

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...s within an organization. Most innovative business ideas come from analysing several areas of opportunity, some of which lie within particular companies or industries, and some of which lie in broader social or demographic trends. Innovation can also concern different elements, such as a product, a service, a process or a combination of these. Entrepreneurs think and create different and unique things that provide a niche position in the competitive market (Schaper, Volery, Weber & Lewis, 2011).

REFERENCES

Birt, I., & Sleeman, R. (1999). Making small business work for you (2nd ed.). Sydney, Australia: Prentice Hall

Chaston, I., (2009). Entrepreneurial Management in Small Firms. London, England: SAGE Publications.

Schaper, M., Volery, T., Weber, P., & Lewis, K. (2011). Entrepreneurship and small business (3rd ed.). Australia: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.