Reflexive Diary
An entrepreneur combines the three factors of production, i.e., land, capital, and labor to generate value through offering good and services. Entrepreneurs have to strategize and be innovative in the utilization of the other factor of production. Small and big businesses have to utilize the innovativeness of an entrepreneur for success and growth. Most successful business people in the world are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs identify a market gap and go a step further to turn the gap into a business opportunity. Entrepreneurs earn profit from their fortunes.
Task 1: Identify two entrepreneurs that inspire you and explain why. It could be someone famous or part of your personal network or community. Describe what they do and what makes each of them successful.
Richard Branson and Warren Buffet
Both Richard and Warren Buffet are investors, business magnates, and entrepreneurs who I admire and inspire me. They have both been successful in business and run multi-million enterprises across the globe. Both are risk takers and have some common attributes that have enabled them to succeed and thrive in the modern competitive business world.
Warren Buffet is an entrepreneur who invested Berkshire Hathaway a New England textile Company in 1962 by buying its stocks. He later became the chairman of the organization that has been successful in the American markets. Richard Branson is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Virgin Group that controls over four hundred companies across the globe.
Both have an effective communication ability
Communication plays a vital role in running business entities. It creates an avenue for the business to communicate with the customers. Communication creates some sense of confidence between the management, customers, and employees.
They can evaluate situations accordingly
They can identify marketing gaps in the organizations they run and work to correct them for efficiency in the business operations. It is important to assess the prevailing situation and make sound decisions about the reality of the situation. Wrong assumptions may lead to an erroneous decision in the business environment.
Both are leaders and not Bosses
Leadership and organizational behavior are inherent for coping and surviving in the business fraternity. A manager should assume a leadership role and guide other employees into the right path in line with the organizational goals.
Task 2: Identify and ‘contact’ (i.e., informally interview) a female small business owner. It could be someone famous or part of your personal network or community. Discuss what inspired her to start up her business, if she plans to expand and how, and what challenges if any she faces.
Laureen Kay
Lauren Kay is a friend and an entrepreneur in London who owns a green grocery store at Oxford street. She was inspired by the rare engagement of Women in business in the United Kingdom. Women in the country outnumber the men by nearly one million, but they have not taken up businesses as compared to their male counterparts. She opened up the grocery store to take advantage of the many working-class citizens on the street. Every household needs some grocery products on a daily basis, and most of them may never get time to go shopping in the big malls. Her produce is fresh from the farms thus winning her customers’ confidence.
Future Expansion Plan
She is working to open up new stores in other streets to meet the rising demands of the farm products in the city. There is an increased uptake of green products as a result of the rising fear of junk food in the United Kingdom. She is making plans to import more fresh product from Africa and the Middle East to enhance food supply and healthy dietary practices in the country. She is sourcing financing finances from a local micro-finance institution to expand the business.
Challenges faced
The major challenge in her business is to maintain her customer loyalty. She sells green products that are highly perishable. She intends to provide fresh non-refrigerated product to her customers a unique strategy to her business. Keeping the products fresh and meeting her customers’ demands has been a challenging task.
Task 3: Identify and very briefly describe an ethnic minority business (EMB) in London. Discuss whether or not the business possesses some of the traditional features of EMBs highlighted during class.
The Chinese Textiles Centre
The Chinese textiles stores specialize in the sale and stocking of Chinese clothes and shoes to take care of the rising Chinese population in the country as well as the natives. The Ethnic minority businesses in London start-ups are on the rise and are expected to shoot up as the ethnic minority group is projected to double by the year 2030. The United Kingdom government is geared towards offering economic policies to enhance the growth of the sector in the country. Deregulation and perfect economic strategies will help to increase the entrepreneurial incentives and business regulations across the country. There are more than a quarter of a million ethnic minority businesses in the United Kingdom which contribute at least £15 billion to the UK economy annually.
The traditional Features of Ethnic Minority Businesses
Most of the Ethnic Minority Businesses in the UK are sources of self-employment for the minority groups living in cities across the nation. They have unique business strategies depending on the investment culture from their countries of origin. Most of the ethnic minority businesses are as a result of lack of employment. They target the populations living in the marginalized regions of the country and will focus their home country customers. Most of them are small scale establishments to earn a daily living. Access to business financing remains a challenging impediment to the growth of the sector. The business owners rare depend on public sector business support compared to other businesses in the UK.
Task 4: Identify a family owned business that has been operational for at least three generations. Discuss how the business has evolved over the years and what factors have been critical to its success.
Most of the Businesses in the United Kingdom are family owned and have greater success ability compared to public companies. Family businesses are characterized by a long-term vision and success commitments that outdo public companies. The family business enjoys from an already established brand name and organizational management culture.
Clarks
It has a rich history stretching back to 1825. It is one of the most successful family businesses in the UK. The company was established by brothers, Cyrus and James Clark at Somerset Street where they made slippers from sheepskin off-cuts. The company’s innovation was an instant success and today this family firm exports worldwide.
Critical Factors to its success
The company enjoys an already established management structure adopted by its founding fathers. The management strategies are hierarchical with specified departmental heads responsible for different task implementations. The company has a unique marketing structure that has helped it survive over the years. It has a rich history of high end customer satisfaction utilities and trusted products over the years. Their marketing strategy is customer-centered a factor that enhances their market competitiveness.
The business has adopted modern technology in its marketing and advertisement strategy as well as the production process. Technology helps to cut on the production cost thus increasing its profit margins. The business uses locally available materials in different parts of the continent while giving back to the community where it exists a strategy that has enhanced its incorporation.
Task 5: Focusing on one of the business ideas, discuss what business opportunity it fulfills and whether and why/why not it is feasible in the real world
Research Consultancy Centre
Data collection, analysis, and presentation require a professional expert to derive useful information that is easy to digest by ordinary readers. Statistical software and knowledge of statistics are essential for the management of huge and junk data available from different organizations and sources. Data can be processed and used for policy and decision making by government institutions and other organizations. I am designing a statistical center project that will receive data, code it into statistical software, analyze it, and present it for utilization by various clients.
Upon completion of the project, my clients will be able to get research findings from our critical analysis and review of the provided data. Information will be presented using graphs, tables, and charts that are easy to contemplate and understand. Recommendations will be provided on the various projects presented that will facilitate appropriate decision making by my clients. My clients will be allowed to conduct an independent review of the quality of my work before getting the final copy of the research work as part of the quality assurance strategy.
Expected Benefits
Successful completion and implementation will be beneficial to both my clients and the business organization. Data analysis is a major challenge for many individuals and organizations in the country. Setting up a center to fill the market gap will be a feasible business option. I will utilize the skill from the many professional in the research industry while delivering quality project deliverables to my clients. The presence of aspiring learners and organizations is a plus to the business idea.
Task 6: Identify a famous entrepreneurial team and describe the business they created. Discuss what each member of the team brought to the business (e.g., in terms of prior education, experience, skills, ideas).
Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes
Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard College student alongside his four college mates and roommate were the co-founder of the Facebook Inc an American social network that has spread across different continents. It was a started as a socializing website for the Harvard students but spread exponentially to the neighboring colleges and later to high school students in America and Canada. The social media platform has grown to be the biggest social network platforms across the globe in the modern world. The website is accessible to most internet-connected devices such as laptops, mobile phones, desktops, and iPods. The social network platform is accessible to people of various age brackets and social classes depending on the local laws.
Contributions
The founders developed the entire website and all its components that include a technical aspect, the history of the user, the user profile, the news feed, the like button, instant messaging application, following, privacy controls, and the Facebook bug bounty program. The team was devoted to the development of the program and worked hand in hand for its success. They combined their knowledge in programming to build an amazing social network platform.
The founders handled the lawsuit matter arising from the creation of the website in unison from its inception to date. The founders have immensely contributed to the existence and the survival of the websites through knowledge, skills, and experience. The proceeds from the business are shared among the shareholders as well the well-being responsibility of the website.
Task 7: Identify and ‘contact’ (i.e. informally interview) a small business owner in London that has recently grown their business.
Albertine Wine Bar
The business entity has grown over the past few years and expanded to various streets in London city. The number of employees to the organization has grown steadily over the last few years as a result of the business expansion. The returns from the business venture are worth the efforts employed by the entrepreneur. The business owner is planning to open up news stores across other cities to meet the demands of the European drinking culture. The business provides both domestic and imported wines, whisky, and rum for a mind relaxing experience after a long working day.
Expansion plans
The proprietor is working to grow the business to other regions in Europe while offering the much-sought customer satisfaction demands. The management is targeting to achieve a world-class comfort facility to its esteemed clients. The company is stringent on the quality of its products to satisfy the client’s tastes and preferences. It is working to increase its customer base in London and other cities to increase its profitability.
Challenges
The business is faced by the widespread culture of counterfeit goods that are being experienced in the UK markets. The prevailing laws and regulation on alcohol use and consumption is a challenge to the success of the business. The opening hours are limited and regulated by the state. Customer conduct at the premises is wanting. Violent behaviors and burglary are common vices in the business dragging the business expansion and growth programs. Damages and losses are prevalent from the business as a result of drunk customers.
Task 8: Identify two businesses that are actively engaged in corporate entrepreneurship. Compare and contrast the entrepreneurial cultures in each. What similarities and differences can be observed?
Tesco and Wal-Mart Supermarkets
The two biggest supermarkets are actively engaged in corporate entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom. Corporate entrepreneurship is an essential component to the survival of business in the constantly changing world. Risk taking and sound management policies provide a complete perquisite o business expansion and market competitiveness. Both are enterprises provide both retail and wholesale outlets in the countries and cities where they exist. Both companies have unique leadership structures that have been key to their success. Both companies are innovative in their marketing and advertisement strategy which helps them reach a wide range of customers across the world. The use of modern technology in their organizational structures has enabled their growth and continued survival in the market.
Both business entities have proactive management personalities that are capable of influencing the prevailing marketing environment to drive changes in the management function. The management has continuously engaged in adopting and coping with the changing business environment across different states and cultures.