Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management - Example

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management Name Date Course Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management Introduction Entrepreneurship is increasingly becoming popular in the world due to the benefits associated with it. Most of the people with specific skills and knowledge are increasingly opting for entrepreneurship. This is aimed at ensuring that they exploit their knowledge and in the end commercialize their innovations. Entrepreneurship has undergone considerable changes due to various factors including technology (Chiayu, et al, 2013). Entrepreneurship plays an important role in ensuring that the people are able to gain freedom from being employees to be employers. This is because the entrepreneurs are usually their own bosses. Entrepreneurship is useful in terms of building the economy because it employs more people and the authorities also benefit from the taxes that are usually paid by the entrepreneurs. The paper is a report based on an interview that was carried out with an entrepreneur in the field of telecommunication. Literature Review According to Behal et al. (2013), an entrepreneur is someone who commercializes on their innovations. Most of the people create a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to identifying who an entrepreneur is. The term entrepreneur has at times been used when describing businessmen. However, an entrepreneur has to come up with an innovation or a unique idea and commercialize on it. This is unlike the business people who may capitalize on an opportunity but with no innovation or unique ideas. The entrepreneurs in the modern times may be faced with some challenges that are likely to hinder their potential. It is for this reason that most innovators are unable to commercialize their ideas and hence limiting their abilities to become entrepreneurs. It is also important for entrepreneurs to ensure that they have a patent for their innovations for the purposes of legal protection. A patent is important in terms of preventing infringements that have negative impacts on the innovations. In most cases, entrepreneurship is quite profitable due to the uniqueness of the idea. It is for this reason that most of the entrepreneurs are successful in terms of financial stability. However, it is also important to note that entrepreneurship has a certain cycle and the entrepreneur may not benefit from the innovation for a long period of time. This is because a new idea may come up and hence outdoing the existing entrepreneurship idea. An entrepreneur should thus be prepared for decline stage when the idea will no longer be profitable. Methodology The interview was conducted through the telephone with the entrepreneur. This method was selected since the entrepreneur was on international duty and is not based in the country making it impossible to carry out a face to face interview. The interview questions were well structured for the purposes of obtaining all the required information. High standards of ethics were also observed during the process of carrying out the interview and the main purposes were to ensure that the information obtained was accurate. The interview lasted for about one hour and all the information required was obtained. The use of the telephone interview was also convenient in terms of saving costs. Findings The interviewee is an entrepreneur since he was able to come up with a smartwatch that is able to monitor the location of individuals and at the same time act as a mobile phone for phone call services. This gadget was the first of its kind and it had never been innovated. The entrepreneur was able to commercialize on this innovation by ensuring that it is produced in large numbers and sold in both the local and international market. The interviewee is thus an entrepreneur since he was able to come up with the innovative idea and commercialize on it. The product is currently doing well in the market and it is making colossal profits. Various factors contributed to the success of the entrepreneur. The uniqueness of the idea was inspirational to the people and hence contributing to the purchase of the products in large numbers. The entrepreneur was also knowledgeable in the field of business and hence impacting positively on his ability to commercialize the innovation. The knowledge in business management was also useful in terms of transforming the innovation into a business idea. It is also important to note that the business and technological background played a significant role in contributing towards the success of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur was also successful due to his good leadership skills. This is because the enterprise required a lot of management skills. The entrepreneur was able to recruit an innovative and dynamic workforce. The dynamic workforce significantly ensured that the organization is able to meet its demands in terms of production. High levels of ethics were also maintained by the entrepreneur and this played an essential role in building a good relationship with different stakeholders and hence contributing to the success of the entrepreneur. Despite the success, the entrepreneur was also faced with some challenges. The commercialization of the innovation required a lot of financial resources. This is because it involved various processes and the production also required a lot of financial resources. However, this challenge was overcome after the entrepreneur was able to secure a loan from a financial institution. The entrepreneur also encountered challenges during the process of ensuring that the product is sold in the international market. This challenge was solved after a partnership was made with an international company that deals with distribution of electronic products in the international market. According to the entrepreneur, it is important for the entrepreneur to have business management skills. The business skills are important in terms of ensuring that the innovations can be commercialized and hence leading to the development of the business. The business skills are also useful in terms of ensuring that any business challenge during the commercialization process is solved. Management skills are also required of an entrepreneur according to the interviewee. The management skills are useful in terms of managing the employees and the enterprise as a whole. The management skills are also useful in terms of making important decisions with regards to the operations. Self motivation skills are also required of any entrepreneur. The self motivation skills are for the purposes of overcoming the daily challenges. This is considering that entrepreneurship may at times be tough and frustrating. Setbacks are also common and it may affect the business operations. It is for this reason that self motivation is important for an entrepreneur. Self motivation is also important for the purposes of motivating the employees. Discussion Entrepreneurship is mainly about innovations and commercialization of the innovations. The entrepreneurs can only benefit from their innovations once they put it into business. Entrepreneurship also has challenges just like any other business. The challenges may lead to the failure of the entrepreneurship venture. However, it is also important to note that various factors may contribute to the success of the entrepreneurs. Financial constrains are among the challenges that can affect the commercialization process of the innovative idea. It is also important for the entrepreneurs to have business and managerial skills for the purposes of ensuring that the steering the business process to success. On the other hand, self motivation is also important for the purposes of inspiring an entrepreneur to deal within challenges. Reflection Before the interview, I had little knowledge and understanding of the term entrepreneur and the concepts of entrepreneurship. My understanding of an entrepreneur was a successful businessman. However, after the interview, I have learnt that an entrepreneur is not just a business person. An entrepreneur needs to put an innovative idea into commercialization. I have also learnt that an entrepreneur has to face some challenges during the commercialization of the innovations. The challenges can only be overcome through the efforts of an entrepreneur. Self motivation is also important t for an entrepreneur and this is required by every entrepreneur. On the other hand, I have learnt that a successful entrepreneurship venture is profitable. However, since it is dependant on innovations it may decline at some point after new innovations are made. The information has also enabled me to understand how a personal journey to entrepreneurship can be achieved. I will be required to undergo some training on business management as well as being innovative. A lot of efforts will also be required for the purposes of ensuring that appropriate opportunities are identified. I will also be required to start saving in order to obtain funds for commercializing my innovations. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that an entrepreneur must have an innovative idea that needs to be commercialized. Business skills are also required for the purpose of commercializing the innovative idea. On the other hand, it is evident that ethics as well as self motivation is required of any entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship also has challenges that may impact negatively on the commercialization process. A patent is also important for the purpose of protecting the innovation from any infringement or exploitation by other people. Entrepreneurship is also different from the ordinary business. References Chiayu, T, et al, 2013, “The Role of Entrepreneurial Creativity in Entrepreneurial Processes’, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2. Behal, V, et al, 2013, “Role of Creative management and leadership in entrepreneurship development”, International Journal of Research in Commerce, Economics & Management, Vol. No. 3. Issue No. 1. Appendix Interview questions 1. Who is an entrepreneur in your opinion? 2. What is the difference between an entrepreneur and an ordinary business person? 3. What is innovative product do you produce? 4. What contributed to your success as an entrepreneur? 5. What challenges did you face or have you faced as an entrepreneur? 6. How did you overcome the challenges? 7. What are the most important skills that you think every entrepreneur should have? Read More