Managing Entrepreneur Growth - Essay Example

Managing Entrepreneur Growth Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts (May 19, The current age has been marked as the age of technology, innovation, resilience and globalization. The businesses are growing and moving ahead for further advancements and progress. They are shifting towards more strategically designed short and long term plans. However, with so much of modernization taking place every other day, it is definite that the act of taking risk and the cost of risk has also been experiencing an upward shift. Thus, the responsibility of entrepreneurs is increasing. Entrepreneurs The term ‘entrepreneur’ is escorted with elements such as responsibility, capability and management. Precisely defining, it refers to a person who bears the possession or owns any idea or a venture and thus, is also liable for the results and risks involved in such custody. Richard Cantillon, an Irish-French economist, first defined entrepreneur as a ‘risk taker and a contractor who is supposed to be acting as a middleman or a connection between labor and capital”. Along with being innovative, an entrepreneur also possesses essential innate traits such as extroversion, efficiency, creativity and productivity1. Managing the entrepreneurial growth is the pre requisite of the management of any business which is pushing its way through a tough competition in the markets. Thus, according to the article, the provision of Lebanese Sweets requires a rigid entrepreneurship and management. It is observed in the case that the companies which are limited and smaller in scope, such as Swan Sweet, need to remain innovative through the constant development of novel and creative products. This creates the need for value innovation which is attained through the entrepreneur’s efforts of delivering superior services to the company’s customers. As far as the Swan Sweet is concerned, it creates a good purchase experience for the customer which lets it add to the superior customer value being delivered. Besides the promotion of creativity and innovation, the entrepreneur also has to manage their growth through the successful expansion of their businesses. Swan Sweet has also moved and expanded itself geographically but it is for the entrepreneur to think whether the small company should make further expansion moves internationally or not. Some commentators and management experts are of the opinion that those small scale enterprises, which take quick expansionary moves, are more prone to the riskiness of innovativeness and attitude for the reason that their revenue generation might not be able to match the cost that is being put in. Moreover, the good entrepreneurs make us of every available opportunity to advertise, even if it is through considering the students as their agents and getting the benefit of word of mouth advertisement2. Then, the entrepreneurs are also charged with the responsibility to hunt for new opportunities and avail them in time through their proactive behavior. Further studies suggest that the entrepreneurs need to be team-oriented, charismatic and value-based leaders, when it comes to managing any small or large organization in cross-cultural construct3. However, this also depends on the type and nature of society in which the organization is operating. But, it is the management, diversification and the intellectual capabilities of the entrepreneur which account for the success factor of his growth. The Interviewed Entrepreneur The interviewed entrepreneur, Raif, gave confident opinions and answers in order to confirm the theory. According to the theory of entrepreneurial growth, he gave the idea of being a good entrepreneur and a democratic leader. This has been indicated in the interview by the fact that he runs the family business by involving everyone into it and obtaining the clients’ feedback. He encourages his stakeholders to participate in the decision making process of the company, as a result of which, the customers, along with providing the feedbacks, also give their suggestions as to what the new product should be like. This helps the entrepreneur manage the creativity and innovation in the product and services being provided. This also confirms to the theory of entrepreneur being creative which has been discussed above. Moreover, Raif also says that his business is trying to compete with the rivals and bringing a new product every year and considers baklava to be more profitable and calls it ‘gold line’. Thus, he is fully aware of the strengths of his business and is a challenging risk taker, ready to take risk in the form of new product every year. The entrepreneur of the Swan Sweets has also confirmed to the theory of being proactive and promoting expansion. He intends to go international and expand his business geographically to as far as Singapore, Malaysia, WA, Lebanon and Melbourne. But this planning for expansion has been done very carefully and he is well aware of all the places around the world which contain his target markets and potential customers. He has all the knowledge of the right places where he can open up his factory, and restaurants. However, just like all other speculative entrepreneurs, he is also waiting for the right time to invest the big amount of capital into expansion and, possibly diversification. When asked, whether Raif believed the students as the organization’s agents, his reply showed that he is a staunch believer of the word-of-mouth advertisement. He gets more business and advertisement assistance through the student segment of the population who behave as agents for the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur also believes the leadership theory of the growth and development. He is of the view that, even if it is a family business, everyone has to play his part as an employee and give the expected output and all efforts. Everybody in the family, or the business, sits together, discusses the strategies, talks, gives opinions and, through a consensus, reaches the final decision. Thus, it confirms to the theory that the leaders in business need to be value-based, considerate, charismatic, transformational and cooperative. The most professional and most difficult part too, is to keep the commercial and domestic activities apart in their respective places when it comes to managing a family business. Over here, Raif manages the fact vary well that family talks should be kept separate from the business. He does so by dividing the business discussions and suggestions in the working hours of 8am to 5 pm. During this time, he holds the meetings; documents them with sophistication, makes plans, strategies, and decisions while making sure that everyone participates with relevant suggestions only. Later, when the working hours are over, the whole family enjoys their family time and no business is talked. Thus, in this way the entire family works, generates revenues and enjoys the family time too. Conclusion The entrepreneurs are responsible for managing the organization with sophistication, charisma and strategy. They need to possess the essential characteristics of innovation, management of expansion, have a value-based and considerate attitude and have bearing of the attitude to do the right thing at the right time in order to achieve the right output through the right decisions4. These elements are the innate features, which a leader has to have in order to steer the organization towards success. The most important factor in managing the entrepreneurial growth is to keep the personal and the professional lives as the separate entities5. The theory discussed in the introduction section talks about all the features of the entrepreneurial growth which are vital to run any enterprise. The interviewed entrepreneur also confirms to the theories of management presented above. The Swan Sweets is a family business which is run by a well-disciplined and organized entrepreneur who works according to the theories of management. He keeps his family and professional workflow in their respective places. Simultaneously, he practices innovation, expansion, creativity, a participative leadership style and work-like balance. The company involves creativity and innovation to a good extent and is moving towards a more process oriented approach with a good and interested customer base. REFERENCES 1. Bartol, K. Tein, M. Matthews, G. Sharma, B. Ritson, P. and B. Scott-Ladd. 2008. Management Foundations. (2nd Ed). Boston, McGraw Hill. 2. Collins, F. 2010. International students as urban agents: International education and urban transformation in Auckland, New Zealand. Geoforum. 41, 940 – 950. 3. Perks, K. and M. Hughes. 2008. Entrepreneurial decision-making in internationalization: Propositions from mid-size firms. International Business Review. 17, 310 – 330. 4. Matthyssens, P. Vandenbempt, K. and L. Berghman. 2006. Value innovation in business markets: Breaking the industry recipe. Industrial Marketing Management. 35, 751 – 761. 5. Drucker, P. F. 1993. Innovation and entrepreneurialship. New York: HarperPerennial. Read More