Self-Help Guide for Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

A Self-Help Guide for Entrepreneurship Prepared by: Contents Executive Summary 3 Executive Summary 3 The Business 3 The Business 3 The Market 3 The Market 3 The Future 4 The Future 4 The Finances 4 The Finances 4 The Business 5 The Business 5 Business Details 5 Business Details 5 Registration details 5 Registration details 5 Business premises 5 Business premises 5 Organisation chart 5 Organisation chart 5 Management & ownership 6 Management & ownership 6 Key personnel 6 Key personnel 6 Products/services 6 Products/services 6 Innovation 6 Innovation 6 Insurance 7 Insurance 7 Risk management 7 Risk management 7 Legal considerations 7 Legal considerations 7 Operations 7 Operations 7 Sustainability plan 8 Sustainability plan 8 The Market 8 The Market 8 Market research 8 Market research 8 Market targets 9 Market targets 9 Environmental/industry analysis 9 Environmental/industry analysis 9 Your customers 9 Your customers 9 S.W.O.T. analysis 9 S.W.O.T. analysis 9 Your competitors 9 Your competitors 9 Advertising & Sales 10 Advertising & Sales 10 The Future 10 The Future 10 The Finances 10 The Finances 10 Questions Answered 10 Questions Answered 10 References 11 References 11 Executive Summary The Business The important details for the business are important. Factors such as the location of the business and the business name should be documented including the date the business was established. The presentation of business names and the position of individuals within the business are crucial to the success of the business. Identification of the products and services and relevance of business owners to running the business is also important. Therefore, numerous business and entrepreneurs capability to the success of the business. The Market Identification of the target market enables employing appropriate customer segmentation strategies. In addition, the target market benefits from effective marketing strategy. Hence, the target market and marketing strategy should complement each other in engaging the customers. The Future Any strategic decision and approach to the business is important, and the information should be presented on the vision and mission statement. The vision and mission incorporation of the objectives and goals is integral to the success of decision making processes and highlighting the future of the organisation/business. The Finances Financial documentation and determining the source of finances to support the business is important. Therefore, an entrepreneur should determine the source of the finances, finance the business, and manage the financial obligations. The Business Business Details For an entrepreneur, the first step in starting a business is determining the product and service. The product or service defines the strategies employed in engaging with the customers. In addition, the entrepreneur has to anticipate demand for the product and services (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). Without anticipation, it becomes a challenge to estimate consumption of the product or service by the customers. Registration details Before starting a business, an entrepreneur has to appreciate the requirements of legislation and legal directive. It includes determination of the nature of the product and service and requirements within the state or territory (Hakala, 2011). Registration of the business is one thing and giving the business a name is another thing. However, an entrepreneur has to ensure the business is registered appropriately. The registration includes seeking for appropriate licences and permits, registration for tax purposes and determination of business structure. Business premises The location of the business may determine the success of the business. The business location should be viewed regarding the size of the space, important landmark areas, transportation and even the amount of space occupied (Hakala, 2011). In addition, the strategy of acquiring the space should be understood such as whether purchasing or leasing the premise. In leasing or purchasing, the documentation is important and also ensuring the legal requirements are addressed. Organisation chart Depending on the type and nature of business, different people are required to operate the business. For example, a restaurant business may require an accountant, waiter, chef, manager, and marketing officer. These different individuals have to be arranged regarding responsibility and roles, and hierarchy of authority (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). The organisation chart is used to highlight the structure and define the hierarchy of authority in any business. Management & ownership The management and ownership of the business are important, and the names of the owners of the business have to be documented. The details of management and ownership in terms which will lead the business and define the percentage of share if the business is in terms of partnership or company. The experience of the business owners has to be documented, which includes attaching a resume to highlight the accomplishment of business owners (Onetti et al. 2012). The fact is the success of any entrepreneurship depends on experiences and the continuous access to knowledge and improvement on skills. Key personnel The staffs are important to the success of the entrepreneurship requirements. Documentation of the current staff through identifying the job position, the name, the strengths, and weakness of the different staff members. Identification of recruitment options is important and determining avenues of improving the capacities of the employees and staff through training programs should be incorporated into the operation of the business (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). Therefore, numerous human resource management requirements and development should be incorporated in operating the business. The program should also target skill retention through employing motivation, engagement, and compensation strategies based on the engagement with the staff members. Products/services Determination of the products or services is the first step in selling the products to the customer. The pricing is also important because numerous pricing strategies including penetrating strategies exist and an entrepreneur has to determine the appropriate pricing strategy (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). Other factors that an entrepreneur has to include the growth potential, value to the customer, anticipated demand, unique selling position and market position (Onetti et al. 2012). Appreciating these different factors enables appropriate positioning of the product or services based on the needs and requirements of the customers (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). Innovation The nature of the product or service defines the continuous development and innovation. For example, the aim of research and development is to continue to improve the product and service, which results in improving the value of the product (Onetti et al. 2012). The service or product may also require investment on intellectual property requirements. It includes listing the patents, trademarks and other features that differentiate the product from other products or services. However, innovation is integral to sustaining the requirements of the customers and also in creating competitive advantage. Insurance In operating a business, insurance is important, and the insurance should target the factors affecting the business. The insurance should cover threats and risks to the employees and the business (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). The insurance that a business can take to cover the business operations include business revenue, business assets, product liability, professional indemnity, public liability insurance and workers compensation. Other forms of insurance can be taken based on risk assessment of the business. Risk management Risks are inherent in any business and risk management is aimed at identifying the risk, the likelihood of the risk, the impact of the risk and strategy to address the risk (Hakala, 2011). Identification of the risks also enables the management to take prevention strategies and business continuity measures (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). For example, insurance can be used to address some risks while the provision of protective equipment is another strategy to address the problem (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). Frequent risk management is also important to update the nature and level of the risk and determine the strategy to address the problem. Legal considerations Legal considerations are crucial in operating the business (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). Different businesses have different permits and legislations requirements, and understanding these legal considerations about the nature of the business is crucial in operating the business. Operations In operations, numerous processes have to be understood and integrated into running the business. It includes production prices, such as producing food in the restaurant business or developing the algorithm if it is software (Hakala, 2011). The production process cannot be successful without suppliers who supply the ingredients and plant or equipment to support the production. The plant and equipment should be documented including date of purchase and running cost to ensure all information regarding a plant or equipment is documented (Onetti et al. 2012). In operating the business, stock or inventory is important, and documentation of the stock is important to consider the expiry date including the total cost of the product. The technology is also important in inventory purpose and also technology can be employed based on the nature of the business. For example, different technological components are required in developing programs while packaging can be used to design the package of mobile phones (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). The trading hours and the communication channels should be identified and attached to the nature of the business. The operation should also incorporate quality control requirements in determining the checks and balances in running the business (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). Other factors that have to be considered are the credit policy, payment types accepted, affiliations and memberships, warranties and refunds. An entrepreneur has to appreciate these different processes in running the business. Sustainability plan The world continues to appreciate the importance of environment and continues to develop sustainability programs. The sustainability programs provide measures and strategies, which can be used to protect and preserve the environment (Hakala, 2011). The environmental impact and community engagement are some of the strategies employed in protecting and preserving the environment. The risks on the environment should be documented, and actions plans to address the environment should be integrated into the operations. Conservation and protection of the environment are important, and an entrepreneur should understand the numerous options available. For example, utilisation of natural sunlight is one strategy while the other strategy is recycling and reusing products (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). Any environmental sustainability program should incorporate a defined plan with targets and targeted date. It is ensured at determining the milestones and whether the goals have been achieved (Priem, Li & Carr, 2012). The sustainability plan should be reviewed periodically to incorporate the changing business dynamics, and also to strengthen some sections of the plan. Hence, sustainability plan and strategies are important to the protection of the environment. The Market Market research Before entering any market, market research is important. Some of the strategies that may be used to collect the information from the respondents include questionnaire or survey. The information obtained is then used to draft the strategies of operating the business. Market targets Market targets are also important, and the targets should include sales targets and timeframe of meeting these targets (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). The targets can further be defined in terms of periods and expected targets during the periods. Frequent reviews should be done on the targets to determine whether the strategies proposed and implemented are successful. Environmental/industry analysis Industry analysis is also important in determining the market size and whether the industry is growing or facing challenges (Hakala, 2011). Other factors to be considered include political, economic, social, environmental, legal and technological in determining whether the market is viable and any adjustments integrated to strengthen the industry (Onetti et al. 2012). It is hard to adjust the industry, but the solution is the provision of products and services that address something, which is a miss in the industry. Your customers An entrepreneur aims to engage a customer and without the customer, the aspect of entrepreneurial should not exist. The customer needs and requirements are different but understanding customer behaviour is important to marketing and operation of the business (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). For example, customer demographics, key customers, and customer management are some of the strategies used to engage the customers. Engagement with the customers and encouraging the customers to continue acquiring the products should be included in the entrepreneur strategic perspective. S.W.O.T. analysis Different tools exist that allows analysing of the internal and external business environment. SWOT analysis is used to determine the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the business. The business should capitalise on the strengths and opportunities in improving the business offering while negating the weakness and threats through incorporating strategies to addresses these problems. Your competitors In any business environment, competition is unavoidable, and the solution is to implement strategies that counter the competitors’ competitive strategies. An entrepreneur should document the competitors and determine the strengths and weaknesses of these competitors. Other factors that have to be considered include the size of the competitors, the value to customers and the market share of the competitors. An entrepreneur then develops the product or service to have better value or uniqueness compared with competitors’ products and services. Advertising & Sales Customers have to be engaged and told about the benefits and features of the product and services. The information provision is possible through advertising and promotional strategies. It includes determining the advertising and promotion strategy including the funding requirements and targeted dates the message will be communicated to the customers (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). The media of communication should also be understood, and the media reflects and incorporates the nature of the product. For example, some products are targeted to the rural population and a media channel that access the rural population should be selected. In creating the strategies, the sales and marketing objectives should be integrated into the entire process. In determining the channel, the strengths, and weaknesses of each channel identification are crucial in ensuring effectiveness when it comes to advertising and sales requirements. The Future An entrepreneur understanding of the future of the business is important, and incorporation of these views in the strategic objectives of the business is important (Levie & Lichtenstein, 2010). For example, the vision and mission statement defines the future of the business and provides the backbone of determining the strategic perspective. The future also incorporates the goals and action plan to ensure the aims of the business are achieved. The Finances Thinking of starting a business is one thing but seeking the financial requirement is another thing. An entrepreneur is supposed to determine the funding source and allocate the funds based on the nature of the business (Levie & Lichtenstein, 2010). Each step of business operation needs financial support and utilisation of tools such as cash flow, balance sheet, break-even analysis can improve the understanding of the financial matters. If the finances were sourced from loans, the interest and payment schedule is supported to be factored into the operational requirements. Hence, numerous factors have to be considered and factored in fulfilling the financial requirements of an establishment. Questions Answered 1. The nature of entrepreneurship and its role in business Entrepreneurship should be able to utilise numerous approaches including understanding the risk and creativity in advancing the entrepreneurial requirements (Hakala, 2011). The nature of entrepreneurship is to query the different processes and incorporate measures to improve the business objectives and processes. 2. Identify and describe the important elements in formulating and evaluating an entrepreneurial business plan for a start-up organisation or a new project in an established organisation, Entrepreneurship should capitalise on the business plan in determining the direction of the business. It includes understanding the source of funds and utilisation of the funds (Levie & Lichtenstein, 2010). The financial management and marketing strategies should be incorporated into the different phases and stages. 3. Identify and describe the important elements of managing rapid growth and overcoming obstacles in an entrepreneurial environment. The entrepreneurial environment is faced with different challenges, and the common ones are overcoming obstacles and managing rapid growth. Researching and collecting information from different stakeholders enables identification of problems, and creates strategies to address the problem in advancing (Kraus, Kauranen & Henning, 2011). Hence, continuous creativity, research, and development are integral to addressing numerous entrepreneurial environment requirements. 4. Identify and describe significant sources of information and assistance including the entrepreneurs and significant entrepreneurial events over the last fifty years. The sources of information are numerous including publically available information from the media and government institutions (Onetti et al. 2012). An entrepreneur may also use internal information and data to be informed on making future decisions. For example, the amount of sales can be used to determine the marketing strategy. References Hakala, H. (2011). Strategic orientations in management literature: three approaches to understanding the interaction between market, technology, entrepreneurial and learning orientations. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13(2), 199-217. Kraus, S., Kauranen, I., & Henning Reschke, C. (2011). Identification of domains for a new conceptual model of strategic entrepreneurship using the configuration approach. Management Research Review, 34(1), 58-74. Levie, J., & Lichtenstein, B. B. (2010). A terminal assessment of stages theory: Introducing a dynamic states approach to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(2), 317-350. Onetti, A., Zucchella, A., Jones, M. V., & McDougall-Covin, P. P. (2012). Internationalization, innovation and entrepreneurship: business models for new technology-based firms. Journal of Management & Governance, 16(3), 337-368. Priem, R. L., Li, S., & Carr, J. C. (2012). Insights and new directions from demand-side approaches to technology innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management research. Journal of Management, 38(1), 346-374. Read More