12 Pages
3004 Words
Introduction: From Social Impact to Corporate Innovation
Entrepreneurs are business owners who provide new and innovative product in the market. They introduce new products in country after doing analysis of current market need and demand. Entrepreneurs are necessary for the development of country's economy as it promotes export within different countries in the world. This reflective diary provides detail study on different types of entrepreneurs along with the various reasons through which they have become successful. These diaries will also discuss on ethnic minority business and its features. Gibbs' model of reflection will be used to describe my learning from evaluating different types of entrepreneur.
Main Body: Exploring Entrepreneurial Journeys, Business Strategies, and Success Stories
Task 1: Inspiring Entrepreneurs and Their Impact
Identify two entrepreneurs that inspire you, at least one of which is a social entrepreneur, and explain why they inspire you. It could be someone famous or part of your personal network or community. Describe what they do and what makes each of them successful
Ann cotton and Jamie Oliver are the two social reformers in UK who inspire me with their dedication toward social welfare in UK. Ann Lesley cotton is an entrepreneur who focuses towards providing education to young women in Africa (Moro et al, 2023). She launches the brand Camfed which aim at removing poverty in country by developing new education opportunity for children. Ann was curious towards identifying reasons of reducing the number of girls in school. She estimated that biasness by parents is the crucial reason but after conducting research she identified that poverty was main reason behind the same. She was focused toward providing education to girl by raising fund from different organization (Melin and Gaddefors, 2023). At initial level she raise fund from grassroots funding and provide its benefit to 32 girls. It works on the policy that each alumnus will provide service to next 2-3 girls and the process will continue. This was best strategy which was used by Ann which helps in becoming a successful social entrepreneur. Ann cotton inspires me with her commitment and hard work towards reducing poverty by providing educational opportunities.
Jamie Oliver was aiming at providing healthy and nutritious food to school children. He initiated the campaign d “Feed Me Better'' which was aiming towards creating awareness within children for healthier food and impact of junk food on their health. This campaign further moves on with removing American dependence on junk food and introduces them with healthier food (Dyson et al, 2020). In 2019, his various other businesses were shut down because of administration issues but he never set back and tries harder for coming out of such situation. His positive mindset and assiduity were the qualities which inspire me the most.
Task 2: Interviewing a Female Small Business Owner's Journey
Identify and ‘contact' (i.e., informally interview – online or in-person) 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
There is increase in the number of women entrepreneur in UK which amounted to 32.7% in the previous year. Roni Bandong is the founder of RoniB's kitchen which aims at promoting new cuisine in UK. It was established in 2017 and having a net worth of 1298 pound. Journey was started in 2002 when Roni decided to settle in UK where she misses the taste of Filipino style cuisine. In 2016, she determined that people in UK are not aware regarding the taste of Filipino cuisine which seems as great opportunity for Roni. She was focus on introducing the ingredients which can be used in preparing Filipino cuisine (Rovelli et al, 2022). There were many challenges in the path of success but she focused on identifying solution for overcoming them. Thus, she decided upon sources from where ingredients could be procure, determine packaging, pricing, promotion and need to identify all licensing process.
For identifying solution she focuses on consulting with expert, conducting various researches and identifying business groups where experience of other entrepreneur could be gained (Somashekhar, 2019). For expansion, company could focuses on starting their own channel which involve sharing authentic recipe for preparing cuisine. This will help in gaining more customers and leads to improve profitability. From the story of Roni I have understood that opportunities can be identified if the problem is faced by oneself. My understanding regarding the importance of research has been enhanced as all the challenges were resolved by conducting continuous research.
Task 3: Analyzing Ethnic Minority Businesses in the UK
Identify and very briefly describe an ethnic minority business (EMB). Discuss whether or not the business possesses some of the traditional features of EMBs highlighted during our sessions, according to the concepts and readings discussed
Ethnic minority business involves establishing an organization by all the ethnic group of UK except the White British group. It has been forecasted that the ethnic population in UK is going too doubled in upcoming year which lead to importance of EMB in economy (Ethnic Minority business in UK, 2022). In UK there are 250 thousand EMB exist in country which add to 25 million pound in country's economy. This type of businesses is mainly working in underprivileged areas in UK and working in field of retailing, clothing and catering. The biggest issue which EMB faced is unavailability of appropriate sources for raising funds. For example: small retail and catering business in UK are unable to take loan from the banks for initial funding as banks required collateral for providing loan which are not available with them. This made them to reliable on informal sources of finance which incur high interest rate. Small businesses are not able to hire employees because it will increase their cost so family members are usually involve in such business.
Task 4: Evolution and Success of Aldi as a Family Business
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
In UK, Family businesses are most common form of business which has been operated in country. It has been identified that almost 4.8 million family businesses are currently working in UK which contributes 575 billion pound toward an economy. Aldi is the retail organization in UK which has been started by two brothers Theo and Karl Albrecht in 1990 at Birmingham. The chain was started with taking over their mother's business in 1946 and establishes the supermarket in 1990. In 2010, Karl Albrecht dies and his son took over business and currently 100% of operational rights are preserved with family members (Berrone et al, 2020). The main focus of the brothers was to provide goods at minimum prices for which they aim at reducing cost. They focus on conducting research to identify goods which are less in demand and introduce new products according to needs of customers. The company split into two when the conflict regarding the sale of cigarettes was arises between them. Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud were two different companies's established, among which Aldi Nord was successful and suppress Aldi Sud to form Aldi.
Aldi has been running successful form years as they emphasis on procuring goods directly from the manufactures. This help in reducing the cost and creating competitive edge in the industry. Aldi has focused on keeping standardization in all the stores which help the customers in improving their experience regarding shopping. From the evaluation of Aldi I have identified that family owned business provides high amount of security regarding its stability. It is because there is high amount of commitment and accountability of owner and this type of business establish strong relationship with costumers.
Task 5: Evaluating a Personal Budgeting Business Idea
Focusing on one of the business ideas that you came up with during class or your own business idea, discuss what business opportunity it fulfils and whether and why/why not it is feasible in the real world (based on your preliminary research)
By conducting research regarding existing issues in UK, I have identified that 45% of total population lack the knowledge and skills regarding personal budgeting and money management. After analyzing the scenarios I have determine to establish organization which will help in effective management of money. This will includes establishing apps which provides various templates for managing personal budgets and aim at providing checklist for costumers. This will help in effectively managing their money and help in increases their saving. There are various apps already existing in the industry which can help in effective managing but this new app will focus on creating the appropriate budget and determine exact amount which they could spend (Lazar et al, 2020). Through this organization we will also focus towards creating awareness regarding importance of effective money management in individual life. For additional income I will also focus on providing services regarding evaluating their existing financial strategy and identifying whether they are on track or not. After conducting research I have identifying that existing business plan is feasible in current scenario as it has estimated that wealth Management market in UK is estimated to grow by 5.50% in the upcoming year. There is high need for these services as people focus toward investing and using their income in way which will help in development in future.
Task 6: Analyzing the Success of NotOnTheHighStreet.com's Founders
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)
Holly tucker and Sophie Cornish are two entrepreneurs who together launches NotOnTheHighStreet.com which aim at providing platform to offers handicraft of various smaller business in UK (Cardella, Hernández-Sánchez and Sánchez-García, 2020). Company involves providing gift material and handcrafted from more than 5000 small businesses in country. It has been establish in 2006 and currently it has net worth of £4 million. The company is online retail store which provides more than 2lakh products and has the team of over 200 employees. Company is currently having sales of 100m and having annual profit of £1.7 million. Firm charges an upfront fee of 199 pound form each producer and charges 25% commission on each sale. This is the sources of income for the firm and the used to cover all its cost (Kreiser et al, 2021). It was holly trucker's idea to set up businesses which could help in providing gifts and promoting handicraft of small business organization. She joined with Sophie Cornish as she has plenty of knowledge and experiences in working of organization which will help in setting up of successful enterprises. They both shares equal amount of profit and risk involves in the business.
Task 7: Interviewing a Small Business Owner on Growth Plans
Identify and ‘contact' (i.e. informally interview – online or in-person) a small business owner and discuss with them business growth – e.g., whether or not they have grown the business, if they have plans to grow and why/why not, and how they plan to grow if at all. Discuss what form business growth has taken in the past and what barriers, if any, they have experienced or anticipate experiencing in relation to growth
I have conducted the personal interview with the grocery shop owner in my locality. This will help in identify thought process of owner regarding the development and expansion of the business. It will also help in identifying various factors which are hampering the growth of business organization. I have asked them various questions which included their plan for the growth and factors which are restricting them from implementing plan. I have also research upon their past experience from the growth process what challenges they have experiencing in past and how they overcome all those challenges. From interview I have identified that owner is planning to expand its operation on online platform which will help in attracting more customer and help in enhancing areas of operation.
They are focusing towards achieving this as it will help in enhance their profitability and ensure long term stability in market. This requires investment of high cost by business organization to be available on online platform. By moving to online platform they need to make availability of adequate facilities regarding delivery of products to customer which will also incur high investment. Owner has shared their past experience which was aiming at product development strategy in which they aim at introducing kitchenware in the business for the existing customer. The company faced challenges in gaining costumer confidence in selling new products in their company. Sales of kitchenware were not optimum which leads to closing of the new product line within 6 months.
Task 8: Comparing Entrepreneurial Cultures in Dyson and Virgin
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?
Two organizations are Dyson Vacuum and Virgin group which undertake corporate entrepreneurship process. Dyson was founded by James Dyson and Richard Brandon founded other one. It has been identified that both entrepreneurs started their career with a job and ended up setting up their own successful organization (Entrepreneurial Management within Dyson, 2023). The entrepreneur culture followed in Dyson is to promote the skills of the employees with the organization to invest their time in producing a product which could be beneficial for the company's growth. The company did not place any penalty if the employees fail to meet the requirement as it has been believed that failures lead to generation of new and better ideas which guarantee the success of organization.
In Virgin employees are highly motivated to use their existing skills beyond their role which will help in developing new ideas and innovative products (Martín-Rojas, Garrido-Moreno and García-Morales, 2020). For example: Karen sparrow has joined the company as cabin crew member and shows her interest toward fashion. With her skills she has now working in organization for 30 years and became uniform project manager. Both the company has similarities in their promoting entrepreneurship skills in their organization. In Dyson employees are not allowed to take decision beyond their role where as virgin promote this activity within the firm.
Conclusion
It has been concluded from the report that entrepreneurship plays an important role in development of the country. From the report I have understood that determination and continuous handwork by individual will help in establishing a successful enterprise. It has been identified that social entrepreneur help in resolving various critical issues prevailing in country. Ann cotton work effectively to reduce impact of poverty on girl's education and help in creating opportunity for growth. It has been identified that small business has more scope of growth because of their strong relation with customers.
References
Books and Journals
- Berrone, P., Duran, P., Gómez-Mejía, L., Heugens, P.P., Kostova, T. and van Essen, M., 2020. Impact of informal institutions on the prevalence, strategy, and performance of family firms: A meta-analysis. Journal of International Business Studies, pp.1-25.
- Cardella, G.M., Hernández-Sánchez, B.R. and Sánchez-García, J.C., 2020. Women entrepreneurship: A systematic review to outline the boundaries of scientific literature. Frontiers in psychology, 11, p.1557.
- Dyson, B.J., Musgrave, C., Rowe, C. and Sandhur, R., 2020. Behavioural and neural interactions between objective and subjective performance in a Matching Pennies game. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 147, pp.128-136.
- Kreiser, P.M., Kuratko, D.F., Covin, J.G., Ireland, R.D. and Hornsby, J.S., 2021. Corporate entrepreneurship strategy: extending our knowledge boundaries through configuration theory. Small Business Economics, 56, pp.739-758.
- Lazar, M., Miron-Spektor, E., Agarwal, R., Erez, M., Goldfarb, B. and Chen, G., 2020. Entrepreneurial team formation. Academy of Management Annals, 14(1), pp.29-59.
- Martín-Rojas, R., Garrido-Moreno, A. and García-Morales, V.J., 2020. Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship with the use of social media tools. Journal of Business Research, 112, pp.396-412.
- Melin, E. and Gaddefors, J., 2023. Agency in entrepreneurship: preparing entrepreneurship theory for another view of context. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 29(11), pp.184-205.
- Moro, S., Pires, G., Rita, P., Cortez, P. and Ramos, R.F., 2023. Discovering ethnic minority business research directions using text mining and topic modelling. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, 25(1), pp.83-102..
- Rovelli, P., Ferasso, M., De Massis, A. and Kraus, S., 2022. Thirty years of research in family business journals: Status quo and future directions. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 13(3), p.100422.
- Somashekhar, M., 2019. Neither Here nor There? How the New Geography of Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship Disadvantages African Americans. Social Problems, 66(3), pp.373-391.
Online
- Entrepreneurial Management within Dyson. 2023. [Online] available through:< https://www.agiliantech.com/blog/dyson-case-study/ >
- Ethnic Minority business in UK. 2022. [Online] available through:< https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights/latest-stories/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/2022/may/advancing-the-growth-potential-of-uks-ethnic-minority-businesses.html>
