Entrepreneurship has become a new trend in the world, and thousands of people every year decide to start new business ventures. It is possible to state that entrepreneurs will be a driving force of the economy in the next decade. Social responsibility is an indispensable part of modern entrepreneurship since people tend to create commercial enterprises with an intention to not only yield profits but also contribute to society. As a result, entrepreneurs strive to develop green businesses which promote environmental awareness and sustainable development.
Establishing a small company which recycles prosthetic limbs and hearing aids is a perfect business opportunity which can both generate stable profits and be eco-conscious. For instance, in the United States alone, every year, approximately three hundred thousand prosthetic limbs are sent to a landfill which negatively impacts the environment (Helliker, 2020). A startup which would recycle used prosthetics can help prevent the abandonment of such devices and their negative effects on nature.
An entrepreneur is a person who is responsible for all aspects concerning their enterprise, especially if it is a startup. The process of the physical establishment of a business is vital since, during it, an entrepreneur must determine the place and the environment in which their company will operate. Thus, the entrepreneur plays an essential role in this process since they have to make a decision which will shape the way their business will provide services (de Beer, 2018). Yet, it is necessary to understand that the decision concerning the physical establishment of a business cannot be made simply based on the entrepreneur’s desire. The entrepreneur has to consider a variety of factors and find a balance between them to ensure a stable revenue and inflow of clients while preventing unnecessary costs.
In the context of a prosthetics-recycling startup, the role of the entrepreneur in solving the issue of where to put their business is particularly important. Essentially, the entrepreneur must decide on the area which would be easily accessible by every stakeholder, including clients and people wanting to donate their used prosthetic limbs and hearing aids. It is clear that the entrepreneur opening a new venture, especially a recycling business, should not rely strictly on their personal judgment must instead invite experts to provide consultation. Entrepreneurs must process information from different external sources and listen to several experts (Ferreira, 2018). The final decision on the placement of the business is the direct responsibility of the entrepreneur.
As mentioned earlier, there must be several factors which an entrepreneur must consider before making a decision on the final location for a new business. The primary factor affecting the decision of the entrepreneur attempting to establish any kind of business is the market. In other words, the entrepreneur must place their business geographically in the area where there is a demand for their products (de Beer, 2018).
Moreover, they must assess the competition and ensure that there is an opportunity in the market. In the case of the current recycling business, the preference should be given to a place where there is a substantial supply of prosthetic limbs and hearing aids. Namely, the entrepreneur must identify an area which would be most convenient for establishing a steady inflow of used prosthetic devices.
Availability of labor is another factor which requires considering when deciding on the place where to establish the business in question. The process of recycling prosthetic limbs and hearing aids implies maintaining a well-trained staff who would be able to handle the tasks given to them. It natural to expect used prosthetic devices to have certain issues, and workers must possess competencies to resolve them.
Thus, the entrepreneur must find a place which would be at least close to a large city where it will be possible to find the necessary number of employees. The startup will hardly be able to afford to train its workers if they did not have any prior experience in the sphere. Therefore, the business must be placed in an area where a large pool of potential candidates will be available.
Infrastructure is also extremely important for the current business since recycling requires considerable resources. The essential resource here is power because the process of recycling will involve the use of electrical appliances (de Beer, 2018). Therefore, the business must be located in a place where it will have direct and stable access to electricity all year long. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, suppliers and people willing to donate their prosthetic devices should be able to easily access the facility. Thus, the business must be located in an area with a reliable transport network, and the cost of transportation also should be taken into account.
The overall business environment is another major factor which every entrepreneur must consider when deciding on the establishment of their business. The entrepreneur must choose the area where the local government does not interfere with the operations of businesses. Essentially, the entrepreneur must ensure that the authorities do not have the capacity to overregulate the sphere. Political stability is a factor which is related to the previous one since countries with unstable political situations tend to be unpredictable.
The entrepreneur must be certain that their business will not be suddenly eligible for nationalization. Moreover, taxes are another factor which directly affects the ability of an entrepreneur to attain success with their venture. The country or area must preferably have taxes which would not prevent the business from operating properly.
The most important factor which cannot be ignored when building a small-scale business is the price of the establishment. Essentially, entrepreneurs usually do not have massive resources and have to manage their available funds carefully to keep their project financially feasible. Thus, the price of the property they plan to rent or buy is extremely important. In the case of the recycling business, the entrepreneur must search the market for the most affordable offers to ensure that it has enough money for other expenses such as salaries.
It is certain that the assessment of all the aforementioned factors for determining the most suitable place for establishing the business should be conducted by an entrepreneur who possesses certain key managerial skills. Entrepreneurs who want to create a small-scale enterprise must be versatile and be knowledgeable about various aspects of their business since they cannot afford hiring expensive experts. Technical skills are particularly important when analyzing the possible places for establishing the company (Botha, 2018). The entrepreneur must be able to observe the cost-benefit principle, meaning that benefit must be greater than expenses for different places (Mubasa & Weitsz, 2018). Moreover, they have to realize how much electricity they will need to power their operations and whether the local power station will provide the appropriate volume.
Interpersonal skills are the second most important ones for entrepreneurs when they are choosing a place to establish their business. The entrepreneur must be able to negotiate a discount and make an offer to the potential seller or landlord, which would not put them at a disadvantage. Additionally, the entrepreneur has to negotiate the shipping of used prosthetic devices and hearing aids with suppliers to ensure that they will be able to deliver them to the business location. Finally, if the entrepreneur decides to build facilities, they will need to be able to receive approval from the local authorities.
During the stage of searching for an appropriate location, the entrepreneur particularly needs to utilize their conceptual skills. Such skills refer to the ability to envision the business as a whole and understand how all of its parts interact with one another (Botha, 2018). The entrepreneur who chooses a place for their enterprise must have a clear picture of how the location will be used for the actual operations. For instance, the entrepreneur has to know how employees will get to work and how suppliers will be able to deliver prosthetic parts. Finally, time-management skills are necessary for the entrepreneur to be able to sign a deal on a good location without any excessive hesitation.
They asked you to talk about entrepreneurship in the context of “green business” with a particular focus on the establishment of a small-scale startup business that focuses on recycling prosthetic limbs and hearing aids that people no longer use/need as this is the type of challenge that can contribute negatively to the environment if not addressed innovatively and is a business opportunity that the bank is considering how to finance and enable.
When approaching the problem of finding a proper location for the business, the entrepreneur must rely on a reliable framework called the rational decision-making model, which will help them attain the best results. The model implies undertaking six important steps which will ultimately allow the entrepreneur to choose the best location. First of all, the entrepreneur needs to clearly set the problem and gain an understanding of what it constitutes. Here, the issue is clear, the entrepreneur requires a location for their new business.
Then, it is essential to determine the criteria and certain objective which will apply to the potential location. Namely, the entrepreneur has to identify all the factors which were described earlier and choose those that are particularly relevant for the project. During the third stage, alternatives have to be generated; in other words, the entrepreneur must make a list of all potential locations.
Naturally, the following step will involve carefully analyzing the chosen options and identify their advantages and disadvantages. In other words, the entrepreneur must check every location against the pre-determined criteria and factors which are essential for the project. Ranging every criterion according to its importance can help eventually choose the final variant if certain options have the same amounts of advantages and disadvantages. After making the decision on the location, the entrepreneur has to implement it by purchasing the area or renting it. The final step concerns conducting an evaluation of the result and assessing whether the decision was actually effective.
Additionally, there is a variety of extra considerations which the entrepreneur has to observe to choose the best possible location for their business. In terms of financial management, the entrepreneur must assess the cost of renting or purchasing the premises or land for the business. Potential utility bills also must be calculated, as well as various taxes, including local ones, which may not often be clear. It is possible that if the entrepreneur decides to stay in South Africa, they will need to ship in prosthetic limbs and hearing aids from foreign countries. In this case, the cost of transportation must be measured for each location to ensure that it will not get the company bankrupt.
From the perspective of marketing, the entrepreneur must choose a location which can be accessed by potential clients. In terms of public relations, the location should not have any restrictions for the press in order to allow media to access the premises (Tshabalala, 2018). Therefore, the business has to be placed in the city, yet such a factor may also be unsubstantial if the entrepreneur decides to sell products abroad.
The clients of the business will include people mainly from less advanced countries who cannot afford to buy new prosthetic limbs or hearing aids. Essentially, the company will be able to restore the old and used prosthetic parts, recycle them, and deliver them to new owners at a lower cost, thus espousing the price positioning strategy (Cant, 2018). Thus, the socioeconomic role of the company is twofold, namely, preventing unnecessary pollution of the environment and provision of prosthetic parts to poorer people.
To conclude, the recycling enterprise which aims at refurbishing used prosthetic devices and hearing aids in order to reduce environmental pollution is a business project which can be both profitable and eco-friendly. The entrepreneur, when choosing where to establish the business, must take into consideration a variety of factors to make the best decision. Thus, entrepreneurship implies possessing analytical, interpersonal, and strategic competencies, especially when creating a green startup.
References
Botha, T. (2018). General management. In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 30-75). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
Cant, M. (2018). Marketing management. In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 181-207). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
de Beer, A. (2018). What is business management? In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 1-29). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
Ferreira, E. (2018). Information management. In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 159-180). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
Helliker, K. (2020). Waste that costs an arm and a leg. Brunswick. Web.
Mubasa, D., & Weitsz, H. (2018). Financial management. In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 76-102). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
Tshabalala, D. (2018). Public relations. In Nel, J., & A. de Beer (Eds.), Business management: A contemporary approach (3rd ed, pp. 181-207). Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.