An entrepreneur is an individual who is in charge of a new business. It is an innovator that enters the market to solve customers’ problems in the form of a new product or service. Moreover, an entrepreneur is a risk-taker who makes decisions regarding the business and employees. The motivation, productivity, and effectiveness of an organization depend on the entrepreneur and his actions. Each entrepreneur is an independent person with an individual vision and values for conducting the business.
There are various entrepreneurship styles and methods that are applied to a business structure. For example, one of the well-known entrepreneurs is Steve Jobs, who led the Apple company to success through creative implementation and proper marketing strategies (Beattie, 2020). Jobs did not invent the computer or software as it was done by his main competitor Gates, but he applied creative marketing strategy to sell the products. This demonstrates that an entrepreneur is not always an innovator but also a problem-solver and creative thinker.
Another example of a successful entrepreneur is Henry Ford, who made cars affordable for the general people. His competitors made a care luxury, while Ford started mass production (Battie, 2020). He knew customers’ needs and solved their problems of transportation. Being aware of trends in a market and knowing customers are critical for an entrepreneur to reach success (Shobhit, 2018). Ford succeed with the application of his knowledge of how customers think, behave and choose. When it comes to the current entrepreneurs, there are Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and other influential figures. Contemporary businessmen are innovators and builders of the new reality. Their products and services impact people’s behavior and even shape countries’ economies and politics.
There are various types of entrepreneurial ventures, including small business entrepreneurship, large company entrepreneurship, scalable start-up entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and other types. Entrepreneurs should know how to lead their entities with regard to the type of business. Each of them has its specific regulations and working principles; however, they are similar at some points. In this section, I will discuss some types of entrepreneurial ventures along with their similarities and differences.
First of all, business structures differ in their scope and size. Small business entrepreneurship is often a short-sized firm with a smaller number of employees and operations (The 9 Different Types of Entrepreneurship). In contrast, large business entrepreneurship or also called corporate entrepreneurship is larger in size not only in employees but in operational and functional aspects. Moreover, such business structures often address large-scale production and make up a great part of the market industry.
Along with this, entrepreneurial ventures also can differ in their goals and mission. For example, social entrepreneurship is in business not for profit but for the impact on the world, whereas other ventures operate to earn material value. Due to their size and scope, business structures also differ in the amount of money they need to function. Small business requires less than a larger one, while scalable venture demands even more capital. One more difference is that the risk for each type of venture is not the same (Entrepreneurs vs. Managers, 2019). Scalable entrepreneurship created by a great number of investments has a high level of risk than other ventures.
Although business structures have more differences than similarities, there are some similar aspects of ventures. To begin with, entities may have similar organization and order. For example, a hierarchical structure is the most common form of an organization (Entrepreneurs vs. Managers, 2019). Additionally, almost all entrepreneurship types have single CEO and different departments. For instance, human resources and finance departments can be found in almost all firms. This is because some operations, such as recruitment of future employees and tax calculations, are necessary to sustain the business structure. One more and the most important similarity is that all ventures want to create value and make a value-deliver concept. By creating value for a product or service, companies increase their sales and obtain profit.
Deborah is an ambitious individual who took the risk and started her business with a small budget. Once she started her own business, she can be called an entrepreneur. However, most people confuse entrepreneurs and managers, considering them to a similar positions in a business structure. So, what are the differences between these two terms? The main difference is that an entrepreneur is an owner or even founder of an organization, whereas a manager is an employee working in that company.
In the organizational hierarchy, an entrepreneur is one step above a manager. Financial risky decisions, success, and failure of the entity are primary responsibilities of an entrepreneur, as he runs the whole business. In contrast, a manager is only accountable for a group of people or for a particular department of the company. Managers should ensure the productive work of their employees and solve operational problems. Moreover, managers work for a salary; thus, they do not need to be risky as entrepreneurs who earn from the enterprise. Nevertheless, entrepreneurial qualities, such as leadership, accountability, responsibility, and other ones are also should be possessed by the manager (Entrepreneurs vs. Managers, 2019). One more difference between entrepreneurs and managers is their objectives and their attitude toward the work. An entrepreneur is concerned about how to start a business and later expand it, while a manager focuses on the daily functioning of the business structure. Despite the different roles in the company, both positions are extremely significant.
A successful entrepreneur is one that has a clear vision of the business, knows the needs of employees, and can accept his failures. Moreover, it is a person that is not biased in making decisions and that always applies reason to his actions (Beattie, 2016). In order to investigate Deborah’s entrepreneurial personality, the “Big-5” model can be applied. The model includes five groupings of personality traits that are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism (Lim, 2020). Deborah was brave enough to open her small business; thereby, it is more likely that she has the openness personality trait.
Individuals with such traits are curious about the world and other people. They are highly creative, focused on solving new problems, and apply abstract reasoning in decision-making processes (Lim, 2020). Deborah seems to be patient about her business idea, as she started thinking about it from an early age. The idea of glass and ceramics also sounds creative and interesting. When it comes to the conscientiousness personality trait, Deborah’s personality is not close to it. This trait is about time management and mindfulness in detail. Deborah did not spend much time planning and organizing her business idea. There is no information about her interactions with other people to further investigate Deborah’s personality traits related to extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. It can be assumed that she is sociable and easy-going due to her major in business at the college. However, it is still not enough to make conclusions about her personality.
Entrepreneurial success can be defined as the fulfillment of goals set by an entrepreneur and the effective functioning of a business. As was mentioned above, an entrepreneur is one who is accountable for the company’s growth. Entrepreneurs should have a set of specific characteristics that lead them to success. According to Beattie (2016), opportunity recognition, self-efficacy, continuous need for achievement, tolerance of risk, and clear learning orientation are characteristics commonly possessed by successful entrepreneurs. As a student majoring in business, Deborah should know entrepreneurial patterns and behaviors.
In most cases, entrepreneurs know what they want and know how to achieve it. However, their needs are almost the same when leading the business structures. Most entrepreneurs went through Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs adjusted under entrepreneurial needs. According to Maslow’s theory, a human being is never satisfied, and the same statement can be applied to an entrepreneur (Maslow’s Hierarchy, n.d.). To reach success in a business, entrepreneurs must fulfill their needs as much as they can.
Physiological needs make up the first step in Maslow’s hierarchy. There are basic needs for human beings to live that include food, clothing, air, and other needs (Maslow’s Hierarchy, n.d.). An entrepreneur is also a man who should meet basic physiological needs to keep his energy and motivation running the business.
The second step consists of the safety and security needs. After satisfying the physiological needs, there are the needs for economic security and protection and from physical dangers (Maslow’s Hierarchy, n.d.). Safety is one of the core elements of the enterprise, and ensuring financial security is the primary responsibility of an entrepreneur.
Following safety and security needs, an individual should fulfill social needs. People tend to interact with others and want to be recognized by them. Likewise, entrepreneurs are determined to be known and be involved in partnerships. They create value not only for their products and services but also for themselves.
The fourth step of Maslow’s Pyramid is esteem needs. The needs comprise the self-esteem and self-respect of an individual. In the case of entrepreneurs, these needs are satisfied when they obtain status, reputation, recognition, and respect of partners along with high profit (Maslow’s Hierarchy, n.d.). The final step of the entrepreneurial needs is self-actualization also called self-fulfillment. When an entrepreneur reaches their goals and success, he or she is self-fulfilled.
Satisfying these needs is critical for an entrepreneur to build a successful business structure. It is evident that entrepreneurial characteristics and entrepreneurial success are tightly linked together. Therefore, Deborah should be aware of her entrepreneurial needs and not take action without proper planning. Her rush decision to launch a business at a young age is impressive, but she requires to analyze her needs and try to set short-term and long-term goals.
After the long discussion of an entrepreneur and entrepreneurial success, it seems that everyone knows what and how to do things to obtain extreme wealth. However, it is not that easy to reach success in conducting the business. An individual can follow all instructions and develop necessary skills but still fail to create value. This is mainly because entrepreneurs do not consider internal and external factors associated with the enterprise. The business that they create is highly sensitive to the changes in the surrounding environment. Starting from a country’s politics to Elon Musk’s Twitter posts can influence the development of a business structure. As such, careful examination of different factors and their potential effects should be done by entrepreneurs if they want greater achievement. In this section, I will provide an analysis of education, financial status, and demographic factors in fostering or hindering entrepreneurial success.
The presence of education is key for the functioning of every venture. Not only entrepreneurs but employees should have the proper education to work in a company. There should be experts that know the market and its needs. Experts assist entrepreneurs in decision-making, suggesting the best option based on their academic and career experience. The research examining the role of education in entrepreneurial success has found that entrepreneurs who started their education in the fields that increase creativity are more successful than others (Vakili et al., 2017). Additionally, busting creativity in early childhood and learning new skills is crucial to reach entrepreneurial success.
Moreover, educated people working in the company are more ethical in the workplace, providing a friendly environment for other employees (Lipset, 2016). For the sake of the business structure, entrepreneurs should provide training for employees to educate them on how to behave with colleagues and develop their skills. As such, education of both entrepreneurs and employees is recommended condition for the enterprise. When it comes to Deborah, she knew her interest in the business from an early age. She also studies at the college, suggesting her proper education. With regard to this, she is on the right track and can be a successful entrepreneur.
In contrast, a lack of education and necessary skills can hinder the growth of the enterprise. An entrepreneur should not spend time informing workers how to do things properly. Likewise, he also should not dedicate his time to learning basic things. For example, not knowing different tools of market analysis, promotion techniques, aspects of partnership agreements, and other operational activities is detrimental to the business. Therefore, education should be considered a necessary prerequisite at the beginning of the venture.
Another factor influencing the development of the enterprise is its financial status. Entrepreneurs can start their business with any budget if only they have a proper financial plan. Analyzing financial operations and detecting flaws in calculations should be done by the auditing team and monitored by an entrepreneur. Without checking the financial status, and entrepreneurs may be fooled by employees. This can hinder the business and even makes it bankrupt. It is stated that “comparability with targeted economic performance and translatability in any other currency, is giving it character as the most important business language” (Andjelic and Vesic, 2017, p.10). Therefore, it is crucial to ask for financial reports on time and be strict with them. A financial statement also helps to determine whether the application of a new method of conducting a business is working or not. Hence, particularly small businesses among all ventures should not neglect financial statements.
Referring to Deborah’s knowledge, it can be assumed that she knows about the financial status of her business. Moreover, launching a business with a small budget suggests her effective financial planning. Thus, Deborah is secure financially to start expanding her business idea. She can find investors, thereby increasing spending on her operational objects or enrolling some people in her team. Nevertheless, there is not enough information on whether she knows how to make financial statements and how to apply them. Therefore, it is recommended that she pays more attention to the financial status of her business.
Another significant factor that influences entrepreneurial success is related to demography. Human capital is a critical aspect of every venture that ensures the productivity and effectiveness of entrepreneurial decisions. Demographic factors are age, gender, cultural background, and other relevant aspects (Nguyen, 2018). The study of Nguyen (2018) on the effects of demographic factors on entrepreneurship demonstrates that gender and cultural background influence the way how employees work and react to assessments. He also reports that gender influences entrepreneurial intention; females are less interested in business than males. In the case of Deborah, it is seen that gender does not correlate with her desire to launch a business.
There is an established stereotype that females cannot lead a business, thereby hindering the entrepreneurial success of women-led companies. Women were not allowed to open their own entities for a long period of time due to political, social, and cultural reasons. Some women still have insecurities about starting their business, while others deal with sexist approaches when conducting the business. Now there are women empowerment programs calling females to engage in business and help them to develop skills necessary to stand against some gender-related problems. Deborah can rely on the organizations and associations that empower women to support her business structure.
Moreover, the cultural background of both entrepreneurs and employees also plays a crucial role in the development of the enterprise. For example, people who were raised with strong entrepreneurship culture demonstrate greater intention to start a business (Adekiya, 2016). This was demonstrated by the study that analyzes the influence of entrepreneurship training programs and cultural orientation on the intention of students to engage in entrepreneurial practices in Nigeria (Adekiya, 2016). As such, it is vital to develop an entrepreneurship culture in the future generation. This can foster competition among entrepreneurs and provide growth for many business structures.
For example, if Deborah sets such a culture in her team, there might be healthy competition and the emergence of new ideas. In addition, eastern and western cultures also influence entrepreneurship. For instance, people from the east are more focused on cooperation and collective work, while western ones are more individualistic and place their preferences first (Huggins and Thompson, 2016). When recruiting future employees, these cultural aspects should be considered and well examined. A human resources team should get the right people that match the company’s culture; otherwise, teamwork will not be effective and hinder the development of the enterprise.
To conclude, an entrepreneur is the one who owns a business, is in charge of every decision, and takes financial risks. Entrepreneurial success primarily depends on an entrepreneur who should have a set of traits necessary for sustaining the business. Despite the personal characteristics of an entrepreneur, external factors, such as education, financial status, gender, and culture, influence the development of a business structure. Careful examination of how these factors may affect the business and prevent their negative side effects are critical aspects of leading the enterprise. Entrepreneurs must be ready to face the challenges and solve them with regard to securing the business.
Reference List
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