ENTREPRENEURSHIP INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
TASK: END OF SEMESTER EXAMINATION
Question 1
A climate that supports intrapreneurship should encourage new ideas. As research and development are the critical sources of new products, such organizations often operate on technology’s frontiers. The entrepreneurial climate supports new work and process ideas.
A significant intrapreneurship climate encourages trial and error and experimentation. It is expected that any new product will require a sufficient amount of trial and error. A new product is rarely a success initially; hence experimentation is encouraged and in the process failures tolerated. The intrapreneurial climate allows mistakes and failures in implementing innovative ideas.
Intrapreneurial climate disregards any pre-conceived initial parameters, as this inhibits creativity for developing new products or processes. Protecting various turfs in an organization may frustrate the potential intrapreneurs to establish new ventures.
An intrapreneurial environment encourages a multi-disciplinary team approach. Cross-functional teams facilitate efforts to integrate activities associated with different organizational functions, such as design, manufacturing, and marketing. Besides, new product development processes can be completed more quickly, and the products are more easily commercialized when cross-functional teams work effectively.
Intrapreneurship emerges through a self-selection process. Intrapreneurship allows intrapreneurs to have the latitude to carry a project through its completion. Instead of delegating responsibility to different specialists for different stages of a product, an intrapreneur who has fallen in love with his newly created internal venture is, supported by the multi-disciplinary team of specialists, and allowed to carry on with the project.
Intrapreneurship climate should have a reward system that is different from the traditional approach. It should be one that explicitly supports innovation. Intrapreneurs need to be appropriately rewarded for their extra effort and risk-taking in setting up new ventures. The reward should be based expressly on achieving pre-determined goals.
Question 2
During the decline stage of an organization’s life cycle, a decline in the market share occurs. During this final phase of the product life cycle, a product’s market will start to decline. Consumers will typically stop buying this product in favor of something newer and better. Additionally, there is generally not much a manufacturer will be able to do to prevent this.
Falling sales and profits is a challenge faced by businesses during the decline stage. As a result of the declining market, sales will start to fall, and the overall profit available to the manufacturers in the market will begin to decrease. One way for companies to slow this fall in sales and profits is to increase their market share, which, while challenging enough during the maturity stage of the cycle, can be even more challenging when a market is in decline.
Product withdrawal a significant challenge for businesses during the decline stage. Ultimately, it could get to a point where they are no longer making a profit from their product for a lot of manufacturers. As there may be no way to reverse this decline, the only option many businesses will have is to withdraw their product before it starts to lose them money.
Growing businesses face a range of challenges. As a business grows, different problems and opportunities demand other solutions since what worked a year ago might now be not the best approach. All too often, avoidable mistakes turn what could have been a great business into a low investment option.
Keeping up with the market is a viable solution for the challenges facing businesses during the decline stage. Market research is not something one does as a one-off when launching a business. Business conditions change continually, so the market research should be continuous as well. Otherwise, one runs the risk of making business decisions based on out-of-date information, leading to business failure.
Planning offers solutions for the challenges for businesses during the decline stage. The plan that made sense a year ago is not necessarily right for now. Market conditions continually change, so one needs to revisit and update a business plan regularly. As a business grows, the strategy needs to evolve to suit the changed circumstances. For example, the focus is likely to change from winning new customers to building profitable relationships and maximizing growth with existing customers. Existing business relationships often have more significant profit potential and can also provide reliable cash flow. Newer relationships may increase turnover, but the profit margins may be lower, which may not be sustainable.
Reasonable cash flow control is vital for any business. For a growing business, it is crucial. Cash constraints can be the most significant factor limiting growth, and overtrading can be fatal. Making the best use of finances should be a key element in business planning and assessing new opportunities. With limited resources, one may need to pass up promising opportunities if pursuing them would mean starving the core business of essential funding. Every element of working capital should be carefully controlled to maximize cash flow. Effective credit management and tight control of overdue debts are imperative.
Welcoming change aids companies to thrive during the decline stage. Complacency can be a significant threat to a growing business. Assuming that a business will continue to be successful only because it has been in the past is very unwise. Regularly revisiting and updating the business plan can help remind one of the changing market conditions and respond to them. An up-to-date plan enables you to identify what action you need to take to change the business and the way it operates—for example, switching to suppliers who can grow with a company and meet its new priorities, renegotiating contracts to take account of increased volume and training employees on recent trends.
Question 3
Women entrepreneurs can overcome challenges by getting comfortable with risk. When a woman starts a business, it is often the first time in her life that she is completely banking on herself. Women usually fall into one of two camps, some dip their feet in the water and get in slowly, while others dive in headfirst after having an idea. Women who fall in the first camp will have trouble getting themselves going, take some time to figure out why. Other women find jumping all the way, and it is necessary to get started. That may mean telling others what you are doing so they can hold you accountable or amass a start-up slush fund for your business. If you can meet with women who have taken this path before you, they might be able to give direction and counsel on which risks make sense.
Women entrepreneurs can deal with business challenges by setting the bar high. From experience, many women underestimate what they can accomplish. Sometimes, women create interesting businesses without realizing how successful their companies have the potential to be. Many women start businesses in the hobby mindset, meaning they are looking to avoid risk and make extra money. If one has got bigger dreams, it is a good idea to create personalized long-term goals for oneself, then reverse-engineer them to figure out what one can do to get there. Steadily check off benchmarks on the way to achieve goals while doing the best to build on strengths, and surround oneself with supportive women who want to see one succeeding.
Surrounding oneself with the right people is a solution for the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. Having a supportive community can also be a vital tool for building your business, especially when it comes to talking openly about money. One may want to round up a sponsor or a mentor. Mentors to the women entrepreneurs may offer their mentees advice, whereas the sponsors would advocate for the women entrepreneurs’ needs, even in their absence. People surrounding women entrepreneurs would help them get to the next step in their goals.
Having a clear vision is a solution to the challenge of securing funding for businesses owned by women entrepreneurs. The women entrepreneurs should be able to describe their vision and mission, long term and short term plans, and how their business would impact on the industry. The women should be affirmative in their beliefs about themselves and potential results. The women entrepreneurs should have a rock-solid grasp of numbers. They should not just aim to memorize the projections, but also to fully understand the concepts.