ENTERPRISE
Entrepreneur
- Person who spots an opportunity and takes the initiative to set up a business and make money
- Financial risk – if the business fails, they will lose all their money
- Personal risk – if the business fails, they will lose their self-esteem and self- confidence
- e.g Bob Geldof set up his own TV production company, Planet 24, when he was angry with the quality of programmes on TV
Characteristics of entrepreneur
- Pro-active
- Do not sit around waiting for things to happen
- When they think of an idea they take action immediately
- e.g when Mary Ann O’Brien set up Lily O’Brien’s chocolate she persuaded Superquinn to stock them
- Independent
- Like to be in charge and working for themselves
- Prefer to be giving orders rather than taking them
- e.g when Richard Branson was 16 he left school and set up his first successful business
- Confidence
- Believe in themselves and their ideas
- Don’t allow themselves to be put off by what others think
- Believe their business will succeed eventually
- e.g a number of Denis O’Brien’s businesses failed (home shopping channel on sky) but he persevered and he is now a billionaire
- Self-motivated
- Push themselves to achieve their goals
- The drive to succeed comes from within
- e.g Bill Gates never took a day off when he was setting up Microsoft
- Need for achievement
- Burning desire to be successful
- Ambitious and want to get on in life
- e.g Denis O’Brien is one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs with extensive investments
- Risk taker
- Not afraid of taking chances even though they may fail
- They take sensible risks that have good chances of success
- e.g Denis O’Brien was not afraid to take a chance and set up phone companies in the Caribbean and Central America
- Ruthless
- Put their business ahead of everything else
- The business takes priority in all situations
- e.g Simon Cowell, the music entrepreneur sacked Cheryl Cole from American X Factor when the audience reacted negatively
- Creative
- Inventive and good at coming up with new ideas
- Need to think outside the box to be successful and to develop creative products
- Decisive
- Make good decisions firmly and quickly
- e.g when no manufacturers would buy James Dyson’s idea, he decided to set up his own factory
Skills of entrepreneur
- Human Relations
- Must be good with people and know how to get along with them
- Be able to persuade people to do what the business needs
- Time Management
- Getting the essential tasks done in available time in order to achieve the business’s goals
- May need to prioritise the most important tasks if time is limited
- Risk Management
- Planned approach to minimising the risks a business is exposed to
- Identify the risks facing business
- Cost of these risks if they happen
- Cost to protect business
- Take appropriate measures
- Insurance – annual premium which will result in compensation
- Proper training – health and safety courses to reduce chance of accidents
- Security measures – minimise risk of theft (CCTV, security guards)
- Decision Making
- List all the possible solutions to a problem or opportunity and chose best one for business
- Analyse opportunity or problem
- List possible solutions
- Advantages and disadvantages of each solution
- Best solution with best advantages
- Reality Perception
- See situations as they are rather than how they might want to see them
- Realise when things are going wrong and don’t think otherwise
- Planning
- Setting goals for their business to achieve
- Come up with methods (strategies) to ensure their goals are achieved
An intrapreneur is an employee within a business who shows enterprise by using their initiative to think of a new idea to reduce costs of increase profits
- e.g when some Microsoft workers saw the success of PlayStation, the thought of Microsoft developing a game. This lead to the creation of Xbox.
Promote intrepreneurship by:
- Culture of enterprise – facilities available to staff (research area, capital….)
- Reward staff
- Teamwork – encourage each other to think of new ideas
Importance of Enterprise in Business
- Provides the idea and the drive to set up the business
- Help businesses increase sales or reduce costs
- Creation of wealth (profit + wages)
- Government taxes used for business grants
Importance of Enterprise in Community
- Creates jobs and businesses for local people
- Local people spend money in local shops so the businesses succeed
- Motivates and encourages more entrepreneurs
- Government receives taxes and pays out less social welfare