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PAPER NO. 3 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

 

UNIT DESCRIPTION

This unit covers the competencies required to apply entrepreneurial and communication skills in business management. It involves identifying concepts of entrepreneurship, identifying business opportunities, venturing into a new business, identifying appropriate business expansion strategies, developing a business plan, applying appropriate entrepreneurial marketing strategies and applying the concepts of business communication to manage an organisation.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Identify concepts of entrepreneurship
• Identify entrepreneurial opportunities
• Venture in to a new venture
• Identify appropriate business expansion strategies
• Develop a business plan
• Apply appropriate entrepreneurial marketing strategies
• Apply the concepts of business communication to manage an organisation

 

CONTENT:

1. Identify concepts of entrepreneurship
   • Definition of key terms
     • Entrepreneur
     • Entrepreneurship
     • Intrapreneurship
     • Corporate entrepreneurship
     • Entrepreneurial culture
   • Types of entrepreneurs
     • Innovators
     • Drone
     • Fabian
     • Imitating
   • Difference between entrepreneurs and small business owners
   • Characteristics of entrepreneurs
   • Entrepreneurial environment
     • Micro-environment
     • Macro-environment
   • The role of an entrepreneur in business
   • Benefits of becoming an entrepreneur
   • Contributions of entrepreneurship in socio-economic development
   • Current trends and issues in entrepreneurship
   • Challenges faced by entrepreneurs
2. Identify entrepreneurial opportunities
   • Definition of key terms:
     • Entrepreneurial opportunity
   • Importance of selecting business opportunities
   • Sources of entrepreneurial opportunities
     • External environment
     • Business-level environment
     • Personal-level opportunities
   • Qualities of a good entrepreneurial opportunity
   • Key approaches in identifying a business opportunity
     • Observing trends
     • Solving a problem
     • Identifying gaps in the market
   • A feasibility analysis for a business opportunity
3. Venture in to a new venture
   • Sources of business ideas
   • Evaluating business ideas
   • Selecting a business incubator
     • Definition of an incubator
     • Factors to consider when choosing an incubator
   • Steps of testing a business idea
   • Factors to consider when starting a new venture
   • Sources of funding for a new venture
     • Personal finances
     • Debt financing
     • Equity financing
     • Venture capitalists; Business Angels
     • Government Agents
   • Factors that determine success of a new venture
   • Problems encountered in selecting new ventures
   • Types of business ownership structures for new ventures
     • Sole proprietorship
     • Partnership
     • Limited liability company
     • Corporation
     • Cooperative
   • Reasons why new ventures fail

 

4.            Identify appropriate business expansion strategies

• Definition of customer needs
• Types of customer needs
• How to identify customer needs
• Customer needs analysis
• Business expansion strategies for a new venture
  • Mergers
  • Acquisitions
  • Franchising
• Protecting intellectual property through copyrights, trademarks and patents

 

5.            Develop a business plan

• Definition of terms
  • Business plan
  • Financial plan
  • Operations plan
  • Marketing plan
• Importance of business plan
• Information required to develop a business plan
• Guidelines for writing a business plan
• Components of a business plan
  • Cover page
  • Table of contents
  • Executive summary
  • Business description
  • Market analysis
  • Customer analysis
  • Competition analysis
  • Operations and production plan
  • Marketing plan
  • Human resource plan
  • Financial plan
  • Appendix
• Importance of reviewing a business plan
• Challenges of writing a business plan
• Reasons why some business plans fail

 

6.            Apply appropriate entrepreneurial marketing strategies

• Definition of key terms
  • Marketing
  • Marketing research
• Importance of marketing
• Types of market segmentation
• Benefits of segmentation
• Target markets for products and services
• Marketing strategies applied in each stage of product life cycle
• Strategies of positioning new products and services in the market
• Digital marketing approaches of marketing products and services are demonstrated
  • Social media marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Mobile Marketing
  • Artificial intelligence in marketing

 

7.            Apply the concepts of business communication to manage an organisation

• Concepts of communication
  • Meaning of communication
  • Purpose of communication
  • Elements of communication
  • Benefits of effective communication
  • Stages in the communication process
  • Principles of effective communication
  • Barriers to effective communication
  • Overcoming barriers to effective communication
  • Choosing a channel of communication
  • Types of communication
    • Internal and external communication
    • Formal and informal communication
    • Flow of formal communication
    • Intrapersonal and interpersonal communication
    • Small group and public communication
    • Forms of communication
    • Oral communication
    • Effective listening
    • Non-verbal communication
    • Written communication
    • Visual communication

7.10.12    Audio-visual communication

• Advantages and disadvantages of various forms of communication

• Writing skills
  • Steps in writing business documents
    • Prewriting
    • Drafting
    • Revising
    • Editing
  • Rules of writing business documents
  • Written business documents
    • Business letters
    • Memorandum
    • Circulars
    • Advertisements
    • Notices
    • E-mail
  • Presentation skills

7.3.1         Definition of presentation

• Effective presentation skills

7.3.3         Elements of a presentation

• Methods of delivering a presentation
  • Manuscript
  • Memorised
  • Extemporaneous
  • Impromptu
• Basic parts of a presentation
• Public speech
• Audience analysis
• Use of visual aids in presentation

• Interviews
  • Meaning of:
    • Interview
    • Interviewer
    • Interviewee
  • Purpose of interviews
  • Types of interviews
    • Unstructured
    • Semi-structured
    • Structured
  • Skills for effective interviewing
  • Importance of non- verbal communication in interviews
  • Purpose of maintaining interview documents
  • Purpose of holding meetings in an organisation
  • Types of meetings
    • Formal
    • Informal
  • Stages of conducting formal meetings
  • Importance of agenda of the meeting
  • Role of the chairperson and the secretary in a meeting
  • Importance of minutes
  • Online meetings
    • Video conferencing
    • Teleconferencing
    • Webinar

 

  

SAMPLE WORK

Complete copy of ATD ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNICATION NOTES  is available in SOFT copy (Reading using our MASOMO MSINGI PUBLISHERS APP) or in HARD Copy

Phone: 0728 776 317

Email: info@masomomsingi.com

CHAPTER ONE

IDENTIFY CONCEPTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

DEFINITION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship is the process of coming up with new processes or ways of achieving some set objectives. Mostly it will involve the production of goods and services. It requires some ingenuity coupled with a lot of time and effort. There are risks involved in this process and they all have to be assumed. With the risks come rewards that are derived by the person who has come up with the new process.

 

Definition of Entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal purpose of profit and growth. The entrepreneur is characterised principally by innovative and creative behaviour and will employ strategic management practices in the business.

Thus, the modern thinkers emphasise that an entrepreneur is an individual who creates and recognise opportunities for something new, handles the uncertainty and risk of that new venture (which is not restricted to stand alone business ventures), and has the managerial competence to gather required resources from the environment (like capital) without necessarily owning these resources, which includes an ability to plan, to lead a team and to network outside the venture

 

Definition of Small Business Owners

A small business owner is an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal purpose of furthering personal goals. The business must be the primary source of income and will consume the majority of the owner’s time and interest. The owner perceives the business as an extension of his or her personality, intricately bound with family needs and desires

 

Intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurship is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization. Intrapreneurship is known as the practice of a corporate management style that integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the reward and motivational techniques, that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship.   Corporate entrepreneurship is a more general term referring to entrepreneurial actions taking place within an existing organization whereas Intrapreneurship refers to individual activities and behaviors.

CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Corporate Entrepreneurship literally means corporate entrepreneurship and consists in the adoption of entrepreneurial values ​​and behaviors by the employees of a company.

We can say we are doing Corporate Entrepreneurship when this entrepreneurial philosophy permeates the entire company, contaminating perspectives and actions.

But how does all this happen?

It occurs when the company guarantees the employee:

• Chance;
• Autonomy;
• Responsibility;
• A creative environment.

It is precisely in these circumstances that employees with an entrepreneurial attitude decide what to do and immediately find the resources to carry out the projects.

But is it always worth it?

Yes, always.

Encouraging entrepreneurial behavior within a corporate inevitably stimulates a climate of innovation.

And it is precisely here that you start thinking about Corporate Entrepreneurship and its advantages.

However, there is not a single way to do it, there are several.

TYPES OF CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

When we talk about Corporate Entrepreneurship we are referring to a process that injects an entrepreneurial mindset within the company.

This can happen in 3 ways:

1. Entrepreneur: consists of creating a task force disconnected from the main company that deals exclusively with the launch and creation of a new product or service.
2. Renewal and transformation: an attempt is made to look at the company’s internal processes in order to question them, trying to revolutionize the entire company apparatus;
3. Venturing: the company itself implements an entrepreneurial process, trying to enter new businesses and markets and acquiring start-upsand small companies operating within them.

 

BENEFITS OF CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

First and foremost, Corporate Entrepreneurship puts employees first.

This is because we realize that they are the main vectors of innovation present within the company.

Among the benefits brought by Corporate Entrepreneurship we find:

• Economic benefits: encouraging employees to adopt entrepreneurial and innovation-oriented behaviors, with the aim of entering new markets, and therefore increasing revenues;
• Corporate culture: creating an environment where everyone can make a difference;
• Learning: Expanding business competencies and collaboration boundaries between employees, through up skilling and reskilling ;
• Time to market: reducing the time between the conception and validation of a businessor product/service and its marketing.

 

HOW TO APPLY CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Explicit commission from top management;
• Provide autonomy and workspaces to speed up the process;
• Increase communication and facilitate access to information;
• Create an incentive system;
• Promote Corporate Entrepreneurship involving the Human Resources department;
• Create project evaluation systems and provide operational support.

 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INTRAPRENEURSHIP

The expressions Corporate Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship are often used interchangeably, but there is a substantial difference between the two:

• Corporate Entrepreneurship:indicates a real entrepreneurial reality, different from the main company, which has the objective of entering the market with an innovative idea, developing and scaling a business, assuming the financial risk;
• Corporate Intrapreneurship:it is an internal activity, in which an employee proposes himself to manage a project (even innovative) on which the company is working. However, the employee does not face any financial risk.

 

Entrepreneurial culture

Entrepreneurial culture can be described as an environment where someone is motivated to innovate, create and take risks. In a business, an entrepreneurial culture means that employees are encouraged to brainstorm new ideas or products. When work time is dedicated to these activities, it is called entrepreneurship.

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURS 

1. Self-motivated

Successful entrepreneurs do not need someone who holds them accountable or forces them to be efficient and productive. Unfortunately, without a manager, many people cannot take their business past the planning stages. It takes hard work to create your own business; most people need someone who forces them to keep working. Moreover, when people do not have someone to hold them accountable, they may let their work’s quality suffer. For example, many freelance writers set their own hours and choose their workload. However, for this same reason, many freelance writers do not work how they ought to work.

 

2. Creative

When creating a business idea, many entrepreneurs have to be very creative. There is a good chance that someone else has already established himself as the authority for the niche that a new entrepreneur chooses. However, with a little creative twist, new entrepreneurs can take old ideas or business models and revolutionize them, making them attractive to potential clients or customers.

 

3. Intuitive

Entrepreneurs do not become successful due to luck. Every successful entrepreneur created his own path with his intelligence, creativity and intuition. Business models are constantly changing. Consequently, the way business owners market and grow their business constantly changes. The most successful entrepreneurs understand how fast current trends change. More importantly, however, they know how to keep up with the changes.

 

4. Authoritative

If you were to open your own business, you would learn very quickly that there are many people with whom you need to network. However, not everyone has your best interest in mind. You may encounter naysayers, manipulators and scammers. Therefore, you must not allow yourself to be easily influenced; you must be authoritative. Though there is nothing wrong with taking advice or opinions, in the end, you must make decisions that you strongly believe will better your company.

 

5. Strong-willed

Successful entrepreneurs started their business with a vision – a dream. They acted on their dream by taking small steps towards accomplishing their goals. With every step, entrepreneurs get closer to attaining their ultimate goal or vision. However, not all steps are easy to take. Unfortunately, nothing worth fighting for is easy to attain. Successful entrepreneurs only made it past the difficult times by being strong-willed. They never let pessimism, difficulty or any other problems stand in their way

 

6. The Dreamer

The Dreamer is the least understood out of the four dimensions. Many think dreaming is the same as daydreaming; because of course every entrepreneur has a dream. But The Dreamer must have a much larger vision in place. His dream has purpose, that same purpose that lives within the entrepreneur’s heart. It’s not as simple as the desire to live elsewhere or to have a bigger house and to make more money, but The Dreamer stands on the mountaintop of imagination and creates dreams where there are none at all.

 

7. The Thinker

The Thinker is The Dreamer’s most important companion. The Dreamer represents the “what” and The Thinker represents the methodical “how.” He compliments The Dreamer by knowing the special role he plays in the manifestation of The Dreamer’s vision. He is the one who asks the questions essential to formulate the business plan.

 

8. The Storyteller

The Storyteller invokes excitement in others when conveying the dream. He knows that without encouragement and excitement no dream has a chance to become reality. He begins to “speak” the dream or to “sing” the song. The Storyteller in essence represents life and is where The Dreamer and The Thinker find voice.

 

9. The Leader

The Leader is who assumes the responsibility to move the dream forward. He takes the pieces of the puzzle—that of The Dreamer, Thinker and Storyteller—and puts them together. The execution of the dream rests on his shoulders. He sees where the dream is going, how it’s going to get there, when it’s going to get there and what it will look like when all is said and done. The Leader realizes that the big picture is a product of all the small things done very, very well.

 

10. Determination

There are millions of opportunities around us but what are usually lacking are people who take initiative to transform these opportunities into profitable business ventures. Opportunity seekers do not sit around and wait to be told or forced by events to act. Seek opportunities.

Every entrepreneur will face obstacles, ranging from lack of finance, lack of belief by customers to comments of “you are going to fail like others before did.” The successful entrepreneur is determined in the face of serious challenges and obstacles. Be determined.

 

11. Risk Takers

Entrepreneurs take risks but they have to be calculated. Entrepreneurship is not like gambling where everything is left to chance. A calculated risk is when you use your knowledge and experience to minimize the chance of losing money and increase the chance to take profits. Entrepreneurs take calculated risks.

 

12. Goal Oriented

Perhaps the most important trait is that of setting goals. Entrepreneurs have clear picture on how they would want their businesses to be in three or five years’ time.  They work with the goals they have set for their businesses. Entrepreneurs set both short and long term goals for their enterprises. As an entrepreneur you must get into the habit of seeking information. Do not depend on

 

13. Plan in advance

Successful entrepreneurs are systematic planners. They decide what they are going to do in an orderly and logical way. You have to get used to breaking large tasks into sub tasks with clear time frames. Keep financial records and use them to make decisions. Engage in systematic planning.

 

14. Persuasive

Successful entrepreneurs have to be persuasive with customers, financiers and employees. It is important to build and maintain a network of business contacts. In business “technical know who” is vital. Be persuasive and build networks.

 

15. Confidence

Finally, the successful entrepreneur does not walk with drooping shoulders and shuffling feet, no. Successful entrepreneurs are self-confident whether they are faced with a difficult task or challenge. The successful entrepreneur must believe in his or her ability to succeed. Be self-confident.

 

TYPES OF ENTREPRENEURS

There are probably as many different types of entrepreneurs as there are people, since one of the great joys of being an entrepreneur is the freedom to invent and re-invent yourself and your business to meet your requirements and the needs of the market in which you operate. That’s why agility, flexibility and future focus are clear advantages to successful entrepreneurs and most would resist being placed in any kind of box, and often defy description in the breadth and diversity of their activities.

 

That said, there are a number of general categories by which entrepreneurs can be loosely described, as shown here.

When we want to differentiate between the types of entrepreneur, ask what are the priorities of the organization or person? What are the actions of the organization or entrepreneur? The following are some types of entrepreneurs:

Co-operative Entrepreneur

A Co-operative Entrepreneur collaborates with other co-operative entrepreneurs to start and complete projects where each co-operative entrepreneur brings different skills and talents to the collaboration.

Creative Entrepreneur

A Creative Entrepreneur is a creative artist who values their product above all else and puts Intellectual Property (IP) first. Creative Entrepreneurs are dedicated to the artistic and creative expression that is unique to them.

Lifestyle Entrepreneur

A Lifestyle Entrepreneur values their lifestyle first and builds their businesses so that they have a rewarding and sustainable lifestyle founded on and driven by their personal interests and talents.

Social Entrepreneur

A Social Entrepreneur values social change first and is driven to improve and transform their society, their environment, and economic conditions.

A rapidly growing and vibrant sector, social entrepreneurs play an important role in providing products and services with the overall intention of creating social good, operating from a triple bottom line perspective of people, planet, and profit.  Profit is often reinvested into the enterprise rather than being distributed to shareholders. There are different models of operation and varied legal structures to create such companies, and they are distinct from charities in being self-sustaining through income. Social enterprises have been a long-standing feature of the UK economy and contribute substantially to revenues.

Bottom-Line Entrepreneur

A Bottom-Line Entrepreneur takes the initiative and launches a new enterprise that takes advantage of market opportunities with the goals of building capital and profits.

 Innovative Entrepreneurs:

An innovative entrepreneur in one, who introduces new goods, inaugurates new method of production, discovers new market and recognizes the enterprise. It is important to note that such entrepreneurs can work only when a certain level of development is already achieved and people look forward to change and improvement.

 Imitative Entrepreneurs:

These types of entrepreneurs creatively imitate the innovative technical achievement made by another firm. Imitative entrepreneurs are suitable for underdeveloped countries as it is hard for them to bear the high cost of innovation.

 Fabian Entrepreneurs:

Fabian entrepreneurs are characterized by very great caution and skepticism to experiment any change in their enterprises. They usually do not take any new challenge. They imitate only when it becomes perfectly clear that failure to do not so would result in a loss of the relative position in the enterprise.

 Drone Entrepreneurs:

They are characterized by a refusal to adopt any change even at cost of severely reduction of profit

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Some Other Types of Entrepreneurs:

 

1. Solopreneurs

These are the entrepreneurs who essentially work alone and if needed at all employ a few employees. In the beginning most of the entrepreneurs start their enterprises like them.

 

The ‘one man band’ – An individual who operates alone in an enterprise and manages all aspects of the business themselves. Increasingly possible and prevalent with the advent of the internet, email, VOIP, etc. and the consequent ability to perform multiple tasks, coupled with the ease of outsourcing to other freelancers through the ready supply available through websites.

 

2. Active Partners

Active partners are those entrepreneurs who start or carry on an enterprise as a joint venture. It is important that all of them actively participate in the operations of the business.

 

3. Innovators

Such entrepreneurs with their competence and creativity innovate new products. Their basic interest lies in research and innovative activities.

 

4. Buyers’ Entrepreneurs

These are the entrepreneurs who do not like to bear much risk. They do not take the risk of production but take the risk of marketing a product i.e. wholesaler and retailer.

 

5. Life Timers

These entrepreneurs believe business as an integral part of their life. These entrepreneurs actually inherit their family business i.e. goldsmith, potter etc.

 

6. Challengers

These are the entrepreneurs who initiate business because of the challenges it presents. They believe that ‘No risk, No gain’. When one challenge seems to be met, they begin to look for new challenges.

 

7. Serial Entrepreneurs

Serial entrepreneurs set up businesses, and bring them to a stage of development where they can move on either by selling according to a pre-determined exit strategy, or place the enterprise in the hands of a successor or group of successors whilst retaining some degree of investment and/or strategic input, whilst they start their next venture, with a view to repeating the process again.

 

8. Lifestyle Entrepreneurs

Lifestyle entrepreneurs choose businesses that reflect their passions and they are more focused on doing something they love than on the pure profit motive for starting a business. This includes making deliberate choices to fit a business around a way of living, for example preserving time with children and family, for a hobby or interest, a sport, or some other element of their life which they wish to retain a place of importance.

 

9. Nascent entrepreneur

Nascent entrepreneur is the person who is engaged in creating new ventures. He is engaged in reviewing the international evidence on how many of them are there around the world, what they are doing, who they are, what makes them different, and which ones see their vision through to eventual start-up.

SAMPLE WORK

Complete copy of ATD ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNICATION NOTES  is available in SOFT copy (Reading using our MASOMO MSINGI PUBLISHERS APP) or in HARD Copy

Phone: 0728 776 317

Email: info@masomomsingi.com