Entrepreneurship: Traits and Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship

This report discusses the concept of entrepreneurship and the essential traits of entrepreneurs. It also explores the challenges faced in social entrepreneurship using the case study of Fairphone. The report highlights the importance of ethics and competitiveness in entrepreneurship.

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Entrepreneurship

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Executive summary
The role entrepreneurship has been majorly increased into the today’s market because the
business world has majorly enhanced. There are different characteristics of an
entrepreneurship that must be in an individual during the entrepreneurship activities. The
study has brief concept by taking the case of Fairphone, which is serving Smartphone by
considering the people choice as the priority. It is essential for the business owner to evaluate
the personal entrepreneurial traits while associating with the Fairphoner leaders. It has been
found that thought of doing something new along with considering other individual as well as
the environment interest is very challenging and complicated (Herrington, et. al., 2010). The
case fairphone is similar to the social entrepreneurship as they have started their business
with the social cause mainly, as the way of their initiation is different and unique to aware the
customers. The brand has served this smartphone as the ethically manufactured smartphones.
In order to promote this ethical product, the new entrepreneurs Peter van der Mark, and Bas
van Abel has decided to initiate a campaign that is called as the Fairphone. Thus, the report
has focused on the entrepreneurship traits that are used by the fairphone leaders in order to
serve something new with effective ethics.

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Table of Contents
Executive summary...............................................................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the entrepreneurship traits...............................................................................................5
Social entrepreneurship challenges....................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The aim of this report is to discuss the concept of entrepreneurship along with the essential
trait of entrepreneurs to accelerate business operations. Alongside, the paper also shows the
drawback of the social entrepreneurship that creates challenges while doing the business. The
report is also discusses different ethics of entrepreneurs in concern of Fairphone mobile
company to implement the changes in smart phones.

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Analysis of the entrepreneurship traits
Entrepreneurship is a vital term in the business world because business ventures are vogue
everywhere. According to, Fairlie and Holleran, (2012) ranges of new incubators as well as
the accelerators are coming out in the market in order to have its business venture. The
different nations ranging from China to Chile has been getting into the new initiation of firm
formation in the market. Although the concept of entrepreneurship is not new in the market as
it has been coming from the 18th century. It has been said that the concept of entrepreneurs is
evolving day by day. An entrepreneur has been said as the individual that has the capability
of doing something new along with the aim of gaining the effective market opportunity. Thus
it is said to be the essential concept in the market as the role of business entrepreneurs are
emerging into the market.
The, Espíritu-Olmos and Sastre-Castillo, (2015) put forward the notion and says that the
entrepreneurship is raised from the entrepreneur skills that an individual has for conducting
the ranges of management concept in the company. The competencies are defined as the
skills, capabilities as well as the knowledge regarding specific work and job role.
Important ethics of entrepreneurs
 Strong work ethics -- Fairlie and Holleran, (2012) says that an individual with the post
of the entrepreneur must have the capability of strong work ethic in the organization.
Other than this, an individual also must have effective human resource skills so that
they can manage them effectively and get better results from the market (Fairphone
case). In the case of fairphone, it has been seen that the entrepreneurs are grounded in
nature as they are considering all the management ethics in the firm while

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manufacturing the smartphone. They had initiated their business while taking people
and their choices as the foremost priority (Fairphone case).
 Competetivness -- A successful leader is the one who has the skills of competitiveness
so that the target market can be attaining easily along with the desired growth rate. It
has been said that the individual with the quality of effective discipline as well as
confidence and the capability of self starter will give the effective hike to the
entrepreneur in the market (Brandstätter, 2011). According to the case of fairphone
the entrepreneurs have started their organization along with the aim of spreading
awareness among the customers regarding the supply chain of the smartphone and the
conflicted minerals. Thus the aim of gaining better results from the market along with
the effective ethics is showcasing the sign of effective entrepreneur and their
competitiveness. Their traits are also being effective as with their attracting power has
helped them in getting better brand establishment into the market (Fairphone case).
The above mention traits have helped them in making the development at their business
model. It is because the above mention traits can help them in resisting their customer base as
from the market. Other than this, the skill of competitiveness can make them an effective
business leader because it will enthusiastic their quality and provoke them to serve better
phone along with considering the people choices. Thus their qualities are effective for the
business and the future growth (Premand, et al., 2016).
Social entrepreneurship challenges
In the views of, Huybrechts and Nicholls, (2012) social entrepreneurship has been described
as the business that is running under the aim of a social cause. The societal welfare, as well as
benefits, are considered as the tool that is aimed by the establishment for their growth. An
individual with the social goals targets the improvement among the people and their lives
thus it is said to be the best way of creating effective things for society and earning for own.

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The above mention case of fairphone is bounded with certain social goals of creating
awareness about the supply chain of components that are used under the smartphone. Thus it
can be said that the trend of social entrepreneurship has been raised in the market.
In contradict to this, Welter, (2011) stated that the ranges of challenges has emerged that are
creating a negative impact among the entrepreneur. The company face issues regarding the
funding because these establishments do not get a sufficient amount to pay to their workers
for their better livelihood. Thus these are the basic issues that are generally found in the
social entrepreneurship. Moreover, fairphone face this challenge while running the business
because they require the fund to manage the issue that are faced by the customers.
The Dacin, et. al., (2011) In contrast to this, another major challenge is to hold or manage
human resources into the firm. As per the case of fairphone, the company after their initiation
is facing the issues of managing the employees because their workers are doing overtime in
the firm but not getting the better return (Fairphone case). Thus this is the biggest drawback
in the case fairphone as the social entrepreneurship. Thus it is a biggest issue that is
restricting the boundaries of the company in achive the desired goals in the market.
Other than this, Makhlouf, (2011) says that the issues are not limited up to the funding and
human resources but these firms may lack in the strategic planning also. However, the issue
regarding the strategy and long term focus also resist among them because they are socially
oriented hence they aim of making the social benefit cannot be strategies for the long term.
As the company is not getting return thus the planning got lacked, also the customer reaction
towards the products may get influenced (Dees, 2017). Thus it is also an influencing lacking
in the case of social entrepreneurship that is restricting the boundaries of these firms. The
lacking has been seen in the case of the fairphone because the company after launching
fairphone 2 has planned to launch another series but the organization has dropped this

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strategy because they have decided to make the further changes in the existing handset
(Fairphone case). Thus the lacking of the strategic planning has been seen into the
organization. It become crucial for the company to run the organization because strategic
planning is lacking majorly into the market.

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Conclusion
On the basis of the above analysis, it has been concluded that the entrepreneurship is the
challenging task if it has not been handled effectively in the market. The entrepreneurs with
sufficient market information and the capabilities may lead to maintain efficiency in the
organization. As per the case of fairphone it has been said that the company in the initial
stage has target the customers effectively by serving the information regarding the conflict
mineral. This has attracted the customers to get into the market and create their own brand
establishment. Although the social cause business has faced certain challenges but the aim of
social cause helps the firm to rectify the issue and serve better to customers.

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References
Brandstatter, H. (2011) Personality aspects of entrepreneurship: A look at five meta-
analyses, Personality and individual differences, 51(3), pp. 222-230.
Dacin, M. T., Dacin, P. A., and Tracey, P. (2011) Social entrepreneurship: A critique and
future directions, Organization science, 22(5), pp. 1203-1213.
Dees, J. G. (2017) The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship. In Case Studies in Social
Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. UK: Routledge.
Espíritu-Olmos, R., and Sastre-Castillo, M. A. (2015) Personality traits versus work values:
Comparing psychological theories on entrepreneurial intention, Journal of Business
Research, 68(7), pp. 1595-1598.
Fairlie, R. W., and Holleran, W. (2012) Entrepreneurship training, risk aversion and other
personality traits: Evidence from a random experiment, Journal of Economic Psychology,
33(2), pp. 366-378.
Herrington, M., Kew, J., Kew, P., and Monitor, G. E. (2010) Tracking entrepreneurship in
South Africa: A GEM perspective. South Africa: Graduate School of Business, University of
Cape Town.
Huybrechts, B., and Nicholls, A. (2012) Social entrepreneurship: definitions, drivers and
challenges. In Social entrepreneurship and social business. USA: Gabler Verlag.
Makhlouf, H. H. (2011) Social entrepreneurship: generating solutions to global challenges,
International Journal of Management and Information Systems, 15(1), pp. 1-8.

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Premand, P., Brodmann, S., Almeida, R., Grun, R., and Barouni, M. (2016) Entrepreneurship
education and entry into self-employment among university graduates, World
Development, 77, pp. 311-327.
Welter, F. (2011) Contextualizing entrepreneurship—conceptual challenges and ways
forward, Entrepreneurship theory and Practice, 35(1), pp. 165-184.