Opportunity Innovation and Entrepreneurship

OPPORTUNITY
INNOVATION AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
OPPORTUNITY..............................................................................................................................3
INNOVATION................................................................................................................................5
ENTREPRENEURSHIP..................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................12
Background of Steph Croft Simon............................................................................................12

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Steph Croft Simon was pursuing her BSc in Sociology at Bristol University like any
common girl when she developed severe allergies due to her wrong eating habits and neglect.
She then went on through the process of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition where she
identified the need for healthy organic food. She adopted incremental disruption theory of
innovation and has been able to successfully integrate her skills with the personality to emerge as
a star entrepreneur.
INTRODUCTION
Opportunity, innovation and entrepreneurship are three different attributes and yet need to
be present in an individual collectively so that they can be referred as entrepreneur (George and
et.al., 2016). In order to become a successful entrepreneur it is necessary to interlink and excel in
all the three different aspects. The current report will evaluate these three attributes in relation to
Steph Croft Simon who is the owner of a successful entrepreneurship of Nom Foods and the
personality of Steph will be evaluated accordingly. Lastly, a conclusion summarising the key
aspects will also be presented in the report.
MAIN BODY
OPPORTUNITY
The meaning of opportunity, in context of entrepreneurship can be broadly categorised as
the identification of those new and innovative ideas, goods or services which can be exchanged
at a greater price then what they are really worth for. For an entrepreneur, it broadly indicates a
chance to convert something new or innovative into a profitable business against which revenue
can be earned (Ploum and et.al., 2018). There is a proper framework that can be used by
entrepreneurs to recognise the opportunity when it arises and then use it convert into an actual
business. The journey of Steph Croft Simon towards establishment and creation of Nom Foods
can also be categorised in a similar manner along with the process.
The first stage is of existence of an opportunity where there should be some imbalance in
the present status quo of society or economy and some desires or needs should be left unfulfilled
(Baručić and Umihanić, 2016). This creates an existence of a viable opportunity which can lead
to the creation of a business out of it. Steph Croft Simon identified the need of the people to eat
tasty healthy food without compromising on the health aspect i.e. they wanted to preserve their
3

health but at the same time they also wanted the taste to be same or even be more better. This is
basically the origin of opportunity that can be successfully converted for Steph.
The second stage is the screening stage where the different opportunities that exist are
screened amongst all the existing opportunities that have been identified. Here the background
knowledge on the products, the different cognitive characteristics that are associated with the
product etc. is identified and taken into consideration so that it can be evaluated that which of
these identified opportunities can be used to generate maximum profit (Yitshaki and Kropp,
2016). In the case of Steph as well, she analysed that the best way to increase the healthy food
consumptions was to launch a new brand that can help people. Thus the careful screening led to
the process of using taste aspect integrated with the healthier food as the best opportunity.
The third stage is the evaluation stage where the different essential factors are evaluated so
that their influence and impact on the overall characteristics for opportunities can be evaluated
and compared helping in selection of the best opportunity amongst all the available ones (Asante
and Affum-Osei, 2019). Steph was able to evaluate amongst the different strategies that were
available before her that in order to make her idea successful, she needed to use different
flavours and spices that are similar to the ones that are used by other companies producing non
healthy food. Additionally, the use of this technique also gave a personal touch to the product
and addressed individual aspects and desired of the targeted population.
The last stage of this process is the exploitation stage where the opportunity has adequately
been assessed and evaluated and now it is time to launch the business idea or the business itself.
This is the stage where actual business opportunities are integrated with the physical being and is
a crucial stage since whatever has been planned must be executed accordingly (Kuckertz and
et.al., 2017). For instance, Steph has also categorised its process where initially only one flavour
and food item was launched but slowly it was expanded to variety of products types and flavours
thus incorporating individual preferences as well.
Therefore the analysis of the different stages of the overall process indicates that how a
business idea or opportunity is identified and evolved so that is can develop into a practical and a
viable idea and then implement it as a business unit. Hence the concept of opportunity was
evaluated and discussed in context of entrepreneurship especially with reference to Steph Croft
Simon.
4