Dick Smith: Entrepreneur and Businessman

Entrepreneurship 1
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Author
Course
Professor
University
City, State
Date

Entrepreneurship 2
Table of Contents
Entrepreneurship..............................................................................................................................3
Background of the entrepreneur..................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurial traits...................................................................................................................4
Opportunity recognition and development of ideas.....................................................................5
Competitive advantage................................................................................................................5
Recommendations........................................................................................................................6
References....................................................................................................................................8

Entrepreneurship 3
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs are often confused with business owners. While a business owner may be
an entrepreneur, not every person who operates a business entity qualifies as one. At the core of
this concept is the mindset of the entrepreneur which is centered on innovation that seeks to
create value and solve problems. Confidence and passion are some of the hallmarks of the typical
entrepreneur who is also motivated. The current theories on the concept include the sociological
and psychological approaches. Innovation and motivation theories are also postulated by scholars
such as McClelland and Joseph Schumpeter. Dick Smith is an Australian entrepreneur who
exhibits the traits of an entrepreneur, saw the opportunities and developed business ideas and
competes successfully against his competitors.
Background of the entrepreneur
Some of the enterprises started by Smith include the Dick Smith Electronics in the 1960’s under
the erstwhile name of Dick Smith Car Radios. This venture was engaged in the sale of the
Citizens Band brand of radios and personal computers. He sold the business in 1982 to
Woolworths which continued to operate the business under his name (Feneley 2015). He also
successfully established the Australian Geographic which was based on the famous world
renowned National Geographic. Dick Smith Foods was founded in 1999 to sell food that is
exclusively produced in Australia and owned by Australian companies. This company competes
with companies with foreign ownership such as Campbell Soup Company which is actively
engaged in the foods market in Australia.
Smith was born in 1944 and his father was a salesman while the mother was a housewife.
His father tried unsuccessfully to start a business which failed (Griffins 2017).He did not
perform well in his education and at one time dropped out to start an apprenticeship. He
managed to obtain a radio license at seventeen years of age and was repairing taxi car radios by
the age of 20. This shows that he had a passion and propensity to engage in entrepreneurship that
was hinged on problem solving. The relevant theory that is applicable in this case study is the
psychological approach (Gorgievski, & Stephan 2016). While performing poorly in his
academics, he may have developed the passion to achieve highly in business that was based on a
focused vision. He showed the ability to face opposition by briefly dropping out of school to start
an apprenticeship.