Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship Research

The assignment is based on a compilation of research papers related to strategic management and entrepreneurship. It includes articles from reputable sources such as journals and books, covering topics like dynamic managerial capabilities, entrepreneurial orientation-performance link, and international corporate entrepreneurship among SMEs. The research papers are relevant to students studying strategic management and entrepreneurship at the university level.

Strategic Enterpreneurial
Management
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Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Overview of entrepreneur & Choice of Study........................................................................4
Models....................................................................................................................................5
Critical evaluation of entrepreneurial strategy.......................................................................7
Critical reflection....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Strategic Management & Entrepreneurship is a field which mainly deals with creation,
growth and performance of an organization. In addition to this, it examine the effectiveness of
different attributes and actions of an organization in order to achieve it’s goal and gain
competitive advantage (Audretsch, 2015). In this report, Liz Wilson has been chosen as the
entrepreneur. Liz is a teacher, passionate cook as well as baker and the owner of Ma Baker. In
this report, a brief study about the entrepreneur past life has been mentioned. Reason why the
person has been chosen for the particular report has also been discussed. Along with this various
concepts and models have been used and critically evaluate their learning outcomes have been
discussed in this report.
Overview of entrepreneur & Choice of Study
An entrepreneur refers to the individual who them self develops business effectively by
running it at own level by assuming all consequences of business. The specific person assumes
all rewards and risk. A successful entrepreneur is seen as the innovative person who uses its own
new ideas for making their business venture successful. In context to present study, it has been
analysed that every entrepreneur has its own characteristic which differentiate them from others
(Brouthers, Nakos and Dimitratos, 2015). The present report relies on Liz Wilson, a successful
entrepreneur who runs bakery in London United Kingdom. Liz Wilson, a passionate lady who
have completed her Micro bakery course in 2013 and started her own bakery in which she makes
and sells different kind of breads to customers. The lady was so much attached to cooking and
believes that she bring smile to customers face by just mixing 4 ingredients. Passion and hard
work of Liz had made her win various awards in London and made popular among customers.
Liz Wilson have adopted strategy of using innovations in entrepreneurial career in order to
sustain longer in the industry. In addition to this, the lady also runs cooking classes at her own
home in order to share her skills and ability with family and friends. By observing her own
success, Liz Wilson have started online cooking classes in order deliver her classes at grand
level. All the efforts of Liz Wilson have made it easier for her to become one among best micro
bakery in London. The main reason for Liz Wilson in this study is her extra ordinary efforts and
award winning person. It can be said that Ma Bakers is the only micro bakery in London which
has one various award in such less time of their entrance in the industry. Along with this, Ma
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Bakers is also considered among top four online bakery classes which teaches individual about
cooking breads and other baking tips. It has also been seen that Liz Wilson is the alone handling
Ma Bakers and online classes work. Her vision and effort have made this micro bakery
successful in London.
Models
Entrepreneurial Characteristics
There are various characteristics a successful entrepreneur should have. Some of them are as
follows:
Future oriented: it is the inner skill of an entrepreneur, where they are focused to look towards
their future. They set their organizational as well as personal goal and make strategies in
order to achieve them in an effective manner (Covin and Slevin, 2017).
Creative: Entrepreneurship begins with an idea or thought. Entrepreneur need to innovate
and create new things in order to gain competitive advantage at the market place. An
entrepreneur should be creative in nature, think outside the box and grab opportunities.
Self-motivated: It is one of the most important characteristics an entrepreneur should
have. In order to succeed in this competitive world, entrepreneur need to be self motivated.
As per the above mentioned points, these are some mandatory characteristics an
entrepreneur should have. In the present context, Liz Wilson have all the above characteristics
which aid them to become a successful entrepreneur.
Type of leadership
Leadership is the art of influencing and motivating people in order to achieve organizationa
as well as personal goals. There are various types of leadership styles which is used by a leader
in an organization. Some of the leadership styles are as follows:
Transformational leadership styles: Under this style of leadership, leader motivates others
in order to perform in an effective and efficient manner. It is one of the most desirable style of
leadership, where smooth working culture is created by effective communication team. Leaders
in transformational style of leadership tends to create high goals and set deadlines for the
employees. As a result worker has to achieve these goals within given time period (Ferlie and
Ongaro, 2015).
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Autocraticleadership styles: It is the leadership styles which is boss centered, where each
and every responsibility is hold by leader itself. In this style, leader takes decision according to
their knowledge and skills and do not allow anyone to consult with (Ferreira, Fernandes and
Ratten, 2016). Leader formulate strategies, communicate with subordinate and expect correct
implementation. In autocratic leadership styles, leader have all the power and authority of
decision making.
In the present context, Liz Wilson follow Transformational style of leadership in order to
enhance the performance of employee as well as the organizational performance. By adopting
such style Liz set high organizational goals and want their employees to achieve them in a given
period of time.
Type of innovations
Innovation is about creating new thought or idea in the form of product, service or device. It
business world, innovation refers to those ideas which are applied by the company in order to
satisfy the needs and requirements of individuals. There are various types of innovations , some
of them are as follows:
Incremental innovation: This type of innovation is one of the most common type of
innovation . Under this innovation style, company often utilize their existing technology and
increase it’s overall value. For example, in this style company often add new feature or element
in their existing products and gain competitive advantage.
Radical innovation: Radical innovation refers to creating or developing new things. This
innovation mainly gives birth to new industries and acquire existing companies in order to create
revolutionary technology (Hanson and et al., 2016).
In the present context Liz Wilson adopt incremental innovation as company mainly focuses
on developing their existing products. With the help of this innovation technology entrepreneur
attract more consumers and satisfy their requirements.
Identify the specific entrepreneurial climate factors
Top management support: one of the main factor which affects the entrepreneurial climate
is top management of the company. with the help of top management support any enterprise can
achieve success and gain profitability at the competitive marketplace.
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Rewards/reinforcement: it is necessary for an organization to give rewards to their
employees. If an employee perform in an effective manner and increase the productivity of the
organization, it is the responsibility of the manager to give the rewards and awards (Helfat and
Martin, 2015). As a result they get motivated and perform well in order to increase overall
profitability of the company .
Form of sustainable entrepreneurship(CSR)
Corporate Social Responsibility popularly know as CSR is an act mainly adopted by
various companies in order to achieve competitive advantage. CSR is an activity used by
organizationby contributing specific amount of funds in order to develop the backward areas.
CSR strategies Motivate companies in order to make positive impact on the external
environment Or on the stakeholders of an organization which includes consumers, investors,
employees and many others (Hitt and Duane , 2017). Firms increase their overall profitability by
opting CSR activity as it increases their brand image and market share. In the present context,
Liz Wilson adopt CSR activity and contributes specific amount of money from its annual
revenue. As a result company, improve it’s goodwill and make a market position by contributing
in the development of backward regions.
Critical evaluation of entrepreneurial strategy
As per the overall evaluation of entrepreneurs, their characteristics and types it has been
analysed that successful entrepreneur is the only one who could convert their passion or interest
into a successful and profitable business. With reference to the present case study, it has been
realised that Liz Wilson made use of Drucker’s model of decision making to identify the gap in
market and thus take the decision to enter the field of bakery wherein within a span of one year,
the entrepreneur got successful in gaining rapid success. Drucker’s model consists of 6 steps,
namely, problem classification, problem definition, boundary conditions, what is right, building
to action, feedback (Kantur, 2016). By conducting all these 6 steps, Liz analysed that a large
proportion of population of London, UK is largely struck by diabetes (1 in 10 people have
diabetes in large areas of London, 2019). Thus, the entrepreneur considered that there was a dire
need for the emergence of launch of a bakery venture which could take into account this issue
and strive to develop products which are aligned with the health conscious behavioural
characteristics of people.
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In response to the entrepreneurial cognition, Liz Wilson then undertook measures to create
Ma Baker, a micro bakery at the heart of Fulham, London in September 2014. The ingredients
with which the breads, pies and other bakery products are made within this entity are wholly
fresh, natural and the flour is especially assured to be stoneground before being used in any item
(Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2016). Such natural bakery products rich of healthy nutrients are
being made by the entrepreneur largely to tap the advantage of diabetes struck people who can
easily be influenced to buy the products sold by Ma Baker. Thus, the entrepreneurial strategy of
researching the market and then launching the venture has been the reason behind Liz being
considered as an “entrepreneur”. Although Liz Wilson can be considered as an entrepreneur
owing to the exceptional entrepreneurial strategy adopted by Liz, yet it can also be noticed that
Liz lacked the initiative to further invest into the company to take it to other areas of United
Kingdom or to an international level. This lack of risk taking and initiative on the part of Liz
Wilson provides a little scope for critique of this successful entrepreneur.
Critical reflection
Throughout overall journey of this report, it has been realised by me that entrepreneurship is
seen as the business practice in which single person follows its passion and convert it into a
successful business plan by taking effective financial and riskier decision at own level. At
initially level, I have chosen a successful UK based entrepreneur who has successfully
established her micro baker business in London at her own level. As per my own observation,
my selected entrepreneur for this project is best as Liz Wilson is perfect example of success. This
is because, the lady have converted her profits approximately double in the second year of her
micro bakery start. The lady is highly devoted toward her passion and also proven the same to
world. On the other hand, I have also realised that Liz Wilson is having lack of initiative and risk
taking skills. This has been observed as this entrepreneur has not expanded her business by
crossing boundaries of London. It can be said that if she would have taken this initiative then
there are high range of chances that she would have been taken support of customers belonging
to other cities of UK too. At next module, I have elaborated certain characteristics, types,
entrepreneurial climatic factor which influences professional life of an entrepreneur. At the time
of collecting information on this module, it has been realised by me that all entrepreneur are not
same they do have different characteristics which influences their performance. But, through
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overall observation, it has been identified by me that all entrepreneurs have one common thing
that they all follows their passion in order to make their business successful.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that strategic entrepreneurial
management plays very important role in the accomplishments of organizational goals. Mind-set
of entrepreneur along with different leadership styles has been analyzed in this report . High
performance working of an entrepreneur leads to achieve goal and objectives. Entrepreneur use
transformational leadership style which helps in increasing the overall performance of
employees. Also various types of characteristics an entrepreneur should have which aid them
while influencing and motivating others. At last, in this report various entrepreneurial climate
factors which affects the working of an entrepreneur has been discussed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Audretsch, D. B., 2015. Everything in its place: Entrepreneurship and the strategic management
of cities, regions, and states. Oxford University Press.
Brouthers, K. D., Nakos, G. and Dimitratos, P., 2015. SME entrepreneurial orientation,
international performance, and the moderating role of strategic alliances. Entrepreneurship
Theory and Practice. 39(5). pp.1161-1187.
Covin, J. G. and Slevin, D. 2000 ( Pages: 8 )P., 2017. The entrepreneurial imperatives of
strategic leadership. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset. pp.307-327.
Ferlie, E. and Ongaro, E., 2015. Strategic management in public services organizations:
Concepts, schools and contemporary issues. Routledge.
Ferreira, J. J. M., Fernandes, C. I. and Ratten, V., 2016. A co-citation bibliometric analysis of
strategic management research. Scientometrics. 109(1). pp.1-32.
Hanson, D., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R. E., 2016. Strategic management:
Competitiveness and globalisation. Cengage AU.
Helfat, C. E. and Martin, J.A., 2015. Dynamic managerial capabilities: Review and assessment
of managerial impact on strategic change. Journal of management. 41(5). pp.1281-1312.
Hitt, M. and Duane Ireland, R., 2017. The intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic
management research. The 2000 ( Pages: 8 )Blackwell handbook of entrepreneurship.
pp.45-63.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D. and Hoskisson, R. E., 2016. Strategic management: Concepts and
cases: Competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.
Kantur, D., 2016. Strategic entrepreneurship: mediating the entrepreneurial orientation-
performance link. Management Decision. 54(1). pp.24-43.
Michael, S., Storey, D. and Thomas, H., 2017. Discovery and coordination in strategic
management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset.
pp.45-65.
Naldi, L., Achtenhagen, L. and Davidsson, P., 2015. International Corporate Entrepreneurship
among SME s: A Test of S tevenson's Notion of Entrepreneurial Management. Journal of
Small Business Management. 53(3). pp.780-800.
Teece, D. J., 2016. Dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurial management in large organizations:
Toward a theory of the (entrepreneurial) firm. European Economic Review. 86. pp.202-
216.
Online
1 in 10 people have diabetes in large areas of London. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2013/Sep/1-in--pe10ople-have-diabetes-in-large-
areas-of-London-96004675.html>.
Learning to bake at London’s only domestic bread-making school. 2016. [Online] Available
Through:<https://businessadvice.co.uk/on-the-up/learning-to-bake-at-londons-only-
domestic-bread-making-school/>.
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