Small Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship

This assignment delves into the realm of small business strategy and entrepreneurship. It examines various theoretical frameworks related to entrepreneurship, including Stevenson's notion of entrepreneurial management and challenges posed by dominant perspectives. The analysis also encompasses the production of entrepreneurship in student-led small business activities and the impact of entrepreneurship education on self-efficacy and intentions. Furthermore, the assignment explores the vital role of small businesses in the UK economy, highlighting their contribution through statistics and research findings. It emphasizes the significance of innovation and strategic planning for SME success, drawing upon relevant case studies and academic literature.

Entrepreneurship and Small
Business Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1
PART 1.............................................................................................................................1
P1. Entrepreneurial ventures and their relation with entrepreneurship (M1)............1
P2. Similarities and differences between entrepreneurial ventures (M1).................3
P3. Impact on economy (M2)...................................................................................4
P4. Importance of small business on social economy (M2).....................................5
PART 2.............................................................................................................................6
P5. Skills and characteristic of a successful entrepreneur (M3)..............................6
P6. Personality of entrepreneurs reflects motivation and their mind-set (M3).........7
P7. Background impact and experience (M4)..........................................................8
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................... 10
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is the new way of thinking, acting and reasoning to launch a
new business. The new business can be a small one like any start up firm. This means
that the capability and more than that the willingness to develop, organize and manage
the business by taking all the risk factors into account (Schaper and et.al., 2014). The
small business management is the coordination of several activities run in an
organization to manage the business and achieve the goals and objectives set by the
company. This assignment will show the various types of entrepreneurship and their
way of usage in an organization.
PART 1
P1. Entrepreneurial ventures and their relation with entrepreneurship (M1)
All type of entrepreneurship ventures are not the same. The classification of
entrepreneurship ventures can be done in 4 ways;
Small Business Entrepreneurship: The total number of start ups and small
business entrepreneurs are still less in UK (Carraher and Paridon, 2015). Small
business like travel agents, consultants, carpenters, plumbers, hairdresser etc. The
owner of these people are the one who is running their small business on their own. All
of these small business are less profitable as compare to a well established business.
Their main aim is to earn something for their family and fulfil their basic needs, not to
build a huge industry with huge turn over. These type of business are not able to attract
more investors, so they generally fund their business via business loans or
family/friends capital.
Start-up Entrepreneurship: They are not like the entrepreneurs of small
business. Scalable start-ups are like those who are running in stock exchange of
London. Such type of people or entrepreneurs start a small company by keeping the
vision that one day their idea and vision could change the way of doing business
(Carland, Carland and Stewart, 2015.). The aim is to attract more investors and to
increase the capital of ventures. Scalable start-ups are in very small percentage of total
entrepreneurs but they gain more return then their investments, and this attract all the
investors who wants to take risk.
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Large company entrepreneurship: These companies are having their finite life
cycle. They go through constant and sustainable innovation and offers new products
which are according to the customer's taste and based on new technology. But the size
of the company and culture makes it very difficult to execute.
Social Entrepreneurship: The social entrepreneurs are those who concentrate
on creating such kind of products, which can solve the social problems and needs. The
main aim of such entrepreneurship is to make the world a better place, not to gain profit
and create more money to the founders. These may be non-profitable, profitable or can
be hybrid also.
Typology means the classification of entrepreneurs based on the type of business;
1. On the basis of development: This is further classified into three categories, first
generation, second generation and classical entrepreneurs (Carland and
Carland, 2015). First generation entrepreneurs start the business on their own,
second generation passes the family business from one generation to other and
classical entrepreneurs aims to maximize their profit.
2. On the basis of motivation: They are pure entrepreneurs and induced
entrepreneurs. They become entrepreneurs because they are motivated or
because of their ego or by the policies of government which gives incentives to
them.
3. On the basis of technology: They are classified into three categories, technical,
non-technical and professional entrepreneurs.
4. On the basis of Capital ownership: They are private, state or joint entrepreneurs.
The private ones are individual ones which arranges the finance on their own
risk. The state entrepreneurs are the ones which take over the business which
was held by government and joint entrepreneurs are the combination of private
and state entrepreneurs.
All these classification of entrepreneurship are either public entrepreneur or
private entrepreneur. The private entrepreneurs are having more risk associated with it.
Because they are owned by an individual, so the risk is more. In public sector, it is not
the case. Because they are getting constant flow of money from the investors or from
the government.
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With the increase in use of latest technologiesb and internet based promotional
activities have significantly changed the marketing strategy of small business
enterprises. In order to overcome those marketing strategiesb entrepreneurs have
established different types of ventures such as:-
Aggressive/high growth ventures:- such ventures possess strong behaviour in order
to generate innovative and creative ideas by adopting the latest technologies that are
prevailing under business environment. Similarly, there focus is on developing potential
strength and growth of the cited firm.
Lifestyle ventures:- such ventures provides an entrepreneur with stable growth and
likewise maintains significance approach to management. Such entrepreneurs aim at
achieving effective lifestyle.
Managed growth ventures:- under this venture entrepreneurs seeks for timely stable
growth and focus on workable business model.
Survival ventures:- such ventures provide entrepreneur and his family with basic
subsistence. Similarly, such ventures are established by an entrepreneur in regard to
achieve their basic needs for effective survival.
P2. Similarities and differences between entrepreneurial ventures (M1)
The one thing which is similar in all the ventures is the risk which is associated
with the generation of the idea. The private and social ventures do not have the job
security, and also the flow of money is also not consistent and constant (Sahut and
Peris-Ortiz, 2014). The private ventures can also be considered as individual ventures
where all the risk is on the owner. But they hire more skilled employees so that if any
risk occurs, they can deal with it very easily. One more similarity is that the authority of
owner over all the activities happening in business. The role of private and public
entrepreneurship ventures is to generate the profit form the business and fulfil their
needs irrespective of its effect on social environment. Their goal is to attract more and
more investors to generate more money for the business by which they can gain
maximum profit. But the main role of social ventures is to create those products or
provide those services which will not cost any damage to the environment ( McKeown,
2017).
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The business nature can not play any major role unless the organization is not
having any mission and vision behind this. For running the business successfully, the
business owners have to have a clear vision and objectives set (Piperopoulos and
Dimov, 2015.). The main thing which differentiate these ventures is the amount of
money and significant return they are getting by applying those inputs. Social ventures
might not have that much recognition but the profit earn by them will be quite high.
Social ventures run for the welfare of people and environment, so they can earn name
and recognition, only if the services and activities provided by them are satisfactory and
genuine.
Medium ventures requires high capital investments. Be it monetary help, the
hiring of employees, the working place or the transportation facilities. The risk
associated with medium ventures are greater than small and micro ventures.
Entrepreneurship is totally dependent on the courage and willingness to do the work
and achieve the dreams. Micro business entrepreneurship are those who run their
business as a start-up firm. One individual can run the business and the risk is less,
because the investment is less in the business. The start-up entrepreneur keeps on
checking the products and services, even micro level business entrepreneur like to
check this, at the initial stage of the business (Fayolle and Gailly, 2015). But the large
scale entrepreneur might not go for this. Thus, the impact of failure is high in medium or
large scale business than in micro and small business.
Small and medium ventures can be either in public sector or in private. Small
ventures are not required any kind of large capital investment. This is because the
business scale is on the lower level. But the medium ventures required high capital. The
risk associated with this is also more.
Differences and similarities between certain entrepreneurial ventures.
Survival ventures Managed growth
ventures
Aggressive growth
ventures
Lifestyle ventures
Annual growth rate is
nominal.
10-15 percent annual
growth rate.
Annual growth rate is
more than 20 percent.
Annual growth rate is
less than 5 percent.
Management style is Follows strategic Strategic and proactive Management style is
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reactive. management style. management style is
focussed.
tactical.
Very low range of
entrepreneurial
orientation.
Entrepreneurial
orientation is of
moderate range.
High entrepreneurial
orientation.
Low entrepreneurial
orientation.
Such ventures aim to
sustain one's family or
oneself.
Managed growth
ventures aims in
creation of wealth.
Like managed growth
ventures these are also
concerned with
creation of wealth.
Lifestyle ventures are
established in regard
to income substitution.
Such ventures have
self source of finance.
Finance is generated
from self, family or
friends, banks and
private investors.
Such ventures obtain
finances from private
investors, banks,
venture capital firms,
public markets etc.
Finances are made
available from self,
friends or family and
banks.
P3. Impact on economy (M2)
The people who are associated with small business are well aware that currently
in UK, small business are expanding. In 2015 and 2016, the record number of start-ups
have been started and this is showing no sign of stopping. Small and micro businesses
are the back bone of UK economy. The micro and small business makes up the 99.9%
of the business in UK, and over 60% job of private sector. There are a total of 4.9 million
small businesses running in UK. Small business are those business who are having
less than 250 employees. Micro business are defined as the business having 0 to 9
employees (UK Small Business Statistics. 2017). A total of 4.6 million companies in UK
are made up of this. But these companies are accounting a total 32% of the
employment and approx 18% of the turnover.
Small and micro business help the the business environment more competitive,
and it attracts more investors and visitors. These businesses are very diverse in nature
but they are serving well to all the communities. The statistics have shown that 10% of
total sales rate increased in the part few years and the growth rates are very high in
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three areas – product, process and innovations. As the official figure was published, it
was clearly shown that total 2.61 million jobs were created by micro and small business.
A total of 870,000 jobs were created, which is contributing a total of 34% jobs. Small
firms are improving the local economies because they brings creativity and talent to
serve the community.
As the local economy is increasing, the national economies are also increasing.
The biggest part of small enterprises is to export the products, but after Brexit, the trade
is normal as it was previous, but the demand has become less in Europe, not locally
(Blackburn, Hart and Wainwright, 2013). As the majority of business done is Euros, but
in UK, the business was done is pounds, so 20% decline was occurred in UK economy
after the Brexit. Leaving EU has made the export more complex because the custom
clearance is increased and the demand is reduced. This is affecting the business of
small firms internationally.
Large businesses are generally having less impact on the economy because
they are operational at international level. Thus, they are more focused towards
generating their own profit and benefits. But the market of UK is owned by these small
and medium enterprises. They have covered more than 90% of the market of UK.
These are generating more money and thus, raising the economical condition of UK.
P4. Importance of small business on social economy (M2)
Economy which is formed by the non-profit organisations that works for
eradicating the social issues is termed as social economy. A rich diversity of
organisations helps in the formation of social economy such as combined mutuals,
subordinates, social entities and jointly managed institutions. The importance of small
business can be understand by knowing the following factors;
Turnover: This thing is the first poetics while measuring the economic
contribution. Micro and small business is having a turn over of £1.6 trillion in 2014. this
is very huge considering that this accounts 47% of the total turnover in private sector.
This will contribute very huge in the social economy of UK (The importance of small
businesses in the UK economy. 2015).
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Growth: Small and micro business are far ahead when it comes to the growth of
the business. The major part of growth is innovation, as this will keep the market fresh.
Total of 37% of innovative activities are involved with small business.
The social economy is increased, because the start-ups have been increased.
This brings lots of innovative approaches in manufacturing and also in production. The
policies have been revised after Brexit regarding the foreign investments and other
immigration codes. This will help in attracting more investors to UK, so that globalisation
and industrialisation can be increased (Arshed, Carter and Mason, 2014). In UK, the
major source of income is small and micro scale businesses. Therefore all the social
economic activities have been supported by small businesses after Brexit.
The small enterprises can be considered as the power house because they give
significant stability to the economy of UK. About 60% of the total employment is
generated by small business organizations. As mentioned earlier, the turnover is £ 1.6
trillion and this keeps on increasing, because new and innovative operational activities
have been applied. Therefore it can be seen that small business have a positive impact
on the overall social economy of UK.
In UK, many of the business entrepreneurs which are having less than 10
employees are generating 33% of the employment and a total of 19% turnover. These
enterprises are having major impact of the UK economy, because these organizations
are bringing more flow of money in the industry.
PART 2
P5. Skills and characteristic of a successful entrepreneur (M3)
Bill gates and Mark Zuckerberg, these two are the most successful
entrepreneurs. They worked with full dedication and enthusiasm , which help them
turning their ideas into reality. Bill gates is the co-founder of Microsoft, and he is one of
the astronomical tactical gargantuan (Harris, Gibson and Taylor, 2015). Facebook is
an integral part in everyone’s life now. But 10 years back, when internet was new to
everyone, people were finding ideas to be in touch with each other. But it was Mark
Zuckerberg, who's ideas and effortless work done by him which make this possible.
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Facebook is now an international medium which is used by people to stay connected all
the time. Here are few skills and characteristics, an successful entrepreneur must have;
Strong leadership qualities: Leader's are born by birth, they can not be made.
A leader is the one who is having strong communication skills and he has the ability to
combine a group and guide them to the goal set by the organization (Karatas‐Ozkan
and et.al., 2014.). Both Mark Zuckerberg and Bill gates are leader, as they have guided
the most skilled team in the world to such an extent that they are now the world leader
in their respective aspect.
Highly self-motivated: All the famous entrepreneurs are having quite unique
and intense personality. Successful entrepreneur do not wait for someone else to solve
the problem. They go there and work hard and find out the solution of the problems. All
the leaders enjoy facing challenges, because they are highly motivated and they can
work tirelessly to find out the solution of the problem.
Critical thinking ability: This is also one of the important quality possess by the
two successful entrepreneurs. For every single issue whether it was a small one or a big
issue, they always have a critical thinking approach towards it (Naldi, Achtenhagen and
Davidsson, 2015). It was to such an extent that without putting serious and hard work
not a single decision was taken. Proper communication is the key in developing the well
skilled management. If Entrepreneurs manages to communicate effectively from their
clients as well as to their employees, they always became successful in achieving their
objectives and goals.
Willingness to fail: Both Bill gates and Mark Zuckerberg are risk takers. They
never afraid to take risks, because they are not afraid of failure. All the entrepreneurs
are successful because of their ability to make the best decision which is suitable to that
problem. It is possible that the decision which is best according to them will not go
according to the plan, and can fail. But one famous saying is that “Nothing ventured
nothing gained” (Winkel, 2013.). They are not afraid of failing, because that's where they
are able to know what was wrong with their decision. So that they will not make such
decision again.
One characteristic of entrepreneurial is self motivation, this is very necessary.
Because if anyone want to motivate the employees or co-workers, then they have to
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have the qualities of self motivation. If they are facing any problem in life, then they
should be capable enough to motivate themselves and get out of that problem very
quickly.
P6. Personality of entrepreneurs reflects motivation and their mind-set (M3)
The emotional aspect which will help the entrepreneurs in developing their skills
and willingness is motivation. Entrepreneurship can be considered as a part of
individual's personality. The functioning of any business is dependent on the working
style of the entrepreneurs. The working style of Mark Zuckerberg is equanimity. This will
help the entrepreneur in developing very strong bond with his employees and his
colleagues (Järvi, 2015). He remain very calm and cool even in the most difficult
situations. This aspect helps him developing a positive attitude. This creates a positive
working environment.
The aim and working style of Bill gates is to transfer the operations of computer
and taking the technology to a whole new level. According to Bill gates, there are 5
qualities, which are very essential in developing a successful business (How Bill Gates
Became a Leadership Legend. 2017). These are accepting criticism, timely negotiation,
focus, fearless towards approach and optimistic approach. It is possible that some
people are usually very optimistic but fails when they face some failures. This means
that they lack confidence in taking decisions related to the business. So it is very
important that successful entrepreneur must have all these qualities so that the process
of their business remains smooth.
To achieve progress and development, the employees must remain motivated
and satisfied in what they are doing. Issues will not occur when there will be a strong
and effective communication with the employees. While developing new strategies for
business Mark Zuckerberg and Bill gates have implied these techniques, so that they
can develop a successful business plan in order to achieve their goals and objectives.
The qualities and skills help them in building motivation among the employees, so that
they can perform in more effective ways.
The impact of characteristic traits and personality is very high in the functioning
of an organization. The attitude of the leader is accepted by all the employees, but their
reaction varies form situation to situation. The personality of the leader should be such
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that he can maintain good relationship with all the employees. They should not get
annoyed and stressful in difficult situation (Bosma, 2013). They must have calm and an
optimistic way of providing a solution in the most stressful conditions. This will help in
developing the motivation level among the employees and also in the organization.
The personality of entrepreneur must have good qualities to become a leader.
The person must have the skills to guide his team to achieve the task set by the
organization. The argument can be done on the basis of his human handling skills. He
should have the technique to think and act quickly in pressure situation. This will also
motivate the employee to think and act in more creative way.
P7. Background impact and experience (M4)
There are different experiences in becoming a successful entrepreneur. All these
experience will help them in taking the proper decision for the future. The personality of
an entrepreneur is majorly depends on the background of the family. Socio-cultural
factors also helps in increasing the personality development of an individual. For
example; if the family of an entrepreneur is not supportive in what he is doing, then it will
give mental disturbance. This will reduce the effectiveness (Kuratko, 2016). And if the
family is very supportive, then it will motivate the entrepreneur to work more efficiently
and effectively.
For any business organization to work effectively, then they must require a team.
The work done by the entrepreneur is having great influence on the team which is
working under him. Future decisions should not be made in the fear of part experience.
The positive background is very necessary, so that it will reduce the demotivating
factors. If those factors increases, then it will affect the motivation of employees and
also decrease the optimism level. It is very necessary for an entrepreneur to have such
kind of skills which will reduce the demotivating factors and gives the positive approach
to solve the problems.
According to the situation faced by the entrepreneur, the experience can be
either positive or negative. Mark Zuckerberg has faced very high criticism during his
early years but all these factors are not able to put any sort of negative impact on the
company (Naudé, 2013.). He was very positive and optimistic in what he is doing, and
this was enough in achieving the target set by him. The focus of an entrepreneur must
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be on the well being of the employees, which will give the positive outcomes. He was
not concerned on the losses that happened in the past, but more focused towards what
can are the approaches which can be used to overcome those mistakes. There are
many other people including senior managers, investors, who are also responsible for
the development of the company. The entrepreneur have coordinate all the ideas of
these individual's in such a way that mismanagement will not happen.
The influence of the background of entrepreneur on his business should be
positive. He should not make any decisions based on the past negative influence. The
small businesses have large influence on the economy of the country, so the
entrepreneurs must apply all of their positive behavioural skills to make the organization
more successful.
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CONCLUSION
From this report it has been concluded that it require amount of dedication and
hard work to become a successful entrepreneur. The basic qualities have been
discussed in this report which are very essential to become an entrepreneur. The brief
discussion was done regarding the types of entrepreneur ventures and their relation
with typologies of entrepreneurship. The growth of economy has been disrupted when
there are less numbers of small business firms. This report also includes the impact of
background and experiences of entrepreneur on the business. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill
Gates are the prime example and role model for someone who wants to be a successful
entrepreneur.
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REFERENCES
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