Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice: Analysis of Two Entrepreneurs

This report, submitted by a student, delves into the core concepts of entrepreneurship theory and practice, addressing the question of whether entrepreneurial success necessitates compromising ethical boundaries. The report analyzes the strengths and weaknesses inherent in entrepreneurial behavior, referencing the saying, "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs." It presents detailed case studies of two prominent entrepreneurs: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and Mike Lazaridis, the innovator behind Blackberry. Through these examples, the report examines the key traits and characteristics that contribute to entrepreneurial success, such as recognizing opportunities, self-belief, risk tolerance, decision-making abilities, and unwavering passion. The report highlights how these traits enabled Bezos and Lazaridis to build and sustain successful businesses, providing valuable insights into the complexities of entrepreneurship. The report also includes references to academic sources to support the analysis.

Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Discussion on the Question........................................................................................................2
Entrepreneur 1 – Jeff Bezos.......................................................................................................3
Entrepreneur 2 – Mike Lazaridis................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Discussion on the Question
As the proverb goes, “You cannot make an omelette without breaking the eggs,”
considering the ideology of the mentioned proverb the question framed for the purpose of the
given paper is recognised as – Can you make an omelette without breaking eggs? The
purpose of this question is critically related to the behaviour of entrepreneurs towards the
business firm they are connected to. In this connection, the question built is – Is the downside
of challenging behaviour and shady business dealings an acceptable trade-off for the success
and wealth that entrepreneurs create?
Based on the applied question, the report critically tends to state that every individual
has their strengths and weaknesses indulged in themselves. In this context, the individual as
an entrepreneur is considered to indulge the potentialities of strength when the individual is
able to establish a new as well as a renowned business firm that remains stable in the long
run. As implied by Kuratko (2016), for an entrepreneur to be a successful and a renowned
entrepreneur, a high degree of enthusiasm and degree of energy is required to be able to
achieve the dreams and desires that are being set at the time of the start-up of the business
firm. On the other hand, if those needs and desires are let loose, the same may result in the
decline of the business and also create havoc in the same. As stated by Barak (2016), the
weaknesses indulged by a business person often may remain unnoticed because of the several
other peers and employees working in the organisation. Although the same does not fail to
impact the entrepreneurship characteristics of the individual and create an influence on the
sharp business activities and practices that the entrepreneur solely is responsible for.
Moreover, it was also examined that running a business firm for a more extended
period of time and sustaining its goodwill and reputation in the modern business market is not
as easy as it seems. In this connection, as opined by Chang (2016), generating the business

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idea is although easy, but implementing and executing the same is a matter of complete
different fact. In order to build a renowned business firm and sustain the competitive
advantage of the same in the long run is only possible if the nature and attitude of the
entrepreneurs remain the same throughout the existence of the firm. According to the
viewpoint of Ravenelle (2017), the rage of a business person in the pursuit of building a
perfect entrepreneurship is termed to be successful only when the individual has the
capability to create the most desirable and accessible products and services that satisfy the
crucial demands of the potential customers and the complete target market. In the modern era
of the business world, many terms and conditions are to be fulfilled in the criteria of
maintaining a healthy and wealthy business firm (Crane & Matten, 2016). The market
structure, the innovation changes, the technological modifications, the human- friendly
working environment, the potential meet in the demand and the supply, the strategical
implementation of the peer competitors as well as managing the Human Resources; all are
termed to be an excellent challenge for the entrepreneurs (Berman et al., 2019). An
entrepreneur in this regard needs to be critically focused and work to the greatest zeal and
enthusiasm to keep the competency of the business to the highest level and gain the motive of
adequate profit earning from the same. As studies show that many entrepreneurs build a
business firm, earn a famous paradigm in the same, but fails to maintain the same in the long
run. Thus, it can be critically stated that one cannot make an omelette without breaking an
egg. Similarly, one cannot become a successful businessman without working at the best of
the capabilities. In this connection, the given report tends to state the example of two such
entrepreneurs who were successful in building their relevant renowned business firm.
Entrepreneur 1 – Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, formerly known as Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American based
technology entrepreneur, investor as well as philanthropist. The concerned business person

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was born on 12th January in the year of 1964 (Bezos, 2016). As a business person, he is at
present considered to be the founder, chairperson as well as the CEO of the famous brand
Amazon. He is known to graduate with a degree of engineering and computer science in the
year of 1986. After the completion of his graduation, he worked on Wall Street for a variety
of related fields of his graduation course from 1986 to early 1994. Studies show that Bezos
was an interested business person since his early adulthood age when he loved to learn about
entrepreneurship and its benefits. This interest of Bezos led to his foundation of Amazon in
the late year of 1994 (Kantor & Streitfeld, 2015). The company of Amazon is known to start
with the online seller of books and later expanding into a variety of goods and services. The
same also included audio and video streaming in the current market which not only allows
the people to enjoy the entertainment programs but also leverage themselves to study books
through e-commerce that is available on Amazon Kindle. The Amazon is considered to be
one of the world’s largest online marketing industry and also a provider of cloud
infrastructure services that is available via the web services of Amazon (Rittinghouse &
Ransome, 2016). The concerned entrepreneur added to its business inventions in the fiscal
year of 2000, when he debuted the company of Blue Origin that was related to the aerospace
department. The test flight of Blue Origin was known to successfully reach space in the year
of 2015 (Smith, 2016). Researches show that Jeff Bezos was termed as the wealthiest person
in the year 2017 when his net worth was calculated at over $100 billion in the month of
November 2017 (Callahan, 2017). He was formerly designated as the richest person in the
world in the year of 2018 dated 6th March in the Forbes magazine. Being recognised as the
first cent- billionaire in the Forbes wealth index and termed as the richest businessman in the
modern history after the calculation of his net worth being increased to $150 billion in the
month of July 2018 (Furgang, 2018). In this connection, the given report tends to state that
this success achieved by Jeff is not a dream of the night or even a matter of a day. The

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concerned entrepreneur has worked with positive motivation and attitude towards his work
and business structure to gain the reputation he has at the current date.
Studies show that Jeff was a strong-minded business person and has worked efficiently to
keep its business at a significant paradigm (Teece, Peteraf & Leih, 2016). He is known to
indulge recognisable traits of a successful business person that made him what he is in the
present. The important traits recognised as a business person in Jeff are specified as below.
 Impeccable recognition of ideas and opportunities and working accordingly to set up
the business and its required set of plans and processes.
 Self- belief in himself to work and belief in his fellow workers about handling the
business procedures and processes.
 The capability of high tolerance in the risks and the uncertainties that may occur in
the business firms at any point in time.
 Ability to take decisions and make necessary changes in the strategic plans of
business as and when required.
 The stubbornness of working with a passion for self- dependency and not being
dependent on others for the fulfillment of work.
Hence, based on the above shreds of illustration, the given report tends to state that
the durable nature of a business person will obviously lead to the success of the same. As
opined by (Laureani & Antony, 2017), business person when working with complete
enthusiasm and dedication is sure to achieve the target and goals set at the generation time of
the business firm.
Entrepreneur 2 – Mike Lazaridis
According to the viewpoint of Yunus (2017), a business person is the one who is self-
established and self – created. In this connection, the perfect example set by the concerned

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study is of the entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis. Mike Lazaridis formerly known as Mihal Mike
Lazaridis is known to take birth in the region of Turkey, Istanbul. His birth date is recorded
as 14th March 1961 (Sussman et al., 2019). He belonged to a Pontic Greek family and had
settled with his family in Canada in the year of 1966. Mike was recorded to have a high level
of interest in science and its technology. This interest of him led into spending ample amount
of time thinking and working with scientific ideas and building several things that
underpinned the ideology of science. He is also known to have undergone his graduation in
the course of science and technology. The urge and rage of exploring how the technology
works created an interest in Mike of debuting his business which is related to the technology
itself (Cheung & Wallace, 2016). In this context, Mike is known to have introduced his
electronics business along with his friend that was named as Research in Motion. Later this
business was established as the revolutionary firm that brought changes in the field of mobile
phones and its technology. The same was known to be debuted as the company of wireless
technology company that introduced the range of the first smartphone – Blackberry (Ensign
& Farlow, 2016).
As opined by Frederick, O'Connor & Kuratko, (2018), an individual does not become
an entrepreneur in the blink of an eye. An entrepreneur is known to struggle with the ideas
and skills and execute the same in the proceedings of business. The same was executed by
Mike Lazaridis, and he used his set of a business trait that was inherited in him to establish
his business and make it a successful one. As discussed above in the study, Mike brought an
entirely new set of the business idea of revolutionising the industry of mobile phones and
upbringing the idea of the wireless connection in the technology of the same. The business
firm of Mike had been recognised and awarded with a contract of $600,000 in the initial of
setting up of the firm by the industry of General Motors. The concerned company of Mike
Lazaridis was debuted with only a few numbers of employees and with the struggle Mike had

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put into his business, the company had reached to tremendous success in the fiscal year of
2007. This success of the company was recognised because of the innovative idea of Mike to
build the revolutionary phone – Blackberry. The business characteristics that helped Mike to
gain a competitive advantage in his firm are specified as below.
 As examined in the above illustration in the report, Mike had a fascinating love for
science and technology; the same made him excited and passionate about establishing
a business related to scientific technologies and communication.
 Mike was recorded to be highly creative and innovative with his ideas about science
and introducing things that are related to science and its ideology since his childhood
days. The same was proved with his debuting of the business of Blackberry.
 Lazaridis was also termed as a potential self-worker and dependent on himself for the
workings of his business. He performed his tasks that would fulfill the business
purpose of the company Mike is connected to.
However, it was also investigated with the help of the study that the business of Mike
which has turned into a huge success had indeed fallen down in the fiscal year of 2017. The
reason behind the same was determined to be the emergence of the new potential competitors
in the market of the wireless smartphone industry. The company that emerged as the
competitors for the industry of Blackberry were recognised as Apple and iPhone. With the
struggle of Mike Lazaridis, the concerned company, he owned however continued to survive
in the market till the end of 2011. In this context, it was examined that the Blackberry
industry had to suffer a downfall of over 55% by the end of 2012 (El Namaki, 2017). Based
on these pieces of evidence, the report critically tends to state the shady behaviour of Mike
led to the downfall of his revolutionary business. Mike was recognised to ignore the potential
and strength of his new rival business, and that led to the termination of Blackberry from the
mobile phone market. Had it been that Mike had correctly followed the market structure and

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the strategic implementations of its competitors and not taken them lightly, the business
would have remained a success with the same competency level.

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