MD4044 Entrepreneurship Theory: Reflective Report on Business Practice

This report provides a comprehensive reflection on entrepreneurial practice, focusing on the development and presentation of a business idea within a team setting. It utilizes Gibb's reflective cycle to analyze personal entrepreneurial attributes and key competencies, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered as part of a marketing team for a Preston-based online shopping portal, PRESTONMANIA. The report delves into the evolution of the business idea, emphasizing the importance of teamwork, communication skills, and strategic planning. Furthermore, a SWOT analysis is conducted to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the start-up venture, offering insights into potential areas for improvement and competitive advantage. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wealth of study resources for students.

Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTISE
Entrepreneurship practise
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTISE
Executive summary
The current assignment focuses on the concept of entrepreneurial practise. Here, the
entrepreneurial aspects are guided by a number of factors such as team working skills along
with the development of effective marketing strategies. In the current assignment, a Preston
based organization had been taken into consideration, which hosts its online shopping portal
and offers a diverse range of products. As part of the marketing team, I had to undergo a
number of challenges in meeting with the desired targets for a start-up company. However,
the assignment also focuses on the self-reflection skills through using Gibb's reflective cycle
as well as the development of an effective business development plan through the use of team
working skills and marketing tools.

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Background:
The current assignment focuses on the different aspects of entrepreneurial practice. It is
governed by a number of personal attributes and key competencies which helps one to work
in teams within a business environment. The success of teamwork lies predominantly on the
ability to engage effectively within a team by reflection upon individual performance and
team development. In the current assignment is PRESTONMANIA, which an online shopping
portal will be created specifically for the Preston based people where variety of products will
be offered to them under one roof. The numbers of services which are offered on this
platform include- beverages, drinks, alcohol, clothing, accessories etc. In the following
sections of the assignment, the profit-making policies of PRESTONMANIA will be
discussed. The individual and group performance will be further evaluated through Gibb’s
reflection cycle. The fetish of people for online shopping has been utilised for the
development of a comprehensive shopping portal. The Preston based people have been seen
to be inclined towards some of the high-end shopping brands. Therefore, the
PRESTONMANIA serves to develop as the one-stop solutions for all the comprehensive
requirements of the Preston based people.
Assignment 1:
Critical reflection on entrepreneurial attributes and key competencies
In the present section, Gibb's reflective cycle will be used for focussing on individual
attributes and key competencies within a team. The Gibbs reflective cycle could be divided
into a number of stages such as – description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion,
action plan. I think as a newly recruited marketing consultant I faced a number of hurdles
which prevented me from delivering the best performance. Initially, I had difficulty in

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understanding the target market and the frequency of purchases made by the customers.
Therefore, I had difficulty in understanding the marketing gimmicks which could be applied
in the present situation to increase the sales output. I also felt as a newly recruited marketing
head, I was apprehensive about approaching and communicating with my team regarding the
sales output which further questioned my understanding of the lead generations. Additionally,
working as a part of a multi-cultural team I had faced great difficulty in understanding few of
the messages delivered to the team. Thus, I felt the gap in communication also affected my
performance as a whole and also of the whole team. Some of the personal entrepreneurial
attributes which I would like to discuss over here are organizational skills, communication
skills, decision making and strategic planning.
Strategy planning skill
The experience to work as part of a team had a number of positive as well as negative
consequences. Since I was working with a tenured team it had helped me in clearing much of
my doubts related to multiple aspects of the work process. Based on my past experiences as
marketing consultant I could guide my team better in the business strategy planning and also
help them develop some of the professional skills such as empirical analysis, which is one of
the pre-requisites of successful marketing. Therefore, having served in a retail company as a
marketing analyst earlier I could guide my subordinates into conducting effective market
research which would help them in understanding the market risks. I think conducting a well-
planned research regarding the target market and customer preferences along with increasing
the number of business partners can help in garnering sufficient profits. For coping with
future recurrence of the issue we will need to gather the support of the stakeholders with we
will be dealing with the due course of the business. The support from the stakeholders will

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help in the generation of sufficient funds which will help in the development of an effective
marketing strategy.
Communication skills
However, the downside of the experience was that there was a lack of continuous flow
of information through effective communication. Therefore, I could not develop sufficient
communication skills which could help me to communicate with my peers or subordinates
within the organization. This also affected the business process significantly as working for
PRESTONMANIA I found that I was required to work along with a huge number of market
shareholders. Therefore, the lack of effective negotiation would mean that they would be
quoting unnecessarily high prices for the individual raw materials of the products and the lack
of communication skills would often mean that we will end up putting more. I believe
working under a solely autocratic boos in my last organization resulted in me developing fear
to voice my opinions. I had faced the similar issues while interacting with my team in
PRESTONMANIA.
Decision making
I also felt that the presence of more number of new employees in the team compared to
tenured employees also resulted in lack of troubleshooting expertise which resulted in under
realization of targets. Additionally, being newcomer I think I lacked the vision or the
objective of the expansion of the business. This hampered my personal development as well
as my development as part of a team. Moreover, I think working under an autocratic leader I
was mostly a follower in my approach and not participatory. This further affected my
decision making and trouble shooting skills. Additionally, lack in experience of some of the
newly appointed team members also resulted in me receiving less suggestions from them

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which further hampered the overall performance of the team. Additionally, I also felt there
was a lack of guidance from the management.
Organizational skills
The last experience I had in one of my marketing based jobs further helped me in
implementing effective organizational skills within my present workplace. Some of the
organizational practices which could be referred to over here are effective staffing, training
and provision of appraisal to the employees on performing better. One of the most important
criteria is recruiting the right candidate possessing the right kind of qualifications. For this I
had put up a transparent job design for a marketing and sales profile. It helped me in
attracting the right kind of candidates to the job profile. Additionally, possessing prior
experience in marketing also helped me in testing the amount of knowledge possessed by
individual team members and therefore guide them with regards to strategy making and
planning.
Figure: Gibb’s reflective cycle
(Source: Smyrl and Genieys 2016)

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Evolution of the business idea
The current assignment is based on the development and marketing of a comprehensive
online shopping portal based on the objectives of Prestomania. Prestomania refers to
attaining happiness through digital means (McKenny et al. 2017). One of the most
predominant business areas promoted through the objectives of PRESTONMANIA is online
shopping. The goal was to devise a portal where all kinds of services will be offered on the
same platform. The target audience cover could be increased with the help of incorporation
of products from some of the other market players which are equally favourable to the
Princeton people. The stores and shopping malls which required promoting their products
could join the online portal free of cost. This was done in order to attract the maximum
number of retailers offering diverse range of products. The free entry was implemented as a
marketing gimmick over here. However, it was decided that we will be taking a commission
of 1-5% based upon the profit margins of the brands and company. Additionally, we also
decided to deliver our own products through the website. The delivery charges were decided
based upon the weight of the products and the distances at which the products will be
delivered. The PRESTONMANIA app was to be made available over play store and could be
easily downloaded.
As commented by Burchardt et al. (2016), advertising strategies are one the crucial
objectives of a start-up business. Some of the channels through which the promotion could
be done are radio, newspapers, television, and social media marketing.
Customer service is a very important part of any business process and needs to be taken
seriously. The higher the customer satisfaction rates, the higher the success rates could be
generated in a business. One of the most important steps for any business venture is the after-
sales services. Some of the most important aspects of the after sales services are – conducting
a pre and post sales inquiry which will help in developing sufficient knowledge regarding

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customer opinions and preferences for a product (Osagie et al. 2016).Additionally,
integration of easy returns and refunds can help in enhancing the customer satisfaction rates
(Miller et al. 2016). As commented by Kuratko (2016), maintaining transparency in
providing the right and appropriate product details to the customers can help in increasing
customer loyalty towards the brands and the product.
The market statistics help in understanding the sales and the profitability margins of
PRESTONMANIA. The costs had been divided into both direct and indirect costs. The
direct cost comes from stock, website, event launches and licensing. The indirect costs come
from wages, server maintenance, marketing, miscellaneous and contingency charges. There
has been a rapid growth in the net profit percentage from first month onwards. This reflects
that PRESTONMANIA had been able to conquer a suitable niche within the online retail
market. However, as argued by Rawhouser et al. (2017), there is number of challenges which
are faced due to the existence of similar market players. Therefore, the survival of the
organization is under constant threat and needs a number of changes which had to be
incorporated (Zikic and Ezzedeen 2015). Some of these changes brought over the process
can provide the company with a competitive advantage. As commented by Bae et al. (2014),
product diversity and cost diversification are two such objectives, which can help in meeting
with the changing market demands. However, the indirect costs are high throughout the
twelve months across a year. A lot of additional costs have to mitigate in the marketing
channels along with the miscellaneous charges. The extra miscellaneous charges had also
arisen due to the hiring of outsourcing delivery agencies (Botha et al. 2015).
Additionally, the SWOT analysis could help in understanding the scope of improvements of
the start-up venture. In this respect, a detailed analysis had been conducted below:
Strengths Weakness
 Wide range of products offered  Lack of experienced financial

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 Easy return and refunds
 Superb after sale services
analysts
 Lack of own distribution channels
and partners
 Lack of effective communication
and teamwork
Opportunities Threats
 Growth in the digital means of
shopping
 Increase in the disposable income
of people
 Reduction in the amount of time
available to people for making
physical visits to stores
 Availability of international as well
as designer brands under the same
roof through online retail outlets
(Lubik and Garnsey 2016)
 Emergence of similar market
players in the industry
 Drastic changes in the rate of tax
imposition making the prices of the
products and goods soar higher
(Harmon 2015).
Table: SWOT analysis
(Source: Author)
Reflection on ability to engage effectively in appraising, creating and presenting team
entrepreneurial idea
The success of a team relies a lot on the team working skills and attributes. Effective
communication is instrumental in meeting the team goals and objectives. Since I had to

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interact with a team of people from different multicultural background, the messages were
not delivered as effectively as it should have been done. One of the most important steps in
the realization of the team goal is the effective communication regarding the attainment of the
team objectives (Andersson et al. 2016). Therefore, I believe organising and taking team
sessions once or twice a week can help me understand the issues or the dilemmas faced by
my staff. In this respect, training forms an important component of business growth and also
helped in the professional development of the staffs. As commented by Frese et al. (2014),
the training is also an efficient manner of developing the inter-professional skills of the staffs.
As an online retailer one is constantly under pressure from similar market brands (Edwards-
Schachter 2015). Therefore, we need to develop better advertising strategies to attract the
maximum number of target customer groups (Fritscher and Pigneur 2014). I also think
organising advertising and marketing training programs can help the staffs generate better
annual sales target. In the development of the team entrepreneurial idea, I need to focus on
the long-term objective s that prestonmmania desires to achieve. Some of these are achieving
maximum sales of the products along with higher rates of after purchase satisfaction. One of
the methods by which it could be done is to maintain personalised touch point with the
customers through the online portals. I need to brief my team effectively regarding
maintaining a personalised and healthy relationship with the customers. I can use an audio-
visual mode for the presentation of the business proposal idea to my staffs. The ideas should
be supported by sufficient graphs and charts which will help them understand the present
satisfaction rates as well as the required amount. I need to use a participative approach with
them staffs during the presentation of the entrepreneurial idea. This will help me in taking
into consideration the view point of my team members and designing of an effective
marketing strategy. The tone used by me during the team meeting should be encouraging and
not authoritative.

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Appraisals also form an important manner of provision of sufficient motivation to the
employees. In this respect, I need to work with my team closely in order to observe the
strengths and weakness areas of my peers. Therefore, provision of effective training programs
along with performance bonus and incentives can help in improving the performance of my
entire team and also enhance the productivity status of PRESTONMANIA.

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