1	Entrepreneurship and Developing Creative Strategies By D. J. Power
2	Entrepreneur The term entrepreneur describes a person who starts a business. A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture. Successful entrepreneurs change the competitive situation by innovating with new products, processes or approaches. Entrepreneurs identify and exploit opportunities. Within a company such a person is called an Intrapreneur.
3	Entrepreneurship The undertaking of calculated risks to bring product/business innovations to the market to create value and profit. Entrepreneurship is "the process of looking at things in such a way that possible solutions to problems and perceived needs may evolve in venturing." Willingness to take the risks involved in starting and managing a business. The managerial function that combines land, labor, and capital in a cost-effective way and uncovers new opportunities to earn profit; includes willingness to take the risks associated with a business venture.
4	Characteristics of Entrepreneurs An enthusiastic vision, the driving force of an enterprise. An interlocking collection of specific ideas not implemented in the marketplace. Overall blueprint to realize the vision is clear, however details may be incomplete, flexible, and evolving. Promotes the vision with enthusiastic passion. With persistence and determination, the entrepreneur develops strategies to change the vision into reality. Takes the initial responsibility to cause a vision to become a success. Takes prudent risks. Assesses costs, market/customer needs and persuades others to join and help. A positive thinker and a decision maker.
5	Traits of Entrepreneurs A desire to achieve Hard work Desire to work for themselves Nurturing quality for a new venture Acceptance of responsibility Reward orientation Optimism Orientation to excellence Organization Profit orientation
6	Strategic Thinking Anticipate what might, will or could occur in a situation and how it is possible to shape or influence what is occurring so that what one wants to occur actually occurs. Think about consequences and choosing actions to achieve objectives. Try to turn a situation to one's advantage. Ask the right questions in a solution-oriented manner Conduct appropriate analyses to formulate plans and strategy. Anticipate competitor actions and preparing to counter or thwart them.
7	New Venture Plans A new venture plan usually refers to a plan for starting and operating a new business venture. A new venture is usually a business enterprise involving some risk in expectation of gain. Venture is often used to refer to a risky start-up. The term is broad enough however to encompass tasks related to any new venture whether initiated by an individual, group or organization for a profit or non-profit motive. Venture planning answers the question, Should I be doing this and why?
8	Developing Creative Strategies How can CEOs develop creative strategies and enhance innovation? Assemble “creative” teams - diverse, heterogeneous, charge to be “creative” Creativity enhancement techniques - learn them and use them Design “creative organizations” – structure, culture, etc.
9	Creativity enhancement techniques Brainstorming Synectics – use analogies SCAMPER – Substitute? Combine? Adapt? Modify or magnify? Put to other uses? Eliminate or reduce? Reverse or rearrange? Attribute list – modify systematically Challenge assumptions Nominal Group Technique (NGT)
10	How do we design “creative” organizations? Push decision-making down in the organization structure Open new channels of communication Down play rules Provide rewards for creativity Create special programs – retreats, seminars on creativity
11	Brainstorming The following steps are required for effective brainstorming: Describe the problem or decision for which the team needs ideas and state the objective of identifying as many ideas as possible. (For example: Why did market share decline? Or How to increase market share?) Determine how team members are to be separated. Members may brainstorm in their offices, at home, or together at a meeting, provided that there is no criticism of ideas.
12	"Provide time to brainstorm." Provide time to brainstorm. Time needed depends on members’ familiarity with the issue. Encourage idea generation by asking members to do the following: Withhold self-criticism of ideas Be as creative as possible and do not worry if the ideas seem wild Generate as many ideas as possible, quantity is what is wanted Hold an idea evaluation meeting, or at least separate the idea generation and idea evaluation phases of the meeting.
13	Nominal Group Technique The idea generation stage of this technique is very similar to individual brainstorming in that individuals work alone. The nominal group technique includes the following steps: Present to team members, both orally and in writing, the issue for which ideas are needed. Let team members list ideas on a yellow pad for about 10 minutes.
14	"Have each member generate new..." Have each member generate new ideas, using a variation of the individual brainstorming approach. Rather than brainstorming in isolation, individuals do so in the same location as other team members. A task-oriented work environment is created as team members observe each other working hard. However, cross-chatter and criticism of ideas are not allowed. Record individual ideas on either a flipchart or blackboard by going around the team and asking for one idea from each member at a time. Continue until all members’ ideas have been recorded. This procedure ensures equal participation among team member, keeps the team involved in the process, and increases individual involvement.
15	"Discuss," Discuss, in order, each idea listed on the flipchart or blackboard. Discussion should focus initially on meaning and clarification on an idea. After seeing the complete list of ideas, team members should individually brainstorm new ideas again. After viewing the entire list, members may have new ideas. Shift focus to discussing agreement and disagreement about the importance and/or validity of each idea. Teams should be careful, however, not to “lose track” and discuss only one idea. This procedure will help team members familiarize themselves with the meaning, logic, and arguments for and against each idea.
16	"Team members should then be..." Team members should then be asked to choose from the entire list a specific number of ideas (e.g., 7-10) that are most important and rank them. Assign a score of one to the least important and so on. The most important item in the list should have the highest score. Determine the team’s preference by counting the ideas with the highest scores. Those ideas are considered the most important and valid ones.
17	What are the major challenges for the Entrepreneur? No fixed business model to follow Hard to accurately identify risks Non-level playing field, esp., local company vs MNC Deterioration of government protection for businesses/industries Increased competition among businesses Improved and faster information flows Increased competition to find investor funding (global market) Increased competition for talent
18	What are some practical steps for a “would be” Entrepreneur? Embrace an Entrepreneurial Mindset by turning problems into opportunities Aski the right questions like “how can I afford it? rather than saying, “I can’t afford it!” Learn the skills required to use resources available only in another country Make networking with people a part of your lifestyle Don’t be afraid to fail! Try and then try again.