Entrepreneurship
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INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT This assignment calls for critical thinking and analysis of the entrepreneurial
process in entrepreneurship. ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES: The assignment is intended to foster the
following objectives: ? ? ? Improving your critical thinking and application skills. Identifying innovation and
organisational management opportunities and applying them strategically as needed to grow and sustain
for profit / not for profit ventures. Combining knowledge from other courses with the new material
presented in the course to develop sophisticated analyses and solutions to pursuing innovative solutions
in today�s fast-paced, global, and highly competitive environment.
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION �One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest
on themselves. You don�t choose your passions; your passions choose you.� � Jeff P. Bezos What
does Jeff Bezos mean and what is the impact for would-be entrepreneurs? In this regard analyse the
workings of Amazon.com. How is it a global company? What makes it competitive and if so is it
sustainable? On this matter how can Yemen create success stories like Apple, Samsung, Google and
others like them in Yemen? Apply the William D. Bygrave model of the entrepreneurial process to
comprehensively recommend a workable approach for Yemen today. You are required to discuss and
evaluate the challenges posed and substantiate your answer with local and global examples where
appropriate. [80 marks]
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Entrepreneurship
Purpose of the Paper
This paper delineates on the criteria that entrepreneurial gurus recommend to be used while
selecting a business venture. With special focus on Jeff Bezos sentiments about entrepreneurial
passion, this paper develops a concise but analytical synthesis of the workings of Amzon.com,
focusing on its competitiveness, its global performance, and relates this success with other
international entities like Apple, Samsung, and Google among others. The stories of these
successful multinationals are then intricately applied to the case of Malaysia, where the author
focuses on the strategies that the said country can use to register a similar stellar performance.
Discussion
Advising entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon Inc., notes that it is
better to pick something one is passionate about instead of chasing the hot thing. He had to
decide to leave his good job at Wall Street and start his own company. His guiding philosophy
was to start now and avoid regret later. When one does the thing that they are passionate about,
they are likely to build better products and to succeed. Since its inception in 1995, Amazon has
grown into the world’s largest retailer with sales totaling over $60 billion in 2012 (Spector,
2008). Amazon has sites across several countries in the world, over 20 fulfillment centers around
the globe with more than nine million square feet of warehouse space making it a global
company.
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Amazon.com employs a number of strategies in creating a competitive advantage over
their rivals. One such strategy is customer tracking where they are able to customize customer’s
experience and recommending certain products for existing clients. Amazon is able to offer
personalized customer service based on an analysis of their past purchases and other services
such as lists of guides and reviews written by users who have bought the product before. The
company also adopts the direct Amazon-to-buyer approach to sales. It offers a wide array of
products from books, beauty products, entertainment devices, and several others. Their multi-
leveled e-commerce strategy is another competitive advantage they enjoy over rivals. The
company lets a great deal of potential sellers to use their platform. Through innovation and
technology use, Amazon allows associates to build websites based on their platform. This allows
the growth of their rich database of applications and products (Spector, 2008). These strategies
are very sustainable through the use of technological advancement in IT that is inexhaustible and
unlimited. As more advanced technologies and innovation continue to be developed companies
that are innovative and swift in adopting the same are able to take advantage of this sustainable
competitive advantage.
In order to realize entrepreneurial growth, Malaysia can create conducive environmental
factors and programs to nurture personal characteristics in order to increase the tendency toward
opening small businesses. The role of the government should be focused on facilitating the
interaction between the individual and environmental factors as well as the organizational
variables. In innovation, the environmental factors such as role models, creativity, and
opportunities interplay with the personal characteristics such as risk taking, education, and
creativity. Innovation leads to the triggering stage, which also involves the personal
characteristics, environmental factors, and the sociological networks. At this stage, Malaysia
needs to consider policies that are business related, incubator services, and resources availability.
Government policy is also very crucial during the implementation and growth stage (Bygrave &
Zacharakis, 2009). In this perspective, the entrepreneurial process is approached as a start-up
through opportunity exploitation. Israel is known for its heavy investment in research and
development and risk taking culture that promotes innovation and creativity. The growth of
companies such as the Onavo in Tel Aviv offers a good example for Malaysia.
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Moreover, entrepreneurship should be taken as an integral part not only of the political
system but also of the education system and the national culture if Malaysia is to achieve goals in
creating global brands. The primary focus should be in fostering an entrepreneur culture to
reinforce the efforts of the education system in promoting innovation and creativity. The
education system is a key factor in creating the necessary prerequisite for potential fast growth
companies and technology based business. This will help the country to forsake the well-trodden
paths and open up new territory in the global platform; turning dreams into reality.
Entrepreneur culture requires that people are motivated to pursue their personal dreams
through positive personal characteristics such as risk taking and creativity. An entrepreneur
culture promotes competition and collaborations. Through competition and more efficient
allocation of resources is what drives emergency of new and vibrant entrepreneurship. Emerging
entrepreneurs in this approach have the capacity and the motivation to destroy the existing
market equilibrium through innovation, technology, competition, and creative destruction.
Notably, successful start-ups require a lead entrepreneur who is supported by a
management team. Businesses cannot thrive in the absence of the people, the idea, and the
resources. The people in this case represent the founder as well as the management team. This
group is there to provide the necessary leadership and motivation in embracing and working
towards the vision of the company. The idea is a developed and refined concept that is focused
on exploiting market opportunities. In addition, start-ups require resources in setting up and
making the business grow. Effective management and leadership reinforced with the necessary
resource and innovative ideas would drive new entrepreneurs to demand a voice in the global
markets.
The entrepreneurial process in Malaysia as a developing country is likely to face the
challenges of financing and risk management. Entrepreneurs are likely to face hardships in
convincing prospective venture capitalists concerning their projects. Lack of information
concerning the importance of buying an insurance coverage for businesses is likely to affect the
success of entrepreneurship in this country.
A framework for entrepreneurship conditions would involve promoting an
entrepreneurial culture and venture spirit, reduction of administrative burdens, easy access to
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advisory services, competitive entrepreneur taxation, and smooth financing market, and
commercialization of research (Bygrave & Zacharakis, 2009). A country that has been successful
in promoting entrepreneurship through such strategies is Denmark ranking fifth globally in terms
of entrepreneur activity with over 20, 000 new companies per annum.
In lieu of the facts and arguments presented herein, it suffices to conclude that the role of
personal characteristics in the entrepreneurial process coupled with government support is
evident from the Bygrave model and several case studies such as the Amazon.com. When
individuals are encouraged to follow what they love doing through active programs and process
that promote entrepreneurship, they are likely to venture more into business and be successful.
This should involve creating an education system that fosters such elements as innovation,
creativity, entrepreneurship, as well as developing good policies and business environment. The
cases of some of the most renowned multinationals such as Google, Apple among others present
a benchmark on which Malaysia as a country could utilize to gain a competitive advantage, and
become a force to reckon with in the global market. Lastly, Amazon.com also provides useful
insights that could be borrowed to facilitate the improvement of Malaysia. Overall,
entrepreneurial ventures must involve strategic analysis and approaches, as made rife in the
above analysis.
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References
Bygrave, W. D., & Zacharakis, A. (2009). The Entrepreneurial Process. Portable MBA In
Entrepreneurship (9780470481318), 1.
Spector, R. (2008). Amazon.com : Get Big Fast. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins e-books.
