MNO 2009 / BSP 2009 Individual Assignment MNO: Guideline for the Interview with Entrepreneur

Interview Guideline MNO2009

1.1 What is the name of your company? What are your contact details name of company address of company telephone number of business owner email address (if necessary: other contact details) 1.2 Do you agree that either I or other students from NUS re-contact you for another interview? yes / no 1.3 Gender female / male 1.4 How old are you? years 1.5 What is your highest degree of education? degree 2.1 When was your business established? year 2.2 Are you the owner of this business? yes / no 2.3 Did you start this business yourself? yes / no

2.4

How many full-time employees do you have currently? number

2.5

Please describe the line of business or industry you are in (what products / services are you selling?) line of business/industry

3.1

Can you tell me a particular difficult situation that you have experienced in your business? How did you deal with this situation? situation business owners reaction

3.2

What has been your greatest success? (What was a particularly good situation?) What have you done to achieve this success? (What was critical to achieve this success?) situation business owners actions to achieve success

4.1

In the following we are interested in your goals for your business. (What are you most interested in? What targets do you have? What do you want to achieve in your business?) We have written down a number of goals that have been shown to be important. We would like to know, which ones are most important for your business and which ones are least important. Please bring these cards into an order of importance. Start with the most important one, then select the second most important one, etc. Cards: G1 "show initiative", G2 "new marketing strategy", G3 "improve the way to produce your product", G4 "perform better than competitors", G5 "expanding", G6 "make more profit". In the following, discuss the most important goal in detail. Can you tell me a bit more about your goals in this area (point to goal no.1); what do you want to achieve in this area? What do you aim for? goal

4.2

4.3

How do you go about to achieve this goal / these goals? or How do you reach this goal? or How do you do it? What have you already done to achieve this goal? (possibly ask this question twice; ask for examples) action plan / action steps

5.1

Now we are interested in the vision that you have for your business. How do you imagine the future of your business? What do you wish for the future of your business? We are interested in the vision that emotionally drives and inspires you as a business owner. Do you have a vision regarding your business? yes / no

5.2

If the answer is yes: Is your vision written or unwritten? If the vision is written: Could you please give us a copy of your vision? If the vision is unwritten: Could you please write your vision down or tell us your vision? vision of the company

6.1

When you negotiation contracts or when you have to persuade somebody, do you have specific negotiation or persuasion tactics that you use? How do you make sure that in negotiations the agreement will be favorable for you? How do you persuade somebody? Do you use any specific means or tactics? negotiation and persuasion tactics Thank you very much for this interview!