SHRM COLLEGE

Advanced Diploma in International Business Management

IBM20700
NEW BUSINESS CREATION & DEVELOPMENT

Assignment

Student Name: Ye Tong

Submission Date: 12 Sep 2014

Table of Contents
1

In your opinion, what it takes to be an entrepreneur? ............................................................. 3

1.1

Strong leadership qualities ............................................................................................... 3

1.2

Highly self-motivated ....................................................................................................... 3

1.3

Strong sense of basic ethics and integrity ........................................................................ 3

1.4

Willingness to fail ............................................................................................................ 4

What are the possible personalities, backgrounds, and environmental issues etc. that you

think that can contribute to successful entrepreneurship? .............................................................. 4

2.1

Individual factors.............................................................................................................. 4

2.2

Environmental factors ...................................................................................................... 4

2.3

Economic environment .................................................................................................... 5

Why do startup companies fail? .............................................................................................. 5

References ............................................................................................................................... 6

Generally, I think very few of the new students who attend colleges have what it takes to be an
entrepreneur, or at least a successful entrepreneur. I do think, however, that students can
learn more about what it takes and improve their odds. After all, we are talking about an
undertaking that has a failure rate as high as 70% to 80% for all who make the attempt as an
entrepreneur.
1
1.1

In your opinion, what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

Strong leadership qualities

A leader is someone who values the goal over any unpleasantness the work it takes to get there
may bring. But a leader is more than just tenacious. A leader has strong communication skills
and the ability to amass a team of people toward a common goal in a way that the entire team is
motivated and works effectively to get there as a team. A leader earns the trust and respect of his
team by demonstrating positive work qualities and confidence, then fostering an environment
that proliferates these values through the team. A leader who nobody will follow is not a leader
of anything at all.
1.2

Highly self-motivated

Nobody makes progress by sitting back and waiting for it to find them. Successful people go out
into the world and invoke change through their actions. Typically, leaders enjoy challenges and
will work tirelessly to solve problems that confront them. They adapt well to changing situations
without unraveling and are typically expert of helping their teams change with them by
motivating them toward new goals and opportunities. Often you will learn that successful
entrepreneurs are driven by a more complete vision or goal than simply the task at hand and able
to think on a more universal level in that regard. They are also often very passionate about their
ideas that drive toward these ultimate goals and are notoriously difficult to steer off the course.
1.3

Strong sense of basic ethics and integrity

Business is sustainable because there is a common, understood code of ethics universally that
underpins the very fabric upon which commerce is conducted. While cheaters and thieves may
win in the short term, they invariably lose out in the long run. You will find that successful,
sustainable business people maintain the highest standards of integrity because, at the end of the
day, if you cannot prove yourself a credible business person and nobody will do business with

you, you are out of business. With importance in working with clients or leading a team,
effective leaders admit to any error made and offer solutions to correct rather than lie about,
blame others for, or dwell on the problem itself.
1.4

Willingness to fail

Successful entrepreneurs are risk takers who have all gotten over one very significant
hurdle: they are not afraid of failure. That's not to say that they rush in with reckless
abandon. In fact, entrepreneurs are often successful because they are calculating and able to
make the best decisions in even the worst of cases. However, they also accept that, even if they
make the best decision possible, things don't always go according to plan and may fail anyhow.
2

What are the possible personalities, backgrounds, and environmental issues etc. that
you think that can contribute to successful entrepreneurship?

2.1

Individual factors

Occupational background- occupational background plays a very significant role in

entrepreneurial development. The person engaged in some occupation gains a very good
knowledge of his field. And then he tries to start some new business in the same field.
Educational background-Education, entrepreneurship and development are interrelated.
Education is the best means of developing mans resourcefulness which encompasses different
dimensions of entrepreneurship. Thus, formal education is always considered an important asset
of an individual in building an occupational career. It makes available more skills necessary to
entrepreneurial endeavor.
Parental background-sometimes children continue their family business which is given by their
parents. They try to bring in some changes in the existing business in the form of some new
technology, new process, new product etc. they are called second generation entrepreneur.
2.2

Environmental factors

A complex and varying combination of financial, institutional, cultural, and personality factors
determine the nature and degree of entrepreneurial activity at any time. At any point of time, the
entrepreneurs derive meanings from environment prevailing at that time and try to adapt and
change the environment to suit their needs.

The environment, particularly the external environment is dynamic. It keeps on changing and
affects different organizations to a varying extent. The impact of environment on the
organization depends largely on the degree to which the organization depends on the
environment and organizational response to environmental changes. All the factors outside and
inside the organization interact and affect the performance of the organization.
2.3

Economic environment

Entrepreneurial growth and development is also governed by economic environment. It

encompasses the wide spectrum of items, namely, land, availability of raw material, skilled labor,
infrastructure, machinery, capital and so on.
Shortage of raw materials can much adversely affect the entrepreneurial environment. Shortage
of raw materials, inferior quality, and high price resulting in high cost of production are some of
the major factors.
3

Why do startup companies fail?

Startups are often staffed by an enthusiastic but inexperienced and undisciplined team. This is
especially true of startups formed among friends who have recently graduated from college and
have little professional experience. In many cases development timelines are not set or constitute
little more than wild guesses. In most cases where timelines are set they are not honored and
there is little or no penalty internally for missing them. Inexperienced engineers, programmers,
or technical people are often not used to working on large team projects that require team
management and coordination. Some of the same people do not have the primary core
knowledge that comes from experience and are therefore on a very slow learning curve. Rather
than apply their knowledge as they go, they have to develop their knowledge as they go. The
complexity of projects is completely under-appreciated. The projects are not well defined and
that leads to confusion, disagreement, and delays. Projects become plagued by feature-creep
(sometimes made necessary by the competition). The list goes on and on.

References
1. Gartner, W. (1990). What are we talking about when we talk about
entrepreneurship?. Journal of Business venturing, 5(1), pp.15--28.
2. Indabook.org, (2014). Why do startup companies fail - Harvey Mudd College. [online]
Available at:
http://www.indabook.org/preview/sNuErPz4VT4fMCpCyKkyK4ubXgkoJwmOtH9MIaR
MGwg,/Why-do-startup-companies-fail-Harvey-Mudd-College.html?query=WhatCauses-Projects-to-Fail [Accessed 11 Sep. 2014].
3. Keister, L. (2005). Entrepreneurship. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.
4. Littunen, H. (2000). Entrepreneurship and the characteristics of the entrepreneurial
personality.International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour \& Research, 6(6),
pp.295--310.
5. Scribd.com, (2014). Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship. [online] Available at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/44851045/Factors-Affecting-Entrepreneurship [Accessed 11
Sep. 2014].