Chapter 1: Introduction to

entrepreneurship and small

business management

www.fpt.edu.vn
 Definition of an Entrepreneur

“An Entrepreneur transforms

Innovations, Good Ideas and

Inventions into

Successful New Enterprises”

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 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
• Hardworking
• Life long learning
• Honesty
• Highly motivated
• Passion to succeed
• Seizing opportunities
• Clear strategic intentions
• Overcoming obstacles
• Working 7-day week
• Positive attitude

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 High
Creativity & Innovation Who is the Entrepreneur?

Inventor Entrepreneur

Manager,
Promoter
administrator

Low High
General management skills, business know-how & networks
Source: Timmons (2004)

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 Previously, there was little interest in Entrepreneurship

 Too much control? - NUTS

 Lack of innovative new ideas?

 Government is already in most businesses?

 Good economic growth in the 70s and 80s

 Fear and non-acceptance of failures

 Not many risk takers

 Singaporeans are stupid or lazy or just idle?

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 Why is there an increased level of interest in Entrepreneurship today?

 People need to find new ways to survive

 Government’s exhortations

 Difficulty of going into traditional or capital intensive business

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 Why do people go into Entrepreneurships today?

• Some do not have enough qualifications for good jobs

• It is in their blood – risk takers by nature
• They see opportunities when other see risks
• Their parents or family members are entrepreneurs
• Their parents pass down the business to them to diversify
• They are bored with their present jobs
• They cannot stick to a 9 to 5 plus overtime routine
• They hate their bosses and their work environment

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 Why do people go into Entrepreneurships today?

• They have plenty of money

• They have been retrenched or fired from their jobs
• They have burning desires to be bosses and grow rich
• They are influenced by friends who had succeeded
• They are influenced by friends who wants partners
• They Stumble into opportunities by chance
• They studied Entrepreneurship in schools, universities
• They do not know what Entrepreneurship is all about

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9
 Fallacies of Entrepreneurship

 Entrepreneurship is not about just being hawkers or going down the well traveled
path to follow what others have done

 It is about having the guts to take on uncertainties, working very hard and earn very
little most of the time, getting into uncharted territories and attempting to grow
unknown or new business into a very successful companies

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 Myths of Entrepreneurship
• Doers, not thinkers
• Born, not made
• Inventors or innovators
• Academic and social misfits
• Must fit the “profile”
• All you need is money to be an entrepreneur
• Luck is important
• Ignorance is a bliss, otherwise over analysis leads to paralysis
(MBAs)
• Strike success on first venture
• Life span of only 5 years before failure
Source: Kuratko, Donald F. and Hodgetts, Richard M. (2006), Entrepreneurship :
Theory, Process, Practice, Thomson, South-Western, Ohio.
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12
 Singapore Entrepreneur Share His Wisdom

• How to take risks and how to sell a product

• “It doesn’t mean you have to take all risks, but you should take
calculated risks. Smell the opportunities before anyone else.
Act fast, be cost-conscious, and sell, sell, sell”

Kwek Leng Beng

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“The objective of breeding entrepreneurs is to strengthen domestic demand
and production, so as to serve as a cushion to immunize the Thai economy
against the adverse effects of external volatility and the forces of
globalization”

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 Entrepreneurial Leadership

“A way of thinking and acting that is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership
balanced. It is identifying an opportunity regardless of the sources currently available and
executing on that opportunity for the purpose of wealth creation in the private, public and global
sectors.
An entrepreneur sees, evaluates and exploits opportunities whereas a manager concentrates on
the effective use of available resources to achieve optimum results.”

Lee Kuan Yew

Mentor Minister of Singapore
Asia Public Lecture, 5 February 2002

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 Management, Leadership &
Entrepreneurship
Management

Action
Attitude
Accountability

Entrepreneurship Leadership

“ Management, Leadership & Entrepreneurship are part and parcel of the same job. They are
like hand, nose & mouth from the same body”
Peter Drucker

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 Criteria for Being an Entrepreneur
 Leadership: such as vision and crisis management
 Innovation: includes creative use of technology and value-adding
 Profitability: such as return on equity and profit margin
 Business Growth: covers areas such as increase in turnover, globalization
 Employee Development: includes training, education, welfare
 Contribution to Society: covers participation in national projects & charity

They must have run their business for at Its total annual earnings not
least two years exceeding $50 million
The business must not be a listed It must have fewer than 300
company employees

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 Some Successful Entrepreneurs to Note

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 Success Stories of Some Asian Tycoons
ENTREPRENEURS WEALTH (US$ billion) BACKGROUND

 Li Ka-Shing 11.3 Real estate, telco High school

 Kwok Brothers Hong Kong 9.0 Real estate Junior school
 Lee Shau Kee 8.6 Real estate High school

 Eka Tjipta Widjaja 3.2 Pulp & paper, food Junior school
 Liem Sioe Liong Indonesia 1.0 Diversified High school

 Robert Kwok 4.5 Diversified Junior school

 Lim Goh Tong Malaysia 3.6 Casino, diversified Junior school
 Quek Leng Chan 1.8 Finance, real est. University (Law)

 Ng Teng Fong 3.4 Real estate Junior school

 Khoo Teck Puat Singapore 2.7 Investments Junior school
 Kwek Leng Beng 2.0 Real estate University (Acct)

Benchmark:
19 Bill Gates USA 60.0 Software High school
 Rank Country Industry Net Worth (US$ Billions)
Forbes’ Top Billionaires
William Gates III US IT $60

Warren Buffett US Investments $42

Carlos Slim Helu Mexico Telecoms $30

Ingvar Kamprad Sweden Retail $28

Lakshmi Mittal India Steel $23.5

Paul Allen US IT, investments $22

Bernard Arnault France Luxury goods $21.5

Prince Alwaleed Saudi Arabia Investments $20

Kenneth Thomson Canada Publishing $19.6

Li Ka-Shing Hong Kong Property, Investments $18.8

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 Idea Factory
JOHN KAO was Academic Director of the Managing Innovation
program at Stanford University and founder of several companies in
the fields of biotechnology, film, and multimedia.

For fourteen years, he was a professor at Harvard Business School. A

lecturer and advisor to numerous companies, John is also a member of
the Global Business Network and Senior Advisor to the World
Economic Forum. Now he has turned his dream into reality, i.e. a US$
50 million company in just 2 years.

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 Big does not mean better
“Big is not necessarily enjoyable.
Especially in the economy,
big can be a burden.”
- Mr Shih, on how he misses his start-up
days

Company not for family members

“I don’t want to run a family business.
It is unfair to my colleagues, children and investors.”
- Mr Shih, who banned his 3 children from joining Acer

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 Strategos

GARY HAMEL is a Founder and Chairman of Strategos, and Visiting Professor of

Strategic and International Management at the London Business School. He lives in
Woodside, California.

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 Iron Ladies

Dr. Theresa Chew (41) Ms. Jean Yip (41)

President / CEO, Expressions Int’l
“You must have a deep burning passion for your business
and firmly believe in what you do. You must know how to
delegate jobs to the right people and motivate your staff
to keep them involved and committed to the
organization.”
Chairman, Jean Yip Salon
“Women entrepreneurs love what they do,
believe in it, do their very best and go all the
way for it.”

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25
40%

35% Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) 2004

30%

25%
TEA 04 Female TEA 04 Male
20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

S’pore

Japan
Peru

Australia

Holland
U. S.

Canada
N. Z.

U. K.

H. K.
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 18

16 TEA by Income Group (GDP per capita)

14
#/ 100 Adults, 18-64 Years Old

12
Female Male
10

0
Low Income Countries Middle Income Countries High Income Countries
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35% TEA by Age Categories & Income 18-24 years
Group 25-34 years
30% 35-44 years
45-54 years
25% 55-64 years

20%

15%

10%

5%

0
Low Income Countries Middle Income Countries High Income Countries
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 TEA by Education & Income Group

Some Secondary Secondary Degree Post Secondary Grad Exp

High Income
Countries

Middle
Income
Countries

Low Income
Countries

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
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70% Fear of Failure Among Women
60% No Yes

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Low Income Countries Middle Income Countries High Income Countries
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 Entrepreneurship Requires You to Have
 Passion
 Vision
 Focus on Your Strengths
 Do the Right Things and Do It Well
 Determination to Succeed
 Innovative Products and Global Expansion

Determined, Focused, Tenacious, Audacious, Visionary

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 PASSION: THE KEY TO SUCCESS
“Success belongs to the Bold who
seize Opportunities amid Adversity”

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 Entrepreneurship Calls For …

Entrepreneurship = Vision + Commitment + Action

Generating a personal definition of opportunity

Vision = Ability to perceive opportunity

Opportunity = Desired future state

Marshalling resources to realize opportunity

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 Soft Skills of an Entrepreneur

Energy
Speed

Savvy
Simplicity

Leadership
Self-Confidence

Passion
Stamina

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 Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Courage to break away from the past; face the
unfamiliar; successfully carve a niche for
themselves in another country
• Self motivated: destiny can be shaped by their
Speed
own endeavors; an inner engine that drives them
to overcome external forces
Self-
• Able to execute and not simply generate new Stamina Confidence
ideas
• A high degree of faith in their own ideas; new Simplicity
ideas alone do not make a person an
entrepreneur

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 Nine Competencies an Entrepreneur Must Have
 Integrity – stick to your principles, even when difficult to do so
 Initiative – plan long term (over a year ahead)
 Commitment – a tremendous capacity for hard work
 Drive & Determination – motivated by beating standards of excellence
 Truthful – do not tolerate poor performance
 Confidence – have an infectious self-belief
 Self-direction – focus on areas you find exciting and drop failures
 Selling – energy, enthusiasm and vision to persuade and sell to others
 Leadership –ability to spot talent and inspire others to buy your vision
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 The Six Key Qualities of Entrepreneurship
• Market and customer driven
Time Management • Able to grasp details quickly & make good & fast decisions

• Alert & responsive to changes

Problem Solving • Courageous enough to take calculated risks & try new ways of
doing things

• Able to think big & have a vision

Creativity & Innovativeness • Innovative & entrepreneurial
• Organized, systematic, rational work (Drucker, p50)
• Someone who learns continuously
Presentation & Communication Skills • Energetic about inspiring others to buy & work towards his visions

• A total quality & customer-focused person

Teamwork • A coach, motivator, team leader who facilitates & is a team player

• Able to work in different cultural settings

Interpersonal & Social Intelligence • Tough on issues but soft on people (no more autocratic
management)

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 •
Types of Skills Required in Entrepreneurship
• Technical skills
• Business communication
• Technology
• Being a team player
• Coaching
• Network building
• Business management skills
• Strategic planning
• General management
• Personal entrepreneurial skills
• Inner control/disciplined
• Risk taker
• Innovative
• Change oriented
• Persistent
• Visionary leader

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 Framework for Entrepreneurship
• Personality
• Position
• Profession
• Expertise

Entrepreneurship

• Cohesiveness • Performance
• Synergy • Environment
Partners/ • Values Opportunity/
• Stress
Follower • Norms Situation
• Task

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