Entrepreneurship

Preface vi

About the Authors vii

Acknowledgments viii

1 Introduction to Entrepreneurship 1

1.0 What is Entrepreneurship? 2

1.1 Where do Entrepreneurs Operate? 3

1.3 Why do It? 4

1.4 Who are Entrepreneurs? 5

1.5 How do Entrepreneurs Operate? 7

Creating the Context for Success 7

1.6 Real-World Entrepreneurship 8

1.7 Telling the Entrepreneur’s Story 9

2 Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship 13

2.0 So You Want to Change the World? 14

2.1 Social Entrepreneurship Today 14

2.2 So, What Does a Social Entrepreneur Look Like? 15

2.3 Why Do It? 15

Why Do Individuals Do It? 16

User Innovators 17

Sustainability as Social Innovation 17

2.4 Social Entrepreneurship as a Process 20

Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship 20

2.5 Let’s do it. . . 21

Who Could Help Me Explore This Further? 21

3 Entrepreneurial Creativity 23

3.0 What is Creativity? 24

3.1 Who is Creative? 26

The Power of the Group 27

3.2 How Does Creativity Happen? 28

3.3 Enabling and Enhancing Creativity 29

3.4 Developing Your Personal Thinking Skills 30

3.5 Developing Group Level Creativity 32

Variations on A Theme 33

Using Online Groups and Communities 34

Limits of Brainstorming 34

3.6 Developing a Creative Environment 35

Putting it All Together – Developing Entrepreneurial Creativity 37

4 Searching for Opportunities 39

4.0 Where Do Innovations Come From? 40

4.1 Where Could We Innovate? 41

What About the Small Stuff? The Importance of Incremental Innovation 43

From Components to Systems? 45

4.2 How to Search: The Opportunity Treasure Hunt 46

5 Building the Case 49

5.0 Why Develop a Business Plan? 50

5.1 What’s in a Business Plan? 50

A Question of Balance 50

5.2 Assess Market Opportunities and Competition 52

Customer or Market Surveys 54

Scenario Development 56

5.3 Identify and Manage Critical Risks and Uncertainty 58

Risk as Probability 58

Perceptions of Risk 62

5.4 Evaluate the Costs, Resources, and Value of a Project 63

Financial Methods 63

Qualitative Methods 65

6 Raising Resources and Funding 69

6.0 Finding Resources 70

6.1 Identifying Resources Needed 70

Dynamic Capabilities 71

6.2 Assessing Capabilities 71

6.3 Acquiring Funding 77

Business Angels 78

Crowd-Funding 79

The Uses and Limitations of Venture Capital 79

6.4 Enlisting Suppliers and Partners 81

Outsource 82

License 82

Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances 83

7 Building the Team 87

7.0 The Innovating Organization 88

7.1 Individual Characteristics 88

Entrepreneurial Disposition 90

Background 90

Psychological Profile 90

Education and Experience 91

Entrepreneurial Pairs and Partners 91

7.2 Leadership and Shared Vision 93

7.3 Entrepreneurial Teams 95

7.4 Venture Climate and Culture 100

Trust and Openness 101

Challenge and Involvement 102

Support and Space for Innovation 103

Conflict and Debate 103

Risk-Taking 103

Freedom 104

8 Building and Working with Networks 107

8.0 No Man is an Island 108

8.1 The Spaghetti Model of Innovation 108

8.2 Working with Networks 109

8.3 Networks to Share Knowledge and Ideas 110

8.4 Networks to Share Resources 111

8.5 Networks for Support 112

8.6 Networks to Help Learning 112

8.7 Networking with Users 113

8.8 Networking in an Open Innovation World 115

8.9 Building and Working in Networks 116

9 Developing New Products and Services 118

9.0 The New Product/Service Development Process 119

9.1 Concept Generation 121

9.2 Project Selection 122

9.3 Product Development 122

9.4 Product Commercialization and Review 122

9.5 Success Factors in New Products 123

9.6 Service Development 125

9.7 Tools to Support New Product Development 128

(a) Concept Generation 128

(b) Project Selection 129

(c) Product/Service Development 130

9.8 Diffusion: Promoting the Adoption of Innovations 132

Factors Influencing Adoption 135

Relative Advantage 135

Compatibility 136

Complexity 136

Trialability 136

Observability 137

10 Creating a New Venture 140

10.0 New Venture Creation 141

10.1 Motives and Goals 141

10.2 Context for Entrepreneurship 144

Enterprise Incubators 144

10.3 Choosing the Best Structure for a New Venture 147

Sole Proprietorship 147

Partnership 147

Private Company 147

10.4 Identifying and Exploiting Intellectual Property 148

Patents 148

Copyright 149

Design Rights 150

Licensing IPR 151

10.5 Challenges at Different Stages of Venture Development 153

Opportunity Recognition and Assessment 153

Entrepreneurial Commitment 153

Venture Credibility 153

First Client or Sale 153

Some Final Advice for Entrepreneurs 153

11 Growing the Enterprise 157

11.0 Growing Enterprises 158

11.1 The Influences of Initial Conditions on New Venture Success 158

11.2 Factors which Entrepreneurs can Influence and Manage 161

11.3 External Environment and Stakeholders 165

12 Building Resilient Business Models 171

12.0 What is a Business Model? 172

12.1 Why use Business Models? 172

12.2 What’s in a Business Model? 174

12.3 Building a Business Model 175

Value Proposition 175

Target Market 176

Creating and Delivering 177

Value Capture 177

Cost Structure 178

Sustainability and Resilience 178

12.4 Business Model Innovation 178

Pivoting the Venture 179

Business Model Sustainability 180

The Problem of Letting Go 184

13 Learning to Manage Entrepreneurship 187

13.0 Introduction 188

13.1 Making Innovation Happen 188

13.2 The Lessons of Failure 189

13.3 How Learning Happens 190

13.4 Learning and Building Capability 191

Recognizing the Opportunity 191

Finding the Resources 191

Developing the Venture 192

Capturing Value 192

Entrepreneurial Strategy – Having a Clear Sense of Direction 192

Building an Innovative Organization 192

Learning to Manage Innovation 193

13.5 Getting Fit for Innovation 193

13.6 Managing Entrepreneurship 194

Index 196