Entrepreneurship: If efforts come, can success remain far behind?

Dr B K Mukhopadhyay

(The author is a Professor of

Management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

In today’s fast changing business environment the fact surfaces, backward region development essentially calls for exploring the existing and potential resources. Human resource management backed by effective marketing strategies always stays at the top. While the resources availability is not that difficult compared to the previous ages in the ongoing business environment scenario, more often than not, appropriate utilization itself remains a laggard. As a result, the result achieved in the next period remains suboptimal, in spite of the creation of institutional facilities.

The time has come to see that the latent resources – human, technological and physical in particular – are bolstered over time, so that the markets [domestic and overseas] offer excellent opportunities to forge ahead by recognizing the competitive skills. Creation of facilities over time and space is the starting point, since a lot depends on how the same is absorbed, so that business is a continuous and spontaneous process.

Today, it is a known fact that entrepreneurship management covers a very big area, in so much as it speaks of the capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture, along with countering risks in order to make a profit. As such, entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation [innovation plus invention] and risk-taking, and is an essential part of a nation’s ability to succeed in an ever changing and increasingly competitive international marketplace.

Establishing the core principals of ‘entrepreneurial management’ within an organization calls for a certain strategic choice that affects a company, small or big, in multi-dimensions. This refers to empirically measured entrepreneurial management (its existence and degree) and to link this measured strategic choice (for or against) entrepreneurial management with firm performance. On this score, it is clear that companies that follow core principals of entrepreneurial management should outperform other more administrative firms in certain measures of strategic performance. Naturally, the linkage is very strong – linking the measured degree of “entrepreneurial management” with firm performance.

Successful entrepreneurs now recognize that change is a catalyst for innovation. So, the need is to develop the entrepreneurial mindset needed to energize existing/new companies, insights and analytical frameworks to assess market opportunities, as well as pragmatic leadership skills to launch and nurture new business ventures within a larger organization.

Traditions Remain Alive,

But With a Difference

They may come from Families in Business: from Generation to Generation, or may have taken direct entry. No doubt, in today’s global marketplace, family businesses are a major force and are among the most vibrant competitors in most industries. While family-owned companies often have enviable strengths – long-term relationships, a reputation for quality work, aggressive reinvestment, and high stakeholder loyalty – they also can be hindered by traditional practices, internal politics, and family conflicts. In a marketplace characterized by new players and intensified competition, leading a family business has become increasingly complex.

For survival, a family-owned company must address special challenges, such as nurturing effective family work and shareholder relationships, passing the business from one generation to the next, and maintaining ownership control. These tasks require sensitive leadership of the business and the family.

The Harvard Business School rightly recognized: ‘……A family can contribute greatly to the success of its business – and vice versa – only if the family follows a discipline mapped out by successful family-owned companies from around the globe‘.

Side by side there exists the most essential mantra-drive.

Success Is Not A

Wishful Thinking

Yes, success in today’s turbulent business environment demands smart innovators who possess the unique set of skills required to identify a business opportunity and transform it into a successful company or to launch a new line of business for an existing small-to-midsize company. The entrepreneurs are to essentially improve their analytical skills, make sound investment and management decisions, manage growth, and develop essential leadership capabilities, in as much as the situation now has been turning to be a complex process of exploring opportunities that are surfacing to build successful new businesses.

Towards the Rosy Days

The recent past trends in the growth of Bharat are creating opportunities for talented entrepreneurs, who know how to build a successful business, to identify the right opportunity, build the organization, attract resources, plan and execute strategy, and navigate the complex business environment to drive sustainable success for the company.

The crucial need here is to examine the core challenges of managing product development in a competitive, unpredictable marketplace, and train up the entrepreneurs to take innovation to a new level, backed by cutting-edge concepts and pragmatic frameworks, providing new insight into product development issues, such as the alignment of product innovation with corporate strategy, the impact of disruptive technologies, and the management of risk. To develop the leadership and management skills, the need is to identify breakthroughs with the greatest market potential, locate sources of capital, and develop a team with a deep understanding of science, technology and business.

It has been a fact that constant and intense focus on running a business leaves little time to learn about the latest resources, techniques, and solutions. Business owners often feel alone, not knowing where to turn for advice and answers. Often, they lack the perspective to assess their company’s performance and potential - as well as their own. This gap calls for immediate adequate attention.

Obvious enough: Gaining valuable new insights, sharing and developing decision-making techniques, creating an environment that fuels their passions, in turn, could bring in far-reaching changes, and something powerful could surely happen in the coming days, provided a planned approach is adopted.

The requirement here is the infrastructure and packaging support, apart from finance. Markets are located all around us. Regarding protecting the freshness and fragrance, suitable latest packaging technology applications are a must.

As a whole, the issues not only affect liquidity, profitability and equity of individual companies, but also the national economy by freezing the supply-link, which, in turn, terribly affects the process of capital formation.

The Path To Success

Is An Elaborate One

A long journey before one comes out of the tunnel, indeed! Tasks remain unending: [a] building credibility; deciding on what to do; identifying the competitive edge; locating what makes service successful; Understanding what makes the service fail; what makes ourselves stand out; [b] Knowing about our existing customers also the prospect, as to who needs us – at the market, in order of importance, who we want to be our customers, who we don’t want, where are they, how do we win them over, when is the best time to get to them, what turns them on and of course what turns them off ????

It is the goodwill ladder that is to be ascended. One only gets a single chance to make a first impression, and to most of the demanders, the first impression becomes the last impression – rightly or wrongly! The fact remains that the world wants to see the results only! The question arises: What good is more business, if one does not get paid? Determined drives today are sure to bring forth success tomorrow, may be brick by brick.