Exam 4: Managing Entrepreneurially

Lisa has discovered an opportunity in her own industry: landscaping. She wants to get the business started right away. It would be wise for her to skip the detailed planning process and dive in so that opportunity does not pass her by.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. A New Subsidiary (Scenario) Philip works for a large multinational corporation with offices in 23 countries, 64,000 employees worldwide, and $8 billion in annual sales. The company was involved in several different industries: automotive parts, rapid transit systems, and recreational vehicles. Philip is the executive vice-president of new technology ventures. Philip wants you to investigate and potentially launch a business focusing on alternative energy systems. The first area you are to explore is the potential business opportunity of ocean tidal energy. You are to explore what technology already exists that can be exploited, what additional technology development is needed, and figure out the viability of the tidal energy as an entrepreneurial venture. -One can see the three key facets of the Timmins Model of the Entrepreneurial Process. The corporation is providing the resources (financial, etc.), you are leading the team, and it is your job to uncover and clarify the ________________.

One study showed that visionary companies financially outperformed nonvisionary ones six times over.

The most important thing an entrepreneur does before launching a venture is to complete a(n) ______________. This is a written document that summarizes a business opportunity and articulates how the identified opportunity is to be exploited.

As their ventures grow, entrepreneurs need to put certain controls in place to ensure the organization runs smoothly. This does not come easy for many of them. All but one of the following are typical growth challenges of an entrepreneurial venture: ___________________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Launching an On-Line Yoga Studio (Scenario) Deborah was thinking about what it would take to launch her new business. Like many entrepreneurs, she had an idea and wanted to get started but really did not know where to begin-not to mention experiencing both the normal excitement and fear of launching a new enterprise. Deborah discovered that she could gather together well-known yoga teachers from all over the world and create an online yoga studio. Customers could become members for much less money than going to a regular studio and learn from the best teachers in the world, not just the local ones. In her mind this could lead to the downfall of many mediocre yoga studios in her city (and perhaps other cities) and make world-class yoga teachers more available. Plus, the overhead costs would be minimal. She would then pay each teacher a royalty based on the participant volume each one received. -As Deborah contemplates the possibility of launching her venture, she is likely to get caught up in the excitement of the startup. Fortunately she is getting good advice and is thinking about the three key facets of operating the web-based business: managing the various processes of the venture; managing people; and _________________.

At the heart of every successful entrepreneurial venture is the articulation of a strong and distinctive ____________________, an analysis of the benefits, costs, and other value to the target customer and other groups within and outside of the organization.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Angela's Thesis Coaching Company (Scenario) Angela is finally starting to feel more at ease with her business. Six months since the launch of her Ph.D. Thesis Masters she is starting to see revenues climb and her associates are producing great work-and more importantly, her customers are happy. Ph.D. Thesis Masters (PTM) provides coaching and research services for masters and Ph.D. students working on their theses. Angela discovered that many students need help with much of the grunt work of formatting, meeting deadlines, and doing secondary research of the existing literature. Her associates are Ph.D. graduates who have successfully completed their theses and can now guide other students and help them with the related pressures and quality guidelines. Angela has worked out a formula where she charges student clients $75 per hour and pays her associates $45, leaving her with a $30 gross profit (or gross margin) for every hour of work completed. Her customers are happy and her associates are happy. -When she started the company, Angela wanted to be sure she could develop a loyal team of skilled thesis coaches and researchers. Without them being full-time employees, this can be difficult since she cannot guarantee them the hours they want. However, Angela was great at _____________, getting them to join her team, by offering them a higher hourly rate and the freedom to work with other research companies. To ensure ____________ in the long run, she offered them a potential partnership in the overall business-and this was attractive to some of her associates.

Research is a key contributor to the vital process of innovation. The type of research that is generating new knowledge in its purest form rather than focusing on a specific, practical objective is known as ____________.

As a successful entrepreneur realizes that they cannot do everything by themselves, they must decide on an appropriate organizational structure if they want to continue to effectively carry out the activities of the venture.

Imagine you are the entrepreneur behind a new wellness and yoga centre. Business planning has taken you about five months to complete. After that came the location development, construction of the wellness centre, and launching of the business. You are now in week 4 of the centre's operation and you are feeling a little tired from the seven-day weeks that have led up to this point. Thankfully you are noticing that revenues are about 15 percent above your most realistic projections. With a total staff of 17 (4 support staff and 13 wellness professionals and yoga teachers), you are realizing that a big part of your time is spent looking after people management issues. Which of the following is not a concern directly related to managing people?

In evaluating an idea for an entrepreneurial opportunity, a commonly used, structured approach called a feasibility study analyzes the various aspects of a proposed venture.

Studies have shown that visionary companies outperformed nonvisionary ones by six times based on standard financial criteria. To become a visionary organization the entrepreneur must articulate a ____________, ______________, and ___________ vision of the future to the best of his or her ability.

For the past year, Jessie has been running her sports marketing/advertising agency and has managed to retain four significant clients-one more than she needed to break even for the year. She is thinking about how to organize the growth of her business in a way that will allow for bringing on staff the talented people she wants without creating too much chaos all at once. Jessie realizes that she needs to look at three key areas to support her growth, and if she does this properly, her business will expand with greater ease. She needs to focus on ensuring she has enough capital, hiring the right people before she needs them, and, most importantly, ____________________.

One final part of completing a feasibility study is uncovering potential sources of financing.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Angela's Thesis Coaching Company (Scenario) Angela is finally starting to feel more at ease with her business. Six months since the launch of her Ph.D. Thesis Masters she is starting to see revenues climb and her associates are producing great work-and more importantly, her customers are happy. Ph.D. Thesis Masters (PTM) provides coaching and research services for masters and Ph.D. students working on their theses. Angela discovered that many students need help with much of the grunt work of formatting, meeting deadlines, and doing secondary research of the existing literature. Her associates are Ph.D. graduates who have successfully completed their theses and can now guide other students and help them with the related pressures and quality guidelines. Angela has worked out a formula where she charges student clients $75 per hour and pays her associates $45, leaving her with a $30 gross profit (or gross margin) for every hour of work completed. Her customers are happy and her associates are happy. -When Angela was working on her ________________ to determine the viability of her idea, she worked extra hard to clarify how much her services could be worth to a potential client, how the services would be appreciated, and how she would differentiate herself from the competition, in other words, her ______________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Angela's Thesis Coaching Company (Scenario) Angela is finally starting to feel more at ease with her business. Six months since the launch of her Ph.D. Thesis Masters she is starting to see revenues climb and her associates are producing great work-and more importantly, her customers are happy. Ph.D. Thesis Masters (PTM) provides coaching and research services for masters and Ph.D. students working on their theses. Angela discovered that many students need help with much of the grunt work of formatting, meeting deadlines, and doing secondary research of the existing literature. Her associates are Ph.D. graduates who have successfully completed their theses and can now guide other students and help them with the related pressures and quality guidelines. Angela has worked out a formula where she charges student clients $75 per hour and pays her associates $45, leaving her with a $30 gross profit (or gross margin) for every hour of work completed. Her customers are happy and her associates are happy. -As she is six months into the business, Angela has noticed that there are three important things she seems to keep thinking about on a continual basis, all of which are related to managing growth. They are _______________, ________________, and ______________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Launching an On-Line Yoga Studio (Scenario) Deborah was thinking about what it would take to launch her new business. Like many entrepreneurs, she had an idea and wanted to get started but really did not know where to begin-not to mention experiencing both the normal excitement and fear of launching a new enterprise. Deborah discovered that she could gather together well-known yoga teachers from all over the world and create an online yoga studio. Customers could become members for much less money than going to a regular studio and learn from the best teachers in the world, not just the local ones. In her mind this could lead to the downfall of many mediocre yoga studios in her city (and perhaps other cities) and make world-class yoga teachers more available. Plus, the overhead costs would be minimal. She would then pay each teacher a royalty based on the participant volume each one received. -Before Deborah is able to complete a feasibility study for the venture, she needs to be sure she clearly defines and clarifies the opportunity as well as __________.

By definition, a small business is necessarily entrepreneurial.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Launching an On-Line Yoga Studio (Scenario) Deborah was thinking about what it would take to launch her new business. Like many entrepreneurs, she had an idea and wanted to get started but really did not know where to begin-not to mention experiencing both the normal excitement and fear of launching a new enterprise. Deborah discovered that she could gather together well-known yoga teachers from all over the world and create an online yoga studio. Customers could become members for much less money than going to a regular studio and learn from the best teachers in the world, not just the local ones. In her mind this could lead to the downfall of many mediocre yoga studios in her city (and perhaps other cities) and make world-class yoga teachers more available. Plus, the overhead costs would be minimal. She would then pay each teacher a royalty based on the participant volume each one received. -Deborah's idea for offering yoga classes through a new medium is grounded in a common source of new ventures in many industries. When an innovation comes along that breaks down an old way of doing something, this is referred to as _____________.