Exam 4: Managing Entrepreneurially

Janice was thrilled with the first two years of operations. Her new company-specializing in manufacturing and distributing yoga mats, props, and yoga wear-had been growing steadily and was on track to make a 14 percent profit at the end of this, her second year. Then she started to notice sales slipping in the 11th month of the year. This is a month that normally starts to see sales increases. She had just hired a key employee to work on business development, and she wondered if this downturn would trend into the 12th month and then into her third year of business. Thankfully Janice had some good advice when she launched her venture because she knew exactly how to handle the situation. Along with her business plan, she had created a(n) _____________.

You are a management consultant specializing in business planning for new ventures. You are meeting with a group of four investors who want you to develop a business plan for their new bio-diesel company. You tell them that the full business plan is really the second step. The first step is to complete a __________________, which will eventually form the basis of the business plan.

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. -The idea for the marine tidal energy is not brand new, and the technology still holds a great deal of opportunity. Once you have thoroughly researched the venture's feasibility, the next most important step is to ____________.

Research directed toward acquiring new knowledge rather than toward a practical objective is known as curiosity-driven research.

In many small firms the organizational structure tends to evolve _________.

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. -The next big step Deborah should complete is _________________.

Three months after launching your bike shop, business is stabilizing at a level a bit higher than you anticipated. This is good for the bottom line but is creating stress due to the extra hours you have been working to ensure the business runs properly. It is clear you need people to help you. The first thing you need to do is _____________.

In s short essay describe the importance of innovation to an entrepreneurial venture and how the right kind of leadership contributes to continuing innovation for the success of the enterprise. Give examples of innovative companies and their leaders to support your answers.

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 has been paying attention to the yoga world and looking for signals of the changing marketplace. She is being _______________.

The blueprint or road map for an entrepreneurial venture is the business plan.

Lily's feasibility study for her new web design company was loaded with extra details that most entrepreneurs don't seem to bother with. She was proud of the fact that it included a lot of supporting information that made the final document really thick-sure to impress her backers. This was an example of a good approach to doing a feasibility study.

Large global businesses are at the forefront of job creation as small enterprises downsize their workforces.

Recruitment and retention are the two main human resource challenges entrepreneurs start to face as their ventures grow. It is insufficient to simply look at getting the right people into the business without considering how to keep them in the long run.

Customer creation is the first step in the model for company building.

Of the many hats an entrepreneur wears, being a change agent is the least important. This is because during the first two years of the venture, operational excellence rules and little should change in the enterprise during this time.

Phil's new online dating company is growing faster than he anticipated. Just six weeks since launching, he is panicking because he is no longer capable of handling the increasing demands of his growing enterprise. Clearly, the first thing Phil should do is hire an operations manager to decide on what the organization structure should look like.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions. Growing a Web-Development Company (Scenario) Vincent and Alice are partners in a one-year-old web development business called Spy-der Web Execution. Vincent comes from a graphic design background and specializes in the look and feel of web projects. Alice comes from the computer gaming industry and is a highly experienced programmer and web developer-with a particular leaning toward Wordpress as a website backbone. So far they have brought in less business than they had anticipated-about 25 percent less. As a result, they are operating at just a little below break even, and it is costing them about $500 a month to cover expenses (including rent on a small office space where they meet clients). The situation is disappointing and was not anticipated by either Vincent or Alice. As with many businesses like this that are easy to get into with little investment, they did not do a full feasibility study or business plan. They are unsure about how to divide up their responsibilities (who is responsible for what), and therefore neither person is proactively going after new business, managing each project's budget, and determining even if they are making money on the work. You are now in the role of advising the partners about a number of issues. -You recommend they redo their feasibility study with some of the new information they have gathered in their first year of operations. Given the speed with which Vincent and Alice launched their business, it will likely provide additional details about_____________________.

You have been running your new raw-food café, and all evidence indicates the business is growing faster than anticipated. You bring in an accountant to discuss what you need to do next to keep your business stable. She mentions that you, as well as most entrepreneurs, face three unique control issues: managing growth, managing downturns, and ___________________.

Because organizational change of any type can be disruptive and scary, an entrepreneur must support the change efforts by ____________.

According to our textbook, the best growth strategy is _______________.