Investigating Entrepreneurial Opportunities

The pyramid of knowledge helps in defining the process of learning, right from accumulation of data from the external environmental to the formation of wisdom. Therefore the skills set of an entrepreneur is likely to be an accumulation of data, information and thus knowledge over time. Second this model helps in defining that knowledge will be different for everyone since it is an interpretation that happens with in the minds of each person.

 The most important thing to learn from the pyramid of knowledge is that since knowledge and wisdom are unique they can serve as the competitive advantage for a firm, as it is not so easy to replicate. Information can be shared but not knowledge.An entrepreneur also needs to understand market dynamics very well. He should be able to assess the environment to know if the product is being demanded or not and should be well able to read into the price signals. 

An entrepreneur needs to know how much of the product is being sold, and if the price charged is right for the product or not. He also needs to know if the potential consumer is buying the product or not and if not why. An entrepreneur is basically someone who sees an opportunity and thinks of ways to satisfy those demands. For such a person to be successful it is important that he knows his consumers, customers and the market dynamics.

The entrepreneur is above all, creative and aware of all the different avenues of communication and marketing that are at his disposal to highlight the strengths and uses of his product or proposition to prospective customers. In this day and age, there are numerous avenues for this purpose ranging from the conventional forms of mass media like television, radio, newspapers, magazines and other periodicals; to relatively newer ones based on the internet like emails, social networking websites and other forms of online advertising.

Criteria for a Good Collaborator

While deciding to collaborate a company has to define some characteristics on which it will choose its partner. Most important of which are:

• Ability to do Critique work in an honest manner

  The partner should be able to collaborate in a stressful environment and should be able to take any critique positively and work on to make it better.

• Should have high commitment with the project and its goals

  Unless and until your partner is not committed to the project he is not going to put in all his efforts and thus the results gained will not be as perfect as hoped for.

• Are credible

  The partner that you chose must be able to deliver on time and deliver what he promised he would. Credibility is something that cannot be checked through one’s qualifications but a way to measure it is to look at his previous work with other business partners.

• Mutual Respect and Trust

  Mutual trust and respect are must as they are the finest source of fostering best synergy in your capabilities. Unless there is respect and trust the two parties will not work on the project whole heartedly and will not get results that should have been achieved; as the problem does not lie in the plan rather in the people who are implementing the plan.

• Shared Business Visions

  The most important aspect to keep in mind when looking for a business partner is to look for some common grounds. One way to do this is to have close or related business visions or visions that complement each other.

• Willing to work

  Another important factor is that both the parties are willing to work with each other. If the parties are not willing then synergy in work cannot be created and the plan cannot be implemented which will be nothing else than a total disaster. 

Concept of Intangibility

The concept of intangibility revolves around the customers. Intangible services are those that cannot be measured. Service intangibility is present in every organization. Due to this, the customers find it hard to select which firm gives better service.

There are a number of clues that are joined by customers to measure the intangibility of service. If the market

positioning is strong then the service intangibility will be less. Customers do not know the service they will get. Their expectations are always high. In order to create value, company must come up to the expectations of the customers and delight them. Intangibility is considered one of the basic concepts of services.

Under this concept we understand that customers cannot really judge the quality of service because of its intangible nature. A few examples are given in this regard. Services can either be tangible or then become intangible. For instance before a customer purchases a golf course to provide service to the golfers, he/she can go and see the golf course. This is more like tangibility of an intangible service.

Once the purchase is made, the golfers coming to play their will get an intangible service. It is therefore very hard for customers to see what quality service they are being given.The customers find it difficult to understand intangibility since they cannot touch it or measure it.  This also makes more confusion in their minds about the service level they should expect from a certain firm. It becomes hard for customers to differentiate between different brands regarding the service level due to its intangible nature. 

A lot of concepts were introduced in this regard. Market strategies are made to make the intangible service tangible so the customers can measure it and compare. This paper will examine the concept of intangibility and a discussion will follow regarding the creation of value by overcoming intangibility

Comprehensive SWOT Analysis for Dove Soap of Unilever

The target market of Dove has already been discussed and explained in detail that they target women and want to beautify them. According to the market, the Niche of Dove has an estimated value of $0.9 billion and the market size of Dove is $2.5 billion. Several campaigns have been used by Dove to market itself which will later be disused is heir marketing communication strategies. Dove has made use of Niche

Marketing strategy to win over the masses.

Strengths: the basic strength of the promotional strategies of Dove and the brand is the unconventional strategies of advertising used by them to let the women know how well the Brand cares for them. Another positivity of the brand was their free publicity and excellent drive for advertisements. They kept giving their campaign a new and a better look and ensured that they kept the hearts and minds of women tied to Dove and hence created a wide range of loyal customers. The soap itself revealed how much possible it really was to have a new look and the addition of personal touch made the brand stronger in its appeal.

Weaknesses: the only weakness of the brand is the target market. It is a bit contradictory in nature because the target market of Dove is upper middle class women and it gives an idea of not letting the ordinary women enjoy the touch of beauty. Another objection that has been seen by the critics was the use of women as objects n their campaign, however, the criticism was over ridded by the personal feel and touch felt by the women.

Opportunity: Recently, Dove has availed the long pending opportunity of tapping into the market developing beauty products for men. They have come up with products for men and have made them realize that beauty is not restricted to women only. Another opportunity is of unified advertising technique used by Dove. They run single ad globally, it serves the diverse purposes and reduces the costs too. Continuous improvement is what Dove has been working on and should carry on with it as well. Threats: being a very huge brand, Dove faces tough competition from Olay, Nivea, and Neutrogena. The brands are getting stronger as they grow and their market is also expanding. Their marketing technique is not as good as that of Dove but they d pose as a threat to the market share of Dove. Another aspect is of being known as the brand for fat girls. The ads do not take models in them, but they take women of all shapes and sizes, so it might give it a slight aspect of a brand that does discrimination. The brand can also be copied by its competitors, just the way P&G did with Olay.

Collaboration (International Joint Ventures)

Collaboration is a phenomenon on the basis of which the knowledge, skills and experience of multiple teams

or organizations are brought together to contribute to the emergence of a new product in a more effective way. In other words two different bodies put in their efforts to come up with something new using their resources. An important point to remember here is that all the joint ventures are mutually beneficial.

Effective and efficient collaboration requires activities on different facets:

• Availability of required resources

  Mainly joint ventures are to launch a new product or expand the activities of the business. But finding another person is not so easy. A good collaborator would be one who fulfils your need of the resources or facilities that you are lacking. For example your distribution partner provides you the facility to expand to the deepest areas of a region.

• Existence of a culture that favours collaboration, teamwork and cooperation

  The most important point to consider while you are making a decision about collaboration with another company it must be made certain that the team favours this cooperation otherwise your efforts might turn into failure with big monetary loss. If not that the collaboration will provide you with no profits.

• Properly defined responsibilities of the team members

  Everyone who is a part of the venture should have a clear idea about his or her duty. This would ensure a fruitful collaboration.

• Sharing of information

  Collaboration requires sharing of information. So before entering into any joint venture you should be sure of what information the company is willing to provide. On the other hand you should not keep any necessary or relevant information from your partner.

• Virtual or otherwise collocation

  Both the parties should be located such that they are in contact with each other. If the parties cannot meet physically then at least they should be able to correspond virtually. Two parties who are not in contact with each other cannot collaborate.

MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF INCUMBENT FIRMS WITHIN THE U.K AIRLINE INDUSTRY

The Macro environment consists of all those uncontrollable external factors which directly or indirectly affect the business. These all macro environmental factors must be managed effectively and efficiently by the business in order to ensure a continuous growth and a secure future in the industry. The Airline industry of United Kingdom is also exposed to many external factors which affect the business of its airline companies one way or another. Following are the most important Macro environmental factors which impact the U.K. Airlines companies:

1. Global Economic Conditions:

The biggest factor in this list is the Global economic conditions (Stonehouse & Campbell, 2004). Not all the countries in the World have the same economic and financial position. Good or bad economic conditions affect the income and spending patterns of the general public as well as business strategies of organizations in that country (Belobaba, Odoni, & Barnhart, 2009). U.K Airline companies serve the leisure and business customers all over the world. So if there is an economic crunch in the world, it badly hampers the growth and profitability of these airline companies in the form of reduced profit margins, and less number of customers.

2. Unstable Fuel Prices:

The fuel, which is the most essential input for the planes and jets, is always exposed to instability in its prices. When fuel prices increase at the Global level, U.K airline companies also take its negative affect on their operational costs. They either have to increase fare prices or sacrifice their profit margins.

3. Natural Disasters and Unexpected Events:

Natural disasters and unexpected events are also an important part of the U.K. Airline companies’ Macro environment. The biggest example from past is the 9/11 terrorism and the most recent example is the volcanic eruption and earth quake in Japan which badly affected the businesses of international airline companies.

4. Global Competition:

Another most important macro environmental factor is the competition among Airlines companies at the Global level (Stonehouse & Campbell, 2004). Customers have now become more knowledgeable in that they make evaluation of prices and quality standards of different airline companies before actually choosing an airline to travel or use its carriage services. To meet the preferences, ever-changing needs and expectations of customers, U.K. Airline companies have to ensure highest standards of customer services at the best affordable rates. Moreover, an increasing trend of making strategic alliances and partnerships among airline companies make it harder for the individual airlines to survive profitably.

5. Social and Demographical factors:

In addition to aforementioned Macro environmental factors, U.K. Airline companies also have to operate keeping in view the social and demographical factors of different regions (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). These factors mainly include; income levels, preferences and life styles, religious norms, cultural values, languages, brand perception and acceptability, etc. U.K. Airline companies have to mold their business operations according to these factors in order to develop strong customer relationships and brand loyalty.

6. Scientific and Technological Advancements:

Lastly, airline companies have to keep themselves abreast of the scientific and technological advancements in order to improve their operational efficiency and control fuel consumption and operational costs. U.K. Airline companies make a significant part of their investments on the Research and Development section so as to provide their customers an extremely comfortable and efficient flying experience. 

In a nutshell, it can be said that Macro economic factors are totally out of control of the Airline industry. To achieve sustainability and secure themselves in the airline industry, these companies essentially need to be flexible enough to respond to these factors on a timely basis.

Leadership, Decision-Making and Problem Solving Skills

Leadership

 

I have observed that, in the business field, leadership is something that will actually aid me to in becoming capable of taking the lead. It means that whether a person is able to make other people follow him and can get things done by the people, which they won’t do otherwise, for the sake of the team. To become a leader, I must possess the quality of providing a mission i.e. what needs to be accomplished as well as a plan, a course, to complete the mission successfully and how to achieve the vision, a technique for the team to reach there. However owing a stimulating vision, a stirring mission, and a cautious plan is not adequate. Clear communication is what a leader must have. The team can only be motivated to work for a task if and only they clearly understand the vision, and buy-in is critical to encouraging action. Lastly, a vision provided by the leader must not be inflexible and set in your ways; it has to be obliged to adjust to varying circumstances, emergent and developing. Or else it becomes outmoded and outdated, and loses its influence to stimulate and inspire the team.(Mills,D.Quinn 2005) Here the use of team work assisted me in enhancing the leadership skills as the group work involves working together, getting things done by your partners and negotiating the ideas and viewpoint to them as well as encouraging them to act by motivating them to get better grades every passing semester. Decision-Making

Decision-making is a vital skill necessary for business and life success equally as other skills. Decision-making is particularly essential for managing and leadership. I used a number of methods develop decision-making skills and the improve quality of decisions. Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. Individuals who are not natural decision-makers are found to be able to make quality assessments, but after that require being more decisive in working upon the assessments prepared. A time-tested methodology has been devised that help dramatically assisted me in improving my decision making skills and lessening ordinary traps that direct unwanted results.

Problem Solving

 

A major element of surviving in business relates to problem solving and that also speedily and efficiently. If I am well at keeping my head in the state of crisis then I am a valuable asset to any business and am less likely to get fired. I am not bad at solving problems; it’s just that my skills are not well-polished. In the first semester everyone seemed less decisive in their decisions and had difficulties in coping up with situations effectively. But every passing semester, the state changed. This may be for the reason of three things. Foremost, the problem can be very specifically defined. When the desired ‘end-point’ is defined, then it is possible to work backwards to locate the solution. Next, I became good at the analysis. I am capable of efficiently analyzing the situation, to look for the root of the problem and afterwards devise solution to address the problem (Edward de Bono, 2007). Once again this is something ‘we can get our teeth’ into. Analysis and judgment are the fundamental practice of every individual’s thinking.

Leadership Style and Change

Leadership is a process by which others are influenced to work willingly towards an organization’s goals, and to the best of their abilities. Four leadership styles identified by Huneryager and Heckman (1967) are:

1.      Dictatorial style: The pursuer of this style threatens the subordinates and punishes and penalizes in case of any deviations.

2.      Autocratic style: The leader following this style believes in centralized decision making. All sort of participation is discouraged.

3.      Democratic style: This is often regarded as the best leadership style. In this style, decision making is decentralized and participation in decision making is encouraged.

Laissez-faire style: In this style, subordinates are given extremely diminutive, or no direction at all. They are given absolute freedom to set up their own goals and to take their own decisions.