STRUCTURAL AND THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 
STRUCTURAL AND THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
By, Student’s Name
Course
Name
University
City, State
Date
 
Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………..3
2. PART A………………………………………………………………………………3
3. Introduction……………………………………………………………………3
4. Literature Review……………………………………………………………..4
5. Definitions…………………………………………………………………4

• Entrepreneurship………………………………………………….4
• Entrepreneur………………………………………………………5

1. Role of Entrepreneurship…………………………………………………6
2. Types of Entrepreneurship………………………………………………..7

• Background to the chosen Entrepreneur………………………………………8

1. Background to the Organization………………………………………………8
2. Characteristics of the Entrepreneur PECs…………………………………….8
3. Entrepreneur’s Social and Economic Contributions………………………….9

• Summary………………………………………………………………………10

III. PART B……………………………………………………………………………..10

1. Section 1…………………………………………………………………….10
2. Profile based on HBDI………………………………………………….10
3. Profile based on PECs…………………………………………………..11
4. Section 2…………………………………………………………………….12
5. Reflection on the Profile Patterns……………………………………….12
6. Comparative Analysis……………………………………………………14

Structural and Theoretical Aspects of Entrepreneurship
Executive Summary
The assignment is about entrepreneurship and some of its characteristics. This will be analyzed in a chronological and comprehensive manner. Entrepreneurship refers to the action of starting up a business. This entails financial risk with the aim of attaining profits in the future. Entrepreneurship plays a major role in the economy of any given country. Therefore, it is an activity that not only improves the lives of individuals but also facilitates the exchange of goods and services. The assignment however views entrepreneurship from an Omani perspective. This is because an entrepreneur from Oman will be effectively analyzed in terms of the organization being managed and the individual characteristics. These are effectively compared to the entrepreneurial characteristics of the student using the Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) theoretical framework. The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument has also been used in the assignment to effectively determine some of the personal traits possessed by the student. The assignment is therefore quite elaborate and conclusive in its analysis on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial traits.
Part A

1. Introduction

Entrepreneurship is an important economic activity that has helped improve the lives of individuals and entire jurisdictions as well. Through entrepreneurship, a number of revolutionary products and innovative practices have been established in a number of fields. Some of these products include Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter just to mention a few. These resulted from individuals making bold steps in the entrepreneurial field with the aim of not only making profits but also improving the environment around them. Entrepreneurship has also contributed towards improving the living standards of individuals all around the world. This is through the generation of income to entrepreneurs themselves as well as the provision of employment to others (Bernstein and Carayannis, 2012). It is however important to note that for an entrepreneur to be successful, he or she has to possess certain qualities. Some of these include innovation, risk taking, persistence, commitment and self-confidence just to mention a few (Putta, 2014).
The assignment at hand effectively analyzes entrepreneurship from the perspective of an individual entrepreneur. This has been effectively addressed in the following sections of the paper. The first in this case is the literature review. This section will effectively define the term entrepreneurship and an entrepreneur based on 3 distinct literary sources.  The section will also analyze the roles of an entrepreneur in addition to the various types of entrepreneurship that exist. The entrepreneur who has been selected for this project is Dr. P Mohammed Ali and has been effectively introduced in the third section of the paper. The fourth section analyzes Dr. Ali’s organization which is Galfar Engineering and Consulting. In addition to this, the characteristics and economic and social contributions of Dr. Ali have also been analyzed in the first part of the assignment. The second part of the assignment analyzes my PEC qualities in comparison to those possessed by the entrepreneur in question.

1. Literature Review
2. Definitions

• Entrepreneurship

Mohamad et al (2015) defines entrepreneurship as the act of starting up a business with the aim of attaining profits in the future. In his journal, Mohamad clearly outlines the process that entails the commencement of an entrepreneurial venture. These include accessing capital, studying the market and coming up with a product that meets the market demands. Johansson and Malm (2017) on the other hand define entrepreneurship as the act of one running his or her own business with the aim of improving him or herself and the environment in which he or she operates in. The journal goes further to specify the types of environments that can be influenced by entrepreneurship. These include the community within which an organization or rather business is located, the physical environment which includes natural resources and the economic environment just to mention a few.  Finally, Nordstrom et al (2016) defines entrepreneurship as an economic act involving the sale of goods and services using innovative techniques. Nordstrom et al (2016) also reiterate that innovation is one of the major pillars of entrepreneurship. It is only through innovation that entrepreneurships can thrive and solve the basic problems or rather meet the demands within their areas of jurisdiction.

• Entrepreneur

As clearly defined by Mohamad et al (2015), an entrepreneur is an individual who starts his own business and benefits from it financially. The journal goes further ahead to state some of the traits that are possessed by some of the most successful entrepreneurs. These include traits such as persistence, innovation, leadership, risk taking and creativity just to mention a few. Johansson and Malm (2017) reiterate that an entrepreneur is an individual who is economically conscious and engages in economic activities that benefits him or her financially. According to Johansson and Malm (2017), the economic consciousness of an individual is the strongest trait that can be possessed by a potential entrepreneur. This is because such a trait enables an entrepreneur to be prudent in terms of financial spending and allocation and also derive maximum profits. Nordstrom et al (2016) on the other hand defines an entrepreneur as an innovative individual who applies this trait effectively to generate income from a business.

1. Role of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship plays an important role in the society in general. Firstly, entrepreneurship generates income to individual entrepreneurs and the economy in general. Entrepreneurs receive their income from the profits generated from their individual businesses. This may be in the form of sole proprietorship, partnerships or large corporations. It is important to note that for businesses that grow into large corporations, income is also generated to shareholders. In addition to this, economies benefit through entrepreneurship through exports which are facilitated by products produced by individual businesses. This has an impact to the GDPs of countries (Plehn-dujowich, 2010).
Secondly entrepreneurship creates jobs within a given economy leading to the improvement of the living standards of individuals. For example in this case, Gulf Engineering and Consulting Company employs up to 23,000 people in Oman. These employees can improve their individual living standards through the salaries and wages earned from the organization. In addition to these, entrepreneurship also encourages foreign direct investment in a given country. When businesses and entrepreneurs thrive in a country, foreign investors tend to be attracted as a result of the investment opportunities and potential revenue streams within such a jurisdiction (O’Gorman, 2015). This helps improve the economy of such a country.
Entrepreneurship also facilitates the balancing of regional development. This is because it empowers marginalized regions to benefit financially resulting in the improvement of infrastructure and facilitation of development activities (Abu-Saifan, 2012). Therefore, through entrepreneurship, regions that were previously disadvantaged can equally benefit financially and develop as well. Finally, entrepreneurship promotes community development. It is important to note that economic development as earlier addressed differs with community development. Community development entails healthcare, education and training just to mention a few. The presence of highly skilled and educated individuals within a community attracts entrepreneurs due to the availability of a competent workforce (Kobia and Sikalieh, 2010).  It is through this that community development through education is encouraged through entrepreneurship. In addition to this, entrepreneurs can engage in charitable activities which include the setting up of schools and the building of hospitals (Paweta, 2015).

1. Types of Entrepreneurship

Some of the most common types of entrepreneurship include small business entrepreneurship, scalable startup entrepreneurship, large company entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. These vary in characteristics based on their sizes and scope of operations as well as the types of goods and services offered (Nigam and Ghai, 2016).
The majority of entrepreneurs today own small businesses. There are 5.7 million small businesses today in the United States alone. These constitute up to 99.7% of companies in addition to employing approximately 50% of all non-governmental workers (Mohamad et al, 2015). Examples of small businesses include travel agents, hair dressers, grocery stores and barbers shops just to mention a few. Most of these hire local employees or family and are barely profitable. Scalable startup entrepreneurship on the other hand entails the starting up of a business with the aim of attracting venture capitalists and expanding it in the long run. These focuses on developing a scalable business model with the aim of attracting venture capital to fuel rapid growth (Hafezieh et al, 2011).
Large company entrepreneurship includes companies that have finite life cycles. These maintain their growth through innovation and offering new products. These are highly affected by factors such as changes in consumer tastes, new competitors and unfavorable legislation (Nica et al, 2015). Finally social entrepreneurship entails the creation of goods and services that effectively solve some of the social problems that exist in a society. The main purpose of such ventures is to make the world better rather than making financial gains and expanding market share (Nigam and Ghai, 2016).

• Background to the chosen Entrepreneur

As earlier outlined, the entrepreneur who has been selected for the project is Omani businessman Dr. P Mohamed Ali. His organization is Galfar Engineering and Contracting Company which he founded. He is the current managing director of the organization. Dr. Ali completed is primary, secondary and tertiary education in India where he emerged with a degree in Engineering. He later moved to Oman where he started his lucrative engineering company.

1. Background of the Organization

Gulf Engineering and Constructing Company is one of the largest corporations in Oman. It was founded in 1972 by Dr. P Mohamed Ali. The company’s headquarters is located in Muscat, Oman. It is an engineering and consulting organization which currently employs approximately 23,000 employees.

1. Characteristics of Dr. P Mohamed Ali

PEC	ESTIMATED SCORE	DISCUSSION
Opportunity seeking	21	Dr. Ali is an opportunistic businessman who has seized on the opportunity provided by the lucrative Omani engineering industry. This has led to him founding a successful company.
Persistence	24	He is a very persistent individual. This has helped him overcome a number of challenges in the Omani economy.
Commitment to work contract	23	Dr. Ali is an extremely committed manager. This trait is also possessed by his employees
Demand for quality and efficiency	22	Dr. Ali’s company is known for its quality services. This indicates his emphasis on quality and efficiency
Risk taking	24	Venturing in a foreign country is no easy feat. This indicates his rusk taking trait.
Goal setting	21	Dr. Ali has set out and achieved most of his goals. His organization also has well defined targets.
Information seeking	24	As the manager of a consulting firm, information is crucial. The success of the company is an indication f his ability.
Systematic planning and monitoring	23	The company is well run and organized. These indicate his planning and monitoring abilities.
Persuasion and Networking	24	He has networked with hundreds of entrepreneurs in Oman. This is aimed at expanding his market share.
Self-confidence	22	He is the recipient of a number of leadership awards. This indicates his self-confidence.

 

1. Economic and Social Contributions

Dr. Ali has immensely contributed to the economy of Oman through the creation of employment. His organization has also improved the quality of oil exports made by the country through the provision of efficient technological techniques and strategies of oil exploration and production.
Dr. Ali has also built a number of engineering schools in Muscat. He has also built roads and put up streetlights in local neighborhoods within Muscat.
 

• Summary

From the above, it is clear that entrepreneurship is an important economic activity. Entrepreneurship positively impacts the society through development and infrastructure as outlined in the section. In addition to this, the various forms of entrepreneurship have been effectively highlighted and expounded on. It has also been demonstrated that Dr. Ali is one of the most efficient entrepreneurs in Oman as evidenced by his traits and contributions to the country both socially and economically.
PART B

1. Section 1
2. Profile based on HBDI
3. First 12 (Quadrant) Score: A = 16/12 = 1.3
4. 2^nd 12 (Quadrant) Score: B = 14/12 = 1.17
5. 3^rd 12 (Quadrant) Score: C = 17/12 = 1.42
6. 4^th 12 (uadrant) Score: D = 15/12 = 1.25

HBDI Chart
From my HBDI scores above, it is clear that I am a logical, analytical and critical individual as a result of my high scores in the first quadrant A. I am however not quite structural, organized and sequential just to mention a few. This is as a result of my relatively low average scores in the second quadrant B. I am however very interpersonal, emotional and spiritual due to my high scores in the third quadrant C. I am also relatively visual and innovative based on my average scores on the fourth quadrant D. From the above, it is evident that I stand a good chance of becoming a lawyer, salesman or entrepreneur. I however stand a minimal chance of becoming an accountant or administrator in the future.
 

1. Profile based on PECs

PEC	Original Score – Correction No = Corrected Total
Opportunity seeking	_____19____ –   _____0______  =  _____19_____
Persistence	_____16____ –   _____0______  =  _____16_____
Commitment to the work contract	_____17____ –   _____0______  =  _____17_____
Demand for quality and efficiency	_____21____ –   _____0______  =  _____21_____
Risk taking	_____12____ –   _____0______  =  _____12_____
Goal setting	_____14____ –   _____0______  =  _____14_____
Information seeking	_____23____ –   _____0______  =  _____23_____
Systematic planning and monitoring	_____19____ –   _____0______  =  _____19_____
Persuasion and networking	_____18____ –   _____0______  =  _____18_____
Self-confidence	_____15____ –   _____0______  =  _____15_____

 
From the above PEC totals, it is clear that I am an effective opportunity seeker. This is reinforced by my high score in opportunity seeking which is 19. I am also relatively persistent. This however is not my strongest trait as my score is 16. On the commitment to work contract, my score is 17. This indicates that I can do better to improve on this trait. My demand for quality and efficiency is however one of my strongest traits. This is because my total score for this is 21. On the other hand, I am a very poor risk taker and this is evidenced by my low score of 12 for this. I am also quite poor in goal setting with a total score of 14. I am however very strong in information seeking, systematic planning and monitoring and persuasion and networking with scores of 23, 19 and 18 respectively total. Finally, my self-confidence is below average due to a score of 15.
 

1. Section Two
2. Reflection on Profile Patterns

 
 
 
 
0           5         10          15           20           25

Opportunity seeking
Persistence
Commitment to work contract
Demand for quality and efficiency
Risk taking
Goal setting
Information seeking
Systematic planning and monitoring
Persuasion and Networking
Self-confidence

 
From the above profile chart, my average PEC score is 17.4 while the median score is 17.5.

PEC	Corrected Score	Average Score	Median Score	Discussion
Opportunity seeking	19	17.4	17.5	My score is above both the median and the average indicating that I am a good opportunity seeker.
Persistence	16			My persistence is low based on me scoring a 16 which is lower than both the average and median score.
Commitment to work contract	17			My commitment is average as it almost conforms to both the average and median scores.
Demand for quality and efficiency	21			This score is higher than both the median and mean by over 4. My demand for quality is therefore very high.
Risk taking	12			This is way below the mean and median signifying my inability to take risks.
Goal setting	14			My goal setting ability is also very low as evidenced.
Information seeking	23			This is my strongest trait as it exceed both the mean and median by more than 5
Systematic planning and monitoring	19			19 is higher than both the mean and median As such, I strongly possess this trait.
Persuasion and Networking	18			My persuasion and networking skills are also above average.
Self-confidence	15			My self confidence is low as the score of 15 is lower than both the mean and median.

 
Overall Observation: I see myself as an entrepreneur who focuses on the quality of my products and also carries out in-depth analysis on the market of operation in order to derive relevant information relating to market trends. I am however not a risk taker and as such may lose out on a number of opportunities.

1. Comparative Analysis

PEC	The Student	The Entrepreneur	Discussion
Opportunity seeking	19	21	My opportunity seeking trait is lower than that of Dr. Ali.
Persistence	16	24	Dr. Ali’s persistence is way superior to mine.
Commitment to work contract	17	23	Dr. Ali has more commitment as compared to me.
Demand for quality and efficiency	21	22	My demand for quality and efficiency compares favorably to that of Dr. Ali
Risk taking	12	24	My risk taking ability does not compare to that of Dr. Ali as it is very low.
Goal setting	14	21	Dr. Ali also sets goals better than the way I do.
Information seeking	23	24	My information seeking ability is almost equal to Dr. Ali’s
Systematic planning and monitoring	19	23	My ability to plan and monitor is slightly lower than that of Dr. Ali.
Persuasion and Networking	18	24	My persuasion and networking skills are relatively high but inferior to Dr. Ali’s.
Self-confidence	15	22	Dr. Ai has high self-confidence unlike me who is very low on confidence.

 
 
 
 
 
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