Tecno Camon c5

How Entrepreneurs Might Inform, or be Informed by the Management of Projects Name E-mail Course Date   Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Literature review 5 Entrepreneurship 5 Project management 6 Project management and entrepreneurship 7 Methodology 7 Findings 8 What was the motivation behind undertaking the business? 8 What risks was the subject bound to face while undertaking the venture? 9 What were the major constraints that they faced while undertaking the journey? 9 Which innovative idea did the subject come up with? 9 Are you able to undertake a project successful? 10 Discussions and Arguments 10 Conclusion 12 References 13 Appendix 14 Figure 1 Theory of innovative entrepreneurship 5 Table 1Summary of responses……………………………………………………………… 13 Abstract The paper focuses on establishing how entrepreneurs can be able to learn from the process of project management and also provides information on how the same lessons learnt from studying entrepreneurs can be useful in better management of projects. The literature review has been undertaken to review the behavioural perspective of an entrepreneur. More literature on the perspective of project management as a process have been analysed. The literature review has also looked at the similarities between project management and entrepreneurship as identified by scholars. The methodology employed in this study is comparative analysis of qualitative data collected from interviewing 14 subjects. The findings of the research are based on qualitative analysis that compares the responses of the subjects. It is important to note that the findings try to compare the findings of the behaviour of entrepreneurs and the literature on the same to the literature on project management process. The discussion seeks to relate the need to collaborate the behaviours of risks management, innovation, and ability to deal with barriers within both entrepreneurship and project management. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Strategic Management, Risks, Innovation. Word Count: 2237   Introduction An entrepreneur and a project manager operate in different levels and environments of command. An entrepreneur is in charge of starting and running their own business venture. On the other hand a project manager is tasked with the responsibility of running a project from beginning to the end. There is clearly a big difference between starting and running a business and a controlling and managing the various phases of a given project. A deep analysis of the roles undertaken by a project manager and an entrepreneur indicate that there is a close relationship between the roles both of them play in their own niches. This paper focuses on finding out what entrepreneurs are able to learn from how projects are managed and also what project managers are able to learn from the entrepreneurs. According to Turner (2008), a project manager is able to manage a project from beginning to the end. Management of a successful project is a demanding task that requires commitment, effort, and great leadership skills to undertake. On the other hand, an entrepreneur is able to start and run a business into a successful venture (Schumpeter, 2000). Considering the ability owned by the project manager and an entrepreneur, it is apparent that both parties have a lot that they can learn from each other. The paper seeks to provide information on how the same lessons learnt from studying entrepreneurs can be useful in better management of projects. Literature review Entrepreneurship There are many scholars who have tried to define what entrepreneurship is, and what are the qualities of an entrepreneur. Generally entrepreneurship as a behaviour is defined as act of identifying business gap in the market or coming up with a business idea, and then getting the resources required to start and run the business. An entrepreneur is a person driven by the desire to make profit according to Ludwig Mise’s theory (Swedberg, 2000). Therefore, according to him, entrepreneurship is driven by the desire to make profit. According to Schumpeter (2000) and (Drucker, 2007), entrepreneurship is driven by the innovative ability of the entrepreneur in their own field of specialization. Schumpeter argues that for one to be a successful entrepreneur, they need to embrace innovation. Embracing innovation as a driving force of entrepreneurship will lead to sustainable economic development as indicated in the figure below. Figure 1 Theory of innovative entrepreneurship According to Cantillon (2015), an entrepreneur is set apart by their ability to handle risks. In his classical example, Cantillon indicates that an entrepreneur is the person who would be willing to hire other people to work for him and he assures them a salary while he takes care of the risk that face the business (Cantillon, 2015). He goes on further to describe an entrepreneur as a person who is able to not only take economic risks, but also the person who is able to create an equilibrium between the supply of goods and their demands in a market. From the above theories brought forward it is apparent that entrepreneurship is based on a personal behaviour. Therefore the main characteristics of an entrepreneur are: ability to take and handle risks, creativity and innovation, desire to make profit and succeed, ability to work hard and smart, ability to identify opportunities, efficient decision making, and ability to manage people and build networks. Project management On the other hand, project management is the process of starting, planning, implementing, controlling and closing a venture that seeks to achieve a specific goal within a given period of time. Closely related to project management is strategic management. It refers to the process of coming up with objectives for the success of an organization or a project through analysing and evaluating the internal organization and the opportunities and weaknesses within the same internal organization (Barney & Hesterly, 2010). Project management is majorly undertaken by the project manager. The process of managing a project strategically is the key towards running successful projects. In order for a manager to undertake the management of a project successfully, the project manager needs to possess the ability to run it strategically. The main traits that set a strategic successful project manager are: ability to inspire a shared vision and team management, excellent communication skills, ability to make decisions, ability to solve problems, and integrity (Barney & Hesterly, 2010). Project management and entrepreneurship From the above definitions, other scholars have moved on to create a connection between an entrepreneur and a project manager. It is essential to note that both entrepreneurship and project management are powerful catalysts of economic development. Entrepreneurs undertake their own businesses whereas project managers undertake the management of a project. Both of this parties undertake similar roles. According to Baporikar (2011), there is a relationship between management of projects and entrepreneurship. However, it is important to note that although both parties have the ability to deal with risks, entrepreneurs are better at handling risks. Methodology The MSc. Cohort were given the task of recognising individuals within their circles or network that they would consider as portraying entrepreneurial behaviour. The subjects of the interview has to fit in the description given about an entrepreneur in the literature review section. They were further asked to conduct an interview of the identified individuals. The interviews to be conducted were to contain questions that are structured to get qualitative, open-ended, and valuable responses from the identified persons. The cohort was to collect the individual responses and compile it into a case study that would be appropriate for comparative analysis. Therefore the methodology employed in this study is comparative analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews. My study involved interviewing 14 subjects. Findings The interview was conducted using structured questions as described above. The respondents were expected to provide information based on their experiences as entrepreneurs. The questions used in this study were focused in finding out the following information: • Finding out why the subject started the venture in the first place. What was the motivation behind undertaking the business? • What risks was the subject bound to face while undertaking the venture? • What were the major constraints that they faced while undertaking the journey? • Which innovative idea did the subject come up with? • Are you able to undertake a project successful? The responses to this questions led to discovery of a number of themes that were common among all the respondents. The quantitative summary of the responses is given in Table 1Summary of responses in the appendix section. The themes that arose as a result of the questions asked are as outlined below. What was the motivation behind undertaking the business? In general, there were three major responses types that came out of this question, namely: • Opportunity – the subject discovered a business gap that they were in a position to fill and therefore they took the risk of filling it. 10 subjects considered this as the main reason they undertook entrepreneurship • Job satisfaction – There were also individuals who felt that they needed to undertake personal business venture so as to gain a satisfaction of a decent job that was able to raise profits after dissatisfaction from employment. 8 subjects considered this as the main reason they undertook entrepreneurship. • Desire to be one’s own boss – there was also a group of individuals who through it wise to start their own businesses so as to be their own bosses. 6 subjects considered this as the main reason they undertook entrepreneurship. What risks was the subject bound to face while undertaking the venture? The main risk factors identified by the subjects are grouped according to the severity as indicated below: • Extremely high risk - 0 cases • High risk - 1case • Moderate risk - 2 cases • Low risk - 4 cases • Minimal risk - 5 cases What were the major constraints that they faced while undertaking the journey? The barriers and constraints that the subjects had to overcome are generally: • Financial Constraints – start-up capital and other cash flow concerns 9 cases • Organizational – coming up with the right network of people and team 3 cases • Government regulations – the hard regulations of getting operating licence 2 cases • Condition of the market – the existing competition and acceptance of product 7 cases Which innovative idea did the subject come up with? Innovation is driven by 4 Ps namely: • Product - 3 cases • Process - 10 cases • Position - 4 cases • Paradigm - 1 case Are you able to undertake a project successful? These was more of a close ended question and the responses are: • Yes - 7 cases • No - 3 cases • Unsure - 2 cases Discussions and Arguments The responses of the subjects support various theories outlined in the literature review. Innovation is a driver of entrepreneurship (Schumpeter, 2000). It is apparent that most of the subjects who were motivated by innovation also claimed that they were able to undertake projects successfully. This goes on to show that project managers need to embrace creativity and innovation while running their projects. A project manager should be informed by the entrepreneurial behaviour of creativity and innovation. During the process of project management, the use of creativity and innovative ideas will make it easy to achieve goals of the project. From the study above, it is clear that the entrepreneurs faced barriers and constraints which they had to overcome before undertaking their businesses successfully. This goes on to coincide with the theory by Cantillon that entrepreneurship involves taking risks and overcoming them (2015). As discussed in the literature, risks forms one of the common relationships between running businesses and projects. As indicated by Cantillon, the succes of a project is based on the ability of an entrepreneur to face risks and overcome them. From the analysis above, the subjects also faced numerous risks. The risks that these entrepreneurs face are not so much different from those faced by project managers. An entrepreneur faces a risk with the mind that even if it occurs they will still succeed in achieving their goals; persistence in the face of failure is an important trait that should be shared by both parties (Harford, 2017). This is an important trait shared by both entrepreneurs and project managers. It is important for entrepreneurs to understand that project management undertakes better risk management. Therefore, they need to emulate risk mangemment behaviour to avoid losses. In my opinion, entrepreneurs would make better project mangers but project managers wouldn’t neccesarily make good entrepreneurs. This is because, it is evident that entrepreneurs undertake ventures that are not within an enclosed environmment like projects. Running a business is more uncertain as compared to running a project. Therefore, a project manger needs to undertake project methodologies such as agile methodologies so as to improve their ability to handle uncertainity. The findings of the paper further elaborates that the perception of entrepreneurs is not that different from what they actually are as compared to how they are described in the literature. The literature has further defined the realtionship between project management process and entrepreneural behaviour. It is essential to note that the average entrepreneur is capable of running projects in the capacity of project (Baporikar, 2011). The findings indicate that the entrepreneurs are able to undertake the project of starting the business. This should be emulated by project managers. The entrepreneurs faced a lot of finaancial constraints as depicted in the findings of the study. The project management is usually faced by less financial barriers. Therefore the entrepreneurs should emulate the approach of coming up with better funding plans likethat used in project mangement. Conclusion In conclusion, a deep analysis of the roles undertaken by a project manager and an entrepreneur indicates that there is a close relationship between the roles both of them play in their own niches. From the discussion above, it is apparent that the entrepreneur and the project manager share certain qualities. The findings of the research portrays important characteristics of an entrepreneur. When the findings are compared with the literature on project management process, there arises a number of evident factors which both fields need to share: risks management, innovation, and ability to deal with barriers. Therefore, it is evident that entrepreneurs can be informed by risk management process of project management whereas project managers should embrace innovation and creativity behaviour while undertaking their projects.   References Baporikar, N. (2011). Entrepreneurship Development and Project Management: Text and Cases. Himalaya Publishing House. Barney, J. B., & Hesterly, W. S. (2010). Strategic management and competitive advantage: Concepts. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice hall. Cantillon, R. (2015). Richard Cantillon's Essay on the Nature of Trade in General: A Variorum Edition. Routledge. Drucker, P. (2007). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Abingdon: Routledge. Harford, T. (2017, May 9). Why Success Always Starts With Failure. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR_mCvb-KyY Schumpeter, J. A. (2000). Entrepreneurship as innovation. Swedberg. (2000). Entrepreneurship. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Turner, J. R. (2008). Handbook of project-based management. McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing.   Appendix Entrepreneur Details Why did you start on this path? (What were your drivers?) Where is the risk in this for you? (How do you reduce it?) What's new or different (innovative) about what you do? What is the hardest /biggest barrier to success you have had to overcome? Any other interesting points from your chat? Case Study 1 (Mineral water) Saw an opportunity to get into a new market (20 years ago). Self-employed flooring contractor was working in Copenhagen and saw brand new truck pull up outside offices where he was working. Two smart uniformed men wheeled out crystal clear mineral water on stainless steel trolley. He thought if they could sell chilled water in a cold country maybe there was an opportunity to do the same in UK. Presented idea to family who thought he was mad. They argued Yorkshire people wouldn’t pay for water. However, he felt strongly that there was a viable market for this product. He didn’t feel there was a risk at all. As a flooring contractor he already had his own warehouse & infrastructure and there was no existing competition. He mentioned that he had seen many speculators risk everything but he has always been careful. Wanted to keep flooring and water businesses separate so approached a different bank to set up an account, which rejected proposal as risky and unviable. So used existing funds to start business New market - installation of (large bottle) mineral water coolers in businesses across Yorkshire Had to source supplier of natural mineral water (UK)and also supplier of water coolers (Ireland). Had to create demand for the product and establish new customer base: There was an emerging focus on health at the time with employers beginning to feel the pressure into offering healthy workplaces. Visited businesses asking if they were interested and initial reaction was “what!?” Through hard work promoting and advertising after 6 months sold first 9 coolers (with 100 bottles of water) which were nearly past their sell by date. Once health trend established every organisation wanted coolers and after 9 years provided water to 4,000 sites across Yorkshire including monopoly on hospitals and schools (with 2 warehouses, 20 vans and staff)After 9 years Large French company approached him to purchase all contracts. Company wanted to acquire all existing companies, rather than take organic root. They had the financial backing to freeze his company out by offering free water for a year to all customers, for example, but instead made a top of the scale offer for each individual site. Market was becoming saturated and sold company. 10 years on – the company would be worth 10% of what it was . Felt he was at the right place, at the right time, saw the potential, had lots of luck and infrastructure in place. Someone without warehouse etc would not have been able to start up the company without funding Case Study 2 (from Imran) Like a lot of entrepreneurs the catalyst/drivers are often events or circumstance beyond their control. I was Sales Director for a Pharmaceutical company that had a disastrous refit in their Irish plant which drove the business from £50m turnover into administration. Facing redundancy I had the choice of finding another job or seizing the opportunity to set up a UK operation for a US infusion device company that I’d introduced to the Irish business but was not subject to its troubles. My plan had always been to become a director then graduate to having my own business (or a significant stake in one) so as the opportunity had presented itself I took it! As the proverb goes “Luck is what happens when planning meets opportunity”. I faced threats of litigation from the Irish business when I left (which never materialised I hadn’t breached my contract) and the threat to regular earnings in the new start up entity. I didn’t invest any of my own money but I did have a reputation for being successful on the commercial front so they invested in me. I usually say that most of our biggest successes are evolutionary not revolutionary. The same is true for other more well-known entrepreneurs like Branson. Taking a fresh look at something that already exists and improving the product, service or both. In my case we decided at the outset not to go to market with mainstream general infusion devices which would have put us in head on confrontation with large US corporates and started price wars. Instead we talked to clinicians in key clinical specialties like pain management, nutrition, palliative care and oncology about what challenges they face in their day-to-day practice that current technology did not address. As they talk we listen, and think about how we can apply our technology (hardware, software, consumables and accessories to improve patient safety, the patient experience and/or clinical efficiency. In line with this our mission statement was always “Listen, Develop, Deliver”. Effectively this meant we were a niche provider and therefore able to command higher prices, higher margins and reduced competition. Large corporates struggled to respond well to targeted niche market applications across multiple markets. At the time of selling the business in September we counted all UK & Irish NHS Trusts in our customer base and had 45,000+ infusion devices in regular use equating to around. We were a start-up entering a market populated by large multi-nationals/US corporate competitors which we overcame by jumping out of the mainstream infusion market and effectively starting our own market servicing niche clinical specialities. In the UK there was effectively only one customer for healthcare products, the NHS. As a large institutional buyer they have very formal buying procedures which were onerous for small start ups and the criteria sometimes difficult to satisfy. We were an unknown quantity and our competitors used this to sew fear into the minds of buyers. In the end the sealed bid tender process and EU regulations on openness in tendering actually levelled the playing field for us. In the past large corporates had relied on entertainment and relationships with clinicians to swing business their way but in the new world this was not allowed. We actually won about 70-80% of tenders we went in for and on a couple of occasions were able to challenge and overturn a couple of decisions using the ten day stand still period after announcement of an award to point out misunderstanding in some decisions. The other thing we successfully did was point out to customers that the big companies did many things and if they let a customer down on infusion pumps it was unlikely to be material to them whereas ALL we did was infusion pumps so if we let them down, and the word spread through the relatively small community of the specialist teams we served, we were dead. It was our speed of responsive, attentive customer care and engagement with customers that ultimately drove the business forward. In the early stages (probably years 2-4) we almost failed due to funding, as we tried to establish a foothold in the market and invest in our operations. Luckily our manufacturing partners were also shareholders and they believed in our plan and our team. At one point we had almost one year’s credit from our main overseas supplier which i think is pretty much unheard of. We built strong relationships with suppliers and kept them continually informed about progress. We even engaged them with customers so they could see the response to the developments we were making and sense that the direction of travel was right. Their confidence ultimately paid off for them too though as the success of the product ranges we helped them specify and develop led to a very successful exit for their founder in 2017. Case Study 3 (MCC) I was frustrated with the unwillingness of my employer to improve productivity. I personally did well out of overtime, but could see I'd make more on piece work. I'm like my Dad in that respect. I'd left the company to set up on my own installing burgler alarms. This turned out to be profitable, but I never really knew more than a week in advance where the next work was coming from, so in that respect I'd traded security for cash. I needed something else to make things more secure, so I looked amongst the people I knew for a contract opportunity to do the same work I'd been doing with my previous employer. but as a contractor. Nothing really. In my company we are a lot smarter about saving and avoiding unnecessary overheads. There's a lot of technical innnovations we could adopt, but the client's rarely want it, so if they aren't pushing for it we don't waste our time trying to sell it. It's easy to adopt at any time. A realiable source of regular contract work, I'd say. Getting into term contracts and repeat orders has been our big success. We've done this through just being better at customer service than everyone else, and our competititors are generally bad at it, so it isn't hard. People/Clients like us. Case Study 4 (Estate Agency) I saw an opportunity within the market and a vision came to mind. I wanted to be my own boss, but moreover, be free spirited. I also wanted to make a difference to any community where I did my work for property development and real estate. I also saw this as an area where I can provide opportunities in the property, construction, finance and marketing. Furthermore, due to the high demand and the shortage of houses I seized the opportunity to come in the market and fulfil some of the need for supply and demand. I also wanted move away from banking. It was by working in the investment side in banking where I saw a niche market to get into real estate, as I saw all real estate investment proposals and I also built up my network whilst working in this department. Firstly, there is risk in everything you do in any industry you work in. But more important I see this in me and other entrepreneurs and leaders that self-belief plays a vital role to succeed. In my industry, I ensure risks are reduced by, firstly understanding the market and if it is need and secondly I am a numbers man and have a degree in accounting. So ensuring that the input multiples the output is important, in essence is there healthy profit to what I am selling or doing. I also see that being consistent is important and understanding the market also enables to reduce the risk. One of the major risk reducers was to go through a franchise rather than set myself up from scratch, hence this placed major liabilities and risks to the franchise who were more than willing to accept it. There is not much difference to what I do compared to other real estate people or companies. I do see the difference that I managed to collate my network and contacts whilst I worked in banking in the investment department. This gave me the opportunity to go directly to the investors and purchases which made me the middle man. Hence, I have contacts to the buyers and money people but they do not know each other which also makes it easier for me as I can deal with both parties contagiously. I also see entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson where they take a fresh look at something that already exists and improving the product, service or both There was some financial struggle I saw, but which entrepreneur does not see such phase in life or business. I did learn that in such environment you have to be patient and persistent to what you do and understanding that you will eventually get there with perseverance. I also learnt early on how to deal and approach with different types of people from around the world as I was dealing with most of the real estate projects in central London and it is the financial capital of the world. So learning how to deal and build a rapport with different types of characters and backgrounds gave me the ability to excel further in this venture. Case Study 5 (Recruitment consult) An opportunity arose when the recruitment firm I was working through went into liquidation. I was working as a limited company through them but based in the customers office. There were two other employees from the same recruitment firm who were looking at redundancy. I went to the customer and asked if I could invoice directly to them and they said yes. I took a chance and asked about the two redundant co-workers, the customer asked if I could employ them and bill direct. I made it clear to the client that I couldn’t take any financial risks and they agreed that it wasn’t in their interest either. They were prepared to pay me weekly until I got some money behind me. There were other risks involving workload longevity however I thought it was a risk worth taking. Nothing new in terms of technological however I do offer a more flexible approach to dealing with my clients than the current load of international recruitment companies who see a client as little more than number. I find that every time I try a new approach it becomes costly, so going forward I’m going to focus on what we do best. Securing a second site was for me was the hardest after that I got easier as the company reputation grew. Customers don’t like dealing with unknown companies as there is a risk they might not be around in a few years. He said he was just lucky, at the right place at the right time. Case Study 6 (From Tom) I was frustrated with the lack of resources available and after calling round other business in the area, I found out that they were also in need of the same product that we were. I then saw an opportunity within a market with minimal competition. After my previous market research, which was not intentional I then had conversations about them possibly purchasing from me. As I previously worked in steel in Sheffield, I had the common knowledge and contacts to point me to a supplier in china. I then had a conversation with my farther for a private loan and a credit card to purchase stock and a back log of orders I had to deliver. As I had grown up with my father owning his own business, I had always had the drive to one day be my own boss. Initially there was a huge risk, I was 20k in debt, although some of it was a family loan, and I had to fulfil to orders I had gained. Once I had fulfilled the orders and developed a contact with the manufacture I was able to reinvest my profits and continue to gain business to grow, and had credit card debt I was able to save balance a lot of the risk as I was able to use part of my father’s business premises as an office space and a carpark for stock containers. I then asked friends to help me. My brother in law then became involved and this gave me more buying power as he traded some savings for a percentage of the business. Over the next 5 years the business grew in size massively, but me and my brother in law never took home more than 20k a year as we constantly re invested the profits to grow the company, expanding our workforce, product range and allowing us to buy our first warehouse space. There was not really anything innovative about the product, it had been around for years but the process and price of obtaining or renting the item was extremely expensive. All we had found is that we could buy in a product that we could sell cheaper than other companies could hire their product. So I believe that the only innovation was the process in our situation. Had to source a supplier; Had to find the demand even though there was one; There was an initial financial struggle and we had to suffer in our personal live's to allow for the business to grow; There was a lot of failures when we were a new business with no reputation in the market. In the early stages of the business they lived extremely simple lives even as the business grew to nearly a million pound in profit, their main aim was to make sure the company grew to a size that would survive and provide them a life that would then have no financial worry. Even now the company has been going 18 years they still have a similar mentality and have since branched out in to several other businesses, using the first one as a financial stepping stone. Case Study 7 (South America) Manufacturing consultant... Started because he had to fix a machine for his boss, but figured out the secret so he left the company and set up with a new machine himself. (Machine to mould plastic and for flower packing). But he also saw that he could apply it to other markets., So he got a investment partner, to buy the machine. (He had no money, I've go the idea, he and his business partner had 50/50 shares). Later he planned buy his business partner out. Later loads of nights working on the machine, developed a consultancy support the multitude of machines in the market, so his technical knowledge built up, for all similar machines, and with an increasing number of market ideas. So came up with a company which filled all the gaps. Finally he gave machine to the partner, not selling it, and became a consultant. Met lots of people, so he formed a network to sell these friends as experts. The business expanded with technicians like he started out as. But now selling the technical knowledge and marketing and commercial advice. New team included Old Uni friends, and old colleagues. Ended up with a great team! Start up capital. He left an English owned multinational, so competing against this multinational he thought would be a barrier, with his business being too little compared to the main competition. But he was cheaper and better (more full service). Started improve existing machines, but eventually designed new machine and moved to include the commertcial market side, becoming a mediator between clients and suppliers. Became a sourcer of solutiuons for clients. Started improve existing machines, but eventually designed new machine and moved to include the commertcial market side, mediator between clients and suppliers. Became a sourcer of solutiuons for clients. He was exploiting his hard won knowledge of the market, the technical issues, and commercial opportunities. Realised that if he stayed just with technical support he'd easily be replaced, as he imagined someone will figure out what he was doing, the consultancy is a fuller service, and (erects wider knowledge barriers to new entrants). So it appears that eh does what everyone else does, but that he actually has a greater focus on the value adding advice about growth opportunities for the client group, plus its a wider client group, as he thougth outside of the original market area. English owned multinational, so competing against this multinational might be a barrier, too little compared to the main competition. But he was cheaper and better (more full service). Started improve existing machines, but eventually designed new machine and moved to include the commertcial market side, mediator between clients and suppliers. Became a sourcer of solutiuons for clients. Case Study 8 Unable to find a job that they wanted to do when they graduated so decided to start a business with a family member. Minimal risk at outset. No premises to pay for and no large financial burdens. This enabled them to get started up and running and build a client base as a graphic design business. Didn’t need to employ others or pay for materials or equipment etc, so had a very low cost base. They had a client that published and distributed regional classifieds magazines. The client was selling a number of the regions so they bought them. They already knew most of the businesses that advertised because they did all the design work for them and they managed the printing for the client. The next step was to take on some distribution staff which was low risk as they were only paid based on distribution numbers. A number of the advertisers were advertising wedding packages at hotels etc and this was a growing service. The business made a move to produce a wedding based version of the magazine which proved popular. They decided to concentrate on weddings separately from their ongoing design business and develop a high quality periodical magazine. This was well accepted by their advertisers and this led to them organising a wedding fair. Several years later they know own and run the largest regional wedding fairs in the UK with a differentiator being the ongoing periodical and annual awards event. They sold the classifieds business to one of their former employees. They also grew their graphic design business and employ a small team in private offices. Initially, it was getting paid by clients in a timely manner and retaining them. Now it’s staying in front of the competition in the wedding fair market with several larger organisations holding national fairs. It is now retaining the clients for their fairs and this has been done by providing a personal service, providing design advice and services, marketing advice, packages which include magazine advertising and articles. They also introduced the annual awards show for all their advertisers. Have never looked back and had no other work experience to fall back on. Have kept the business fairly small and slowly increased client base to ensure the same level of service can be afforded to all clients. Case Study 9 Holiday home in Zimbabwe: Converted a house into a holiday home • I had difficulties in collecting rent from the tenants renting the house • People travel home (Zimbabwe) for business and would not like to mix business and family matters- They want a quiet place • Worked in a non-governmental organisation making bookings for staff travelling abroad and I realised that most staff would prefer to stay in a holiday home than a hotel because It provides for holiday environment whilst on business • It provides for a more family setting • Remote Management- Communication problems- Mitigated by providing business mobile phones to staff • Damages to the home and furniture especially by young customers who prefer parting most of the time- Reduced the risk by setting up age limit for booking- Would advise that the booking is full if one is below 25 and single. • Electricity and water shortage- Mitigated the risk by having backup generators for electricity and sunk bore holes for water supply • Introduced free Wi Fi to our quests • Would send spies to book in the holiday home and assess the process to ensure staff are practicing good customer care • Mystery shopping- Go to other similar holiday homes and pretend too book for accommodation, yet the intention is to spy on their operations and improve on ours • Networking- We have a consortium of 5 holiday home entrepreneurs. We share ideas and customers • Competition is high- Provide regular customer care training for our staff • Unstable economy- Mitigated by accepting most currencies as payment • Political situation not stable and may deter visitors- Provided leaflets assuring customers of their safety • Our repeat customer rate is high because of how we manage our risks and barriers Case Study 10 (JP - Design) Main driver at the time I set up was the recession and the prospect of being made redundant, working for myself with my own Clients reduced risk of being out of work. Second driver was the desire to produce good quality designs and be able to set things up to provide a full service (with less reliance on what I do being restricted by resourcing set by the people I worked for). Third driver is the freedom of being able to have some control over the work I do. The second and third drivers had been in my mind for a while but is something that I may never have acted upon if it were not for the recession. Biggest risk initially was being out of work, so setting up Studio One reduced this risk: After 2 waves of redundancies at the company I worked for I reaslised it would be lower risk to start up by myself than to carry on as an employee. I agree this in principle with my boss at the time (rather an odd discussion) as risks of that company going into administration appeared to be on the horizon (not uncommon for private sector led construction companies). As it happens they went onto administration shortly after, the directors re-grpouped afterwards as a separate (new) company (I will never know whether I would have had a job at that new company or not). Key risks now are:1. Sustainable workload – risk managed by portolio of Clients of different types. 2. Risk of workload fluctuation (too much or too little work) due to changes in economy and /or certain sectors – risk managed by working in different sectors I.e. Rail, Private residential, Commercial Developers, events companies, survey work etc. Risk also managed by working at full capacity as far as possible. This may sound a little odd but it seems to me to be the only way to get things to work well. 3. Risks relating to resource required to undertake work (too much or too little work) - risk managed by employing a mixture of staff (full time, part time) and sub consultants (engaged in a job by job basis). 4. Risk of not getting the right type of work – risk managed largely by trying ti do a good job with repeat Clients 1. We try and deliver our service comprehensively, and try to do what we are engaged to do properly. And be human. This should not be different or innovative, however sometimes I wonder - it does feel like we often compete against companies who do not do this. 2. We also try to use current design technology to full benefit – for example use of software for preparing drawings, the package we use for this is arguably much more sophisticated than is often needed however it helps us produce a good quality product. Finding enough time to do what needs to be done. It has always been a problem and doesn’t ever seem to stop being one. Case Study 11 (JT - Cons Director) I was thrown out of school at 14!! I assume that won’t be accepted as a reasonable answer lol. I knew I wanted to achieve from a young age and I didn’t want to line others pockets in the process. We have several different companies, one of them being a property company which we own over 30 properties, having a number of them stood empty at any one time is a risk, managing them to ensure we don’t lose tenants is key however this is a nightmare! The other risk is taking on new staff and putting trust into them, at the end of the day when you own a construction company you are only as good as your men. There’s nothing new about what we do, attention to detail is the key, if it’s not perfect it’s not good enough. Finding the right staff we can count on is the hardest challenge for us, we have to spend a lot of time checking the quality of the works, time which could be spent more productively. Case Study 12 (JN - Insurance) Strangely it was because I couldn’t work with my mum in the family business. I wanted to push the business in new directions and she didn’t believe my ideas would work. So I bought a branch she was going to close, and its ended up 5 times the size of her whole business. My main driver is the buzz I get from sales getting it wrong. As insurance brokers our job is to protect our clients from risk. If we get it wrong we do the opposite. To protect ourselves we carry a hell of a lot of Professional Indemnity Insurance, and are a Ltd co There is no one thing that stands out, its lots of different things that combine. But the main theme is adding value, becoming part of our clients business rather than just selling them insurance – Learning to manage people, I’m a natural salesman, not a manager Case Study 13 (Beauty Therapist, Converted garage into a salon) I was working at Ramsdens and had a dislike for hte job, which i found boring and unfulfilling. I had always had an interest in Beauty so decided, which still working, to fund some beauty courses. When I was fully trained and confident, I left Ramsdens to set up my own business. It was scary but I felt I would have a better quality of life abd time with my family Because I was changing my p[rofession I was really worried about how I would get a customer base and inclome. When I first started social media was my best friend, getting people knowling I am in the Beauty business. I also did discounts as I was new to it, but once people were coming I was totally relying on them to spread the word! Word of mouth is everything! I believe I am good at what I do and offer a friendly service, environment and location for my customers, (both men and women). I am always trying to learn new innovative ways to effer services to my clients. I was one of the first beauty professionals to roll out a new express nail service in my area. This service is cheaper (and quicker0 than the traditional methods used and my ladie love them. Anything new thta I roll out is tested first to make sure it is safe and to a high quality. I also work late for people who work and connot make day appointments. One of the biggest things for me was not having a standard income every month as i was not sure how much I would make and what about if I failed, I have a family, house and bills to think of, but I am glad I took the leap! Case Study 14 (Patient+Elderly Care) Family time + Flexibility required 1) Uncertain Market entry position, 2) Start-up Funds was required and put a direct strain on our existing financial budget. I overcome the first risk element my doing everything in my power to secure an NHS tender after my sister told me about how they were struggling with care and the high demand. Secondly, I used available resources all family available were employed to help out, my husband, niece, sister, neighbour etc. Meeting demand with supply as simple as that. Simply linking available resources (staff/beds/care homes) to the amounts of families and individuals in demand, made it all happen. Firstly overcoming my own insecurities to convince myself that the idea will work once it was executed. Then being a new entrant into a new Supply chain/causing disruption...., the first couple of week was quiet but then it took off in a storm and I barely got any time for myself. I am happy to have made the step 18months later, however it was hard work and the flexibility of having more time with the kids have not realised as yet, but I am my own boss now! I have infiltrated the market, there are new risks now like quality control, staffing issues but I grow with my business and that is even more exiting. Table 1Summary of responses