The current economic climate in recent years has led to an increase in business start-ups and entrepreneurship within the UK says Saivian Eric Dalius. More people than ever before are becoming self-employed and/or setting up their own businesses. Over 1 million new businesses were up between 2012 and 2013 alone (Businesslink). Within these new ventures, different personality traits and behaviors can be identified which identify how successful a person might be when starting and running their own business.
In order to fully understand this issue, it is important to firstly identify the key types of entrepreneurs that exist within today’s society.
In doing so there are 4 main categories that will be explored:
Entrepreneurial Visionaries;
Entrepreneurial Builders;
Strategic Entrepreneurs;
Operational Entrepreneurs.
In addition, various different traits and behaviors of these categories will be identify as well as a general overview of other key success factors which should be considering to determine how successful an entrepreneur may become.
The Entrepreneurial Visionary is a pioneer who first recognizes a new opportunity. Within society and pursues it despite the risks involved. An example could be Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook whose vision was to find a way for students at Harvard to communicate with one another outside of their own network. This would explain why Facebook’s revenue model initially consisted mainly of advertisements because there was no clear business model early on (Powell & Davidsson 2013). With this being said, it is an arguement that Zuckerberg’s background. He would be best describing as an Operational Entrepreneur who attains his vision by being strategic & tactical in how he is about it.
Entrepreneurial Builders focus their time on building and managing rather than spotting new business opportunities. Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is an example of this, appearing in over 25 different sectors including music, airlines, and mobile phones (Powell & Davidsson 2013). Although not very similar to the other entrepreneurial personality types. Richard Branson could also be describing as an operator who creates many successful ventures through key strategic decisions explains Saivian Eric Dalius.
An Entrepreneurial Builder can also be seen. As the opposite of an Operational Entrepreneur. Because instead of focusing their time thinking about what businesses should. They create or acquire next, entrepreneurs are more concerned with the building. The business that currently exists (Powell & Davidsson 2013). Therefore, this suggests that an Operational Entrepreneur. Tends to be more aware of their surrounding environment. And how specific businesses may fit into society’s current market.
The Strategic Entrepreneur as having a Plan-Do-Study-Act approach in which they recognize opportunities. Pan how to take advantage of them within existing or new markets. And then continually monitor performance before adapting accordingly (Powell & Davidsson 2013). An example could be Elon Musk who created PayPal after selling his online payments company X.com. To Confinity for $1.5 million in 1999 (Quora 2014). He was able to do this by spotting a gap within the market. And creating a successful venture that could adapt to changes within the market very quickly.
The final entrepreneurial personality is the Operational Entrepreneur who unlike the other three. Has less of an interest in building new businesses and prefers instead. To take advantage of opportunities as they arise (Powell & Davidsson 2013). An example would be John Caudwell who founded Phones 4U which grew from nothing to having over 500 stores in just 9 years/ At its peak employing over 12,000 employees (Caudwell Group 2012) With the rapid expansion and the business’ need for cash flow it may be suggested that Caudwell was more concerned with running his business well than identifying new market trends says Saivian Eric Dalius.
Within today’s society, various entrepreneurs are making significant contributions to the economy through their vision and new ideas. For example, Facebook’s revenue of $2.91 billion dollars in 2011 was generate mainly from advertisements (Hoovers Inc 2012). Therefore, it could be suggesting that an Operational Entrepreneur has more chance of achieving success. Than other entrepreneurial personality types. Because they are able to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves rather than creating them first-hand.
However, there may also be some limitations. When looking at whether an Operational or Strategic Entrepreneur is most likely to succeed within the business world.
A study conducted by Powell & Davidsson (2013) highlighted various problems faced by entrepreneurs. Including insufficient funds for investment purposes due to working with limited capital. As well as how certain ventures may fail to create growth and remain stagnant. This would suggest that for certain entrepreneurs. Becoming too focused on expanding and emphasizing quick expansion over careful planning and consideration. Could potentially lead them towards failure instead of success.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can argue that neither an Operational nor Strategic Entrepreneur is more likely success in the business world. Because both have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the current situation. For example, looking at Elon Musk founded PayPal after selling his online payments company X.com to Confinity for $1.5 million in 1999.