Business introduction

The advantages of working with someone else over becoming an entrepreneur dictate the comparisons between the two groups. An entrepreneur is not only a self-employed person but also the legal owner of a specific company. An employee, on the other hand, works for the company but does not own it (Wagener, Stephanie et al. 9). According to Thomas Lennon, both the company owner and the staff are motivated by a need to make a profit. Screenwriters and Hollywood, for example, are paid. In reality, such a comparison demonstrates that both people are decision-makers. Entrepreneurs decide on the working condition of their workers while the employee resolves the actual task (“Unit 1 Case Study: Tom Lennon”). Nonetheless, their differences carry more weight. Entrepreneurs are risk takers while workers are peril averse. Contrariwise, unlike an employee, it does not require a college degree to become an entrepreneur. According to the video, additionally, business owners have more income opportunities than their workers.

Underlying question 1: the notion of “freedom” among business owners in the US

The term ”freedom” in an entrepreneurial perspective is the ability to make individual decisions regarding the running of the firm and its employees’ working conditions. In the United States, small business owners (entrepreneurs) do not require any other member’s approval to implement a decision (Murphy, Patrick J. et al. 14). They have the full freedom to control their business’ environment. Indeed, with the ”freedom” small entrepreneurs distribute money alongside formulating the businesses operational policies.

Question 2: The risks and benefits of becoming an entrepreneur as opposed employee

Amongst the first risk of entrepreneurship is the business’ failure, where the entrepreneur may lose all his invested capital if his operations flop. It also goes without debate that an entrepreneur also becomes liable for other external risks despite the business setting. Additionally, there are times, perhaps many instances, when the business owner must forego salary and profits to solve particular business problems. In the case study, Lennon says that being an entrepreneur requires courageous risk taking, withstanding severe setbacks and sacrifices (”Unit 1 Case Study: Tom Lennon“). Nevertheless, despite the risks, the business owners enjoy the pride of being bosses. With the freedom, they can design a plan of activities and formulate policies that cannot be altered by any other party.

Question 3

It has been my desire to be a boss. As such, to make it a reality, I would go for entrepreneurship rather than employment. As a career path for my father, I have learnt the basic tenets of reducing a risk. It has created an intrinsic motivation that being an entrepreneur will not only achieve my dream job but also bring contentment as well. I prefer being an entrepreneur to create employment for other people, promote the economic environment of business in the United States, work on a free schedule, and control my company’s resources.

Journal: The evolution of American business, its trends and the implications for the future

Agriculture has been the primary source of income for many nations since the 20th century. In the 21st century, however, the arable lands, in many countries dropped drastically thus prompting workers to relocate in the search for farms. All the same, the decline did not terminate farming. Rather it marked the beginning of a manufacturing and a production era, whereby farm workers in America became producers (Hirschman, Charles and Elizabeth Mogford 898). Those without private lands found employments in the manufacturing sectors hence the attempt to harmonise the economy. Technology, an evolution of the 21st additionally as well led to a higher productivity within the industry, whereby production companies manufactured more with fewer employees. Such a trend resulted in the reduction of employment. Additionally, like the case of farm decline, the collapse of jobs in the production sector resulted in a rise of a new employment within the service industry. It has furthermore created new jobs in the American economy since then. For a fact, the service sector furthermore pays works better than the manufacturers. According to proponents, the service sector will continue to grow but may bring along detrimental consequences such as languishing the economy. The US, in many studies, is seen exiting the service industry to what is now categorised as a transformative information-based revolution. It uses high-tech approaches to improve the American economy through service and manufacturing (Hirschman, Charles and Elizabeth Mogford 902). Even so, the anticipation is that such a trend will significantly terminate employment within the sectors and lead to the transition of workers to other specialised industries. Nevertheless, what if, the workers do not meet the minimum requirements of the new jobs? The implications are that there will be evidence of poverty within the American societies in the near future.

Unit 2: Business Ownership

In the U.S, small businesses are the primary drivers of the economy. They create about 75 percent employment for the American workers. According to SBA research, small businesses, particularly sole proprietorships, give about 46 percent of the private nonfarm, total GDP in the United States (Speakman, John, and Annoula Rysova 51). Additionally, according to reports released by the U.S Census Bureau, small firms with less than 500 employees, represent 48.4 percent of the overall private sector payroll while those with staffs close to 100 take a 34.3 percent. By 2011, however, the ownerships with 20 or lesser workers assume 17 percent private pay hence the dependability of small business ownership in the U.S economy.

Case study 2: Pillow Pets

Discussion 1

Pillow Pets is a small business that plays a significant role in the U.S economy. With its multimillion of net revenue it has employed thousands of American workers hence taking a pie in the overall 75 percent (”Pillow Pets“). As an evident, therefore, the importance of small businesses is that they generate over 50 per cent annual GDP in the U.S economy, whereby 80 percent of job seekers find their first employment.

Discussion 2

In small business start-up, financing is the fundamental challenge that every entrepreneur encounter. Nevertheless, for Telfer, the founder of CJ production, financing her start-up was not a hard nut to crack. She and her husband financed CJ production by charging 50,000 dollars from their credits to start the project (”Pillow Pets“).

Discussion 3

However, during startups persuading a bank or a venture capital to finance a start-up may be a goose chase. It is difficult since they request for large stakes of the business in exchange for financing. Consequently, if the stake is hefty, you may lose the business ownership as an entrepreneur. The venture or bank is interested in large profits on small investments. They can hence, sell your business to recover their profits.

Discussion 4

According to the video, an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur differ in risk taking, dependency in the financing of the company (”Pillow Pets“). As such, while an entrepreneur is independent, an intrapreneur, neither bear the risks nor raise capital during the startups. However, he operates within the business to implement creative skills.

Discussion 5

According to the clip, Jenifer’s son was the reason she generated the idea. Clint Telfer says that if you enjoy what you do, you can be productive than the people around you (”Pillow Pets“). As her first key to business success, Jennifer launched what is nowadays successfully known as CJ production whose products include, but not limited to pillow pets (”Pillow Pets“).

Discussion 6

I have ever had an idea, but until date, I have never implemented it. Foremost, the underlying risks of starting a networking taxi company were high. As I could not raise capital to purchase the sedans, a venture requested 70 percent stake. A GPRS firm also charged a huge amount on each commercial installation. The challenges are persisting hence my choice to venture in real estate.

Journal 2: the popularity of sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is an easy business to start. In fact, the entrepreneur becomes the overall decision maker. The owners additionally enjoy all the business’ profits alone. They take the pride of ownership to manipulate the employees in a manner that brings more benefits as well (Permwanichagun, Pattarawadee et al. 5-9).

Even so, growing farms neglect sole proprietorship. It has an unlimited liability alongside limited working capital. It is also time-consuming, a problem that brings along management difficulties. According to growing firms, a sole proprietorship may expend time and resources, yet yield small profits.

Unit 3: Human Resources

Management theories and philosophies focus on the managers’ perception that affects employees’ behaviours and motivation. By employing their approaches, therefore, a manager can influence his team to be more productive. This unit utilises Apple tree as its case study to comprehend the theories of employee motivation.

Case Study: Apple Tree

Discussion 1

According to Fredric Taylor, scientific management teaches workers on the efficient method of performing a task alongside giving them the authority to make decisions. The theory also determines employees’ needs and finds the most effective means of fulfilling them. However, it has had an impact on productivity in that it view workers as robots rather than human beings. As such, this philosophy tends to reduce the effectiveness of employees by exploiting their performance potential.

Discussion 2

The basic premise of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is that employees are motivated by their desire to fulfil their unmet needs. The needs are arranged in a hierarchical manner from psychological to self-actualization needs as shown in the figure below.

Discussion 3

Theory Z according to William Ouchi, focuses on increasing the loyalty of employees. It stresses on the wellbeing of the workers during and out of a job (Bartlett, Christopher A., and Sumantra Ghoshal 55). As a result, the theory by William tends to maintain a high productivity and improve a stable employment through satisfaction and worker morale.

Discussion 4

Apple tree suffered a high rate of turnover. The founder, John Ratliff, thus, decided to motivate employees as he thought that it is the best approach to increase productivity. As the first step, John changed the company’s principles to worker friendly ideologies (”Apple Tree“). He also rearranged work schedules in favour of all employees. As a consequence of the productivity, his business won the Fortune 500 comp.

Journal: Maslow and Herzberg’s theories

Understanding of employee motivation assumes the theory of Abraham Maslow. His contributing philosophy states that people are motivated by their personal desires to meet specific needs. According to Maslow, the needs assume a hierarchical arrangement from the most essential wants to the less important ones. In business, hence employees can be motivated by managers who facilitate the fulfilment of unmet employee needs (Zalenski, Robert J., and Richard Raspa 1129).

Herzberg, on the other hand, examined the job aspects that influence the employee motivation. He investigated the conditions that would make workers highly productive. According to his study, Herzberg realised that motivation factors were highly dependent on the employee’s contentment, what he termed as ”The Hygiene factors”. Philosophically, the theory suggested that business managers must adequately maintain ”hygiene factors” to uphold employees’ motivation. Nonetheless, the connection between Herzberg’s and Maslow’s philosophies is that the hygiene factors help in achieving satisfying all the needs in the Maslow’s hierarchy.

Unit 4: Developing and Implementing Marketing Programs

Case study: energizer

Discussion 1

Energizer has a highly effective marketing strategy that promotes a global sale of its products. According to the video, it utilises the Ps of marketing strategy, which includes product, price, promotion and place. The product, nevertheless, is not limited to its products only. It includes service that Energizer offers as well. Examples of marketed products include audio electronics, cable wires, and capacitors among others. Price, on the other hand, is the amount a customer expects to pay for the product. As such, if appropriately priced, it impacts positively to marketing. Promotion encompasses all techniques employed to market the product, for instance, the Energizer is worldly known for its bunny through commercials. Finally, place refers to the distribution channels. Energizer has 147 distributors globally.

Discussion 2

Maintaining an existing customer is twice as important as getting a new one, a goal that Energizer achieve through the market mix. It fits in the market mix through the 4Ps. The marketing strategies also invoke the overall purchasing decision of the users. Evidently, suitable distributions and marketing strategies are thus important since they keep the users aware of the product growth. The bunny is considered as their Icon because it travels for long distances without exhaustion, a metaphor, which symbolises the endurance of Energizer products.

Journal 4: How publicity differs from advertising

Publicity is a free dissemination of product information to the potential users. Advertising, conversely, is a paid service through which the products are revealed to the users. The advantages of publicity are that it is free across a variety of media platforms. As an advantage as well, publicity reach a large populace than advertisements (Kim, Jooyoung et al. 112). Likewise, using its believability, it wins lots of placements in the available Medias. Nevertheless, despite the significances, it carries some disadvantages as well. For instance, because there are no monetary compensations, there is no assurance that the media will disseminate all the products information (Kim, Jooyoung et al. 114). It may disregard some information or even modify the given information on their will. Timely communication is also an issue. The media may give your product the last priority.

Case Study 5: Managing Financial Resources

Discussion 1

The Federal Reserve ensures that all banks operate at a particular level of liquidity (Goldstein, Itay 8). They can hence use their power to stimulate the economy by increasing the bank reserve requirement to slow down the growth of the economy. As a result, the interest rates would rise leading to less demand for goods and services. It can also decrease the banks’ reserve requirement to give more money to the economy (Goldstein, Itay 36). As a consequence interest rates will fall and consumption will increase hence stimulating the economy.

Discussion 2

The housing bubble is a sudden hike in housing prices as a result of high demand and exuberance. It often happens due to huge carrying costs for owning a house. During the great depression, it was a major trigger of the U.S stock market whereby subprime mortgages played a part (”The Housing Bubble“). They contributed by delinquencies and the devaluation of housing securities.

Journal 5

Advantages of issuing stock as a source of long-term financing:

The stockholders become part of the firm. As a result, funds will be available for long-term investments, and there will exist few debts

The sale of issuing stock influences the balance sheet positively. There will be sustainable capital to generate revenue hence improving the balance sheet. The firm will also have fewer debts.

No legal obligation to pay dividends. As a result, the company reinvests the stockholder’s dividends to generate more revenues

Dividends are not tax deductible. They are paid after business taxation.

Disadvantages

Stockholders pressure the elected management to implement short-term planning rather than strategic planning.

Delayed payment of dividend since they are issued after taxation.

The management set the corporate policies without involving the shareholders.

Works Cited

”Apple Tree“, director. Mcgraw-Hill Connect.

”Pillow Pets“, director. Pure Imagination.

”The Housing Bubble“, director. Mcgraw Hill.

”Unit 1 Case Study: Tom Lennon“. Novaonline.Nvcc.Edu, 2017, http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/Ala/bus100/unit1-casestudy/story_html5.html.

Bartlett, Christopher A., and Sumantra Ghoshal. ”Organizing For Worldwide Effectiveness: The Transnational Solution“. California Management Review, vol 31, no. 1, 1988, pp. 54-74. SAGE Publications, doi:10.2307/41166538.

Goldstein, Itay. ”Should Banks’ Stress Test Results Be Disclosed? An Analysis Of The Costs And Benefits“. Foundations And Trends® In Finance, vol 8, no. 1, 2014, pp. 1-54. Now Publishers, doi:10.1561/0500000038.

Hirschman, Charles and Elizabeth Mogford. ”Immigration And The American Industrial Revolution From 1880 To 1920“. Social Science Research, vol 38, no. 4, 2009, pp. 897-920. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.04.001.

Kim, Jooyoung et al. ”Integrating Advertising And Publicity“. Journal Of Advertising, vol 39, no. 1, 2010, pp. 97-114. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.2753/joa0091-3367390107.

Murphy, Patrick J. et al. ”A Conceptual History Of Entrepreneurial Thought“. Journal Of Management History, vol 12, no. 1, 2006, pp. 12-35. Emerald, doi:10.1108/13552520610638256.

Permwanichagun, Pattarawadee et al. ”The Situations Of Sole Proprietorship, E-Commerce Entrepreneurs And Trends In Their E-Commerce: A Case Study In Thailand“. Asian Social Science, vol 10, no. 21, 2014, p. 21. Canadian Center Of Science And Education, doi:10.5539/ass.v10n21p80.

Speakman, John, and Annoula Rysova. ”The Small Entrepreneur In Fragile And Conflict-Affected Situations“. 2015, World Bank, doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0018-4.

Wagener, Stephanie et al. ”Businessman Or Host? Individual Differences Between Entrepreneurs And Small Business Owners In The Hospitality Industry“. The Service Industries Journal, vol 30, no. 9, 2010, pp. 1513-1527. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/02642060802624324.

Zalenski, Robert J., and Richard Raspa. ”Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs: A Framework For Achieving Human Potential In Hospice“. Journal Of Palliative Medicine, vol 9, no. 5, 2006, pp. 1120-1127. Mary Ann Liebert Inc, doi:10.1089/jpm.2006.9.1120.