The Key Themes in Learning in Enterprise Management

According to Delmar (2008), an entrepreneur is an individual who is ready to take risks in business and later be rewarded with profit. He further states that an entrepreneur is associated with developing and administering ventures at high risk level and he/she is charged with the responsibility of allocating resources in uncertain situations. Consequently, an entrepreneur has the responsibility of engaging in tasks that introduce healthy competition in the labor market while at the same time taking high risks as mentioned to guarantee high yield in terms of outcomes (Manto et.al 2009). As he/she engages in these tasks, an entrepreneur has the ability to check out for available opportunities in the market and allocate the scarce resources for each opportunities.  This paper provides the key themes in learning enterprise and entrepreneurial management by providing a mind-map that summarizes the key themes in learning and how they are related to enterprise and entrepreneurial management.

Mind Map

Analysis of the mind map

Venture; the entrepreneur in his capacity does a research both on the local and the international market. The research is supposed to help in identification of the business opportunities in the market. The business opportunities to venture in are discovered based on the available market gaps, the demand of certain goods or items in the market and the crisis caused by monopoly. The research is very important since it helps the entrepreneur supplying to market what is in excess and of course the most important avoid incurring loss (Rae2005). Research is meant to help entrepreneur venture in the best possible business opportunity, less risky, wide market and friendly to available resources

Resources; entrepreneur after assessing the available market checks out the resources available. An entrepreneur is charged with the responsibility of allocating resources to the venture settled for. The resource varies from capital, assets, executives and support staff. For this purpose, entrepreneur draws an action plan of how much capital will set the identified venture rolling and how many executives and support staff will be enough to achieve the business goal. Consequently, the need to train managers for smooth running of the enterprise becomes necessary at this stage. Entrepreneur at this stage is also supposed to establish what level of technology will be employed. In the event of a small or medium enterprise a local or improvised technology can be adopted since the installation of advanced technology at the start is always hitch (Marriot 2009). It is also important at this stage for the entrepreneur to make a comparison between the various opportunities researched and the resources available. From the comparison, entrepreneur chooses an opportunity that the resources available can accommodate.

Market; there is need for entrepreneurs to access their market. The market can be local or international. The choice of the market depends on the product one is dealing with n the consumers of the market. Assessment of the market determines the resources to pump in the venture. An international market for instance will require more resources as compared to a local market. An international market will require the exportation of the products.

Competition, after assessing the market entrepreneur checks out for the venture competitors. Competitors are other ventures with other risk takers who deal in the same product. Determining the market completion is very important because it helps the entrepreneur know whether the competition is healthy or unhealthy. Unhealthy completion can be too costly to an entrepreneur (Anderson 1993). Assessment of market competition also helps the entrepreneur brand his products different from those of competitors and in a unique way to attract customers. At this stage, an entrepreneur also determines in which way the challenges resulting from market completion will be dealt with. Market challenges ranges from reproduction of competitor’s products to advertisement challenges. In the event an entrepreneur does not deal with these challenges comprehensively, the risk of making loses arises.

Risk, is what distinguishes the investors and the non-investors. An investor who also happens to be an entrepreneur is willing to take the risk of investing resources to an investment with a caution and faith to succeed. The assessment of the level of risk involved in pumping resources in a venture is paramount. Entrepreneurs put in place measures that will address the negatives or risks after investment. It is a form of preparedness for eventualities. Eventualities in business cannot be avoided and as a result should be dealt with as they arise (Rae2005). A good entrepreneur is a risk taker

Outcome: This comprises of the profit and loss that accrues in a business. Before investing in a business an entrepreneur has monetary expenses of the business and an approximated profit to be obtained. Although the outcome does not always come to pass but it is an investment requirement to have limits on what is expected from an investment. The dream to have a profit is what keeps an investor going. It is not wise to overrule the possibilities of a loss. It carries a fifty percent probability and should not be over looked. An entrepreneur should always be prepared for such uncertainties and be ready to deal with when they arise. Some business opportunities are seasonal, another reason for market research, and only makes profit in certain seasons on other occasions the business risks closure

In conclusion, entrepreneurship is a full time responsibility that comes with taking risk, venturing in an enterprise with the goal of making profit. An entrepreneur is at the periphery and is charged with the responsibility of carrying out a market research to identify the market gaps. The research as discussed above help in identification of the demanded products, available market and the existing competition. The entrepreneur then determines what to venture in, how much resources will be pumped in the venture, which market to cover, how to deal with competition and what to expect as an outcome (Anderson 1993). The market covered determines whether government and the product determines how many managerial and support staff will be hired, the level of technology to be employed and the impact of government rules and regulations. Rules and regulations can be a favor or a hindrance to business success and should not be overruled. Despite of the challenges and the risk involved the entrepreneur looks forward to seeing the business output exceed the expenses and hence a profit.

Reference

Anderson, J. (1993) Mind Mapping: A Tool for Creative Thinking, Business Horizons, 36, 1, pp. 41-47.

Mento, A., Martinelli, P. and Jones, R. (1999) Mind Mapping in Executive Education: Applications and Outcomes, Journal of Management Development, 18, 4, pp. 390-407.

Rae, D. (2005) Entrepreneurial Learning: A Narrative Based Conceptual Model, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 12, 3, pp. 323-335.

Wilson, K.E and Mariotti, S. (2009) Unlocking Entrepreneurial Capabilities to Meet the Global Challenges of the 21st Century, World Economic Forum, Switzerland, April.