The Role of Entrepreneurs in the Economy

Organisations’ success depends on the skills of the entrepreneur and the effort the owner puts in ensuring that the organisation is a success. Entrepreneurs, as opposed to the managers, are risk takers, they take a risk when investing in opportunities whose returns are uncertain. The investors, in this case, are optimistic that their investment will be worthwhile and they will get better returns on their investments (Chan 2015, p161). Managers on their part are concerned with evading the risks which may lead to business failure. An entrepreneur is concerned with identifying future opportunity and organising for the resources necessary to ensure that these opportunities are not lost to competitors. The entrepreneur, in this case, has to be innovative to come up with valuable ideas on how to improve his/her business performance. The entrepreneur also must be motivated and have passion towards his/her business venture. From the example of William, he had the passion for farming from a tender age which enabled him to have skills necessary in running his business (Dees 2017, p 34). The motivation he had, in this case, was to become financially stable which motivated him to purchase the farm from his father so as he can engage in business. The proactiveness nature of the entrepreneurs enables them to take necessary action when the need arises. The managers on their part will require authorisation from the directors on the way forward, and this may hinder timely decision making on the part of the manager. The entrepreneur is rewarded through profits accrued from the venture, the managers, on the other hand, depends on the salary for the tasks undertaken. Due to this, the manager may fail to engage in risky investments which are beneficial to the company to the expense of his/her salary. These managers, therefore, will seek means through which they can maximise their income from the venture. Successful entrepreneurs have excellent interpersonal skills, when Williams partner withdrew the support, for instance, this characteristic helped the business survive since William had already created a connection within the marketplace for potatoes.

The entrepreneur has to be open-minded, this skill helps the entrepreneur to be able to alter his/her mindset when the operating environment becomes unfavourable. Williams for instance, had in a given situation become bankrupt when the partner left the business. The set back made it hard to run the farm operation due to lack of financial resource. The setback almost made him think of suicide due to an uncertainty of the future of his business. However, Williams shifts and becomes a supplier of potatoes to the market which enables his business to survive. Being open minded also help the investor to be able to venture into new businesses and also expand their businesses. The open-mindedness also enables the investor to quickly identify opportunities in the marketplace and plan effectively on the effective approaches of exploiting those opportunities (Mukherjee 2016, p 25). The entrepreneur also needs to be disciplined in the manner they spend their income from the business. Through being disciplined the entrepreneur will not spend his income irresponsibly, but they will be reinvesting into the business to promote its growth and expansion.

 The entrepreneur needs to be disciplined in his/her decision making; this will enable them to focus on growth and expansion of their facilities rather than engaging in irresponsible handling of the business income.  Williams on understanding this ensures that during the startup stages the organisation’s returns were being reinvested back into the organisation to foster its growth and expansion. The entrepreneur ought to be competitive, under this he/she must engage in practices which enables his/her organisation to be able to compete in the marketplace (Tasnim & Singh,2016 p.6). Williams seems to have failed in this aspect; his supplies were expensive than other suppliers in the market which made clients avoid him and instead choose cheaper suppliers.  The entrepreneurs are goal oriented, all their activities are directed towards achieving certain goals and objectives. These goals act as their performance measurement index, on which they measure their performance. When these goals are met, the entrepreneur can therefore retire. These goals might include, financial stability, self-actualisation, acquisition of a given social status among others.

Motivations for entrepreneurs.

Various motivation driver can be said to influence the entrepreneur into starting their own business. These drivers may include; need to be financially independent-under this entrepreneur engages in business to achieve financial stability. Many entrepreneurs engage in businesses to attain financial stability. The hunger for money makes the entrepreneur take the risk of investing their resources with the hope of acquiring better returns on their invested resources. Williams for instance engaged in business to attain financial stability and get out of the poverty he had experienced during his young age.

 People engage in entrepreneurship as an intellectual challenge, under this approach individuals are out to teat their entrepreneurial skills. They take this as a challenge to test their capabilities and to proof themselves to others. The entrepreneurs in this case desire to be their bosses which makes then venture into business and control their time as well as their finances. Entrepreneurs who venture into business as personal challenge seek mainly to achieve self-actualisation and achieve some social status from the achievement.

Another driver of engaging in entrepreneurship is to utilise the gained experience. Under this, an investor takes the opportunity in the marketplace by using their previous experience for economic purposes (Mahadalle & Kaplan 2017 p 243). Through this approach, an individual may use their experience in running a certain business to start and run a similar business or an advanced business within the same line. The entrepreneur, in this case, decides to venture into this business to ensure that they make good use of the skills they possess. William, for example, decided to venture in farm business since he had the experience from a tender age.

Lack of job satisfaction acts as a driver to make the unsatisfied employee think about approaches through which they can acquire this satisfaction. The satisfaction is gained by running their businesses. Unsatisfied employees leave their job in search for other satisfying ventures (Tasnim, Yahya & Zainuddin, 2014 p 27). When this satisfaction can be found in entrepreneurship then they engage in the practices. Starting their businesses enables them to have a sense of self-actualisation making them take pride in what they do. When running your own business, you’re the determinant of when to retire as opposed to when employed. Employees who don’t want to suffer in the future due to lack of income as a result of retirement tend to invest in preparation of the same. Due to this, there are many entrepreneurs investing for the future by creating their own businesses.

References

Chan, K. Y., Uy, M. A., Chernyshenko, O. S., Ho, M. H. R., & Sam, Y. L. (2015). Personality and entrepreneurial, professional and leadership motivations. Personality and individual differences, 77, 161-166.

Dees, J. G. (2017). The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship. In Case Studies in Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (pp. 34-42). Routledge.

Mahadalle, A., & Kaplan, B. (2017). Entrepreneurial characteristics and competencies as determinants of corporate performance: A study on small enterprises In Mogadishu, Somalia. International Journal of Research-Granthaalayah, 5(5), 243-254.

Mukherjee, K. (2016). The psychology of the successful entrepreneur. International Journal of Advanced Engineering and Management, 1(1), 25-32.

Tasnim, R., & Singh, H. (2016). “ What, Exactly, is Entrepreneurial Commitment?”: Modeling the Commitment of Successful Entrepreneurs. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 21(3), 6.

Tasnim, R., Yahya, S., & Zainuddin, M. N. (2014). ” I’m Loving It!” What Makes the Successful Entrepreneur Affectively Committed to Entrepreneurial Performance? Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 19(2), 27.