Features of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a great aspect of the economy. It is associated with the creation of economic opportunities for the society. Entrepreneurship leads to the creation of businesses which create employment and are a great source of wealth to the state and the society. Entrepreneurs survive on innovations which are based on high levels of creativity to develop new ways of economic development through the assessment of gaps that exists within the economy. They focus on opportunities and utilize them to create business ideas. Entrepreneurship is very important to the economy. It is considered as a factor of production whose rewards is profit. There is a great argument as to the main reason that people become entrepreneurs. In most cases, the need for profit, financial independence, and economic development from the basis of why people become entrepreneurs. It is usually considered as an aspect to be cultivated and developed because of its consideration as a great asset to the development of the economy. They lead to the development of innovations that are capable of improving people’s living standards. One major aspect of entrepreneurship is creativity. This is a very important and fundamental element which is considered as entrepreneurship’s source of power. Together with intelligence, creativity can lead to great success for business when properly harnessed. Creativity leads to the development of new and unique ideas. At the same time, creativity helps in enhancing problem solving. The smooth running of a business is very important and is a predictor of success.  This paper will explore the aspect of ingenuity as an element of entrepreneurship and how it is critical to the success of any business.

Kirkham, Mosey &Binks, (2009) explores the aspect of ingenuity and how important it is for entrepreneurship. Ingenuity is a term used to describe the aspect of creativity, originality, imagination, resourcefulness, inventiveness, and many other important terms that are critical for a person as an entrepreneur. Ingenuity is the engine of entrepreneurship because it is associated with the creative process and the development of ideas. The book focuses on ingenuity regarding how it is fundamental to business.  The book breaks down ingenuity into defining, discovery and determination. There is the definition of the problem, and at the same time the recognition of possible opportunities surrounding the problem. This includes aspects of how troubles manifest themselves, what factors are affected by the problem and the consequences the problems have. It also explores the mechanics of the troubles regarding how it works, to determine whether it is simple or complex and this establishes its cause (Kirkham, Mosey, & Binks, 2011).

There is the discovery of potential outcomes about the problem. Discovery is associated with the exploration of the possibilities. It involves aspects such as the construction of a strategy to be used for tackling the problem. Development of a short but concise statement of how the problem would be addressed. Discovery also explores different analogies to be used for a better understanding of the problem. The last factor is determination and involves the evaluation of possible solutions to categorize them. There is also the construction of possibilities that are realistic based on the use of quality ideas. The possibilities have to be compared with one another to establish the best possible solution. It also involves the presentation of the chosen solution as a proposal to be used (Kirkham, Mosey, & Binks, 2011).

Creativity and ideation involve the generation n of new and unique ideas expected to have a positive influence on a business. They propose better ways of operating increasing efficiency and innovation. Creativity and ideation also lead to the development of better insights on problems. This means that an entrepreneur gets a better understanding of the problems affecting his or her project. Creativity and ideation provide ideas and ways to tackle such problems and be able to identify possible opportunities that may come as a result of the interactions with the problems. Creation and ideation involve imagination. Imagination is the main source of ideas. Having the capacity to imagine provides an opportunity for the creation of great ideas. Creativity also allows a person to develop great problem-solving skills. Problem-solving involves the ability to understand problems regarding how they work their implications and being able to find solutions. Another important aspect of creation and ideation is the development of radical ways of innovative thinking (Honig, Lampel, & Drori, 2014).

Entrepreneurship is all about the development of innovations. However, radical, innovative thinking allows an individual to think completely outside the box and leads to the development of unique ideas that cause revolutionary changes to industries. Some of the greatest development, especially in the field of information technology, has even because of radical, innovative thinking. Ideas also have to have a business case meaning that they ought to be well evaluated to establish that they are worth being enforced and developed into business projects. Not all ideas are great, and it is for this reason that there is always a great need for the evaluation of ideas. Motivation is very important to ensure that the spirit of development and creating new ideas is kept high (Honig, Lampel, & Drori, 2014).

Motivation is very important for entrepreneurship. It is associated with the need to attain higher levels of success. It is linked to the drive and the force that affects and influences, intensity, the direction, and persistence of come risks. However, persistence is very important. It involves trying and failing until success arrives.   In entrepreneurship, there are a lot of uncertainties. These uncertainties can sometimes be motivation, therefore, greatly influences effort towards the achievement of goals and objectives of a particular venture. However, for motivation to be valid and an entrepreneur has to be persuaded about the ideas of his or her venture. Persuasions offer the desire and conviction that a particular venture needs to be pursued. Persuasion needs to at such a high level that an entrepreneur can convince others of his or her vision. The ability to bring in other people into a venture and have a shared vision is important. A vision for a particular venture offers an entrepreneur and his or her team, a shared plan or guidelines that would offer them a means towards achieving their goals and objectives. Vision offers an entrepreneur the energy to move forward and achieve goal and objectives. It allows the entrepreneur and his or her team have a shared path towards the achievement of goals and objectives. It leads to the development of a culture that allows for the sharing of insight and individual ideas about a particular endeavor. With vision, an entrepreneur and his or her team can establish the norms of their association, which include the making clear of expectations as well as each of the people’s duties. Vision is important because it defines what the particular business venture is all about and how it will achieve its goals and objectives (Honig, Lampel, & Drori, 2014).

Another important aspect that is an important characteristic of entrepreneurs is alertness. Alertness is characterized by being always aware of trends and changes in the industry. Alertness allows an entrepreneur to have the ability to recognize lack of balance in the market. Competitive imperfections cause the balance within the market to change. This is important because it exposes various opportunities and gaps that entrepreneurs could exploit. Alertness allows them always to be aware of the characteristic of the market and makes the better placed to exploit any loopholes. Competitive imperfections are associated with the industry having limited knowledge and understanding about various aspects of the market such as new technology, changes in demand and other factors. Having such aspects of the industry means that there are opportunities where one could exploit the lack of knowledge and understanding and derive profit. Alertness in this sense is the ability of an individual to be able to recognize when such imperfections occur and use them as an opportunity for their economic benefits. Alertness is also related to opportunism. Opportunism is the ability to identify and acknowledge the stance of opportunities. The ability to identify gaps is very important because these gaps become business opportunities.  Being alert and having the ability to recognize opportunities is very important for entrepreneurs. Alertness and opportunism do not mean that entrepreneurs spend most of their time searching for gaps. However, they can know when they occur as they carry out their day to day activities. These gaps and opportunities come to them as a surprise because they have not been exploited by any other person (Thaler, 2013).

Another important characteristic of entrepreneurship is pro-activeness. Being proactive means being active before situations occur. It also means being ahead of the curve. The world of today is characterized by rapidly changing factors. Technology and other business innovations are changing fast. Entrepreneurs, therefore, need to be proactive by always planning. It involves controlling situations before they occur. It is different from being reactive, which is characterized by being responsive once a situation has already occurred. Pro-activeness involves analyzing the business, and its future and then develop plans and strategies that would ensure its success. One aspect of pro-activeness in entrepreneurship is the development of a competitive advantage that is sustainable. In most cases, businesses fail by focusing on a single competitive advantage throughout their life cycle. A good example is in the technology business. Several Smartphone companies have come and have gone. Blackberry and Nokia phones were technologies that changed the world. They held the biggest market share for some time thanks to their competitive advantage associated with innovative technologies. However, they both relied on a single aspect of technology. They both stuck to their operating system despite great advancement in technologies. New and more advanced operating systems such as Android by Google and Ios by Apple INC drove both companies out of business. Pro-activeness in entrepreneurship is associated with acknowledging that competitive advantage is not always an advantage and business needs to look further from a single advantage. Pro-activeness gears an entrepreneur towards the establishment of a plan which warrants for actions that are intentional. They, therefore, can create their fate, environment, and futures. They create their paths and do not wait for decisions from other people to make their own (Honig, Lampel, & Drori, 2014).

Tenacity is also a very important characteristic of entrepreneurs. Tenacity is an aspect that is associated with persistence. It I associated with the standing firm with ideas and values that describe the particular venture an entrepreneur is engaged in. It is linked being strong and never giving up. With entrepreneurship come a lot of uncertainties. It is for this reason that they try many things before they succeed. Tenacity allows them to be strong and go through the hardship of failure without accepting defeat. Another feature is the willingness to adapt. Business is always changing, and as explained above, a competitive advantage needs to be highly sustainability. Such high level of sustainable can only be possible if the entrepreneur behind it is willing to accept change and adapt. Willingness to adapt also makes it easy for them to be proactive (D’Angelo, 2016).

It prepares them for the future and allows them to align their goals and objectives to changes in the industry. Willingness to adapt ensures business survival because it offers the entrepreneur the opportunity to change. The other factor is associated with execution. Execution involves the realization of the goals and objectives of a particular business venture. One feature of execution is the establishment of strategic entrepreneurship. The main goal of strategic entrepreneurship is generating profit. Profitability needs to sustainable meaning that it needs to be constant. Another feature of execution is the validation of the market which involves the assessment of the various characteristics of the market and using the information to establish goods and services that meet the needs of the different aspects of the market. Validation of the market is characterized by carrying out interviews on the market to find out whether a particular product or service will be successful, it is associated with getting the point of view of the market. Execution is also followed by the establishment of an effective business model. A model creates scenarios where various variables can be tested (Honig, Lampel, & Drori, 2014).

Resource management is also a great feature of execution. Effective management of resources leads to saving a lot of many costs. Resource management is associated with the deployment of various resources when they are needed. It results in the improvement of efficiency and the increased productivity within an organization. The other important feature of execution is the assessment and management of risk.  Risk assessment and management is very important because it results in the application of strategy and resources to mitigate them and ensure that they do not cause damage to the operation and reputation of a business venture (Thaler, 2013).

The above are features of ingenuity. Ingenuity is a very important feature of entrepreneurship. It is a feature which when explored and utilized effectively leads to great success. Entrepreneurship is considered very important because it is associated with people who are associated with the development of innovations that change the world by improving people’s living standard. They are creators of business and therefore, very important for the economy. Ingenuity in entrepreneurship is also associated with the ability to solve problems effectively. How an individual handles problems is very important because it can lead to positive or negative results. Ingenuity explores creativities in decision making which results in effective problem-solving (Kirkham, Mosey, & Binks, 2011).