What is the first step in the entrepreneurial process?

Entrepreneurial Process

Entrepreneurial Process Paper

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Entrepreneurial Process Paper

When starting a new business it is important to take the steps needed to ensure it will be an ultimate success. The entrepreneur recognizes opportunities when they come across their path. Once the entrepreneur identifies the opportunity they will have to address the challenges that will get in their way. This takes planning and in depth knowledge of the new venture. The process for overcoming these challenges requires four steps. The steps are to identify and evaluate the opportunity, develop a business plan, identify needed resources, and manage the resulting business.

The first step is to identify and evaluate the opportunity. The opportunity is the venture in which a business can be created. For example if a town is rapidly growing but has not grocery store, this would be an opportunity for an entrepreneur to be successful. Once the opportunity is identified the entrepreneur will begin to evaluate the opportunity (Zacharakis, 2013). In order to identify any barriers to ensuring this particular venture is a success it is important to evaluate the potential venture from every possible angle. For one there could have been past grocery stores in the town that have failed or the community would require specific foods that pertain to their culture. These foods could be expensive to purchase requiring the right food suppliers to ensure the grocery store will be profitable.

The second step is to develop a business plan is the identified challenges can be overcome and the venture will be profitable. The business plan will consist of the business goals, explanation on how these goals will be reached, and outline the resume of key stakeholders. It will also include a balance sheet, an income statement and a cash flow analysis (SBA, 2014). The third element of the entrepreneurial process is identifying the available resources. Even if an entrepreneur wants to start a new venture they must have the necessary resources for this opportunity to become a reality. Resources include the money needed to operate the business as well as the right people to run the business. Lastly the resulting business will need to be properly managed to ensure is continuing success.

When ranking each element in the entrepreneurial process the most important element is the identifying and evaluating the opportunity especially from the individual perspective. All types of opportunities will come across the path of the entrepreneur but the successful entrepreneur will be able to properly evaluate these opportunities in order to determine which ones will ultimately be a success and which ones would not be profitable no matter how innovative or necessary they may be in society. Creating the business plan would be ranked second from both the individual and corporate perspectives because once the opportunity is identified a solid plan must be put into place in order to make the opportunity a reality.

A business plan is a guide to establishing the business that is the result of the opportunity (SBA, 2014). Without this guide the business venture cannot get the backers they need to finance the business and the management do not have the steps needed to ensure the opportunity can be established. The business plan establishes the objectives of the opportunity and shares the strategy that will be applied in order to ensure the opportunity becomes a successful venture. Without the business plan there is not structure or plan to proceed. The business plan clarifies the direction of the new business making it an essential element of the entrepreneurial process.

The next element in the ranking is identifying the resources needed to ensure the business can be a success. For example if the opportunity is a grocery store the resources that must be identified are the money to establish a retail location, grocery items to stock the store, ample employees to manage and run the grocery stores, vendors, etc. without the right resources the opportunity can never come to fruition. Creating a business plan will provide the management with a guide but identifying the resources will ensure the goals of the business plan can be met.

Lastly is managing the business. This element would be most important from a corporate perspective because from the moment the opportunity is identified someone is responsible for managing the process. While the business should be properly managed from the moment the opportunity is identified once the business plan is created and the business is established it needs to be properly managed. Even though each element of the entrepreneurial process is essential to the success of any venture, properly managing the whole process would be especially important.

The entrepreneurship process has influenced the delivery of health care services and products because entrepreneurs recognize the opportunity and take the steps needed to ensure this opportunity is realized. For example an entrepreneur will recognize the importance of new technology that will improve the patient’s outcome and then will take the steps to ensure this new technology becomes available to medical personnel. Without someone willing to take the risk to ensure a business opportunity succeed there would not be new health care services and products made available to the healthcare industry.

Entrepreneurs recognize new and innovative ways to deliver healthcare and to ensure patients will have better health outcomes. The entrepreneurship process provides direction in taking an opportunity and turning it into a successful business venture. Each element of the process guides how the business venture will be fulfilled including how healthcare will be delivered to the patient. Often, consumers are the best source of ideas for a new venture (Hisrich et al, 2005). This includes recognizing the healthcare needs of patients and providing products and services to meet these needs.

The entrepreneurship process provides steps for entrepreneurs to follow in their efforts to take advantage of new opportunities. Entrepreneurs are people who launch and grow companies in an effort to be profitable but in these efforts develop new and innovative ways to approach the delivery of healthcare services and products. They are the ones that recognize the opportunity and take the risk to turn the opportunity into a successful venture. Without entrepreneurs there would be no one to take the risk in establishing new healthcare service and products that improve the health outcome of patients.

References

Hisrich, R., Peters, M, Shepherd, M. (2005). Entrepreneurship 6 ed. New York: McGraw-Hill

Irwin

Small Business Association. (2014). What is a business plan and why do I need one? Retrieved

November 8, 2014 from http://www.sba.gov/content/what-business-plan-and-why-do-i-need

Zacharakis, A. (2012). High Impact Entrepreneurship: Following the Entrepreneurial Process.

Retrieved November 8, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/babson/2012/05/15/high-

impact-entrepreneurship-following-the-entrepreneurial-process/