ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Meaning and definition, Features, Importance, challenges and Difference between Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship

 INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION:

• The entrepreneur initiates, organizes, manages and controls the affairs of a business unit. He is in the centre of industrial production system.

• He is the owner of the business unit and works with the profit motive.

• The maximization of profit depends on many factors, such as the capital output, quality of the product, demand of the product and the internal management.

• Entrepreneur is a person who buys factor services at certain prices and sells them at uncertain prices in future.

• In the late 18th century, “Nicolous Bandeau called the agricultural cultivator an entrepreneur and credited him with the essential characteristics of risk-taking and innovation”

• Cole defines “entrepreneurship as an integrated sequence of actions taken by an individual or a group operating for individual business units in a world characterized by a large measure of uncertainty”

.SALIENT FEATURES OF ENTREPRENEURS:

The entrepreneurs’ motivation for creative activity lies in their intense urge for self-realization.

(i) High need for achievement.

(ii) Acquisitiveness.

(iii) Self-confidence and autonomous personality.

(iv) Non-dogmatic and non-conformist personality.

(v) Aggressiveness and risk-bearing capability.

(vi)  Rationality and pragmatism.

(vii) Creative and technical mind.

 (viii) Adaptability.

(ix) Managerial skill and leadership qualities.

(x) Administrative ability.

(xi) Sound decision-making ability.

(xii) High personal efficacy.

(xiii) High commitment to the task.

THE RELATION BETWEEN ENTREPRENEUR, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ENTERPRISE

IMPORTANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

1. Development of managerial capabilities: The biggest significance of entrepreneurship lies in the fact that it helps in identifying and developing managerial capabilities of entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur studies a problem, identifies its alternatives, compares the alternatives in terms of cost and benefits implications, and finally chooses the best alternative.

2. Creation of organizations: Entrepreneurship results into creation of organizations when entrepreneurs assemble and coordinate physical, human and financial resources and direct them towards achievement of objectives through managerial skills.

3. Improving standards of living: By creating productive organizations, entrepreneurship helps in making a wide variety of goods and services available to the society which results into higher standards of living for the people. Possession of luxury cars, computers, mobile phones, rapid growth of shopping malls, etc. are pointers to the rising living standards of people, and all this is due to the efforts of entrepreneurs.

4. Means of economic development: Entrepreneurship involves creation and use of innovative ideas, maximization of output from given resources, development of managerial skills, etc., and all these factors are so essential for the economic development of a country.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Increased Per capita Income: In the process of entrepreneurship new products and services are introduced which helps in the development of new market and economic growth.

2. Wealth creation and Distribution: Entrepreneurship creates value and wealth in the business and society. The change is visible in the high production and economic growth. This is creased output and helps in the distribution of wealth in the various members of society.

3. Production evolution Process: Production evolution process is a process where innovation develops and an entrepreneur commercializes new products.

4. Capital formation: Entrepreneurship promotes capital formation by mobilizing the saving of the general public. The development process mainly depends upon the capital formation. The higher the rate of capital formation the faster is the pace of economic growth.

5. Employment: Entrepreneurship provides immediate large-scale employment. Thus it helps to reduce the unemployment problem in the country. Entrepreneurship encourages effective recourse mobilization of capital and skill which might otherwise remain unutilized.

6. Promotes export: Entrepreneurship also induces backward and forward linkages which stimulate the process of economic development in the country. It also promotes country’s export trade i.e. an important ingredient to economic development.

PROBLEMS IN ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH:

1). Financial Problems: Getting your business funded is one of the main issues that all business faces and has to tackle in order to survive. While you might have initial money saved up to start a business, they don’t survive for long and you cannot just rely on the next sales check to arrive so you can pay the bills and take care of the next step in business.

2) Hiring workforces and team Building: We all have faced interviews at one or other point of our lives and for many; it has been one of the most stressful points in their lives. While we all have been in the above situation one point or the other, there are very few of us who have conducted interviews and it is equally hard if not more as the majority you have not done it before and thus have no idea how to go about it.

3) Decision Making issues due to lack of Practical Knowledge: New entrepreneurs have a harder time making decisions as they often equate even small decisions with how it will impact the company and its budget. Self-doubt also makes them question the decisions they have made already made and if it was the right one. It’s is only with time that they learn to take hundreds of decisions a day, big and small, without questioning themselves and often facing decision fatigue.

4) Time management: When you are starting out with a new business time management might be one of the biggest problems faced by entrepreneurs. As a newcomer, an entrepreneur has to take up many roles and don as many hats as he can. He or she has to accomplish a lot in a limited amount of time and thus is always running from pillar to post to take care of things. While the limited time and funds are something that no one can control, what you can do is have a strict schedule that allocates your time and money to each task.

5) Balancing Perfection & Progress: The above is a great way to break the chains of getting bogged down in the never ending pursuit of perfection and detailed minutiae. Do pay attention to the details and polish. It can make a difference. Yet, you aren’t getting anywhere unless you actually take action. As Seth God in puts it, you need to recognize the difference between almost barely good enough, and perfect enough.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTRAPRENEURSHIP VS ENTREPRENEURSHIP