Entrepreneur Exam Flashcards
What is a small business?
- < 50 employees
- < $2,000,000 Gross sales (before tax)
- < $200,000 - $300, 000 net profits
- Owner participates actively in the operating of business
What is the path to entrepreneurship?
- Thinking of starting a business - WHY?
- Personal assessment: Do you have the brains, capability, knowledge and money to do this?
- Explore Marketing opportunities: Competitors? Market share?
- Rational and Systematic research and evidence
- Complete a Business Plan
What can contribute to success in small business? (6)
- Alertness to change
- Hire and hold competent employees
- Stay close to consumers
- Thoroughness with operating details
- Ability to obtain needed capital
- Effective handling of laws, rules and regulations
What are some small business failure? (8)
- Unrealistic expectations
- Poor financial management
- Lack appropriate marketing and promoting
- Poor leadership
- Obsolete product or service (Trend changes)
- Not able to keep up with technological and economical changes
- Your competitor is better than you
- Bankcrupty
4 Stages of Small business cycle
- Initial
- Growth & Expansion
- Maturity
- Decline
Initial stage of small business cycle:
- Perfect concepts of your enterprise
- Establish business in the location and manor intended
- Communicate your intentions to the extent needed to get under way
Growth & Expansion of small business cycle
- Progress measured in the form of professional achievement and financial assets
- Increase productivity
- Expand customer base (repeat customers)
Maturity & Decline of small business cycle
- Sales, growth & expansion peaked
- Reinvent business, regain customer base OR sell
- If not –> decline
- Decline stage may happen abruptly or over a long period of time, business can only expect to go down
All businesses go through the 4 stages of cycle except
Monopoly e.g. Utilities, police
3 Types of business ownership
- Sole proprietorship: 1 owner
- Partnership: More than 1 owners
- Corporation: Shareholders
Pros of Sole Proprietorship (5):
- Easy to set up
- Easy decision making
- All profits go to one owner
- Easy to sell or close down
- Low cost of licenses
Cons of Sole Proprietorship (3)
- Assume all risks
- Limited capital, difficult to get financing
- Limited creativity
Pros of Partnerships (3)
- Share liability and risks
- Financing becomes easier
- Increased creativity and skills
Cons of Partnerships (3)
- Conflict among owners
- Sharing of profits
- Difficult to split business in the future
Pros of Corporations (4)
- Personal assets not at risk
- Easier to attract investors
- Increased creativity and skills
- Easy to transfer ownership through shares
Cons of Corporations (4)
- Heavily regulated by government
- Difficult to make decisions
- Control and ownership structure may be too broad
- Expensive to set up
3 Ways to break into a market
- Offer a totally new product
- Offer an existing product to a different market
- Offer a similar product or service to those existing in the same market
How to develop a Strategic Competitive Advantage
The right industry, the right business, the right aspect of the business
What is marketing?
The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual goals.
What is market segmentation?
Dividing the market into smaller more manageable sections
What is Market Research?
Study of what buyers need and how to best satisfy those needs.
What are the 4 components of Market Research?
- Primary Research: New research conducted through surveys, focus group, observation and experimentation
- Secondary Research: Information that has already been collected from previous researches e.g. Statistics Canada
- Quantitative Research: Data, sales figures, profits, other statistics; based on numbers, objective
- Qualitative Research: Focus group, brainstorming, personal interviews, other discussions; based on words, subjective
Advantages of purchasing an existing business: (5)
- Less risk
- Less cost and time to set up
- Capitalization of business strength
- Less competition (buying the competitor out)
- Easy planning
Disadvantages of purchasing an existing business (5)
- Physical facilities (Repair and renovation?)
- Personnel (Immediately terminate existing staff and rehire; reset probation)
- Inventory
- Financial Condition
- Accounts receivable
What is franchising?
A system of distribution that one enterprise grant another to merchant a product or service
- Franchiser brings the proven product or service, accounting or business systems, marketing strategies, location selection
- Franchisee brings the desire, business skills and money; no decision making
Advantages of purchasing a franchise: (2)
- Proven market for the product or service
- Services offered by Franchiser: Selection of location, purchasing advantages, standardized methods of operations, training
Disadvantages of purchasing a franchise (3)
- Lack of independence
- Cost of Franchising (Royalty: 2-5% on gross profits every month)
- Saturation of the market
What is a good distribution channel?
Getting the product to customers at the right place at the right time, and in the right amount; cheapest and most direct way from producer to consumer
What are the 3 distribution strategies?
- Manufacturer to consumer
- Manufacturer to wholesaler to consumer
- Manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer
What are the 3 definitions of Entrepreneurship?
- Involved in what is generally described as “business” whether making, selling or trading in things
- Being the sole proprietor of his or her entreprise or in an entrepreneurial partnerships
- Established in the sense of satisfying his or her immediate material needs but remain ambitious to grow in influence or wealth
What are some of the characteristics of entrepreneurs? (5)
- Ability to deal with failure
- Independent and risk taker
- Strategic planning
4, Continuous goal setting - Innovative and adaptable to changes
What are the day to day activities of an entrepreneur?
- Planning: Define goals, establish strategies, develop plan to coordinate activities
- Leading: Motivate employees, direct activities of others, select best communication channels, resolve conflicts
- Organizing: Decide what tasks to be done, who to do them, how to do them, who reports to whom, where to do, etc
- Controlling: Monitor performance, compare it with goals, correct significant deviations; not micromanaging
What are the 5 skills of entrepreneur?
- Human Relations: Interpersonal skills, work in a team, communicating well
- Technical: Ability to perform tasks in specialized field
- Conceptual:Visualize relationships between things, jobs, goals, and the big picture
- Diagnostic: Investigate problem, implement remedy and solve
- Political: Gain and maintain power to reach objectives
What is the decision making process (5) of an entrepreneur?
- Recognize problems and opportunities
- Develop alternative course of actions
- Evaluate alternatives
- Select the implement the chosen course of actions
- Follow up and determine the effectiveness of the decision