Week 4 Flashcards
T/F: Growing firms survive longer…
True
According to Bezos, what is dangerous is Not to grow
Of the two methods of growing a business, describe “Scaling the existing business”
buying more land on the original orchard, penetrating existing markets, and growing operating capacity
new leaders needed to handle larger capacity
Of the two methods of growing a business, describe “Expanding the scope of the existing business”
Entering new markets, introducing new product categories, and launching new business lines
New leaders are needed with different domain/market expertise to manage new businesses
Enhance, expand and explore, describe enhance
penetrate existing markets, refine products, streamline operations
Enhance, expand and explore, describe expand
launch new products, enter new markets and build new relationships
Enhance, expand and explore, describe explore
identify opportunities to launch new BUSINESSES; test and refine new business ideas, build capabilities needed to launch and grow
Reasons for failure: customers, product, team, financials, business model; define customers
spending too much on customer acquisition before product market fit
overcompensating with addtl. marketing
Reasons for failure: customers, product, team, financials, business model; define product
building a product without a problem-solution fit
investing in the scalability before prob.-sol. fit
Reasons for failure: customers, product, team, financials, business model; define team
hiring specialists before they’re needed
hiring too many people too early
Reasons for failure: customers, product, team, financials, business model; define financial
raising too much / too little
Reasons for failure: customers, product, team, financials, business model; define business model
focusing on profit maximization too early
too much planning without feedback loop
why are NETWORKS valuable to entrepreneurs
provide access to resources, ideas, and confer legitimacy of the entrepreneur through alliances
social network
set of individuals that are connected by some relationships, allowing the flow of information and resources`
3 categorical qualities of social networks
quantity of connections
relationships of clusters
pattern of these relationships
why are SOCIAL networks valuable to entrepreneursq
Access to private / trustworthy information
Only works if you are a trustworthy person yourself
Access to diversity of skills/perspectives that you don’t have
Together these aspects work together to give power: helps the flow of non-redundant information
characteristics of high quality social networks
Not just having a ton of business cards, but having …
Diversity
Brokerage
Trust
define diversity in the context of networks
Two people can have the same number of contacts, but the diverse backgrounds of each can separate the value of both of their networks
adds knowledge diversity, better ideas, innovation
define brokerage in the context of networks
Not just about who your contacts are but the shape of your contacts
Both examples below started with 4 contacts but in B, the network is more widespread and captures more information
In Brokerage, describe benefits of both open/sparse vs. small/tight social networks
open/sparse networks are better at unique information flow
close/tight networks has better long term relationships and cooperation
what type of network would be better, an open/sparse network or a close/tight network for a management team
a close/tight network will be better because these relationships need to be trusting, cooperative, and long lasting
define trust in the context of networks
strong ties and weak ties
tie type shapes the willingness of partners in the network to provide resources
pros and cons of strong ties
helps transmit complex information as members put more time into explaining ideas
however, it can constrain the search for new info, which often comes from weak ties (more of them)
pros and cons of weak ties
Weak ties are not necessarily a bad thing
Can lead to more heterogeneous ties, enabling information flow
can serve as a bridge for disconnected groups
self similarity principle
when you introduce yourself to network contacts, you tend to choose people who resemble YOU
