Entrepreneurial Values

Entrepreneurial Values

1. How do we define values?
In a civilized society, qualities like honesty, truthfulness, cooperation, integrity etc are important for happy and healthy living.
They are a set of beliefs or ideas that provide standards which guide behaviour.
Such guiding principles established in a cultured society are called values.
2. What are the prominent entrepreneurial values?
The following are the prominent entrepreneurial values.

1. Innovativeness and Creativity
2. Independence or ownership
3. Quest for Outstanding Performance or Achievement
4. Respect for Work

3. What is the difference between creativity and innovativeness?.
Creativity: Creativity is the ability to see new ways of doing things and discovering new opportunities.
Innovativeness: Innovativeness is the ability to make the opportunities work in practice by working out new combinations and seeing the new idea through to the end.
4. ‘Entrepreneurs are not satisfied with the status quo and they are bent upon disturbing it’. Discuss the statement with an example.
Entrepreneurs, by the root characteristic of their innovative spirit and creativity, are capable of spotting and opportunity and initiating a change. They’re never satisfied with the existing products or services and always strive to introduce better products or services by making the existing ones obsolete.
The emergence of the cellular phone is a best example of the nature of the entrepreneurs not satisfied with the status quo of the land line phone and bent upon disturbing it by innovating a cordless and then ultimately the cell phone.
5. Select any three actions of the entrepreneurs that emerge from their innovative spirit and explain with an example each.
The following are the actions that emerge from the innovative spirit of the entrepreneur.(You can write any three of the following).

1. Experimenting with new ideas
2. Enjoying the change
3. Facing uncertainity in order to try out new ideas
4. Not giving up or becoming upset when errors are made in doing the new work.
5. Valuing unconventional behaviour
6. Find problems to solve
7. Finding new use of existing methods or equipments.
8. Demonstrating originality
9. Working on a problem which causes great difficulty for others.
10. Looking for unstructured work assignments
11. Providing critical inputs for new ideas
12. Providing evaluation of proposed ideas

6. How do independence and a sense of ownership act as a driving force for entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs derive great satisfaction in their sense of ‘Ownership’. The following constitute the ingredients of the ‘Ownership’ factor.

1. Commitment
2. Sense of complete identification
3. and sincere hard work too achieve their ‘mission’

Entrepreneurs need to be independent to savour the sense of achievement.
The sense of Independence or ownership creates a very strong and positive ego which involved in the action plan of all significant entrepreneurial ventures. This enables entrepreneurs to develop a mission concept which drives them to achieve their goal with a clear vision. Such an orientation stems from the entrepreneur’s propensity to act in an atmosphere of freedom, it implies that the entrepreneurs likes to be the master of their destiny. Thus we often here budding entrepreneurs proclaiming that they could not work under anyone and they would be their own masters. This trait of self-reliance is an important asset because it provides confidence and courage to innovate.
7. Why is an entrepreneur described as an ‘overcomer’? What value does it indicate?
An entrepreneur is often described as an ‘Overcomer’ due to the following characteristics.

1. They’re always ready to face and resolve the challenges.
2. The set for themselves certain standards of excellence and can deal with unexpected obstacles with confidence.
3. Most companies experience three or four life-threatening crises in their early years; to survive this period, the true entrepreneur deals with these crises and wins through.
4. Sometimes they turn problems into opportunities
5. They are persistent and work harder when things go wrong.
6. They try not to be beaten and find another way to solve the problem.

Thus an entrepreneur, due to his quest for excellence is an overcomer who can resolve problems even under pressure.
All this indicates the value of performance of high order.
8. How does ‘respect for work’ become a value for entrepreneurs?
The entrepreneurial culture respects and values the work. Harwork constitutes an important value for all entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs believe that they achieve anything through hard work. This value provides goal direction which encourages entrepreneurs to pursue a path and career in which the rewards and incentives are linked to the degree and quality of efforts made. This fact is evident from the surveys conducted in USA where in the persons who became entrepreneurs substantially increased their working hours. In India too, we see that even small merchants put in more than 12 hours in work each day.
All this proves that the ‘respect for work’ becomes a value for entrepreneurs.