How far do you agree with the statement: “It is not absolutely vital for an Entrepreneur to actually own resources when starting their businesses”

Innovation and entrepreneurial development today has become very significant attribute that is an important element for acquisition of economic and industrial development that includes regional growth and employment generation that relies on entrepreneurial growth. Entrepreneurs are thus seeds of industrial development that ultimately leads to increased employment opportunities, increased standard of living, and income of per capita and enhance profitability of government in terms of sales tax, income, import, export duties and balanced regional growth (Bacanak, 2013). The word entrepreneur is acquired from French verb enterprendre that means to carry out and it reflects about who carry out the risk of novel corporation and process of develop entrepreneurship.

In an organizational term entrepreneurship is the process that includes range of actions of an entrepreneur who is always seeking for something novel and bring in new ideas into profitable opportunities by accepting the risk and uncertain conditions in an organization. By becoming an entrepreneur several challenges need to be managed as there are certain qualities that are crucial if any individual wants to become stressful in business ventures and some of these attributes are being formed in different parts to acquire better personality and enhance this over the time (Singh and Hess, 2017). There are range of risks associated while initiating and running own business, as certain crucial of them are; under capitalization, poor management, lack of planning and marketing misjudgement.

However, I am in favour of this term that for an entrepreneur it is not vital to own resources when starting a business, the important thing that matters is the skills and creativity of an entrepreneur that helps in attaining success in business. Resources for any business can be arranged but having suitable talent is important, as an entrepreneur’s mind revolves around opportunities and new ideas (Lamine, Mian and Fayolle, 2014). There is a continuous effort required to seek for niche and undertake the risks in them, entrepreneurship includes assessment of existing business workflows and devise ways to carry them out efficiently.

Owning a resource is not so important than to optimally utilize the resources to create efficient processes and it is an outcome of undertaking new ideas that gives innovative goods or services. Apart from this an entrepreneur need to have patience to assess the result of any new idea and the risk involved in new system. So, a detailed evaluation and observation of entrepreneurial process reflects that creative thinking is a must have skills for creation of new ideas as it facilitates an individual to develop interesting process and attain entrepreneur can have a competitive edge. Moreover, would like to state that imagination and creativity is vital traits of an entrepreneur i.e. outside the box thinking that helps in coming up with something new, interesting and attain success for future (Holland and Garrett, 2015). Hence, this is apparent from evaluation that entrepreneurs need to look towards new aspects of traditional business than owning a resources and it could be in the form of transforming method to manufacture any product or deliver service to user that mainly helps in creating niche and has great potential for business.

Is innovation manageable – or just a random process? What factors are critical to success?

Innovation means different things to various people but usually it includes application of new ideas, products or process for some reasons. There has been significant change occurring in the way process of innovation is being understood and in this context development is being made in the manageability of areas of business activity in recent time period. In current extremely competitive business environment where innovation is must, there is a need to put better perspective and efficiency in innovation is must, due the present technological advancement in society needs of customers and expectations have been consistently changing so business organizations must innovate.

In this context it is evident to state that merely having good ideas is not enough and it takes lot of time and resources as the idea must bring something new. As stated by Parmentier and Mangematin, (2014) innovation needs to be organic and it has to mesh with core of company and stay focused on prioritizing smaller deliverables to keep the feedback loop tight and come up with new ideas. It is apparent that innovation is manageable but the actual work begins with fact that it should be managed in any other corporate function and it is similar as any other business activity. Indeed it is true that innovation is the work to know rather than doing and the prime motive today is to enhance and manage innovation with appropriate techniques and main strategy should be to build the innovation in corporation is attaining insight and work in creative manner to achieve framed objectives.

Innovation is like a sky with its horizons defined and it can only be widening with consistent hard work (Bessant, 2013). One of the way through which innovation can be managed is to have creative people in team who can produce ideas that are worthwhile and novel and must be consistently updated to foster innovation, assess the gaps and get adequate resources to manage. By motivating people towards innovation maximum of benefits can be acquired as main problem today persist within many corporation in terms that people with ideas need to possess strong sense of association and responsibility once the ideas are formed and it also help in finding out the details and implement ideas. Hence, it is vital to endorse employees not just bring new ideas but to also enforce them and attain maximum of benefit.

The other strategy that could be used to inspire innovation and share information by arranging people and have an creative management that can be applied in business, it is apparent that people develop new structure that are needed to redesign to carry out on daily basis and bring something new (Bacanak, 2013).  Innovation is all about overcoming risk and encourages innovation as corporation are performing well and there is a need to attain leading position to foster innovation. When any new product or services is introduced it might be acceptable in the market but not until risk of failure is taken and success is achieved. For attaining novel heights in business it is crucial to encourage the product innovation in several fields but one of the misconceptions prevails in terms of creating the new product and this where organizations need to focus a lot on research and development. As, it is easy for other business units to copy any new product or services so it is vital to encourage innovation in several field and maintain confidentiality to an extent possible.

One of the prime challenges in managing innovation exists in terms of meeting the change that innovation brings with it and growth of it within corporation helps in managing business risk that needs to be managed with ingenuity and focus on several aspects of innovation. As Chiaroni and et.al., (2016) have stated that one need to be prepared for execution of novel plan and must be willing to do research test as it has to be something that would consistently help in educating one self and learn, above all to manage the manage innovation it is crucial to give attention on below mentioned aspects;

• First get the culture ready for innovation
• Make sure that people know about innovating
• Manage competency
• Develop long term strategy
• Seek out for good ideas
• Show leadership

Knowledge workers and creative professional are largely autonomous and it helps in negotiating inter-dependencies among all professionals contributions. In order to manage innovation efficiently it is vital to give attention on design thinking process as it is an effective collaborative approach to assess and resolve issues. This is apparent that this competitive environment one need to undertake complexity and uncertainty that enhances everyday and the only way to sustain is by regular innovation through creative ideas.

Innovation can be managed through capturing and fully utilizing firm’s collective expertise as it constitutes the raw material for innovation that gives competitive edge to sustain in volatile business environment. In this current era innovation is the final way that helps in landing in success and achieve long term growth that can only be acquired through optimum utilization (Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke and West, 2014). Hence, I would like to state that innovation can be managed and it is not just a random process. I am in favour that innovation system needs to be managed efficiently and it is not a process but a strategy that needs regular monitoring and adequate plan so that the expected results from it can be acquired. In an organization to innovate and manage it successfully it is crucial to promote and work with people as this will facilitate in acquisition of framed business objectives and inspire people to take risks and understand whatever they are doing is not the best and it helps in building an innovative organization.

You are the business owner of a small technology start-up firm. You have your initial business plan is place but realise that you need to take measures to protect your ideas and concepts

An intellectual property right (IPR) is thus a legal right that is based on relevant national law which includes particular type of intellectual right and it comes into existence only when the needs of relevant IP law is being accomplished following the prescribed procedure. The small technological firm that I am undertaking gives attention on managing intellectual property right which is a valuable asset in current business environment and for this my corporation gives attention on maintaining patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyright of our services (Stiglitz, 2014). This is mainly done to safeguard organizational ideas, technology and product that enables in making investment in technology, the prime areas of IPR management are;

• Patents – Implementing patents in the organization helps to provide security to disclose the technology to business partners without losing control of technological services. A unique and proprietary patent helps in increasing valuation of company and it is one of the key elements to exit strategy that acts as collateral for financing of business. Being functional in Europe technological start ups have to face certain difficulties in obtaining patent but have acquired the same.
• Copyright – This IP law helps the company to precisely get associated with safety of artistic works and it also covers software coding, layout of website, database and many other works. It mainly protects the expression of idea rather than the idea itself and the right simply come in the work when it is created.
• Registered right for design – This right helps the new technological firm to attain an opportunity to register a 3D design and is probably best thought of as filling the gap among copyright and patent protection. Unlikely copyright there is a test of designs merit that should be overcome and must represent individual character and these rights gives owner long term exclusivity in terms of design (Dosi and Stiglitz, 2014).
• Maintaining trade secrets – This aspect is challenging however it requires no filling or registration that could therefore be very inexpensive means to secure intellectual property. It helps in maintaining secrecy by software coding and exploitation through licensing is not as common as patent licensing as it need to be conveyed to others for value.
• Creating trademark – Although the business operations is right now small but have adequate company logo and name that act as a source identifies and is easily being protected by registration and trademark. This mainly helps in creating transferable rights that brings additional value in business and it is dependent in customer recognition for maintaining quality level.

For tech start-ups in particular, it is also worth noting that software and process patents are difficult to how can you monitor and protect your business from copycats?

One of the most important parts in dealing in any rival business is to understand the competition and accordingly develop strategy to safeguard business unit from competitors and most importantly copycats, in this regard the small technology gives precise attention on below mentioned aspects;

• Business uses confidentiality agreement – While discussing any potential trade secrets or disclosing any kind of valuable intellectual property the written confidentiality agreement needs to be managed (May, 2013). These would clearly help to outline the ownership and usage rights to manage intellectual property being disclosed or provided to utilize.
• Mark all property with adequate notices – In the technological firm while making any written material confidentiality is being maintained or proprietary would not completely deter someone that is determined to steal it, as it would help to discourage theft. All the services of company have intellectual property right with adequate notices and designations such as copyright and trademark symbols notices.
• Copyrights are registered wherever possible – Most of the content of website are actually safeguarded to some extent under the copyright laws, but registering intellectual rights brings additional layer of security that offers some kind of legal recourse and it helps in saving the property from being stolen (Hagedoorn and Zobel, 2015). Copyright protection is swift and relatively inexpensive that makes it suitable for small business units with registered patent aspect.
• Be careful on social media – Workforce in the corporation uses social media many of the time unknowingly or even knowingly release proprietary business information and intellectual property on some kind of open source forums this leads to increase fraud cases. There are chances that competitors might hack information from social networking sites and many of the times breach occurring from these sites provides a back door access to proprietary databases and other confidential information of company (Williams, 2013). So, the technological firm pays much attention on management of confidential information in suitable manner and safeguard business from competitors.

From the above accomplished discussion it is apparent that intellectual property rights provide numerous benefits as well as in acquisition of monetary gains. Such property provides financial incentives and helps in managing economic conditions of world that has become better and more emphasis is being given on managing intellectual property rights in better manner. Especially in developed country like UK IP rights play an important role in overall development of economy and undertake as large as two thirds to evaluate total assets of nation that can be traced back to bring some more than intangible assets for business.

It is evident from several secondary research also that business corporations that possess intellectual property as their assets have more earned more revenue than companies that do not have any intellectual property (Bently and Sherman, 2014). Some renowned economists also stated that by strengthening intellectual property rights maximum of benefits can be acquired to strengthen economic situations and these rights are precisely suitable to manage products and services that can be utilize to implies that even though an individual might claim that have an IPL right on any product that will also hinder any person from using such products.

Intellectual property right helps the small technological firm to assess efforts of an individual and accordingly strategy is being formulated for specific condition that has got IPR in business and any of the services can be easily used.  Moreover, it should also be kept in consideration that copyrights and patents in business does not create monopoly but it simply towards reward management for people who have assessed that new things helps in attaining monetary rewards for long term and make remuneration for their efforts and way intellectual property rights create monopolies.

Innovation – Explain to a skeptical entrepreneur the benefits of creating a business plan

Developing business plan help in identifying potential issues and opportunities your business might face, avoid penalty, fines and other legal issues that adapt to changes in the market place and helps in expanding business operations. For entrepreneurs prior to invest in any business it is crucial to develop a business plan that will provide those answers and it will also facilitate in organizing potential plans that includes aspects of legal, marketing, legal, human resources and financial resources which is need to carry out a business process. Some of the prime benefits of creating plans are as mentioned below;

• Business always stays on the designed strategy – It is very much challenging for any business plan to stick to the strategy throughout the daily routine and interruptions. So by using developing business plan it would be convenient to summarize major aspects of business and keep it as a reminder that states about in and outs of business (Finch, 2016).
• Business objectives will be clear – By using the plan it would be easy to define and manage precise measurable business objectives that states about web visitors, sales, margins or bring new product that helps in acquisition of success for long terms.
• Educated guesses will be prominent – BY using plan one can refine the educated guesses about things like what would be the potential market, overall sales, cost of sales, drivers of sales, business and leads processing (Sugathapala and et.al., 2015).
• Priorities will make more sense – Apart from this strategy adequate strategy also helps in making priority for important factor that involves growth of business, financial conditions and management. By using this plan one can frame foundation for attributes and enhance business strategies.
• It helps in understanding interdependencies – By using business plan one can keep an eye on the needs that took place in order to manage conditions, as one should have time for product release to match with the testing need testing schedule so that business plan could be valuable in terms of organizing the work on track.
• All the milestones can be tracked – Designing business plan will help entrepreneur to keep an eye of all the dates and deadline and it is crucial for valuable strategies even for an individual to manage everything easily (Serraand Kunc, 2015).
• Entrepreneur will be delegating – An adequate business plan helps to develop who is responsible for what and every important task has to be manage by an individual who is in charged to keep the plan on track.
• Managing team members and tracking outcomes will be easy – So many individual understand the need of having regular team members review and plan could be a great format for getting things done in written manner and follow up the difference between anticipations and outcomes with course corrections.
• Cash flow can be managed better – None of the business can afford to mismanagement of cash and simple profitability is rarely the same as cash. An adequate cash flow plan is great way to associate together educated guesses on sales, cost, assets, expenses and debts to pay.
• Course corrections will help in business from flopping – By developing business plans adequate way is formed to be proactive for business activity and not reactive. With this one does not have to wait for things to happen but only follow up is needed to track the results and make corrections in courses (Bently and Sherman, 2014). However, it is a myth that business plan is supposed to be predicted in future instead it helps in setting up of expectations and frame assumptions to manage contingency business conditions.
• Helps in identifying problems – A detailed business plan helps in addressing several areas to initiate business process and carry out the research to include in business plan and learn suppositions for marketing budgets, cost of materials, licensing, labour costs and other crucial aspect of business to incorrect. Entrepreneurs by analyzing this prior to inception of business to make adjustments and committed funds, business plan includes adequate budget that helps in managing cash flow.
• Provides exit strategy – In addition to this offering benchmark for success helps in developing business that frames realistic criteria to shut down business and prevent money from bad conditions. A business failure could be very emotional and owners need to mostly switch objective in terms of reality and appropriate numbers tell that business is untenable to make decision and fails to safeguard from losing more money from investors than it is actually needed.
• Minimizing legal issues – One might need state local or federal licensing that helps in operating business efficiently and one need to pay taxes adequately for this using suitable forms and undertake business in proper format (Kuratko, 2016). An entrepreneur might need to attain a federal employer identification number as various internal revenue service’s helps in making classification and operate under different rules as business plan helps in addressing financial and legal issues that is included in operating a company to avoid any kind of penalty or loss of business.

Above all it can be concluded from this discussion that developing a precise business plan helps entrepreneur to evaluate the future opportunities and accordingly undertake precise course of action. By committing the plan all other options are efficiently managed and organization is aligned to give attention on different activities. This plan would help in assigning milestones to precise individuals and monitor the progress and it can be easily disseminated with readers assisting to ensure a more collaborative plan is produced. However, despite of several benefits there are certain deficiencies as well in business plan as once it is being submitted it becomes a static document. In this regard super dynamic nature of start up this plan become serious misfit and market conditions and strategies leads to financial projections and it keeps on changing that is quick.

References

Bacanak, A., 2013. Teachers’ Views about Science and Technology Lesson Effects on the Development of Students’ Entrepreneurship Skills. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 13(1), pp.622-629.

Bently, L. and Sherman, B., 2014. Intellectual property law. Oxford University Press, USA.

Bessant, J., 2013. Innovation in the twenty-first century. Responsible innovation. Managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society, pp.1-26.

Chesbrough, H., Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J. eds., 2014. New frontiers in open innovation. OUP Oxford.

Chiaroni, D., and et.al., 2016, June. How incumbents manage waves of disruptive innovation: an empirical analysis. In ISPIM Innovation Symposium (p. 1). The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).

Dosi, G. and Stiglitz, J.E., 2014. The role of intellectual property rights in the development process, with some lessons from developed countries: an introduction. Intellectual property rights: Legal and economic challenges for development, 1.

Finch, B., 2016. How to write a business plan. Kogan Page Publishers.

Hagedoorn, J. and Zobel, A.K., 2015. The role of contracts and intellectual property rights in open innovation. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 27(9), pp.1050-1067.

Holland, D.V. and Garrett, R.P., 2015. Entrepreneur start-up versus persistence decisions: A critical evaluation of expectancy and value. International Small Business Journal, 33(2), pp.194-215.

Kuratko, D.F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.

Lamine, W., Mian, S. and Fayolle, A., 2014. How do social skills enable nascent entrepreneurs to enact perseverance strategies in the face of challenges? A comparative case study of success and failure. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 20(6), pp.517-541.

May, C., 2013. The global political economy of intellectual property rights: The new enclosures? (Vol. 3). Routledge.

Parmentier, G. and Mangematin, V., 2014. Orchestrating innovation with user communities in the creative industries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 83, pp.40-53.

Serra, C.E.M. and Kunc, M., 2015. Benefits Realisation Management and its influence on project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.53-66.

Singh, A. and Hess, T., 2017. How Chief Digital Officers Promote the Digital Transformation of their Companies. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(1).

Stiglitz, J.E., 2014. Intellectual property rights, the pool of knowledge, and innovation (No. w20014). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Sugathapala, I., and et.al., 2015. Quantifying benefits in a business portfolio for multi-operator spectrum sharing. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 14(12), pp.6635-6649..

Williams, H.L., 2013. Intellectual property rights and innovation: Evidence from the human genome. Journal of Political Economy, 121(1), pp.1-27.

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