1 INTRODUCTION
A search of Google for “Internet entrepreneur” will retrieve more than 9 million links to blogs, portals and websites about Internet entrepreneurs. The success of several prominent entrepreneurs such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin, David Filo, Jerry Yang and Jeff Bezos has become the inspiration to others to become Internet entrepreneurs, but not all would become successful in the long term. Apart from the pioneers, there are, however, others – such as Dany Levy, David Liu, Reed Hastings, and Alex Algard – who are also successful and have survived in the long term. It seems that the strategies adopted by successful Internet entrepreneurs have enabled them to sustain their businesses better than those who have failed. This raises several questions regarding how Internet entrepreneurs survive and became successful in the long term. How did these Internet entrepreneurs choose appropriate strategies and continue to be successful? How did they devise strategies that resulted in the success of their firms after start up? What types of processes did they adopt to set up their strategies? Do they have any preferences for certain approaches to formulate their long term strategic decision making beyond start up? Are there any differences between these successful entrepreneurs when they develop their strategies after start up?
These questions raise a major question as to how Internet entrepreneurs actually develop their post start up strategies. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore how Internet entrepreneurs formulate their strategies beyond start up. Five types of strategy formation process adapted from Mintzberg’s ten schools of thought are being used to conduct in-depth analysis of strategy process for fifteen success...
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... through the process of learning over time. The strategies in this case will appear “first as patterns out of the past, then as plans for the future and ultimately as perspectives to guide overall behaviour” (pp. 208-209). Therefore the next question will be:
What is the extent to which strategy following start up is formed by Internet entrepreneurs through an emergent learning process?
2.2 Theoretical Framework
These detailed research questions will help to clarify how Internet entrepreneurs develop their strategy after start up. Combining the frameworks used by Mintzberg et al. (1998) and Rialp-Criado et al. (2010) and the questions posed, seven types of processes are proposed; transformation, rational, intuitive, individual, social, emergent learning and reactive vs. proactive processes to explore strategy process of the Internet entrepreneur in Table 1.
In 1994, Internet commerce (e-commerce) was miniscule. One day in the spring of 1994, Bezos who was already crazy about computers observed that Internet usage was increasing geometrically and more and more people were getting excited about its astounding commercial possibilities. A few inventors were already trying to make use of the new technology. Bezos saw an opportunity for a new sphere of commerce, and immediately began considering the possibilities. The thought foremost in his mind: "What is it that users cannot get easily offline that will sell online?"
Every entrepreneur and business owner have the same dreams to own successful businesses, revolutionize the marketplaces, and develop high quality life for each generation. Leaders are trailblazers in their companies and no one know the internal structure and company current situations like they do; therefore, they have responsibility to think deeper for their companies’ strategies. As Cynthia Montgomery illustrates in the book, The Strategist, “A great strategy is more than an aspiration, more than a dream: It’s a system of value creation, a set of mutually reinforcing parts. Anchored by a compelling purpose, it tells you where a company will play, how it will play, and what it will accomplish.” An appropriate strategy is the most important
Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., & Strickland III, A. J. (2014). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage; Concepts and cases. (19th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
The growth of online business has grown enormously over the years. Cliptomania is a family operated and owned small e-business that primarily sells clip on earrings (Brown, DeHayes, Hoffer, Martin, & Perkins, 2012, p. 308). Cliptomania early developments were very modest, and as such the company experienced copious strategic dilemmas. An initial strategic dilemma that the company encountered when establishing and building their new e-business undertaking was to create a website for the business operations and essentially to have it fully operable. The owners, Jim and Candy elected to hire a vendor to host the website and additionally utilize the IT systems resources of the vendor to sustain their business. At the very beginning they exploited the offerings of the Yahoo Store. However, continuing down this avenue of using the services of the Yahoo Store inevitably became too costly. By using the services and business offerings of a vendor made it convenient and effortless for Jim and Candy to start their e-business store. Unfortunately the couple did not have much in the way of professional help, and so they had to create and put together the website by themselves. Additionally they also had to deal with establishing their online credibility as many customers preferred to call in their orders just to talk with a real person before being comfortable enough to place their orders via the webpage.
To begin, the five entrepreneurial strategies are: (1) growth, (2) innovation, (3) network, (4) financing/governance, and (5) harvest/exit (Peng, 2006). Alibaba has efficiently and effectively utilized these five strategies:
The strategy book by Max McKeown is an excellent book for managers or leaders in general to read and follow in order to create a unique strategy for their business. The strategy book includes examples of strategies that were previously constructed and followed by small, medium and large companies. The book gives readers the chance to know the strategies that were employed by different types and sizes of business and how successful they were. These real life cases are what make the book so interesting and informative. The book is divided into different parts that inform the readers about formulating and then following the appropriate strategy.
Lynch (2005) explained emergent strategy as 'an organization whose final goals are hazy, and organizations achieve the strategy proceeds from developed during the course of its life '. Which also suggests emergent approach used at organization to face the quick change market environment, using for short term. Nevertheless emergent strategy also need original theory and formulated built on, and then change with results as an unexpected way. Mintzberg in this field is a key scholar. And he describes emergent strategy as 'a pattern in a stream of decisions ' and furthers this description state "strategy forms, as well as is formulated" which suggests that strategy is a consistency in the firm, but must be play a part in the best interest of the business (Mintzberg 1996). Mintzberg also proposes that it was achievable for strategies created using this concept, and the organization is prepared for any changes or challenges, which focuses on the ability to acknowledge patterns and the ability to act upon emergent factors facing an organization. (Mintzberg, Ahlstrangd and Lampel
Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., & Strickland, III. (2012). Crafting and executing strategy: The quest for competitive advantage (18th ed., pp. C243-C256). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Basing on the multiple cases study model, we listed and compared the entrepreneurial history of every firm to identify the strategy and actions implementation by the firm and represent how the Effectuation theory guided the entrepreneur ‘do the right things’. Finally, we draw tables for each form to conclude and analyze those data and information ordered by the time line (Freeze & Glassman, 2000; Reid, 1999).
The Entrepreneurial School identifies the strategy formation as a visionary process. Unlike in the design school and in contrast to the planning school, the rooted the process in the mysteries of intuition. Strategic management takes place within the mind of the charismatic founder or leader of the organization.
The eMarketing space consists of new Internet companies that have emerged as the Internet has developed, as well as those pre-existing companies that now employ eMarketing approaches as part of their overall marketing plan. For some companies the Internet is an additional channel that enhances or replaces their traditional channel(s). For others the Internet has provided the opportunity for a new online company.
The main concern in the article was about the relationship between strategic management and entrepreneurship. Researchers have been inconsistent in their definitions of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is defined as self-employment of any sort. Entrepreneurs buy at certain prices in the present and sell at uncertain prices in the future. The entrepreneur is a bearer of uncertainty (Richard Cantillon (circa 1730). Meanwhile, strategic management can be defined as the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. Entrepreneurship focuses on innovation by identifying market opportunities and by building a unique set of resources through which the opportunities can be exploited. The key challenges for entrepreneurs is to deal with strong strategic that required the growth of enterprise. Therefore, a manageable set of the most attractive alternative strategies must be developed. The advantages, disadvantages, trade-offs, costs, and benefits of these strategies should be determined. The most obvious linkages between entrepreneurship and strategic management are opportunities. Opportunities are very familiar in entrepreneurship and part of SWOT analysis. Enterprise can identifying opportunities through internal and external environment to develop competitive advantages. For example the application of strategy in small and medium-enterprise (SME) is a main part of relationship between entrepreneurship and strategic management. There are several different strategic management instruments can be applied depends on the situation of enterprise. SWOT analysis is one of the instruments that can develop future strategies and business plan in SMEs as
"Entrepreneurs who start and build new businesses are more celebrated than studied. They embody, in the popular imagination and in the eyes of some scholars, the virtues of "boldness, ingenuity, leadership, persistence and determination." Policymakers see them as a crucial source of employment and productivity growth. Yet our systematic knowledge of how entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses is limited. The activity does not occupy a prominent place in the study of business and economics.
Strategic renewal is another desired outcome of corporate entrepreneurship. The new economic order and business environment has created a pace of change which requires businesses to adapt more frequently and rapidly than ever before. The changes could involve corporate structure, mergers and acquisitions, addressing new market opportunities, changing product portfolios, repositioning, adapting infrastructure, or adopting new technology. Managers in an organization must be able to take stock of its situation under changing market conditions and agree on a coherent new strategy that will meet the challenges of the present as well as of the future.
At the very start, internet revolution was known as a world wide web that would change everything. In 1990s, the concept of "online business" was created, this business is known by various names such as dot-coms, e-biz etc. which made easier to start a business on internet and inexpensive as well. Whether it's a big or a small, local or international it can reach infront of the world very easily. Thousands of ventures have been made on internet for online business on the basis of brick and mortar. Online business is not different from any other venture. Same rules and principles are applied. First thing to start up a business is to create a business plan and think of how to make money. Some of the options which should be applied for an online business includes, sell products, sell advertising, sell information, sell services and to become a reseller. All of these options are complied together. For any virtual business an individual should always look for products with high margins, high demand and less competition either for physical or digital manner. However, many services are sold on internet such as web hosting, domain name registration, software applications and comparison of different products and services. Selling information is another basic option in an online business which is done in two forms, one is subscribing on a website where online articles are available for free and on the other hand e-books are popular and are free, they can be downloaded easily plus when the writing is done the cost of subscription is very low. Advertising on internet leads toward a lot of money though it's an expensive procedure, with a lot of traffic on a web site one can make money easily by joining any kind of ad network such as Google. By getting affiliated with another web site can also make a lot of money such as sending a buyer on another merchant's web page, like this one can get a percentage on per sale basis but first an individual needs to get expert in marketing for search engines.