There comes a time in the life of a growing business when you, as its founder and top manager, realize the company has taken on a momentum of its own. You influence it, certainly, but more and more you are swept by it.” – John Peterman Before looking at how an entrepreneur manages a growing business, it is first important to understand that as companies mature, they go through different stages and that in each stage,the entrepreneur will experience different problems. Thus an entrepreneur MUST be ready with the proper knowledge and skills to address these problems. The growing stage of an entrepreneurial firm may be divided into two. These are the early and later growth stages. In the early stage, the business may have a tendency to over-commit its capabilities because it is sales driven as opposed to being profitable. In the later stage, the company becomes more focused creating its own vision of the future where emphasis is on profitability of each endeavor and not simply closing sales. To address these challenges, an entrepreneur must be aware of how to manage the growth without being entrenched in the workload that he has been accustomed to during the startup. Financial resources may also have to be reviewed as previous structures may not be able to cope with expansion demands. And as changes are continually being implemented, the entrepreneur must be able to monitor the improvements and downfalls of the new direction the organization is going through. Thus, during these crucial stages, an entrepreneur must focus his attention on the following three aspects of his business: People Controls Financing People During the early stages of an entrepreneurial firm, the business will need members that are compassionate to the growth of the business. A lot of flexibility will be needed as adjustments will have to be made. The people needed may not necessarily have high level competencies for certain skills but must definitely have the drive to push performance to a higher level. At this stage, hard work counts for more than experience. As the business grows, there will be a need for more specialized skills and possibly more competent members. An entrepreneur may look within his organization and promote high performing members or he may opt to look for those who can “hit the road running”.
As with many small business owners they vision of their business usually only extends to their own abilities. They are driven and full of determination and believe their abilities will be able to sustain the business to success. Unfortunately, many small businesses lack the knowledge to be able to effectively be owners’ and leader’ to their organizations.
As we know that a company’s culture, particularly during its early years, is greatly a reflection of the personality, background, and values of its founder or founders, as well as their vision for the future of the organization. When entrepreneurs establish their own businesses, the way they want to do business determines the Organization’s rules, the structure, and performance evaluation in the company and the people they hire to work with them. This is very much evident in the case o...
What major technology change has had the greatest impact on the quality of your life?
Growth can overwhelm a business if it is not handled effectively. There are both internal and external risks to growth. Some internal risks that Fellers will face are management risk, not having enough personnel to handle the new demands, having to train or retrain employees; money concerns, such as not having enough cash flow to grow; and quality and quantity control. Some external risks to consider would be related to competition, staying ahead of the curve, continuously searching and retaining customers and staying abreast to what the customers want. Fellers has made her business successful thus far and needs to continuously keep in mind how she became successful to begin with and capitalize on her strengths. Before she decides to grow, she needs to ask herself, at what pace or rate should she grow (CSU,
Implementation of organizational growth falls to the responsibility of upper management and they develop the strategic plan for the company to flourish in the projected economic market. Oversight of this senior team can hinder the organizational projected strategy into a viable organizational process that today’s global market places high demands that make it very difficult to attain these goals or plans and bring all effort to no avail of achieving projected growth and strategy of the organization. Essential that key employees do not lack the skill to delegate responsibility as well as expect results that promote organizational growth and adherence to the strategy set by senior
To be a successful entrepreneur, there are steps that one must follow when starting a new enterprise. These steps are termed as the process of entrepreneurial which is the systematic method of preparation of an enterprise that consists of four steps. The four steps are fundamental to the success of an entrepreneur venture. The four entrepreneurial processes includes discovering, assessing and opportunity, developing a business plan, establishing resource needs, and managing the resulting enterprise (Barringer & Ireland, 2010). Each individual step is vital for the start of an entrepreneur venture and for an entrepreneur to achieve their entrepreneurial goals. This paper will discuss the four steps of the entrepreneurial process,
Today in the business world there are many successful business men and women that succeed in their own areas of business. The main reasons of their success are of their aspects on managing their company from taking risks to motivation and commitment. A successful manager is also a leader to the other co-workers and employees of the company; he/she must guide and lead them to success and happiness.
in the similar manner, Hill, & McShane, (2008), argued that managers remain the most important asset of the business that drives the business towards path of development and growth. Additionally, the importance of managers, their roles and functions cannot be neglected. As the business environment has become highly competitive with market segments highly fragmented forcing business entities to adopt and integrate effective business practices that can ensure that the business is heading towards the path of competitive advantage. In this regard, it is realized that the role and function of manager has become highly indispensable. The early theory of management, as per stated by Need, (2006), argues that the core functions of manager are to Plan, Organize, Staffing, Leading, and Controlling. Augier, & Teece, (2009), within this regard stated that effective and efficient managers do not just go and perform haphazardly, in fact, good and effective managers discover their strengths, ensure they are making the most out of the existing resources and mastering the above mentioned five basic functions. The overall role of manager is highly significant, mainly because of the fact that manager while performing these five functions guide the entire business and
In the start-up phase of an organizational life cycle, employees are eager to make a name for themselves and often act impulsively, making highly reactive decisions based on whatever is going on around them at the moment. Struggling to survive. This is just one of the many challenges a manager will face during this phase of change.
The idea of change is the most constant factor in business today and organisational change therefore plays a crucial role in this highly dynamic environment. It is defined as a company that is going through a transformation and is in a progressive step towards improving their existing capabilities. Organisational change is important as managers need to continue to commit and deliver today but must also think of changes that lie ahead tomorrow. This is a difficult task because management systems are design, and people are rewarded for stability. These two main factors will be discussed with reasons as to why organisational change is necessary for survival, but on the other hand why it is difficult to accomplish.
The first factor is level 5 leadership. A leader is the soul of the company. Base on the research, every good-to-great company had level 5 leaders during the pivotal transition years. In the book, level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will (Collins, 2001, p.13). Darwin E. Smith is an example of lever 5 leasers. Smith transforms Kimberly-Clark into the leading paper-based consumer products company in the world within twenty years. Generated cumulative stocks return 4.1 times the general market, furthermore beating its direct rivals Procter & Gamble and Scott Paper. Level 5 leaderships’ ambition i...
As the organization grows in this stage, the entrepreneurs must learn how to manage the organization. It is at this point that a crisis of leadership emerges. In the beginning, the organizational is so busy getting started and developing new products and markets that they fail to understand the importance of managing the organizational resources. The crisis can be averted, and growth can continue to stage two, if the organization can learn the skills necessary to manage the organization.
The success of a business is greatly dependent on its entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who takes the financial risk of starting and managing a new business venture. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, one must be ready to take a risk and invest one’s own savings into a business. The job requires that the individual be ambitious and committed to working hard in order to achieve the set targets. A successful entrepreneur is able to multi-task and communicates effectively with people, possessing leadership qualities such as confidence and motivation. The individual must play the role of constant motivator and inspire employees to improve their work performance, whilst ensuring a comfortable environment for the employees to work in. According to Schumpeter (1982), an entrepreneur is more of a ‘heroic’ than an ‘economic’ figure; his motivation should not solely be monetary, rather stemming more from inspiration and ambition.
Mike Kamo. 2017. 6 Reasons Your Small Business Will Fail (And How to Avoid Them) | Bplans . Available at: http://articles.bplans.com/6-reasons-your-small-business-will-fail-and-how-to-avoid-them/
The manager should be able to select and know these factors. As organization is created systems by people, the internal factors are mainly the result of management decisions. Not all of the internal factors are completely controlled by the management. Organization is influenced by many environmental factors. In the new millennium we have to learn how to live in a market economy. And the most important condition for this is a highly skilled managers. Ability to identify and analyze the internal elements of the organization and external factors is the key to the success of the business. The main factors in the organization that require management attention are objectives, structure, tasks, technology and people. An organization can be seen as a means to achieve the objectives that allows people to perform collectively what they could not carry out individually. Goals are desired outcome, which aims to achieve a group working together. The main objective of most organizations is profit. Income is a key indicator of the organization. People are the basis of any organization. Without people there is no organization. They shape the culture of the organization and its internal climate. They determine what the organization is. Manager generates frames, establishes a system of relations between people and include them in the process of