Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Opportunity
Where knowledge, skills, abilities and motivations meet favorable market characteristics
Risk
Absolute . . . sinking the boat Relative . . . missing the boat
Ambiguity
Creativity
Exogenous Forces
Team Leadership Capital Market Forces
Uncertainty
Founder
OPPORTUNITY
Entrepreneurship begins with an opportunity Money, contacts, networking, Lots of ideas, few opportunities that fit your needs! Opportunity first, Cash last
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Having intimate knowledge of customers needs Market driven Obsessed with value creation and enhancement
Calculated risk taker Risk minimiser Risk sharer- e.g. partners, creditors, suppliers and customers. Tolerance of uncertainties and lack of structure Tolerance of stress and a conflict Ability to resolve problems and integrate solutions
Introduction Opportunity in professional life Domestic detergent market Innovative formulation Attained market share in the premium detergent segment Risk - Cheapest brand in the market
Achievements
Udyog Ratna award Outstanding Industrialist of the Eighties Chairman of the Development Council for Oils, Soaps & Detergents
Opportunities Growth Grabbed the internet market Understanding users needs Risk Microsoft Internet explorer Google Chrome
Harvey Firestone founded Firestone Tire & Rubber company (1950-60s) Monument success for 7 decades Its culture and operations reflected the vision of its founder, Harvey Firestone, who insisted on treating customers and employees as part of the Firestone family. The Firestone country club was open to all employees, regardless of rank, and Harvey himself maintained close friendships with the top executives
They saw the Big Three Detroit automakers as their key customers Goodyear and the other leading U.S. tire makers as their competitors, and they saw their challenge as simply keeping up with the steadily increasing demand for tires
A French company, Michelin, introduced the radial tire to the U.S. market. Based on a breakthrough in design, radials were safer, longer-lasting, and more economical than traditional bias tires.
Ford declared in 1972 that all its new cars would have radials, it was clear that they would dominate the U.S. market Firestone swiftly took action: it invested nearly $400 millionmore than $1 billion in todays dollars in radial production, building a new plant dedicated to radial tires and converting several existing factories. It clung to its old ways of working rather than redesign its production processes, it just tinkered with them even though the manufacture of radial tires required much higher quality
By 1979, Firestone was in deep trouble. Its plants were running at an anemic 59% of capacity The company surrendered much of its share of the U.S. market to foreign corporations, and it suffered through two hostile takeover bids Bridgestone, a Japanese company, in 1988.
Know your customers better Keep updating Once a success does not mean always a success Active Inertia-???
There is no return without a risk. Good projected risks often go unnoticed. Well run projects appear to be almost effortless, but a lot of work goes into running a project well. If decision makers would have cared about risk then they wouldnt have had reached the heights.
It thus shows that opportunity obsession is a very important characteristic of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning and acting that is opportunity obsessed.
Strong High Desirable Protect position: - Invest to grow - Concentrate on maintaining strength
Medium Desirable Invest to build: - Challenge for leadership - Build on strengths - Reinforce vulnerable areas
Weak Build selectively: - Specialize around limited strengths - Overcome weaknesses - Withdraw if sustainable growth is not possible Limited expansion or harvest: - Look for ways to expand without high risk - Minimize investment and focus operations Divest: - Sell when possible to maximize cash value
Medium
Low
Desirable Build selectively: - Emphasize profitability by increasing productivity - Build up ability to counter competition Protect & refocus: -Defend strengths -Seek ways to increase earnings without speeding markets decline
Manage for earnings: - Protect existing strengths - Invest to improve position only in areas where risk is low Manage for earnings: - Protect position - Minimize investment