Ans.

1) identifying the opportunity

In order for the entrepreneur to convert his idea into an opportunity, the idea needs to be
evaluated upon. Opportunities could be based on a discovery or creation from the existing
environment. The opportunity should be able to create some economic value, in terms of;
creating a profit, innovative and distinguished and desirable for market segment. Entrepreneurs
discover opportunities when they search for them in existing markets. This would mean that they
observe the economic, technological and social trends. This cognitive process of recognition of
opportunity relies on the ability of the manager to connect the dots.

The ability of an entrepreneur in recognizing the opportunities in front of him is fundamental in

personal growth as well as growth of the business. The business opportunity represents
significant untapped market needs that can be pushed by sales and thereon creating profits. In
order for the manager/entrepreneur to identify the opportunity ahead of him and analyze the idea
from his own perspective, there are several theoretical models/frameworks which are
popularized. In this context, we discuss the following model

Notably, the process begins with the entrepreneur identifying the opportunity resulting from his
education or experience. Prior knowledge is a result of combining both the education and
experience of the entrepreneur, which is a result of his own life experiences or relevant business
exposure. Other important factors that would affect the recognition process are entrepreneurial
alertness and entrepreneurial networks. There exists a relationship between entrepreneurial
alertness and knowledge of the current market needs and customer problems. Managers, carrying
the ability to recognize meaningful insight and creating an opportunity are in a strategic position
in successful completion of product planning, development process and carrying forward
business idea.

Opportunity assessment plan

Often confused with ‘Business plan’, an opportunity assessment plan is a completely different
piece of document. While the business plan preparation is a time consuming, and lengthy
process, with numerous sections and number of pages. On the other hand, an opportunity
assessment plan is a much shorter from of plan, which focuses on the opportunity and not the
idea of business completely, it acts as a basis for the entrepreneur.

The format of an opportunity assessment plan consists of mainly 4 sections, of which 2 are major
sections and the other 2 are minor sections. To understand these sections better, the description
of each section will be given detailed below;

Major section 1: This section discusses and develops the product or service idea, further
analyzing the competitive construct of product and companies and identifying the uniqueness
and distinguishable selling propositions. This section includes the following

 Description of the product: The product that the entrepreneur wants to bring forward is
described here to allow understanding of the type of product it is and what market
segment to target in the marketing plan.
 The market need for the product or service: here, the need for the product is realized
explaining what type of customers are covered, up to what capacity, etc.
 Specific aspects of the product or service: the features of the product or service are
depicted here to show signs of gaining Competitive Advantage and/or Differentiation in
the product/service.
 Competitive products existing in the market (features and prices): the existing players in
the market need to be studied to understand if it is worth venturing in the line of business.
 Companies in the product-service market space: the future competitors are an important
part of the study as these competitors will drive the business, either positively or
negatively.
  Unique selling propositions of the product or service: USP determines the volume of
sales possible by the frim. Every business tries to have their own USP to achieve
maximum benefits in shortest duration.

Major section 2: The second major section of the Opportunity Assessment Plan focuses on the
market. The areas covered are its size, trends, characteristics & growth rate. This section mainly
includes:
 The market need filled: this describes the need that the venture would in the market.
 The social condition underlining this market need: social factors play a wide role in
determination of products introduction as social factors shape the product
 Any data available to describe market need: The data available of the existing market
needs to be studies to know the fluctuations in profits, the life of the business, etc.
 The size, trends and characteristics of domestic and/or international market: It is
important to know about the market in which the opportunity is going to venture In. This
information allows the entrepreneurs to understand the market in depth.
 The growth rate of the market: Fluctuating growth rate may be a bad sign for certain
businesses. Thus, a growth rate that matches the investment criteria is necessary.
Minor section 1: This is an important section to the future of the business. In this section, focus
is on the entrepreneur and the management team in terms of their background, education, skills
and experience. It includes the following;
 What is exciting about this opportunity?
 How does the product/service fit in to the background and experience of the entrepreneur
and the management team?
 What business skills and experience is present?
 What business skills and experience is needed?
 Is there anyone who has these needed skills and experience?
The above questions need to be answered under minor section 1. These questions are necessary
as the opportunity, in order to go forward with it, knowledge and experience is of optimum
importance. The human capital working on the business venture will project whether it is going
to be profitable or not.
Minor section 2: under this section, a timeline is developed, indicating what steps will be
necessary to be taken to successfully launch the venture by translating the business opportunity
to a viable business entity. The following are the key components of this section:
 Identifying each step.
 Determining the sequence of activities and putting these critical steps into some
sequential order.
 Identifying what will be accomplished in each step.
 Determining the time and money required at each step.
 Determining the total amount of time and money needed.
 Identifying the source of money.
Mentioned above are the area of focus under the minor section 2, which indicate that after
deciding that the opportunity can be converted to a viable business entity. The series of questions
that need to answer contain an important determining factor, finance. Finance allocation,
acquiring of funds and dispensing for various purposes is highlighted in this section.
Thus, in order for Mr. Naveen Mehta to assess his venture, he would have to follow the above
steps. This will allow him to assess the opportunities ahead of him and structure a plan
accordingly.

Ans.2)

2.1) A business plan is a written document describing relevant internal and external elements as
well as the strategies of starting a new venture. It integrates all the functional plans regarding the
business. Furthermore, it addresses short and long term decision making for the first three years
of operation. It requires objective assessment of individual skills. A plan is expected to consider
the perspective of the entrepreneur, the investor and the key supplier.

Business plan is valuable because it:

 Helps determine the viability of the venture in a designated market

 Guides the entrepreneur in organizing planning activities

 Serves as an important tool in  helping to obtain financing

A good business plan reflects:

 Strengths of the management and personnel

 Product/service
 Available resources
A business plan’s purpose for an entrepreneur can be explained in the following points:

 The plan provides a clear idea of what the business is all about. It helps to identify,
describe and analyze a business opportunity while examining its technical, economic and
financial feasibility. The idea should be transparent and legible so that the entrepreneur
can easily communicate his ideas regarding the venture.
 Furthermore, it helps in describing the business to other people when there comes a time
to seek help from various institutions or people.
 It also helps in describing what the business plans to achieve and helps in maintain the
focus on the business’ ultimate goal. It also helps in guiding the entrepreneur in planning
and organizing activities and structure of the organization. The business plan will also
provide guidance to the entrepreneur by helping him or her to stay focused on the long
term and the short term objectives and goals of the business and plan things accordingly.
 It is important for an entrepreneur to assess all the risks and obstacles involved with the
venture. This also may help the entrepreneur to determine the viability of the venture. In
addition to that an entrepreneur may be able to identify potential weaknesses in the
business plan and work accordingly.

A business plan’s purpose for an investor depends on what kind of investor the entrepreneur is
looking for:

 Active venture capitalists: Venture capitalists see hundreds of plan throughout the year,
so to catch their attention it is important to make a good first impression. Emphasize on a
relevant, compact summary and explanation of the fundamental business idea, and don't
stretch on the insights regarding the noteworthy foundations of your supervisory group.
All things considered, make it compact and to the point.
 Bankers: Bankers in general are more formal and are more worried about money related
 quality than with energizing ideas and great resumes. For them, you'll need to focus on
balance sheets and cash-flow statements. Ensure they're completely detailed and are
accompanied with notes to clarify any irregularities or potential purposes of disarray.
 Angel Investors: Angel investors are comparatively less formal and for them a much less
detailed and an informal plan also works.
 Furthermore, the investors try to identify the amount of risk involved in the venture.
 The investors can sometimes be more focused on the entrepreneur’s character and for that
they may run some background checks, so as to determine his credibility of conducting
business.
 Through the business plan, the lenders try to see the four Cs of credit. The four Cs of
credit include Character, Cash flow, Collateral, and Equity Contribution. Through this
they come to know about the entrepreneur’s credit history, the ability of the entrepreneur
to meet debt and interest payments, the collateral or tangible assets being secured for the
loan, and the amount of personal equity that the entrepreneur has invested.

A business plan’s purpose for a key supplier can be:

 Suppliers are more concerned about the stability of the business, so it is important to
present them with cash flow forecasts and other financial reports. They are also interested
in the growth prospects of the company.
 The next thing a supplier may look at it is the reputation of the company, the brand image
the products carry.
 If the entrepreneur is reselling the product that requires special skill to install, then the
supplier may want to know the level of skill and training involved in the entrepreneur’s
business so that the supplier can provide the guarantee or warranty against the product.

2.2) Before presenting the business plan to the audience, the entrepreneur should assess the
audience and present the plan according to their needs and wants. For example, while presenting
to an investor who is a banker, it is required that the plan is quite detailed and the financial
reports and forecasts are attested to the plan.
I believe that plans should vary according to the audience. One of the major reasons to do some
is that the specific plan for the specific person would keep his interest in the business idea. A
specifically structured pan contains all the relevant information to the business and the audience,
hence, irrelevant information is omitted making the report more interesting for the particular
audience. If there are unnecessary items present in the plan, the audience is likely to lose interest
and skip the whole plan altogether. For example, if the angel investors are shown the skills of the
management, they will most likely not invest in the business idea because they wanted to see the
short description of the business and its growth prospects not the competence of the management
team behind the business.

Furthermore, the following are some points to be considered for the business plans when it
comes to person specific plans:

 Potential Partner- this type of person may be more interested in the growth of venture,
proprietary products and profit plans.
 Banker- a person who may be in-charge of approving loans may be more interested in the
revenue model, cash flow assets and the profit generation plans.
 Key employee- this type of person may want to know how he would benefit from the
company’s growth. For example, job security.
 Investor- this type of person may be more interested in fast growth, potential large
markets, and management team.

Ans.3)

3.1) The pandemic is said to permanently change the consumer behavior. The buying habits of
the consumers are changing and will remain post COVID-19. It can be observed that the
purchases are being made locally or online, and only of the essential items. People are buying
more consciously, taking care of their health and of the environment surrounding them. The
consumers have gone digital, to work or to communicate or even to play and they will
continue to do so. Furthermore, it is predicted that we are moving towards virtual workforce
where people are working from home and are conducting meetings through various online
platforms.
The COVID-19 pandemic has in a general sense changed the world as we probably are aware
of. Individuals are living in an unexpected way, purchasing diversely and in multiple ways,
thinking in an unexpected way. Supply chains have been tried. Retailers are shutting
entryways. Customers over the globe are taking a gander at items and brands through another
focal point.

The infection is reshaping the business progressively, quickly quickening long haul
fundamental patterns in the space of negligible weeks. Research shows that new propensities
shaped now will endure past this emergency, permanently changing what we value, how and
where we shop, and how we live and work.

Consumers are profoundly worried about the effect of COVID-19, both from a health and
economic viewpoint. Individuals are reacting in an assortment of ways and have varying
perspectives, practices and buying propensities. Individuals over the globe are apprehensive as
they endeavor to adjust to another ordinary. Fear is running high as people think about what
this emergency implies for them, yet more significantly, what it implies for their families and
companions, and society on the loose.

Consumer needs have gotten focused on the most fundamental needs, interest for cleanliness,
cleaning and staples items soaring, while unimportant classifications droop. The components
that impact brand choices are additionally changing as a "purchase nearby" pattern quickens.
Digital trade has also seen a boost and is assumed to be in picture for a really long time even
after the pandemic.

Individuals are telecommuting as organizations close entryways and empower remote work.
Numerous representatives who have not worked remotely previously—or not regularly—plan
to do so more as often as possible later on. High rates of representatives feel they have the
correct condition and apparatuses for remote work, yet some miss social contact. In general,
representatives feel their bosses have found a way to ensure their wellbeing and keep them all
around educated.
As a global entrepreneur, my approach to the changing consumer trends (that have been
discussed above) would be to cope up with the changes and adapt accordingly, because
the changes seem permanent. It is also important to stay connected with the consumers and
focus on growth and innovation of various products/services. We can do so by:
 Creating an elastic digital workforce
 Reshaping the marketing plan around the new generated demand for human free
services or hygienic products
 Rethink and redefine relationships with various stakeholders of the company
 Reconsider the product/service portfolio
 Prioritize investment plans for post pandemic period
 Change with changing environment
 Scan the market for merger and acquisition opportunities
 Accelerate and move to a more data driven operating model
 Checking the feasibility of the current business model
 Financial planning for the future
 Transparent communication with the employees and the consumers

3.2) With the outbreak of COVID-19, the global economy is already facing shifts in consumer
behavior and trends. Consumers now prefer human free services and hand less transactions.
They are more focused on hygienic products and essential items, and they want to buy it all
locally. Some of the changes may seem short term, but majority of them will continue for a
long time now.

Such pandemics have a direct impact on the biological, psychological and economic
dimensions. Its intensity changes relying upon the mortality and dreariness pace of the current
pathogen, just as the time it takes for it to spread. For COVID-19, the biological effect has
rushed to heighten and has been the hardest-hitting for the elderly. The psychological effect
can be seen in financial exchanges over the world – speculators are under confident about the
future as the data on the spread of COVID-19 and its effect on worldwide efficiency is, best
case scenario deficient and at more regrettable, off base. The worldwide populace is
additionally confronting mental effect, with low confidence and expanded disengagement as
human contact and opportunity to travel are getting vigorously shortened. Last, yet
unquestionably not the least, the economic effect has been critical. For the time being, the
supply of different basic items has been disrupted and the demand for different items and
services has dropped off. On the off chance that this proceeds, COVID-19 could influence
worldwide GDP contrarily.

Long-term development and changes in patterns will come to fruition as consumers and
organizations attempt genuinely to standardize the effect on psychological and economic
dimensions — if regulation is reached and the biological effect is settled. Concentrating on
various startups that increased scaled around the hours of worldwide emergencies through the
focal point of this structure clears the fog. To begin, a recession for the most part achieves a
speeding up in plan of action change, driving down expenses to serve and costs. Then again,
pandemics will in general empower totally new classifications of organizations. It likewise
turns out to be very evident that the two, pandemics and recessions are accelerators to
advancement as opposed to being immediate reasons for it, that is, these new companies and
business ideas were near, however, picked up ubiquity at a quicker rate on account of a
specific occasion like this one.

 Supply chains will converge into versatile ecosystems: Global supply chains have
for quite some time been equipped towards keeping quality moderately steady while
driving lower costs at each progression. This has brought about critical focus hazard as
far as topographies and merchants for most organizations are concerned. There is a
sharp requirement for a progressively appropriated, composed and identifiable supply
of components across multiple geographies and vendors while keeping up economies
of scale. This would require worldwide stages to be raised that utilize refined
technologies, for example, 5G, robotics, IoT and block chain to help connect different
purchasers with numerous merchants reliably over a 'mesh' of supply chains. This will
likewise have a thump on sway on the reception of self-driving vehicles and
conveyance rambles as the interest for web based business co ordinations will far
 surpass the quantity of drivers expected to satisfy them.

 Digital bureaucracies will become standard: The Covid-19 breakout has made
government administrations turn vigorously faster than any time in recent memory.
Such efforts as well as the biological effect could have been improved if there were
increasingly keen urban areas on the planet. As governments gain from the COVID-19
experience, it will move investments on such urban communities, because they would
be critical in such times.

 Mental health support will be provided at large, virtually: It can be assumed that
during and after the pandemic will accelerate the work from home and online
education culture. What is important to figure out is that how will the educated
workforce work together remotely for a prolonged period of time. It can be assumed
that there would be direct impact on employee morale, productivity and mental health
of the employees worldwide, and the businesses are supposed to be prepared for the
same. There are various digital platforms available now for organizations as well as for
individuals to work remotely.

COVID-19 has proved to be a terrible shock to the global economy as well as the thousands of
families that have been affected by the virus. Companies currently should focus on the well-
being of their workers and their families. The pandemic has irrevocably changed the industry
for a long period, and the companies who have adapted the changes will continue to succeed,
and the ones who don’t will break down.
Ans.4)Yes, I believe that entrepreneurs think effectually. Effectuation process is where an
entrepreneur identify the next best step by carefully assessing the resources that are already
available, to achieve the desired ultimate goal. Entrepreneurs usually start with a basic
mindset of what they are and what they have, then they rapidly sense, act and mobilize
even under harsh conditions. The effectuation process can be further explained with the
help of the following diagram:
Entrepreneurs attempt to make sense of opportunities in context of changing goals, constantly
questioning “the dominant logic” in the context of changing environment and revisiting
“deceptively simple questions” about what is thought to be true about markets and the firm.
Entrepreneurs think continuously about the current strategies, organization structure,
communication systems, corporate culture, asset deployment, investment strategies and every
other aspect of firm’s operations and long term health.

The differences between effectuation and causation can be studied from the following table:

Categories of Effectuation Process Causation Process

differentiation
Meaning Start with the available Start with the desired
resources to achieve desired outcome and focus on the
 outcome. means to generate the
outcome.
Logic Controlled Predictive
Usage Used by entrepreneurs Used by managers for clearly
because it is inherently defined projects
creative
Thinking Entrepreneurial Managerial
Strategy Partnerships Competition