Successful entrepreneurs tend to follow a multi-step process on four main elements to achieve

their goals. These processes include identifying an opportunity, developing a business plan,
determining the resources needed, and finally managing the newly developed enterprise. This
essay will with practical examples discuss the four steps of entrepreneurship.

The entrepreneurial process stages that needs to happen to start a business is not easy for anyone.
Many people have reasons to be an entrepreneur, many say the things that should be done, and a
few are the ones who really do what is needed to start. It is very common to see people who
think, but a few who act. The entrepreneurial process stages can be developed one step at a time,
but some entrepreneurs are the ones who continue on this lifestyle. The entrepreneurial culture
and spirit is on those who decide to take one step ahead to achieve success. It is a long-term
process that visionaries will have to keep on working to transform their environment. There are
several models created by academics that shows what is the entrepreneurial process about
(Deakins and Freel 2009).

The entrepreneurial development of a person goes beyond education, which requires various
factors to take place this complex process. According to Bolton and Thompson (2007:367) “The
entrepreneurial process is a set of stages and events that follow one another. “These
entrepreneurial process stages are: the idea or conception of the business, the event that triggers
the operations, implementation and growth. A critical factor that drive the development of the
business at each stage as with most human behavior, entrepreneurial traits are shaped by personal
attributes and environment. The attitudes of the people are those who are shaping their own
surroundings, if an entrepreneur looks for the characteristics of successful people, their chances
of success increase, specially if they belong to an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

According to Deakins and Freel (2009:123) “small firms have relatively small share of the
market place and are independent, in the sense of not being part of a large enterprise.” The
definition of what a small business actually is, can be varied and ‘depend’ on certain things i.e.
Aston Martin (although not an SME) employs 700 people which can be described as being
‘small’ when compared to other companies such as Ford or Honda, however when comparing
Aston Martin to its key competitors such as Caterham it is considered to be relatively large.

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The Entrepreneurial Process according to Bolton and Thompson (2007) These processes range
from the first stage of being motivated, to the most important stage of creating capital. Capital
can be split into 3 main categories; Financial, Social and Aesthetic. The diagram below shows
the full model of the Entrepreneurial Process. The entrepreneurial process, however, involves
more than just problem solving. All entrepreneurs private, corporate, and social must find,
evaluate, and develop an opportunity by overcoming the forces that resist the creation of
something new. Understanding how entrepreneurship works requires recognition of the process
involved and how to effectively manage that process. It is a process that can occur in different
settings but changes due to the diversity that exists among private, corporate, and social contexts.

Stage one is innovative should be a main objective to any firm if it desires to keep up with the
fast moving modern times (Ingrid,2007). For example a small computer hardware production
business cannot possibly survive if it’s still purchasing raw materials that are no longer desired
as much, such as floppy disk drives. The company should perhaps be looking at purchasing more
USB drives which have become much more popular pieces of hardware in modern times. As
previously stated this goes hand in hand with spotting and exploiting opportunities, as the
computer hardware company will need to spot and exploit the opportunity for installing more
USB hardware to computers. Paul Hurns (2013:234) states that “Innovation is a core
characteristic of an entrepreneur.”

A critical point in the entrepreneurial process is deciding to start the project. Be active and stay
motivated are the main factors for the entrepreneur to start landing his idea. Asking what
resources are needed and where he will get them, is vital to generate at least one way forward for
the entrepreneur. The development of the business plan will mark only a guide that can be used
as reference (Fred,1990).

The Entrepreneurial Process go hand in hand because ‘Creativity and Innovation’ can only be
thought of by ‘Spotting and creating opportunities’. Joseph Schumpeter (1996) created a model
which consists of forces to help define exactly what innovation is, 2 of the forces can be
described as; The introduction of a new product/service, the conquest of a new source of supply
of raw materials or half-manufactured goods.

The project is conducted when the entrepreneur decides to seek and obtain resources. Getting
financing is difficult, and perhaps one of the main obstacles to start a business. When the

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entrepreneur begins to invest the resources and and begin operating, it is a point release of stress,
as the entrepreneur will see the first steps of his company (Fred,1990). After having pass through
the first months of operation, the company will see if it decreases, maintains or increases in sales.
The entrepreneur should strive to maintain revenue growth before worrying about having a nice
office. Managing a business is not easy, but the experience that entrepreneurs acquire over time
will surely ease the handling of all resources. Perhaps one could say that the entrepreneurial
process ends here (Ingrid,2007).

Being ‘motivated to make the difference’ is the second stage in the entrepreneur process, this is a
very important stage and many scholars feel that this is what can really define and make a
business successful. If the entrepreneur is motivated enough to really make a difference in a
specific market then he/she will break into that market and achieve whatever goals they have set
out to achieve. Paul Hurns (2007:256) states that “motivation is about inspiring customers and
financiers so that they understand where the business is going”. In my opinion if someone is not
willing to go through with an idea and does not have a successful drive to communicate their
idea effectively to others then he/she will not make it.

The third stage in entrepreneur process is implementation of the business idea, it is at this stage
the entrepreneur begins to wonder why there is not available a product or service, why not
improve certain things, how to generate income to cover their expenses, etc. Thousands of
questions might rise, so them will help to identify opportunities to meet the market needs. In
previous years, there where not enough amount of goods and services. It was a little bit easier to
position a business, however now it requires a search for information and market analysis to see
the possibility of success. It is possible that at this point in the entrepreneurial process, there are
many people, since the generation of ideas can be much easier. However, the step towards a
decision making is where many can stop and perhaps even abandon the idea from the starting a
business.

Implementation involves managing obstacles which any business will face during its life cycle.
Fourthly the business should ‘find the required resources’ this could be done by using the fifth
stages of ‘using networks extensively’. Networking is a very important factor especially for
SME’s as they usually require more help to compete with the large, and better reputable
companies. Richard Branson founder of Virgin famously built up a large number of networks to

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help establish his company to where it is at now. Networking has many benefits to a company
such as; cost and risk sharing, speeding products to markets, acting as a vehicle for obtaining
access to external knowledge (Deakins and Freel 2009).

The fourth and final stage in the entrepreneur process is growth. Ideal event for any entrepreneur
is to see how their company is constantly growing. The activities of the previous event, ideally
lead the business to a stage of maturity to maximize profitability for better benefits. Growth is
the stage of the entrepreneurial process in which is reflected time and effort spent by the
entrepreneur. At this time, to keep up the pace of the business growth, the entrepreneur must
keep up his personal development to continue also his internal growth. This growth is eventually
collaborative it there is an entrepreneurial ecosystem improvement that also aids the mutual work
(Fred,1990).

In summary, the four steps of entrepreneur process are there to help in income generating
initiatives which are dependent on the planning of innovation, the development of new
innovative products and innovative techniques. This is so as to defend their turf, uphold
profitability, to gain new markets, to keep up with environmental changes as well as to avoid
becoming redundant or extinct

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 References

David Deakins and Mark Freel (2009) Entrepreneurial activity, the economy and the
importance of small firms. Entrepreneurship and small firms 5th ed. Berkshire: McGraw-
Hill Education.

Bill Bolton and John Thompson (2007) Defining the Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs Talent,
Temperament, Technique. Oxford: Elsevier.

Paul Hurns (2013) Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ingrid Burns (2007) Heroes and Super-Heroes. Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire.

Thompson Fred (1990) Defining the Entrepreneur. Oxford: Elsevier.