Professional Documents
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Griffin
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter 5 deals with entrepreneurship and new venture formation. Planning and decision making are
essential ingredients in the success of any new and growing venture. Moreover, entrepreneurship ideas
and processes can also contribute directly to effective planning and decision making.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Describe the role of entrepreneurship in society.
2. Understand the major issues involved in choosing strategies for small firms and the role of
international management in entrepreneurship.
3. Discuss the structural challenges unique to entrepreneurial firms.
4. Understand the determinants of the performance of small firms.
MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
Putting the Greek into Yogurt
He is not even Greek! The opening vignette features the story of the Turkey-born, U.S. immigrant who
launched Chobani (Turkish for shepherd), the enormously successful Greek yogurt brand. Hamdi
Ulukaya set up shop in an old Kraft Foods yogurt plant in upstate New York and launched his highly
successful product. The case details his journey from idea to launch.
Management Update: Hamdi Ulukaya was named the U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 and
World Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 by Ernst & Young. He also won the Small Business
Administration’s Entrepreneurial Success of the Year Award in 2012 and was named one of TIME
magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. The Nature of Entrepreneurship
A. Entrepreneurship is the process of planning, organizing, and assuming the risk of a
business venture. An entrepreneur is someone who engages in entrepreneurship.
B. A small business is one that is privately owned by an individual or a small group of
individuals and has sales and assets that are not large enough to influence its environment.
Teaching Tip: Point out to your students a sample of small businesses around campus—convenience
stores, dry cleaners, local restaurants, clothing shops, and so forth.
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72 Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management
2. Retailing
a. Retailers sell products manufactured by other firms directly to consumers.
b. Entrepreneurs who start small businesses favor specialty shops. These let them
focus limited resources on narrow market segments.
3. Construction
Many construction projects are small, local projects that lend themselves to small
business.
4. Financial and Insurance
Small businesses may be affiliates of or sell products provided by larger national firms.
5. Wholesaling
a. Wholesalers buy products from manufacturers or other producers, and then sell
them to retailers. They usually buy products in bulk and store them in quantity at
convenient locations for retailers.
b. Wholesalers need fewer employees than manufacturers, retailers, or service
providers.
c. They also serve fewer customers than other providers.
6. Transportation
Smaller, local transportation markets, such as city taxi services or charter airlines
services, may be effectively served by small business.
7. Manufacturing
Due primarily to disadvantageous economies of scale, small businesses historically
have not performed as well as large ones in manufacturing. However, technology
innovations in an industry often shift the economies-of-scale curve, thereby creating
opportunities for small businesses.
Teaching Tip: With the growing role of computers and other technology in the creation of new
products and product ideas, the disadvantages of manufacturing for small businesses become less
significant. Use of technology can shift an industry’s economies of scale, making it less expensive to
produce products in small quantities.
B. Emphasizing Distinctive Competencies
Distinctive competencies are the aspects of business that the firm performs better than its
competitors. The distinctive competencies of small business usually fall into three areas: the
ability to identify new niches in established markets, the ability to identify new markets, and
the ability to move quickly to take advantage of new opportunities.
1. Identifying Niches in Established Markets
a. An established market is a market in which several large firms compete
according to well-established criteria.
b. A particular niche (a segment of a market that is not currently being exploited)
may not be adequately served by the big businesses that dominate older,
established markets.
Extra Example: Many retailers sell women’s attire, but Eddie Bauer was the first retailer offering all
of its women’s products in tall sizes. In doing so, Eddie Bauer found an unexploited niche.
2. Identifying New Markets
Discovery of new markets happens either by transferring products or services to a new
geographic market or by inventing new products that create an entire industry.
Extra Example: Ann Taylor achieved success when she identified a new market for women’s business
attire that is professional and feminine at the same time.
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Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management 73
3. First-Mover Advantages
Small firms can be more flexible than larger ones, enabling them to obtain first-mover
advantages that come from being the first to exploit an opportunity before any other
firm does.
Extra Example: Dell Computer has thrived as a result of its first-mover advantage in direct
marketing—selling online and shipping directly to consumers. Dell has been able to maintain its
dominance in this segment of the industry because of its “head start.”
C. Writing a Business Plan
1. Another key ingredient to entrepreneurial success is the preparation of a strong
business plan, a document that summarizes the business strategy and structure.
Teaching Tip: The website Bplans (www.bplans.com) offers sample business plans. It is interesting to
look at the variety of businesses that are the subject matter of these plans.
2. Business plans should answer the following questions:
a. What are the entrepreneur’s goals and objectives?
b. What strategies will the entrepreneur use to obtain these goals and objectives?
c. How will the entrepreneur implement these strategies?
3. Business plans should also include the entrepreneur’s qualifications for this particular
business, his or her sales and other forecasts, and information about financial planning.
Group Exercise: Have small groups of students sketch the basic issues they would need to consider if
they were going to start a specific type of new business.
D. Entrepreneurship and International Management
Big business is traditionally associated with international expansion, but many smaller
companies are moving into foreign countries. The risks are high, but so are the potential
rewards.
IV. Structure of Entrepreneurial Organizations
A. Starting the New Business
The entrepreneur must commit to business ownership and then choose an industry and
market. Choosing an industry and market requires would-be entrepreneurs to assess not only
industry trends but also their own skills.
1. Buying an Existing Business
a. If successful, an existing business has already proved its ability to draw
customers at a profit.
b. It has also established working relationships with lenders, suppliers, and the
community.
c. The track record of an existing business gives potential buyers a much clearer
picture of what to expect than any estimate of a new business’s prospects.
2. Starting from Scratch
a. Reasons for starting a business from scratch rather than buying an existing
business are that the business does not suffer the ills effects of a prior owner’s
mistakes and the start-up owner is free to choose lenders, equipment, inventories,
locations, suppliers, and workers.
b. However, the risks of starting a business from scratch are greater than those of
buying an existing business.
(1) Founders of new businesses can make only predictions and projections
about their prospects.
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74 Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management
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Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management 75
2. Management Consultants
Management consultants are experts who charge fees to help managers solve problems.
They often specialize in one area, such as international business or small business, and
can bring an objective and trained outlook to problems and provide logical
recommendations. However, they often charge a lot of money for their services.
3. The Small Business Administration
The SBA offers small business four major management-counseling programs at
virtually no cost: the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), the Active Corps
of Executive (ACE) program, the Small Business Institute (SBI), and the Small
Business Development Center (SBDC) program.
Teaching Tip: Arrange for a local speaker from one of the SBA’s programs to visit the class for a few
minutes and discuss various new business assistance programs.
4. Networking
Many small-business owners are discovering the value of networking—meeting
regularly with one another to discuss common problems and opportunities and, perhaps
most important, to pool resources.
D. Franchising
1. A franchising agreement is a contract between an entrepreneur (the franchisee) and a
parent company (the franchiser). The franchisee pays the franchiser a fee for the use of
its trademarks, products, formulas, and business plans. The franchiser provides
management and marketing expertise, a national image, and in some cases financing.
2. Franchising potentially reduces the entrepreneur’s risks, but it also provides less
control and profit potential, and it usually involves a substantial start-up cost.
Discussion Starter: Entrepreneur Magazine publishes an annual list of the fastest-growing franchises
in the United States each year. Visit www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/fastestgrowing and explore the
list with students. In what industries are the fastest-growing franchises located in? Why are these types
of firms popular choices for franchising?
Teaching Tip: Point out some local businesses, especially near campus, that are franchised.
V. The Performance of Entrepreneurial Organizations
A. Trends in Small-Business Start-Ups
1. Emergence of E-Commerce
The Internet has provided fundamentally new ways of doing business. Savvy
entrepreneurs have been able to create and expand new businesses faster and more
easily than ever before.
Teaching Tip: Point out to students how the increased personal and business use of the Internet has
helped small business. For an investment of just a few thousand dollars, a small business can reach
customers and suppliers nationwide.
2. Crossovers from Big Business
More businesses are being started by people who have opted to leave big corporations
and put their experience and know-how to work for themselves.
3. Opportunities for Minorities and Women
Entrepreneurship creates opportunities for women and minorities to reach higher
achievement and be more independent. Small businesses owned by minorities and
women are growing rapidly.
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76 Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management
Discussion Starter: Ask students if they have an interest in being an entrepreneur or if they intend to
go to work for someone else.
END-OF-CHAPTER
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78 Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management
SUVs, and trucks that most Americans buy. There might be an opportunity for a completely
different type of vehicle, or for the revival of old favorites, such as the station wagon.
4. List five entrepreneur-owned businesses in your community. In which industry does each business
compete? Based on the industry, how do you rate each business’s long-term chances for success?
Explain your answers.
Students will choose different companies, of course. They should correctly identify the industry. It
is possible that they will identify a variety of success factors such as economies of scale and the
existence of unfilled market niches.
5. Using the information about managing a small business presented in this chapter, analyze whether
you would like to work in a small business—either as an employee or as a founder. Given your
personality, background, and experience, does working in or starting a new business appeal to
you? What are the reasons for your opinion?
This makes an excellent outside-of-class assignment. There will likely be a wide variety of
answers.
Experiential Exercise
Negotiating a Franchise Agreement
a. Purpose
This exercise expands students’ understanding of the importance of negotiation skills for
franchisees and franchisers.
b. Format
Individual students perform the first two steps, and the last step is done in small groups.
Class discussion should be used for the follow-up questions.
c. Follow-Up Questions
1. Did doing both Step 1 and Step 2 in advance help or hinder your negotiations?
Students’ answers will vary, but you can point out to students that successful
negotiations are most likely when both parties understand their own position, as well as
the position of the other party.
2. Can a franchising agreement be so one-sided as to damage the interests of both parties?
How so?
When one party in a negotiation imposes that party’s will on the other party, the result
is likely to be dissatisfaction for both parties. For example, consider what would
happen in this negotiation situation if the franchiser (the restaurant owner) negotiated
terms that would ensure that most of the ventures’ profits would return to the
franchiser, leaving the franchisee with little profit. In the short run, such an
arrangement would seem to benefit the franchiser, while it would clearly not be
advantageous for the franchisee. However, in the long run, even the franchiser would
suffer, because the franchisee could become unhappy, make a lot of complaints, try to
turn other franchisees against the franchiser, perform substandard work and damage
the franchiser’s reputation, and eventually leave the franchise agreement, requiring the
franchiser to expend time and money in finding another franchisee.
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80 Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management
• A total score of 24–30 indicates that the student has what it takes to run his or her own
business.
• A total score of 17–23 indicates that the student would find challenges in running his
or her own business and should consider looking for a partner who is strong on the
points on which the student is weak.
• A total score of 10–16 indicates that the student would find starting and running his or
her business would be quite challenging and that even bringing in a partner would not
be enough to make that challenge surmountable.
MANAGEMENT AT WORK
Leaping to Constructions
Project Frog (which stands for Flexible Response to Ongoing Growth), founded in 2006, is a San
Francisco-based builder of component structures designed for onsite assembly. Unlike current
component manufacturers, Project Frog buildings are customizable. Project Frog uses “smart
manufacturing” when designing and manufacturing the building components. The result is a building
requiring less construction, producing less waste and improving on energy efficiency standards.
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Chapter 5: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management 81
Case Questions
1. What are Project Frog’s distinctive competencies? In what ways has it succeeded in emphasizing
them?
Project Frog has distinctive competencies. It can identify work plans, and it has the necessary
tools to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and organizations and the tools to
assist the development of an individual’s learning plan. Project Frog also utilizes “smart
manufacturing,” where it has an opportunity to rethink everything and use energy-efficiency
fixtures, temperature control systems, and ultimately componentize the buildings, allowing all
buildings to be customizable.
It succeeds in emphasizing its distinctive competencies by being eco-friendly and developing
innovative classroom designs that improve student performance. In addition, all of the buildings it
designs perform 40 percent better than California’s strict energy-code standards.
2. Now that it has a foothold in school construction, Project Frog has set its sights on an even more
promising sector—healthcare construction. Why is the construction of healthcare facilities
consistent with Project Frog’s distinctive competencies? Why does the company see this sector as
such a promising area of growth?
Construction of healthcare facilities are consistent with Project Frog’s distinctive competencies
because Project Frog focuses on waste reduction and saves water and electricity over time. Its
buildings are also cheaper to construct than traditional buildings. There is a need to build more
medical facilities and also save costs. These needs are compatible with Project Frog’s
competencies, which is why Project Frog sees this sector as a promising area of growth.
3. The Center for Green Schools reports that students’ ability to learn can be enhanced by
improvements in indoor air, acoustics, thermal comfort, and daylighting. Former president Bill
Clinton says that “we should be right now engaged in retrofitting every school in America for
sustainability.” What about you? Judging from your own experience—whether positive, negative,
or somewhere in between—do you think that the environmental quality of school facilities is an
important factor in helping students to learn? How did the schools you attended measure up on
environmental support for learning? How about the classroom that you’re sitting in now?
Students’ answers will vary. The question of retrofitting every school is a positive thing. There are
some schools that lack more resources than others. Having a high environmental quality in school
facilities is an important factor in helping students to learn because not only is there better quality
of air, but also lighting is better, acoustics are better, and there is an overall improved learning
environment, including automatic flushing toilets, automatic dispensing sinks, lots of windows,
and an overall cheerful environment.
4. As the case informs us, RockPort Capital played a crucial role in providing Project Frog with
financing at an early stage of its development ($8 million in 2008). In 2011, GE Energy Financial
Services led a second round of funding totaling $22 million. A third round, in 2013, netted
$20 million, mostly from Convergent Capital Management (CCM), bringing the total to
$50 million. All three investment firms are venture capital companies. Check out each of these
companies on the Internet (you probably don’t have to go much further than the home page).
You’ll find that each company has different investment criteria. It should also be clear that Project
Frog was a good investment match for each one. Why?
RockPort Capital is a good investment match with Project Frog because it invests in areas of
alternative energy, mobility, and sustainability. GE Energy Financial Services is a good
investment match for Project Frog because it has more than 35 years of experience in managing
energy assets through multiple economic cycles and a global portfolio that includes both
conventional and renewable power and oil and gas infrastructures. CCM is an investment
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Solution Manual for Griffin’s Fundamentals of Management, 9th Edition Ricky W. Griffin
company that focuses on investing in companies that have proprietary technology, processes,
and/or products. The companies it invests in must have adequate liquidity and experienced equity
backing and must be positioned within a strong industry. Based on what CCM looks for, Project
Frog presents an excellent investment opportunity.
© 2019 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.