Short and Long Question Answers: Entrepreneurial Journey | Entrepreneurship Class 11 - Commerce PDF Download

Q.1. Answer the following in about 15 words:

(i) List the fields in which ‘Trailblazer’ has business strengths.

The fields suitable for trailblazers are

• Consulting
• Engineering 
• Finance 
• Legal 
• Medical 
• Technology

(ii) List the fields in which ‘Motivator’ has business strengths.

The fields suitable for motivators are those which requires dealing with more people like

• Retail
• Hospitality
• Tourism
• Recreational
• Education

(iii) List the fields in which ‘Collaborator’ has business strengths.

The fields suitable for collaborators are those which are customer oriented or retail in nature like 

• Retail 
• Hospitality
• Tourism
• Recreational
• Education
• Event management

(iv) List the fields in which ‘Diplomat’ has business strengths.

The fields suitable for diplomats are people oriented environments like

• Retail
• Hospitality 
• Tourism 
• Recreational 
• Education 
• Event management

Q.2. Answer the following in about 50 words:

(i) Describe the characteristics of a ‘go-getter’ type of personality.

The “Go-getter” type of entrepreneurs have the following characteristics.

• They’re independent
• Self-driven
• They possess Dominance and Sociability
• Competitive in nature 
• Good managerial skills
• Leadership skills
• Self-motivated
• Capable of motivating others
• Initiative in nature
• They’ve a sense of urgency to get the task completed. 
• Goal oriented 
• Collaborative in nature 
• Capable of excelling in any field as they go

(ii) What is ‘Brainstorming’?

Brainstorming refers to the generation of ideas to solve a problem or to innovate new products or services to meeting the needs. In this, a group of people sit together an unstructured discussion. During this discussion one idea will lead to an another idea. At the end of the discussion, a number of ideas are generated. This is one of most productive methods to generate ideas.

(iii) What do you mean by ‘Environment Scanning’?

Environmental scanning refers to the idea generation technique where in an entrepreneur gathers huge amount of information and analyzes this information to identify potential business opportunities from the emerging trends. To gather the information they use channels like news magazines, commercials, trade publications, government and consumer publications, reviews, journals, books, seminars, trade shows, family members, customers, friends etc. The ideas generated from this information are then evaluated against the prevailing environment.

(iv) What are focus groups?

A focus group consists of group of persons. One person acts as a moderator. The moderator initiates a group discussion or put other issues in front of the group. The focus group put forward their opinions about the topic. They provide information about the product or service under discussion, in a structured fashion. The focus group is an excellent way of generating new ideas and to screen proposed ideas and concepts.

(v) Explain ‘Feasibility Study’.

The feasibility study is a controlled process which helps in

• Identifying problems and opportunities
• Determining objectives
• Describing situations 
• Defining successful outcomes
• Assessing the range of costs and benefits. 

It helps in determining several alternatives associated with solving a problem and arrive at the most feasible solution before starting a venture.

(vi) What do you think is the reason for failure of business plan Execution?

The following are the various factors that contribute to the failure of business plan execution.

• The plan may be well defined but it is not executed properly.
• The failure to execute the plan.
• The strategy, people and work processes are not aligned properly. 
• Incomplete understanding of the plan by the people in the organization. 
• Not allocating the plan execution to the right person.
• Lack of effective communication.

Q.3. Answer the following in about 75 words:

(i) What do you mean by ‘Opportunity Assessment’?
Opportunity assessment refers to the in-depth review of the business opportunity at hand. In the opportunity assessment the entrepreneur reviews and analyzes the following

• Applications 
• Barriers to start 
• Competitors
• Development timing 
• Employment of the resources 
• Financial capacity 
• Growth prospects
• Hiring requirements
• Intellectual property 
• Pricing factors 
• Legal liabilities 
• Licensing issues 
• Market trends 
• Market research 

This will prevent the entrepreneur from investing the time and money on non-profitable opportunities. It will also help them to unserstand what is required to exploit and succeed with potential opportunities.

(ii) Why are feasibility studies more important?

The feasibility study is a controlled process which helps in

• Identifying problems and opportunities 
• Determining objectives 
• Describing situations
• Defining successful outcomes
• Assessing the range of costs and benefits. 

This information is very importance for the entrepreneur because it helps them to 

• Enlist all the information required to start the enterprise and continue it
• Identify the problems associated with the implementation and plan for the solutions. 
• Prepare the marketing strategies that help in getting approval from the investors or the financial institutions 
• The feasibility study forms strong foundation for preparing the business plan. 
• It helps in determining several alternatives associated with solving a problem and arrive at the most feasible solution before starting a venture.

(iii) Why do you think the role of family in an entrepreneur‘s life is important?

Family plays critical role in the life of an entrepreneur. 

• To step into the entrepreneurial role, a person will give value about the opinion of the family about entrepreneurship.
• Their decision depends on how the family views and perceives failure. 
• The initial investment usually comes from the family. So, for an entrepreneur, a fully supporting family is an added advantage. 
• The inclination of the family members towards the more job secured fields like engineering, medicine, etc will affect their opinion.

Q.4. Answer the following in about 250 words:

(i) Explain in detail the elements of business plan.

The business plan depends on the size of the business under consideration. It gives the direction in which the business should flow and the sequence of steps required to implement the business. At various stages it acts as a reference point help the entrepreneur to get a gauge of the milestones achieved and change the strategies accordingly.
The various elements of the business plan are as follows:

• General Introduction: This includes the following details of the business
  (a) Name and address of the entrepreneur and the enterprise
  (b) All the stakeholders
  (c) Nature of business and the customers.
• Business Concept: This includes the details of the
  (a) Products and Services
  (b) Skills and technologies required
  (c) Size of the business unit (small or medium or large scale).
• Organization Plan: This includes the details of the
  (a) Adminograph
  (b) Business identity and stakeholders
  (c) Management team
  (d) Form of ownership
• Manufacturing plan: This includes the details of
  (a) Material
  (b) Resources
  (c) Machinery
  (d) Infrastructure
  (e) Manufacturing process
• HR Plan: This includes the details of the
  (a) Human resources available
  (b) Human resources to be recruited
  (c) Skill set various Human resources required
  (d) The amount of time required to complete the recruitment of the human resources
• Financial: This includes the details of the
  (a) Various sources of funding
  (b) Plan for gathering the funds
  (c) Fixed and working capital requirements
  (d) Break-even analysis
• Sales and Marketing Plan: This includes the details of the
  (a) Products and services and their pricing
  (b) Marketing strategies
  (c) Channels and logistics of distribution
• Others: This includes the details of the
  (a) Risk and risk mitigation plans
  (b) Contingency
  (c) Contract with investors, suppliers etc
  (d) Report on market research

(ii) Although there is no singular process to manage the execution of a business plan, there are basic processes and fundamentals to be followed. Enlist them.

Every entrepreneur should following the following fundamentals and processes while executing a business plan. 

• There will be few core competencies and quantifiable goals that support the mission, vision and strategy. The entrepreneurs should focus on these and ensure that everyone involved are also aware of these requirements. 
• Evaluation of the enterprise should be done. Few of the areas that need evaluation are
  (a) Allocation of the right job to the right people with the required competencies
  (b) Appropriate headcount in various departments
  (c) Consideration to reallocate the human resources 
• Raise the required capital. An entrepreneur may have to do this multiple times, over a period of time, to achieve the right combination of
  (a) Financial stability
  (b) Strategy
  (c) and tactics
• Communicate effectively to all the stakeholders and employees. This ensures that everyone in the organization are on the same page and there is no communication gap. Introduce rewards and recognition to motivate the stakeholders and employees towards the goal. This will improve productivity levels.
• Instill an effective decision making process. This will help to make the bust judgement and take action when the enterprise has to take an alternate course of action which is not in-line with its strategy.
• Periodic checks and reviews should be in place. Over a period of time all the environmental factors like suppliers, competitors, government policies, prevailing markets, consumer behaviour are likely to change. Even the goal of the enterprise itself might change. Under such circumstances, each of the strategies, plans and tactics must be reviewed and changed in accordance with the new business direction.

(iii) Explain in detail any six problems faced by women entrepreneurs.

The following are the challenges faced by a woman entrepreneur: 

• Male domination: In India, the society is mainly male-dominated right from old days. This poses problem for the woman entrepreneur to deal with the gender discrimination. 
• Limited Opportunities: The percentage of educated women is very less. In some places women are facing problems due to illiteracy. This is a big challenge for a woman to become entrepreneur. They do not have enough knowledge to succeed as an entrepreneur though they have excellent skillset in one area or the other.
• Reachability to technology: They lack of availability of enough information about the latest development in production, marketing and technologies is a set back for woman entrepreneurs.
• Social limitations: Some of the customs and traditions prevailing in the society stand in the way of they growth and prosperity. This problem is more severe in the rural areas. Lack of proper education increases this problem further.
• Lack of enough support from investors and financiers: There is not enough support for the woman entrepreneurs when it comes to the funding for a specific business. Many investors and financiers are not supportive in this regard. Despite a very low rate of bad debts, they still face lack of support. Though women have proved to be successful through self-help group in micro finance, they still face problems in getting enough funding for their business. 
• Lack of reachability to organized sector: Though they are skilled, women are mostly confined to the unorganized sector. This is a major drawback for them. Lack of education and awareness is keeping them away from the organized sector and from reaping the benefits of the organized sector. Though they have leadership skills they are not able to fully utilize their potential.

Q.5. (i) According to Dell, what was the final outcome of the study about women entrepreneurs?

Dell conducted a study on entrepreneurship prospects in India in January, 2012. The results revealed that the ideal country for women entrepreneurs to set up an enterprise is India. The woman entrepreneurs participated in the survey had expectations that the business growth would be around 90 percent in the coming 5 years. Many woman entrepreneurs were interviewed during the survey and the final results of the survey were announced in June, 2014. The following were key findings from this survey.

• Among the woman entrepreneurs who started a business, 71 percent were successful in achieving their business goals and run the business with profits.
• 74% of them are on the verge using more complex technologies, to meet the demand.
• 80 percent of the successful woman entrepreneurs are hiring employees to expand their business operations. 
• Many of them (85 percent) expressed how important it is for their business to have a social impact. 
• Most of them (around 90 percent) were working on a day job when they started their business.

(ii) Explain in detail any four entrepreneurial types.

• Trailblazers: They are aggressive and risk-taking entrepreneurs who are
  (a) Ambitious
  (b) Goal-based
  (c) Competitive
  They want to take everything into their hands and are drive any task with lot of energy. They make decisions based on
  (a) Analysis
  (b) Practicality
  (c) Logic
  (d) Realistic approach
  Their strengths make them best suited for
  (a) Consulting
  (b) Engineering
  (c) Finance
  (d) Legal
  (e) Medical
  (f) Technology
  They can lay down best strategies for the operations and marketing.
  They are highly innovative and like to start their own business instead of taking a franchise. 
• Go-getters: Go-getters are dominant and sociable entrepreneurs. They’re self-driven and like to work independently and are competitive. They’re highly initiative and get the things done at a very fast pace.
  They’ve a natural tendency to lead and manage people and processes. They are good leaders and good managers and motivate the people surrounding them.
  They’re best suited for the retail industry.
  They put their best in the new and challenging environments and drive the enterprise towards its goal. 
• Managers: The managers are independent and dominant.
  Goal and process focused and not people oriented.
  They are not always time-bound.
  They are customer-oriented too and contribute a lot to the growth of business.
  They love working independently with
  (a) Concepts
  (b) Ideas
  (c) Systems
  (d) and Technology
  They’re very good competitors and achieve the targets despite the odds in their way.
  As they’ve difficulty in working with others, they should hire employees who are very good listeners and people oriented. 
• Motivators: Motivators love to work with others and motivate them to achieve the goal. They are self-driven and independent.
  They’re capable sustaining the work pressure and achieve better results.
  They’re best suited for retail environment. However, they can achieve better targets in business which is people oriented.
  They create a strong emotional argument and can overcome the challenges and provide excellent customer service in the challenging environment.
  They are good in leadership or sales domains.
  They lover to work under partnership and are best suited in a business where customer retention is critical.
• Authoritarians: They are key contributors in the society. Whether it is a product or service, they always do it themselves. They always do it in the right way. Thy prove out to be a successful entrepreneur when they taken up an already established business rather than starting it from scratch.They always do the things right as they are
  (a) detail oriented
  (b) motivated
  (c) tactic
  Apart from this, they tend to be very cooperative and love to take up others work. They have a strong affection to follow the
  (a) policies
  (b) procedures
  (c) rules and regulations
  The most suitable businesses for this type of entrepreneurs are those where in the there is a strong need for product or service. dry cleaning stores, convenience stores etc. They provide very good customer care and very good at increasing the number of customers.
  Mostly they land in a business that they never thought of and for this reason they are sometimes referred to as accidental entrepreneurs. Their full potential is realized if they land into a business which matches with their experience.
  They do not have a natural tendency to prospect. So, they shine in a business where the customers are drawn to the business. They can shine in other businesses too if they have a business partner who has a natural tendency to networking or prospect. For this reason they will be successful if they take up a franchise or buy an existing business, as the business promotion is well taken care of by someone else.
• Collaborators: Collaborators are highly socializing by nature. They take advantage of this characteristic to get their work done. They can handle people side of the business very well. To handle the other side of the business, they should partner with someone who can take aggressive role in establishing a new business. They have good inclination to implement the rules and regulations. Being highly sociable, they can be most successful in retail or service oriented or in a business where influencing others is critical. When the business itself involves people, they are the most suitable. Their skill set can be best utilized in sales and marketing as they are very good in business promotion, especially in warm selling. 
• Diplomats: Diplomats
  (a) are very active
  (b) cope up with pressure
  (c) deal successfully with the new situations and changes
  They want to get the things with a high sense of urgency.
  They like to try out different things.
  They want to get the work done with compliance and want to get the work done at their full capacity.
  They are multitasking.
  They are charged with lot of energy and deal their favorite parts of the business at their full capacity. They are good at working with the things themselves and they do not usually prefer to delegate the details.
  They have two important elements in them that are critical for success i.e., self-driven and highly sociable. Due to this reason, they are considered as the best of the specialist entrepreneurs.
  They’re not rainmakers but once they get into the business they provide the best in class service to retain the customers and provide complete customer satisfaction.
  Businesses that are retail in nature and that have people oriented environment are most suitable for this type of entrepreneurs. They are both empathetic and outgoing. Due to this reason, the others like them well. As they have difficulty to assert themselves and holding others accountable, they need employees who are strong and result-oriented to meet the business priorities.

(iii) Explain any four main sources of ideas.

The following are the sources of generation of business ideas:

• Environmental Scanning: Environmental scanning refers to the idea generation technique where in an entrepreneur gathers huge amount of information and analyzes this information to identify potential business opportunities from the emerging trends. To gather the information they use channels like news magazines, commercials, trade publications, government and consumer publications, reviews, journals, books, seminars, trade shows, family members, customers, friends etc. The ideas generated from this information are then evaluated against the prevailing environment. 
• Creativity: Creativity refers to the process of where in two or more ideas are combined in a new way and create innovative association among them.
  Creativity requires looking a problem in a new:
  (a) angle
  (b) approach
  (c) connection
  This process leads to a structured approach in which a number of creative alternate solution to a problem at hand can be developed.
  Few examples include
  (i) Free association: In this process a chain of words are associated to arrive at a creative idea.
  (ii) Attribute Listing: In this process the positive or negative attributes of a product or service or enlisted and analyzed to arrive at a creative idea. 
• Brainstorming: Brainstorming refers to the generation of ideas to solve a problem or to innovate new products or services to meeting the needs. In this, a group of people sit together an unstructured discussion. During this discussion one idea will lead to an another idea. At the end of the discussion, a number of ideas are generated. This is one of most productive methods to generate ideas.
• Focus Groups: A focus group consists of group of persons. One person acts as a moderator. The moderator initiates a group discussion or put other issues in front of the group. The focus group put forward their opinions about the topic. They provide information about the product or service under discussion, in a structured fashion. The focus group is an excellent way of generating new ideas and to screen proposed ideas and concepts.
• Market Research: In this process the information is procured about products or services that are prevailing in the market. The information thus gathered is then deeply studied in a structured fashion. This gives the demand supply gap that is prevailing in the market for this product or service. This leads to innovative ideas about a product or service.

(iv) Explain the types of feasibility study.

There’re four types of feasibility study, described below:

• Technical: Technical feasibility is study of available technical resources at disposal and how we can make use of these resources to introduce a product or service
  The following are the various resources that are examined under technical feasibility:
  (a) Technology (both software and hardware)
  (b) Manpower
  (c) Transportation
  (d) Location etc 
• Financial: This includes the assessment of
  (a) Initial investment
  (b) Various sources to procure the capital
  (c) ROI (return on investment)
• Market: This includes assessment of
  (a) The type of industry being setup
  (b) Prevailing market
  (c) Future market growth/prospects
  (d) Competitors
  (e) Potential Customers
  (f) Projection of sales
• Organizational: The organizational feasibility focuses on whether the business is capable of meeting its goals or objectives or not. This includes the study of
  (a) how the business is structured
  (b) legal structure of the business
  (c) the management team’s competency, professional skills and experience

(v) What purposes does a business plan serve?

A business plan serves the following purposes: 

• Business plan decides the specific strategies and tactics that need to be followed to achieve the business goal. It is also a reference tool while executing the business plan. 
• Lays out the direction for the entrepreneur to procure all the resources (money, material, manpower, machines etc) required to start the business.
• Lays out the direction for directing and organizing the business execution. It acts as a reference point about the business direction to all the partners/employees/other stake holders, in future. 
• Lays out the milestones to measure the progress of the business at specific intervals of time, there by taking appropriate measures to set the business in the right direction. Thus any deviations from the business goal are well taken care of.
• Serves as a communication tool to all the stakeholders (Partners, Investors, lenders, suppliers etc) about the implementation of the business and understand the business direction, goals etc.

(vi) Differentiate between feasibility study and business plan.