See attachment (2 separate assignments )

 Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business

Discussion board # 1 (350 words)

Part I: From reading this unit’s material, what topic was the most interesting to you? What information did you find the most surprising? Can you foresee a point in your life where you would take a step toward becoming an entrepreneur? Why, or why not?

Part II: Describe an entrepreneurial venture in which you have been involved or aspire to become involved with in the future. How can you utilize the knowledge you learned from this unit in this venture? What is your motivation for being involved in these entrepreneurial ventures, or, if you are not interested in becoming involved in an entrepreneurial venture, what are your reasons for not selecting an entrepreneurial path?

Respond to post # 1 (200 words) (B.S)

PART 1 

The topic that stood out to me the most was Social Entrepreneurship, which is an approach to solving social and environmental issues through entrepreneurial principles and innovative solutions. It combines the drive and problem-solving skills of traditional entrepreneurship with a strong focus on creating positive and sustainable social or environmental impact. Social entrepreneurs are individuals or organizations that aim to address various societal challenges, such as Poverty, Inequality, access to Education, Healthcare, and Environmental Sustainability, by developing and implementing innovative business models and strategies. 

PART 2 

In 2012 I was at a point in my life where I became an entrepreneur by creating The Blueheart Foundation 334, which is a nonprofit driven to help underprivileged families in the Montgomery and surrounding areas. I created this nonprofit because I was once homeless, and I understand the struggle of not having nothing at all. So, I told myself If I ever get out of this situation, I will help others who are homeless and do my best to give back to those less fortunate, and that's what I did. 

Respond to post # 2 (200 words) (GV)

The material was interesting in categorizing intrapreneurs. This seems counter my construct on entrepreneurial disposition. Though, I can agree that some of the variables, attitudes, dispositions, and paradigm between entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have benefit in each realm or schema, my personal disposition is that taking an intra perspective falls outside the realm of true entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs, under my personal construct inherently delve outside the status quo, operating within an established organization or innovating within the constraints of institutional barriers seems to violate this construct. It is interesting that within the constraints of an established business endeavor innovators and those who redefine processes are exhibiting an entrepreneurship spirit, though in an intra-operational realm.

Baluku et al. (2021) posit that risk aversion attitudes are a predictor of entrepreneurial intention. This is interesting under the paradigm of marginal decision making. This finding suggests that entrepreneurs tend to be more risk tolerant. At the same time Eddleston and Mulki (2021) note that perceived low performance of a business is more likely to lead business operators to engage in unethical behaviors (like tax evasion). Given the marginal decision making of entrepreneurs then, if their endeavors are facing financial constraints (which entrepreneurial endeavors tend to face initially) are these risk tolerant personalities more like to outweigh the risks of cheating than the costs or not cheating?

Apart from personal morals and dispositions, more macro attitudes toward ethical behavior in general may have a mitigating factor. Payne and Joyner (2006) note that entrepreneurs tend to exhibit the same ethics and values that are for in the general society in which they operate. This suggests that societal perception on ethical and moral behaviors are adjusted in cost or value depending on the climate, politics and general disposition in which an entrepreneurial endeavor is engaged. 

Do you think the barriers to engaging in an entrepreneurial endeavor are more sided towards personal attitudes like risk tolerance and general disposition or more skewed towards more external factors like financing concerns? And what can be done to mitigate these barriers? 

this unit’s reading material

Social Entrepreneurship

In fitting with this emphasis on ethical behavior, a subdivision within the field of entrepreneurship is about creating non-profit ventures and for-profit ventures that solve a societal need. Social entrepreneurs identify challenges faced by social and environmental problems, such as how to add more protein to a population’s diet in a tropical climate. One solution to this problem could be the creation of shitake mushroom farming to add a new source of protein into the local populations’ diet. Another idea is farming oyster mushrooms to teach people how to earn extra income by selling their mushrooms. Once you start developing your entrepreneurial mindset, you will start to notice more examples of social entrepreneurship and the creation of new products to solve unique challenges.

Intrapreneurship

In this course, preconditioned restrictive messages about entrepreneurship will be diminished as your knowledge of the field of entrepreneurship is expanded and as you learn how to develop your entrepreneurial BUS 8303, Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business Development 3 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title skills to become alert in continuously viewing the world through a lens that notices all of the possibilities for creating new ventures to solve problems. Not only is the topic of entrepreneurship relevant to the idea of starting a venture, it’s also relevant from the perspective of intrapreneurship, the focus on creating new products within an organization. An example is 3M, which was originally named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. It has a history of success, failure, success, innovation, and perseverance (3M, n.d.). In addition to its history of innovation and perseverance, 3M has a focus on collaboration and trust, essential components that propelled 3M into the Fortune 500 list with over 60,000 products and a presence in over 70 countries. One-third of those products were invented within the last 5 years (3M, n.d.). To support intrapreneurship, 3M is known for encouraging employees to spend 15% of their time working on new ideas. Even ideas that do not result in success count as work toward new inventions (Goetz, 2011). 3M’s mission includes the importance of protecting employees and the environment, creating products with a high value to the customer, incubating and protecting disruptive technologies and processes, and developing and engaging employees (3M, n.d.). This type of supportive environment is intentionally designed to encourage entrepreneurial activities that are, in the case of working within an established corporation, examples of intrapreneurship.

Business Models and Entrepreneurship

Along with growing entrepreneurial behaviors through intrapreneurship, other forms of entrepreneurship can occur through understanding business models. Business models describe the method for providing a value that results in revenue. Some organizations like YouTube avoided creating a traditional business model around selling a service. Instead, YouTube was created with the intent of harvesting, or selling the company. Their innovative business model was designed to grow the volume of video data, rather than create a business model based on revenue related to uploading video. Another innovative type of business model includes subscription services, the idea of the customer purchasing a regular predetermined quantity of a product over a set timeline, a growing trend in start-up companies. The topic of business models and entrepreneurial venture success has not been studied extensively. An article by McDonald and Eisenhardt (2020) explores how business models position the new venture for success in noting the value in adjusting traditional business models to align with the value proposition. The example from this article points to the difference between Blockbuster and Netflix. Blockbuster’s business model was time-locked; whereas, Netflix’s business model offered ease of use and flexibility while simultaneously tracking individuals’ streaming history and preferences. These key alterations to the business model used by Blockbuster differentiated Netflix as an entertainment provider that offered key values to their users. The openness to reconsidering the business model from a creative value-added perspective locked Blockbuster out of the video rental industry. Even redefining how the industry is described provides new insights into defining the business model. The redefined industry move from video rental to entertainment provider has reshaped this industry with Netflix advancing to creating their content, solidifying their business model even further to block out competing players. The topic of business models and revenue models is covered later in the course in more depth.

Behaviors of Entrepreneurs

Keep in mind the importance of enjoying this course as part of the entrepreneurial behaviors of playfulness and experimentation. During this course, take time to apply the topics covered in the chapter readings. For example, Table 1.7 in Chapter 1 of the eTextbook shows how to use deliberate practice, which is a concept similar to practicing mindfulness. Consider practicing these activities at least once a day. Being deliberate, being consciously aware, and being in the moment are activities that you could build into your life. The benefit is improved perception, memory, intuition, and metacognition (Neck et al., 2021). These are documented behaviors of entrepreneurs proven to be effective and worth your time in practicing the activities and tools covered throughout this course.