A1 Entrepreneurship and enterprise principles and characteristics

• Enterprise is the process of using creativity and innovation to meet customers’ needs and aspirations.

What Enterprise involves?

o identifying gaps in the market to sell products and services and so create markets, grow markets, increase market share and become market leaders

Given the continual changes in the IT sector opportunities can become clear companies and individuals to make significate amounts of profit and revenue.  This could be a service or product that compliments those already available or something completely new. So what is a "gap in the market"? essentially it is where there is no other individual or company, or, a limited amount of companies that offer this potential service or product.

o creating products and services and selling them into an identified market.

Companies like Cisco, Microsoft and Huawei create a number of services that operate on, and in the same areas of computing. The competition between these companies continues to push each other to develop the next best thing and to be the chosen preference of companies and industries. Huawei, recently (Jan 2020) have been receiving a lot of press attention around the possible contract with the UK in delivering a high-speed 5g network. Is it that the hardware is cheaper, does it bring something that its competitors don't, you will need to research that, however it does provide the basis of supply and demand. 

What are the Enterprise skills and capabilities that are required to establish and drive an enterprise forward?

o expertise: entrepreneurial and technical

Within a company setting CEO's, Managers and owners look to use skills and business attributes to drive their companies forward, this requires in most cases the use of previous experiences or reflection of current case studies to allow them to make informed decisions. Experience and expertise can provide technical and entrepreneurial information to the feasibility of implementing or initiating process, procedures, products and or services within an enterprise setting.

o enthusing and inspiring others

Organisations are machines of productivity and their output, and the quality of output can be impacted positively and negatively by the workforce within the system. In almost every company there are individuals that provide positive enthusiasm to improve and spur on those that may be feeling negative or undervalued. This support can inspire those in the company to move it forward from its current position and to improve the organisation over all. 

o motivating teams and co-workers

o commitment to work

Reflect on your time as a student, look at the time that you have spent learning and educating yourself to the areas that you study. Have you ever said to yourself, "if only I ...." now look to your commitment to the work during this time. Could you have done better? Did you know what you had to do? Now think fowards, are you going to change? Do things differently? 

This commitment to work is what allows you, your employer and possibly your own company to thrive and sucseed. Remember however, there may be more to this as you may not be the only person in the company so you may be reliant on others and their commitment to work.

o attitude to risk, e.g. risk-averse and risk-taker.

Business is about measured risk, however, this risk can provide huge opportunities, but, adversely you can provide opportunities to large losses. For some companies, the reward of taking large risks is mitigated by having a large scope within the company where they can offset the potential losses, but for smaller companies, this may not be an option and the amount of risk taken could be reduced, so in turn, the reward/gain may be relatively small.

Discussion:
Spend 5 minutes to consider the type of person that you are. Think about what risks you would take within the business. Consider having a virtual £10,000 and that your company needs to use this within the stock market to purchase shares! Where would you invest, Why, How much and would you buy shares from a number of companies.

Factors that make enterprises successful

o good entrepreneurial and IT skills

o teamwork

President John F. Kennedy was visiting NASA headquarters for the first time in 1961. While touring the facility, he introduced himself to a janitor who was mopping the floor and asked him what he did at NASA.

o well-thought-through plan using lean or traditional business principles

o competitive advantage, e.g. enterprise-scale, unique selling point (USP) and lack of competition

o access to finance for start-up and growth, e.g. own resources, bank loans, crowdfunding, venture capital

o positive perception that is communicated by word of mouth, social media, broadcast media and print media

o product champions who promote the internal development and external promotion of a product or service

o rapid market penetration and sales growth

o effective customer service.

In a small group discuss and come up with a potential idea for a mobile application that could be used by all people of all walks of life and age.

Sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

A1 Entrepreneurship and enterprise principles and characteristics

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Attributes of the entrepreneur

typically the attributes of an entrepreneur include many of the following characteristics:

creativity,

confidence,

positivity,

passion,

motivation,

initiative,

self-belief,

discipline,

drive,

adaptability and flexibility,

intuitiveness,

imagination,

desire to succeed and grow,

vision,

capacity to inspire,

focus.

Icons made by Eucalyp from www.flaticon.com

Considering the above attributes, rank them against yourself. Position them from the most reflective of you to the least. Once you have ordered them, speak to your classmates and ask them if they agree, and, if not, for them to explain why.

What do the above mean/represent to you?

Ken Olsen

Enterprise planning

Lean business models,

A lean business model means making continuous improvements in a business operation, and the implementation of processes to guarantee optimum business efficiency. This can be achieved by changing or removing ineffective practices, identifying and getting rid of unprofitable products and measuring and improving the productivity of teams.

Sometimes recognised as operational excellence or continuous improvement strategies, the model is centred around identifying the areas which are not aiding business growth and addressing them effectively. Doing so offers significant benefits to both the business and their customers – with improved operation affording increased growth and better quality output.

e.g. the Business Model Canvas and the Lean Canvas, both of which identify how an enterprise will achieve its objectives, including:

Business Model Canvas Explained from Strategyzer on Vimeo.

Strategy identifying short-, medium- and long-term objectives

Identification of product or service characteristics

Enterprise infrastructure

Every company or organisation has a structure or framework, this what the business will run on.  An enterprise structure will be subdivided in to separate departments/divisions each of these will be located within a hierarchy of the company each will have its own functionality associated with it.

An example is a computer software company, they can be split into two sections, "Home" and "Business" and therefore work with two distinct customer groups. This would intern have a collection of employees working in sales, development or marketing within these different divisions of the company.

Pricing structures and revenue streams

Traditional business

Traditional business plans that provide a full description of the proposed enterprise and are particularly designed to pitch the enterprise to potential stakeholders identifying:

– product or service to be supplied

– legal structure and operation – capacity requirements and resources required, e.g. finance, human, physical, intellectual property

– the competitive environment and competitor analysis.

A typical business plan will comprise of the following section headings;

Executive Summary

(Vision, purpose, summary of proposition, outline of rewards)

Legal Structure and Operation

(Business Type - sole trader, business partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited company – Pick which type you will trade as, explain why)

Finance

(Financial requirements- What are your possible costs, how much profit do you wish to make, what potential sources of finance do you have – self funding, loans, grants)

Summary of market(s) and competition

(Local, national and international business environment, what market research is available or you completed, competitor analysis)

Measures of success

 Targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-constrained To generate Business)

Financial Targets - Percentage market share, sales, turnover, profit and profit margins

Non-financial Targets - analysis of performance against business vision, mission, aims and objectives, customer satisfaction, product reliability

Appendices –(Include any other evidence to support business plan – Personal profile of the owner, decision making and reporting structures in the business, advisers, prototype of the product)

New technologies and techniques for IT enterprises

Additive manufacturing

Through the use of 3D printing, entrepreneurs are able to create a prototype of a product to test its capabilities and potential functionality. Often used by companies 3D printing allows them to bring to a focus group something tangible that will be inexpensive when compared to producing equipment to mass manufacture something that may not even be created in the long term. The use of these technologies will enable the enterprise to rework and revisit a product to then produce an updated version in a quick time.

lean start-up,

When using the lean start-up approach it is suggested that you do not invest heavily in the creation of a complete product but to create what is known as an MVP, Minimal Viable, Product. This will be a stripped-down version of the goal, however, this still needs to be functional, then from this, you will be able to offer it to a select group of users at a reduced cost and it is pitched as an "Early Adopter" perk. Using this approach you will be able to gain feedback from the users and improve the product as it evolves. This will also allow the development of the product to remove elements that may not even be wanted by the users themselves and this will remove any invested time in development and allow the focus to be on what is actually wanted.    

Using the video above navigate to 15:25 and answer the following
1. What could Toyota not compete with?
2. What were they going to compete with?
3. Whats a Pool Model?
4. What are the 2 Important Lean Principles?
5. What did Eric Ries suggest?

Reflect on the link below around the benefits of the Lean model. This will support your submissions towards your assignment 1.
https://www.gazprom-energy.co.uk/blog/what-is-the-lean-business-model-and-what-are-its-benefits/

Cloud-based working,

As you will be aware the use of the cloud is growing at a fast rate and this will enable enterprises and entrepreneurs to work with others on an idea, product or service remotely with others. This also has opportunities to enable others to contribute to its development in "Real-time". This can be seen in areas like Github and others.

Integrated Business Systems,

Open-sourcing

The use of open sourcing is not new, community-led projects are in plain sight. Linux and Unix is one such example. Giving out the code to the community allows them to improve and develop it further beyond the point that you could get to. This adds value to the product as it gives the developer the ability to remove bugs using others' expertise and knowledge as well as adding features that could have been overseen.

Sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

A1 Entrepreneurship and enterprise principles and characteristics

Statistic extracting information: Tables, Diagrams, Charts and Graphs

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Decimals: Counting

A2 Skills audit and teamwork

Identification of entrepreneurial, enterprise and IT skills, e.g. programming, digital graphics and technical support that may be needed to become an IT entrepreneur.

Using the button below complete a skills audit on yourself. The audit is taken from "CareerSmart" 
Click Me

Now that you have undertaken your skills audit in the above task, complete the following table; 

Personal entrepreneurial attributes.

Recognising skills gaps and how to overcome them

e.g. the need to build a team of individuals with complementary expertise and skills, outsourcing, training.

In an article by Avery Blank (Forbes Sep 26, 2017) it is suggested that there are 6 ways to overcome skills gaps, these are 

1. Write out what you know.

2. Write out what you believe you don’t know.

3. Identify skills and experience related to what you believe you don’t know.

4. Enhance your skill set.

5. Tell yourself that you can learn it.

6. Tell people that you can do it.

She goes on to say the following about each of these stages.

1. Put pen to paper, and identify the skills and expertise that you have. Look at your resume. Start with your most recent experience, and work backwards. Think about what you have accomplished. Write it down.

The simple act of writing down this information will allow you to see what you know. Seeing is believing. Externalizing your expertise is powerful and will build your confidence.

2. There is a difference between what you don’t know and what you believe you don’t know. Sometimes what you believe you don’t know stems from being scared or having a bad experience. You know more than you think.

3. Look at what you listed out as the areas you believe you don’t know. Ask yourself, “Is there something similar to this skill?” You may not have experience in one thing, but you probably have done something comparable.

You have to identify and communicate related skills. Realizing that you have equivalent skills will give you the confidence you need to make others feel confident in your ability.

4. For the skills and areas that you lack sufficient knowledge, fill the gap with education or sideline experiences. Take a course or moonlight. You are in charge of your career. Do what you need to do, and learn what you need to fill your skills gap and increase your confidence in your ability.

5. Being challenged is part of the career advancement process. If you don’t stretch yourself, you won’t move. Have the courage to know that you will learn what you don’t know. Identifying skills similar to what you thought you didn’t know will help you realize the gap is smaller than you think.

6. You don’t have to know everything to be able to do something. You need to know enough and have the problem-solving skills to figure out the rest. Tell people you can do it.

The rate at which the world and workforce is changing makes it difficult to continue doing the same thing. Leaders and leading companies depend on people who can apply their skills and learn on the job to innovate. Leaders value people who have the confidence and courage to move into uncharted territory.

If you want to advance, you need confidence and courage. Have faith in what you have and faith in knowing you can achieve what you don’t yet have. The next time you consider an opportunity don’t ask, “Am I ready to do it now?” Ask yourself, “Am I ready to figure it out?”

Teamwork to ensure enterprises can meet their objectives

Teamwork is vital to the sucsess of any business or company. The saying, "You are as weak as your weakest link" is true. For a company to have a team that functions well requires good teamwork between its employees. Teamwork is essential for the flow and operation to deliver goods, products and services. When in a working environment employers and owners look to;

o build teams with complementary skills

o identify the purpose of teams

o motivate teams

o manage teams

o reviewing teams’ performances.

The bullets above have the potential to improve the quality of the product, service or goods that are produced as it minimalises the potential risk of issues relating to understanding and misunderstanding.

Collaborative working to foster teamwork

It must be said that teamwork and collaborative work are not the same. You may be required to work in a team of people at some point in your professional careers, however, you will not necessarily be working with others. Businesses, as suggested earlier in this unit, are machines that have a number of "cogs" within it, and as such require some levels of interdepartmental working. Essential one cannot work without the other. For example, HR (Human Resources) may deal with the payment of salaries and any employment matters, and the Product Design Department works specifically with clients in the development of a product. The HR department will never meet the clients, however, they ensure that the people that do are paid and looked after. 

The collaborative working part is where, for example, a product designer and the quality assurance individual work together whilst in different departments and sections to deliver a product for a client.  

Activities, where cooperation and collaboration happen to foster teamwork, could be to:

– test and brainstorm ideas

– collect research on an idea or subject

– assess own understanding of an idea or subject

– share information with an audience

In some situations mentoring schemes and networking events are used to foster teamwork, these could be specific team building events like paintball, panic rooms and raft building where the emphasis is to support and work together.

Organising Information: Organise information and ideas into structured and sequenced sentences, paragraphs and whole texts, using a variety of linguistic and structural features to support cohesion and overall coherence.

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

A2 Skills audit and teamwork

Statistic extracting information: Tables, Diagrams, Charts and Graphs

Organising and Representing data: Drawing tables, charts and graphs

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

B1:- Selecting a product or service idea to market for an IT enterprise

Identify an IT product or service to create an enterprise. Criteria to evaluate your ideas

o product or service features and assessment of the benefits, including how well the proposed solution meets the customer’s requirements, solves the problem(s) and whether it is unique

o sustainability assessment depending on the product or service proposed, e.g. environmental impact, waste material, power usage, choice of material, recycling and reuse

o security assessment, e.g. analysis of secure servers, software source control, ‘penetration’ testing and password protection

o usability assessment, e.g. the appropriate design of user interfaces ensuring smooth and consistent integration with any required systems

o financial assessment, including assessing the viability of the idea, revenues, costs

o potential size of the market

o legal assessment, including assessing the current and relevant legal requirements e.g. the Patents Act 1997, the data protection legislation, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 or other relevant international equivalents.

Create IT product or service collateral with which to conduct market research

o design information, e.g. storyboard, flow chart, and infographics

o prototype products or services, e.g. website, computer programs and computer devices and video evidence.

Identify the skills required for marketing a selected IT product or service

o product knowledge

o knowledge of the market

o understanding customer requirements and needs

o promotional methods

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

Learning aim B: Develop a marketing plan for an IT product or service based on market research

B1 Select a product or service idea to market for an IT enterprise

Statistic extracting information: Tables, Diagrams, Charts and Graphs

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

B2 Research the market opportunities for an IT product or service

Qualitative and quantitative factors that affect the market for an IT product or service:

First let us look at what is the difference between "quantitative" and "qualitative"!  

When you undertake your own research you will obtain two main sorts of information. The first is called quantitative and the second is called qualitative. Quantitative information can be measured and counted. It can usually be shown as a set of numbers and is often presented in the form of tables, charts, and diagrams. Both primary and secondary research methods can produce quantitative information.

The results of qualitative research are often more difficult to analyse than quantitative data and the information is often difficult to represent statistically, particular if the responses are personal and subjective. Examples of qualitative feedback to a website could be...

o target market

o customer requirements and needs

o gaps in the market and the potential demand opportunities for a product or service

o current market trends

o competitor analysis

o economic climate

o business risks.

Conducting market research on a prototype or design for an entrepreneurial IT product or service:

o planning research, including:

– defining the purpose of the research and setting objectives

– planning data to be collected, including primary and secondary

– methods of collection

o carrying out research, including:

– sample size

– sample method

– questionnaires

– surveys

o interpreting research findings, including:

– statistical procedures, e.g. central tendency, range, time series, scatter diagrams, trends, use of spreadsheets for analysis

– presentation of findings, e.g. reports, tabulations, graphics

– conclusions

– recommendations for action

– limitations of research, e.g. reliability of sample, accuracy, bias, subjectivity

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Sentence Structure: Use a range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate punctuation and spelling.

Voice: Opportunities within lesson to develop their own reflective writing as well as develop technical writing skills within the production of their treatment.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B2 Research the market opportunities for an IT product or service

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Ratios: Calculating ratios, applying ratios, Scales e.g. Maps

Using Numbers: Counting, Place value, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

B3 Marketing planning for an IT product or service

Marketing plans identify marketing strategy and objectives, how they will be achieved and how they link to the enterprises overarching objectives.

Components of a marketing plan

o product or service characteristics, including USP or unique value proposition (UVP), links to target market and market segment

o pricing methods

When looking at the methods of pricing we can look at stratergies of interest. Companies will want to make a profit against the research and development of their products, however, adding a price tag to it, could, deter users from buying in to the idea. So how could we create interest and a desire to use and possibly make a purchase? The use of the "Freemium" model. This model is where the product is released to its audiences, however it could be restricted, only basic operations and features available to users for free. However the product can have these restrictions lifted if they pay a small fee. 

This model is often used in business, one such example is Amazon. Its music streaming service offers a range of levels of service on its product depending on the user needs.

How much does it cost to upgrade the service?Amazon Music 

o promotion, including the promotional mix, links to target market and market segmentation, the use of technology in promoting the business and its products, e.g. websites, social media, online reviews and apps

o channels to market and distribution methods

o interrelationships between the components of the marketing plan.

Market testing to establish what products and services will work before committing additional resources.

Techniques include the following;

o limited or small-scale roll-out

o beta versions or prototypes for products and services to test them

o free products in exchange for feedback

o seeking opinions and views about a product or service via collaborative platforms

o market simulations.

Monitoring the effectiveness of marketing plans

o the volume of sales and rate of growth of sales

o size of market share and growth of market share

o customer perceptions of product quality

o sales revenue compared to marketing costs.

Reading: Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate.

Writing: Write to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, using and adapting forms and selecting vocabulary appropriate to task and purpose in ways that engage the reader

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

B3 Marketing planning for an IT product or service

Analysis of information: Interpreting Results, Drawing conclusions from data, Comparing data

Collect and record data: Questionnaires, Observation, Tally

C1:- Lean business planning

Lean business plans that focus on the entrepreneur.

A lean business plan allows start-ups to develop products or services iteratively to meet the needs of customers, reduce the market risks, reduce the development time and avoid waste and failure.

Lean business start-up

Techniques include:

o creating a minimum viable product

o continuous deployment of software

o split testing of products and services

o actionable metrics that identify the main drivers for an enterprise business

o pivoting by changing the direction in response to data from actionable metrics

o innovation accounting by using a feedback loop that defines, measures and communicates the progress of an enterprise

o product development that uses build–measure–learn to shorten the product development time.

The components of a lean business plan

o product oriented, including UVP, problems, solutions, key metrics, milestones and cost structures

o market oriented, including competitive advantage and barriers to entry, customer segments, channels to market and revenue streams.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

Learning aim C: Present a plan for a start-up IT enterprise using lean or traditional business principles

C1 Lean business planning

C2 Traditional business planning

The components of a traditional business plan:

executive summary

including vision, purpose, summary of proposition, outline of rewards

Legal structure and operation

e.g. sole trader, business partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited company

Finance

including requirements, potential sources of finance

Summary of market(s) and competition

 including local, national and international business environment, market research, competitor analysis

Measures of success

including financial and non-financial key performance measures and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-constrained) targets:

o financial, e.g. market share, sales, turnover, profit and profit margins

o non-financial, e.g. analysis of performance against business vision, mission, aims and objectives, customer satisfaction, product reliability

Appendices covering any other evidence to support business plan 

e.g. personal profile of the owner, decision making and reporting structures in the business, advisers, prototype of the product or service.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

C2 Traditional business planning

C3 Create and present a start-up plan for an IT enterprise

Produce a plan for a start-up IT enterprise using either a lean methodology and planning technique

e.g. a lean canvas, or a traditional business plan.

Create a presentation for the start-up IT enterprise for an external audience.

Present the plan to an external audience.

Obtain feedback from the audience.

Reflect on the feedback and review the plan in response to the feedback.

Anonymous Assessment - Learners assess an anonymous piece of work containing deliberate mistakes against given success criteria.

C3 Create and present a start-up plan for an IT enterprise