Part 1: “A critique of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and innovation”
Introduction
Entrepreneurship can be mentioned as the readiness or the ability that can help an organisation or a business enterprise to develop, organise and run along with lots of uncertainties that might restrict the business from making a profit. The major aspects of entrepreneurship are developing, organising, and running a new business with the aim of generating profitability with a number of financial risks. On the other hand, intrapreneurship is another name for entrepreneurship in an existing business. In this regard, a leader of an existing organisation leads to doing something new to develop the business (Marques et al., 2022). Considerably, innovation in a business can be mentioned as the ability to develop, deliver and scale new products, processes and services along with business models for developing customers, and it can make substantial growth. Considering this, in this essay, the practices of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and innovation will be taken into consideration. Zara as a leading fashion retailer will be taken into consideration, and its entrepreneurship will be considered.
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In terms of discussing the major practices of an entrepreneur, it can be mentioned that there are a number of functions that have to be taken into consideration by an entrepreneur in terms of initiating or leading major business activities. Regarding this, it has been found that in Zara, entrepreneurs focus on expanding the business through exclusivity, affordability, experience and differentiation. First of all, entrepreneurship is all about innovation, and a person who innovates to start a business has to deal with lots of constraints and uncertainties. All great entrepreneurs must have the ability to forecast (Nandan et al., 2019). An entrepreneur is a leader, and he or she must know how to make decisions in critical times and how they can impact the business. Considering this, it is important for an entrepreneur to deal with various significant business activities, such as allocating duties to employees, creating employment, identifying business opportunities, improving business credibility, reducing risk, building partnerships and digitalising business operations.
On the other hand, in terms of discussing the practices of an intrapreneur, it can be mentioned that an intrapreneur is an employee in an existing business or an organisation who has been allocated the task of developing an innovative idea. In this regard, an intrapreneur might not face issues like an entrepreneur, and at the same time, an intrapreneur has all the access to resources and capabilities established by the organisation (Nandan, Bent-Goodley, and Mandayam, 2019). Additionally, it can be found that an intrapreneur works for an organisation and functions to develop new ideas for developing the business. Considering this, in Zara, it can be found that there are intrapreneurs who are basically the employees of the company and aim to deliver new ideas to develop the business. Moreover, an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur have different objectives. An entrepreneur has to start a business from the ground level; however, an entrepreneur has to preserve a wider vision to develop new business ideas for an already established business.
In addition to this, business innovation is important for both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. The major purpose of the business innovation procedure is to create more value for an organisation, and the value can be brought from creating more business opportunities or driving business profitability from existing sources (Staub, Nart, and Dayan, 2019). With the help of innovation, it is possible to create efficiencies for the organisation, and thereby productivity and performance of the organisation can be enhanced.
In terms of discussing the links between entrepreneurial thinking and innovation to deliver competitive advantage, it can be found that there is a great relationship between innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. An entrepreneur must consider innovation to identify business opportunities, and it can help the organisation or the new business to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Huang et al., 2021). Through innovation, an entrepreneur can develop the business effectively, and thereby it can be possible to create more value that can improve the business over a period of time. At the same time, innovation and intrapreneurs have a significant link since an intrapreneur refers to an employee of an existing organisation who is allocated the task of innovating something new to develop the business. In this regard, an intrapreneur has to consider innovation and develop new ideas for creating new opportunities for the existing business, and in this concern, if the intrapreneur succeeds in doing so, it can help the organisation to gain a competitive advantage. Hence it can be mentioned that there is a great link between entrepreneurial thinking, entrepreneur practices and delivering innovation to help an organisation to gain a competitive advantage (Lara-Bocanegra, Bohorquez, and Garcia-Fernandez, 2022).
Considering the above discussion, it can be mentioned that leadership skills are extremely significant for entrepreneurship, and an entrepreneur must have all possible leadership skills to develop a new business and to motivate and inspire team members the accomplishment of success. Problem-solving is a significant skill of a leader, and at the same time, an entrepreneur must have this skill to face challenges in tough times. Some of the major skills of a leader that are equally important for entrepreneurs are developing strategic vision, communication skills and maintaining transparency, problem-solving, retaining talent, developing leaders and delegating business (Lara-Bocanegra, Bohorquez, and Garcia-Fernandez, 2022). Moreover, every entrepreneur needs to develop leadership skills to sharpen their ability, and with the help of this, an entrepreneur will be able to develop new business opportunities. These leadership skills and implications can help an entrepreneur to develop that business by addressing the challenges, and thereby the business will be able to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship both require innovation to develop a business or a business idea in an existing organisation. Innovation is a significant aspect that might help an organisation or a leader to gain more business opportunities in the market and can help to deliver more value to make the business effective in the market. With the help of this, a business can gain a competitive advantage and can stabilise its position with the implication of leadership skills.
Part 2: A business case
Project outline
The business case aims to discuss a new project of new product development, and in this regard, Eco Aesthetics as an existing company has been taken into consideration. The company mainly offers bags, belts and various other accessories, and now the business aims to add jute bags to its portfolio. The company wants to make a product line of sustainable bags, and it aims to start the line with the introduction of jute bags. The company believes that the step towards sustainability will help the company to gain more reputation in the market, and the company will be able to reduce its impact on the environment (Tariq, 2019). Additionally, the company has a number of business opportunities since it is an existing company, and it is quite hopeful of introducing the new product line with a lot of courage. The company has a number of scopes, and it is highly technologically developed, which might help the business deal with other business constraints, and the stakeholders will help the company to support the new product development. In this business case, the aim and objectives of the new product development, along with the requirement of data, strategic alignment, finance, stakeholder engagement, project planning and governance, will be taken into consideration (Denysenko et al., 2019).
Aims and objectives
The aim of the business case is:
To introduce a new product line starting with jute bags.
The major business objectives for introducing the new product line are:
To understand the market size of sustainable bags.
To gather data about customers who prefer sustainable bags.
To specify market segmentation strategy for targeting potential customers.
To specify a promotional strategy for making the business grow.
To adopt a strategy for better strategic alignment and stakeholder engagement.
To manage finance required for the new product development.
To supervise the entire project.
In terms of discussing the major benefits of the new product line development, it can be mentioned that it is important for the time being to consider the environmental impact since most companies do not consider their production impact on the environment and thereby, the emissions of greenhouse gases are increasing along with global warming. If the company can be successful in introducing the new product line of sustainable bags, the company will be able to reduce its impact on the environment, and the company will follow CSR policies to make new approaches towards the environment (Cooper, 2019).
Data requirements
In order to support the business case, it is important to gather market data, and regarding this, it is important to understand the business environmental factors that might impact the new introduction of the product line. Considerably, since the business will be operating in the markets of the UK, it will be impacted by the government stability along with the rules and regulations enacted by the political parties of the region. At the same time, the company will be impacted by interest rates, inflation rates, along with various other economic constraints while developing the new product line in the market (Vargas, Fuster, and Corne, 2020). Moreover, in social terms, the company will focus on customers with sustainable practices, and the company will target the demographic aspects of customers to understand their buying patterns. The company will be impacted by the social preferences of the customers in the market. It has already been discussed that the company is technologically developed, and the company will use technology and various other tools to associate innovation in the product line. The company will use artificial intelligence and other technological aspects to understand the choices and preferences of the customers to make the product line better.
The company will follow sustainable policies and environmental laws to maintain the business and to gain more reputation. In terms of legal aspects, the company will follow employment laws and wage laws to maintain the well-being of the employees, and the company will be focusing on developing the new product line (Kotera, Conway, and Van Gordon, 2019).
Issues of sensitivities
In terms of maintaining ethics, environmental sustainability and awareness, the company will make a code of conduct where the management of the company will empower its board members to focus on sustainability. The business will drive execution through strategic planning and developing sustainable products. The business will focus on importing raw materials from direct suppliers where the company will get raw materials at a low price so that it can maintain its cost-effectiveness. The company will arrange campaigns to spread environmental awareness and will promote recycling and reusing (Singh et al., 2019). In order to manage sustainable production, the company will avoid harmful emissions and will use renewable energy sources. The company will promote the use of renewable energies, and at the same time, it will be associated with a vertically integrated supply chain model to maintain its supply chain activities effectively. "Green supply chain management" will help the company to manage its production activities along with sustainable environmental processes (Afsar and Umrani, 2020). The company will be focusing on maintaining sustainability in terms of product design, sourcing, manufacturing and operations.
Strategic alignment
The aim of the business is to add a new product line to the portfolio, and the company wants to start with jute bags, which will be extremely sustainable and will attract customers across the globe. There are a number of organisations and businesses that are already associated with sustainable products and services; however, the company wants to make its supply chain as well as production activities sustainable to improve the organisational values. In this regard, the company will follow diverse leadership values and will take our approach of holistic vision (Ilmudeen, Bao, and Alharbi, 2019). It might help the company to stand their business objectives and will be capable of operating the business effectively in the marketplace. Accountability towards the environment, and if the company could able to follow CSR policies along with managing green supply chain management activities, it will be possible for the company to make sustainability the core principle of the business. In terms of strategic alignment, the company will be focusing on a differentiation pricing strategy to compare its prices with others. At the same time, the company will develop a risk management plan for managing the business constraints.
Finance
Since the company has already stabilised its business in the market, the company will find it easy to gather the resources required for the new product line. Additionally, the company will make a risk management plan considering all possible constraints, weaknesses and threats. In this regard, the company will engage with investors to gather the resources required for business development. At the same time, the company will contact financial institutions to raise funds for the addition of the new product line to the portfolio. In addition to this, in terms of making a risk management plan, the company will identify the major risk and will consider the major business environmental factors that might impact the business. Furthermore, the company will assess the risk to minimise the risk factors (Shao, 2019). The company will develop a contingency plan and will, communicate effectively with the employees and will provide training to the staff for better monitoring of the risks.
Considering the risk management plan, it will be important for the company to consider the objectives of the new product development, and at the same time, the company needs to consider entrepreneurial skills as well as innovation to develop the new product line. Planning and management can help the company to get feedback by conducting market research which might help the company to adopt new strategies (Al-Surmi, Cao, and Duan, 2020).
Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement is a significant aspect since it can help the organisation to introduce the new product line in terms of identifying stakeholders. The company needs to review its major stakeholders and should make a list considering the power and interest of the stakeholders. The company needs to understand the purpose while selecting the stakeholders and has to determine how they can impact product development (Kujala et al., 2022). Additionally, it is important for an organisation to engage stakeholders effectively. The company should have a thoughtful approach towards the stakeholders and should engage with them effectively. The company will try to understand the expectations of these stakeholders and will communicate with them effectively to meet their expectations.
In terms of developing collaboration with these stakeholders, it will be important for the company to research the expectation of the stakeholders, and after identifying the potential stakeholders, the company needs to communicate with the stakeholders about the project scope and opportunities. Establishing a good relationship with the stakeholders considering the "stakeholders' theory", will be important for making the business consistent through communication. Meeting the stakeholders can help the company to be resistant. Employees and customers are the major stakeholders of a business, and it will be important for the company to select the right tools to promote engagement with these stakeholders (Leonidou et al., 2020). The company will communicate with their employees effectively about the aims and objectives of the new product development. Additionally, the company will develop relationships with their employees to promote organisational performance and success. Furthermore, in order to promote engagement with the customers, the company will be focusing on using social media sites and digital platforms so that they can understand the current trends and can offer products to the customers. It will help the company to be associated with customers, and the company will generate more value (Derakhshan, Turner, and Mancini, 2019).
Project governance
In terms of project governance, monitoring and reporting of the project development is extremely significant, and in this regard, there are mainly five things that need to be considered, such as time, scope, quality, opportunity and risk. In order to monitor the activity related to the addition of the new product line in the product portfolio, first of all, it is important for the company to create an outline that might help the company to monitor the project effectively. The company has to set goals and expectations considering stakeholder engagement and has to decide how to monitor the project with effective tools (Vujovi? et al., 2020). The company has to evaluate the reports associated with project leaders and managers so that it can be possible to make necessary improvements in the project development. Moreover, the company needs to collect and track all possible data that might help the company to understand its progress. It will help the company to manage the expectations of the stakeholders, and reporting all the data to the stakeholders can be helpful in evaluating the entire development.
Project planning
In terms of project planning, there are a number of activities associated with the addition of the new product line to the product portfolio, and the major activities are: first of all, the company has to understand the market size for the proposed product line, and at the same time, the company has to gather data about the customers who will be targeted. Additionally, the company has to develop its market segmentation strategy to target the customers, and the company will use digitalisation as the promotional strategy to promote the business through various social media and digital platforms. Furthermore, the company will use differentiation pricing and product development strategy as its strategic alignment and will consider stakeholder engagement for better management of the business. Considering the business case, the company will be focusing on demographic market segmentation and will target customers who have a preference for using sustainable products (Vujovi? et al., 2020). The company will be focusing on digital marketing strategies to promote the business and will use social media to understand the choices and current trends so that the company can deal with market preferences.
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Part 2
Afsar, B. and Umrani, W.A., 2020. Corporate social responsibility and pro?environmental behavior at workplace: The role of moral reflectiveness, coworker advocacy, and environmental commitment. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(1), pp.109-125.
Al-Surmi, A., Cao, G. and Duan, Y., 2020. The impact of aligning business, IT, and marketing strategies on firm performance. Industrial marketing management, 84, pp.39-49.
Cooper, R.G., 2019. The drivers of success in new-product development. Industrial Marketing Management, 76, pp.36-47.
Denysenko, M., Melnyk, A., Shatskaya, Z. and Budiakova, O., 2019. International regulatory experience business activity. Research and Innovation.
Derakhshan, R., Turner, R. and Mancini, M., 2019. Project governance and stakeholders: a literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), pp.98-116.
Ilmudeen, A., Bao, Y. and Alharbi, I.M., 2019. How does business-IT strategic alignment dimension impact on organizational performance measures: conjecture and empirical analysis. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 32(3), pp.457-476.
Kotera, Y., Conway, E. and Van Gordon, W., 2019. Ethical judgement in UK business students: Relationship with motivation, self-compassion and mental health. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 17, pp.1132-1146.
Kujala, J., Sachs, S., Leinonen, H., Heikkinen, A. and Laude, D., 2022. Stakeholder engagement: Past, present, and future. Business & Society, 61(5), pp.1136-1196.
Leonidou, E., Christofi, M., Vrontis, D. and Thrassou, A., 2020. An integrative framework of stakeholder engagement for innovation management and entrepreneurship development. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.245-258.
Shao, Z., 2019. Interaction effect of strategic leadership behaviors and organizational culture on IS-Business strategic alignment and Enterprise Systems assimilation. International journal of information management, 44, pp.96-108.
Singh, S.K., Chen, J., Del Giudice, M. and El-Kassar, A.N., 2019. Environmental ethics, environmental performance, and competitive advantage: Role of environmental training. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146, pp.203-211.
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