prof manzoor iqbal awan-entrepreneurship-bahria university student projects (book review)-spring...

REVIEW OF BOOKS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

Bahria University Spring 2011

BBA VI (A)

Entrepreneurship Student Individual Project 2

(Book Review)

Instructor: Prof Manzoor Iqbal Awan, Col (R)

Faculty Member & Senior Consultant

* USQ (Australia), COMSATS & NUML.

* Bahria, Air & Preston Universities

* University of Lahore

* Dual Matrix Inc. & MDi

Cell: +92 321 850 0732 ; Email: [email protected]

Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/manzooriqbawan


Teacher’s Note

It is the endeavor of every business school of repute to provide

environment conducive for producing business executives with

ability to think out of the box. Recognizing that Bahria University’s

Management Sciences Department very much falls in that category,

and with a strong faith in the abilities and potential of our youth, I

have been prodding my students over the last couple of years to come up with relevant

study/research papers, and then compiling those as reference material for subsequent

studies. That has been done in the case of the students of Bachelors of Business

Administration 6th Semester Section A during the spring 2011 semester too, and

with very stimulating results. They were required to complete three major assignments

as part of Comparative Management program – first the allotted country study on

individual basis, the second a multi-dimensional individual study of comparative

management practices of allotted large multinational corporations, and lastly the study

of business environment of select region as a group project. All of these required high

degree of understanding and application of the international management concepts

covered in the class as well as painstaking research work and creative thinking. Initial

words of caution about the required rigor were generally taken lightly, but the

situation soon changed when their usual online searches would not yield the data

suited for ‘cut and paste’ work. Thereafter there was no dearth of the burning of

midnight oil, leading to the production of some thought provoking study papers. Not

only these were rich in valuable data, the attempted analytical work was generally of

high standard. It would be a pity if such wealth of knowledge is not made use of; thus

this effort at compilation for suitable placement as reference material.

Needless to say that these are the works of students in an area to which they have been

exposed for the first time. Hence there is room for improvement, and at places

substantial one. But what is of special significance is the originality of work, and that

this could serve as a humble beginning towards attaining greater creativity in the times

to come, besides developing ability to handle independently and in teams such

projects calling for diligent research work.


It will be unfair if labor of Anwa Suhail in making this compilation possible with the

assistance of Asma Noreen is not recognized. The final product itself reflects this

amply.

I wish the contributing students success, with prayers that Allah Almighty may crown

their efforts at professional development, and bless them with success and happiness.

Prof Manzoor Iqbal Awan, Col (R)

Faculty Member & Senior Consultant

* USQ (Australia), COMSATS & NUML.

* Bahria, Air & Preston Universities

* University of Lahore

* Dual Matrix Inc. & MDi

Cell: +92 321 850 0732

Email: [email protected]

Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/manzooriqbawan

24 May 2011


Candidate’s Declaration

We hereby declare that the work presented in this compilation of 41 BOOK REVIEWS

titled “REVIEW OF BOOKS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP” submitted towards

completion of mini-project in sixth Semester of BBA at the Bahria University, Islamabad.

We have tried our level best to present the best possible work to Sir Manzoor Awan, still

pardons for any, if found, as we are all humans and prone to mistakes. We have covered the

major flaws in compilation regarding editing of reports (spelling mistakes, borders,

alignment, front pages, table of contents and graphical presentation). It was an excellent

experience compiling the work of all our class fellows. Of course there were hurdles and

mistakes, triumphs and setbacks, yet it is all this, that made it a good learning opportunity.

Our past experiences were limited to just making our own projects and presenting them in an

appealing fashion while this one constituted of us integrating the individual efforts of

students to create one masterpiece, wherein lies its uniqueness.

Lastly, we hope you enjoy going through the content of the document and find it

knowledgeable☺

It is an authentic record of our original work pursued under the guidance of Mr. Manzoor

Awan.

(ANWA SUHAIL, ASMA NOREEN)

Place: BAHRIA UNIVERSIRY, ISLAMABAD Date: 24 -MAY-2011


Acknowledgement

There is always a sense of gratitude, which we express to others for the help and the services

they render during the different phases of our lives. We also wish to express our gratitude

toward all those who have helped us directly or indirectly in preparing this report.

First and foremost, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to our project compilation

guide, Mr. Manzoor Awan. We were privileged to experience a sustained enthusiastic and

involved interest from his side. This fueled our enthusiasm even further and encouraged us to

boldly step into what was a totally dark and unexplored expanse before us.

I would also like to thank my class mates who were ready with a positive comment all the

time, whether it was an off-hand comment to encourage us or a constructive piece of

criticism.

Above all we shall thank Allah Almighty whose endless blessings and mercy are always with

us.


Contents

ENTREPRENEURIAL SEEDS OF SUCCESS ........................................................................... 10

SMALL ENTREPRENEURS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES................................................ 14

CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION .................................................. 18

BUSINESS STRIPPED BARE: ADVENTURES OF A GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR ............ 25

FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ....................................................................... 28

ENTREPRENEURIAL MANAGEMENT ................................................................................... 32

DIRECT FROM DELL................................................................................................................. 36

THE WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR.............................................................................................. 42

FLYING SOLO: HOW TO GO IT ALONE IN BUSINESS ....................................................... 47

BLUE PRINT FOR GREATER SUCCESS ................................................................................. 51

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: CONCEPTS THEORY AND PERSPECTIVES ................................ 55

PATTERNS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ................................................................................... 58

ENTREPRENEURIAL MANAGEMENT ................................................................................... 61

THE ENTREPRENEUR NEXT DOOR....................................................................................... 66

THE KNACK................................................................................................................................ 70

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: NEW PERSPECTIVE IN GLOBAL AGE ......................................... 78

BUSINESS ELITES ..................................................................................................................... 82

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ............................................................................................................... 87

LEAD LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR ........................................................................................... 90

MY BIG IDEA.............................................................................................................................. 94

THE ART OF DEAL .................................................................................................................. 104

THE ILLUSIONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ........................................................................ 110

LATERAL LEADERSHIP ......................................................................................................... 114

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: VALUES AND RESPONSIBILITY ................................................ 118


ENTREPRENEURSHIP ............................................................................................................. 121

SMALL GIANTS ....................................................................................................................... 125

INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP; PRACTICE AND PRINCIPLES .................. 129

THE INTENTIONAL ENTREPRENEUR ................................................................................. 135

FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ..................................................................... 138

ENTREPRENEURS ARE MADE NOT BORN ........................................................................ 141

GOOD TO BE GREAT .............................................................................................................. 147

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY, PRACTICE AND PROCESS .......................................... 162

THE SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR’S GUIDEBOOK ...................................................... 165

THE ENTREPRENEUR NEXT DOOR..................................................................................... 169

GOOD TO GREAT .................................................................................................................... 173

THE TIPPING POINT................................................................................................................ 181

THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE .............................................................. 185

GOOD TO GREAT .................................................................................................................... 191

PURPLE COW ........................................................................................................................... 195


Entrepreneurial Seeds of Success

By: JOHN FORBAT

AHSAN AUSAF

01-111082-004

BBA 6A


Whenever someone asked me about what I would do in life my answer was I’d like to do

something different, something unique, something that I myself was unable to put into words

until I read this book and came to know about entrepreneurship and at different levels.

This book is makes the readers learn practical business experiences and challenges gleaned

by the author, to the formation of the budding entrepreneur’s attitude and business

aspirations. The down to earth ideas and experiences related here provide valuable reading to

all budding entrepreneurs and practicing business executives. It is a valuable and practical

addition to the curriculum of business Schools and gainful reading for civil servants and their

masters in Government, who ha ve such a profound effect on the environment in which

entrepreneurs have to live.

The book mainly relates to entrepreneurship in industry and cover topics from issues for start-

ups, to problems of the more complex company’s chief executive. They thread an instructive

path of real life, first hand case studies and developed ideas, through aspiration to success,

without neglecting occasional failure and painful disappointment. It is intended to show that

entrepreneurs can successfully challenge the normally accepted limits of “what is possible” in

business. The author relates to different aspects of entrepreneurship and illustrates actual

business experiences – enumerating the lessons to be learned. Entrepreneurship is usually

associated with individuals and small companies. Yet it is the successful entrepreneurs who

develop businesses into large corporations, when it is their spirit, leadership and

determination that engender continuous growth.” For a chance of success, every entrepreneur

needs imagination and vision, perseverance in pursuit of a dream and the capacity for sheer

hard work. If success leads to a corporation style business, leadership skills and sensitivity to

people become as important as the continuation of the entrepreneurial spirit.

Forbat quite affectively narrates success and failure, hope and disappointment. Their

origination from one pen tends to weave a thread, which follows particular experiences,

without constituting a complete story.

Forbat Challenge’s the normally accepted limits of "what is possible" in business

He quote’s that entrepreneurship is usually associated with individuals and small companies.

Yet it is the successful entrepreneurs who develop businesses into large corporations - their

spirit, leadership and determination lead to great things.

In this book John Forbat, serial entrepreneur, covers:

- Characteristics you will need to succeed.


- Issues those start-ups face.

- The TASK principle and the 4 T's.

- Management and company politics.

- Spotting unrecognized markets.

- Convincing people that the "cure for which there is no ill" does have an ill.

- The importance of R&D and how it doesn't have to cost thousands.

- How necessity can be a real mother of invention.

The book includes case studies which provide fascinating insights into how the author:

operated a company on two continents (without capital!); turned a company facing

insolvency into a takeover target; and managed to turn a good business plan and a relatively

small amount of credit into a company with profits of $200,000 p.a.

The book gives amazing success tips to budding entrepreneurs and suggest at working

something you enjoy and become proficient at it. He elaborates his points by telling that is no

good starting off as a wide looking generalist, who knows little about anything. The next

thing is to do a lot of listening. A university degree mainly enables one to realize how much

more there is to know. Then think. Always think, work out why, figure out solutions to

problems, then suggest, recomme nd and help to make decisions. The book contains easy to

read solutions that are easy on mind and one grasps them quite easily. One of such many

principles mentioned in the book is TASK which states:

It is only necessary to think, to analyze, to solve and then to kill the problem.

• THINK

• ANALYSE

• SOLVE

• KILL

TASK is the principle to follow if you want to ensure success of a project or a business.

Another such essential principle to success is that every problem has a solution.

The down to earth ideas and experiences related in this book make it essential reading for all

budding entrepreneurs and those already in business. Few of many lessons that can be learnt

from this book are


• Get a good education.

• Become proficient in a trade or occupation that you enjoy.

• Immerse yourself in the business of a company and see the big picture.

• Learn to analyze business situations in the widest sense.

• TASK: Think – Analyze – Solve – Kill the problem.

• The four Ts: Truth – Tact – Thick skin – Toughness.

• Listen; prepare to quantify and to take risk.

• Be decisive

Entrepreneurship: The seeds to success are an easy read that will make idea’s hover over your

mind and make you realize how to make use of opportunities in opportune time and way. I

would recommend every aspiring entrepreneur and student to read this amazing work.


Small Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries

BY: DR. ASGHAR S. NASIR.

ASMA NOREEN

01-111082-017

BBA 6A


This book is an amazing read that highlights two questions; whether it is really worthwhile to

pay attention to small scale industries, and how to identify among them those entrepreneurs

with potential to receive all encouragement and assistance to facilitate their entry in modern

sector of small scale industries.

The second question is how to transform additional business practices with modern methods

to conduct business and what are those practices that need to be introduced to formulate

programme and statistical measures to implement action oriented approach in developing

countries.

Author suggests exploring the ways by which governments, internal organizations can co-

operate in re orienting developmental strategy towards more effective outward approaches to

develop and assist small enterprises.

By small-scale industries, author has in mind the modern sector of small industries and

creation of enterprise and development of entrepreneurship which is subject of this book.

The writer has in view the small industries that are modern to a degree in respect of

equipment, but not in techniques of production and management.

Author has made a point in emphasizing that small scale industry development is beyond any

question and has an important role in overall economic criteria.

Policy makers and administrators have responsibility to give serious considerations to the

recommendations highlighted in this book, to offer guidance to entrepreneurs for equal

opportunity to build confidence to enter challenging sector of small scale industries as

successful entrepreneurs. The gaps among the practices to conduct business by more

sophisticated techniques to meet challenges of modern industrial revolution are being

mentioned in this book.

Author’s suggestion itself speaks of solving the pr oblem through operational research

approach, the principal output that is characterized by the word “choice” and “decision”. The

answers to both are objectively analyzed to tackle the problems of today’s and tomorrow’s

business.

The economic problems and technocratic approaches to policy making cannot be solved in a

political vacuum; and qualitative appraisal is as important as quantitative calculations in

public policy formulation. The formal economic principles must give way at some point to a


value judgment. In considering each problem, you will have to exercise own judgment on a

set of questions. What crucial policy issue is the problem? How can they be resolved? What

course of action may be preferable? The first priority has been given in this book, to those

management areas which seem to be lacking techniques for yield out puts by more

sophisticated techniques to diagnose problems and then some answers to facilitate institutions

to assist small entrepreneurs. Today, the question of what services, if any governments should

or should not provide is still seem by contradictory policy. Small businesses need assistance

to introduce appropriate business management practices for improving productivity, quality

and technology. Success or failures in these vital areas depend on professional managers.

Winners in the productivity race distinguish themselves from losers because they understand

this fact. Every operational area needs assistance through strategic planning to the

organization of people. Managers of most small to medium size businesses have not had

management training. This book addresses the fundamental input to introduce in different

dimensions, for upgrading business practices as well as for governments to tailor a program

for entrepreneur development. You may find portions of the text already within your sphere

of knowledge, but been led in recipe – like fashion through the process of implementing

professional management may re-enforce that knowledge.

My personal opinion is that the author’s observa tions appear rather scattered and

heterogeneous; it may be because we in developing countries have not yet been able to reach

at an approach and concept for entrepreneurship in development to participate. It appears that

we need to extend our knowledge in several fields and to do a good need in partial research

before any workable theory can usefully be constructed.

In a nutshell, our problems may be stated as follow. We can in a sense view economic

development as taking place when entrepreneurs are “successful”. For the development

economist, interesting question, what is it that constitutes successful entrepreneurship? If we

know more about the “environment” of private enterprise in any one community, could we

better envisage the way it might develop in the long run, and better design policies and

perhaps also institutions, which would enhance the prosperity of the community as a whole?

Of course we cannot hope to settle these questions once and for all in this book. We still need

to find out more about the environment in which a private industrial sector can merge in a

less developed country especially with reference to government policies and seek to reveal

what constitutes more or less successful entrepreneurship.


The purpose of this book is to present a simplified way of projecting the vital issues of small

industry development strategies, which might be adopted. The presentation is to provide a

panoramic view of subject without entering into detailed discussion. The suggested models

are simplified since differences in the level of development of countries of third world are not

as sharp as those assumed and since exceptions to the strategies proposed in reports are found

in actual practice in certain countries for good reasons or otherwise. Never the less it is felt

that the main orientations proposed here would be the base to diagnose weakness at the early

stages of development on the one hand and on the other hand at the threshold of rapid and

self sustained industrial growth. The book reviews successfully the over gaps and has made

astute suggestions for improvement measures.


Corporate Entrepreneurship And Innovation

By: MICHAEL M. MORRIS

AMINA SHAHAB01-11082-008

BBA 6A


This is the classic on how entrepreneurial ventures go to market. It focuses on good examples

and explains core concepts of strategic and product marketing like segmentation, whole

products, and of course, the famous “chasm.”This serious, detailed book offers a

nonconventional marketing approach for high-tech promoters and investors. Consultant

Geoffrey Moore has thought long and hard about how to market new technology, so the book

sometimes reads like an intriguing personal essay. He makes an elaborate case about different

technology users, citing product examples to explain why each consumer matters at certain

stages in product marketing. At times, his presentation get a little strained, such as when he

tries to describe how consumer groups "reference" each other or how marketers must engage

in "informed intuition." Moore devised his own explanations for the successes and failures of

different high-tech marketing tactics, so your level of agreement depends on how much of his

detailed theory fits your marketing concerns

About the author:

Geoffrey A. Moore is a managing partner at a consulting firm in San Mateo, California, and

a partner in a venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California. He is the author of Inside the

Tornado, the Gorilla Game and Living on the Fault Line.

Book Review:

Key Points:

• There is a “chasm” between early adopters and the early majority users in a product’s

life cycle into which many promising products fall, unable to make the leap.

• One successful way of making this connection is to target a specific niche where you

can be not just a competitor, but the winner. Having established this ‘beachhead’, it’s

easier to expand into other niches and the market at large

In Crossing the Chasm, Moore begins with the diffusion of innovations theory from Everett

Rogers, and argues there is a chasm between the early adopters of the product (the technology

enthusiasts and visionaries) and the early majority (the pragmatists). Moore believes

visionaries and pragmatists have very different expectations, and he attempts to explore those

differences and suggest techniques to successfully cross the "chasm," including choosing a


target market, understanding the whole product concept, positioning the product, building a

marketing strategy, choosing the most appropriate distribution channel and pricing.

The method outlined to cross the chasm follows these steps:

• Target the attack - you must choose a niche to use as a beachhead. As a startup or new

market entrant, you aren’t likely to have the resources necessary to focus on a large

market, so it’s better to be more effective in a smaller one.

• “Assemble an invasion force” - create a “whole product” that provides a solution to

the customer’s problems in its entirety. Early adopters might be happy stitching

together different pieces, but early majority users are less likely to want to do so.

Think about not just the product, but support, training… the entire “ecosystem”, as it

has come to be known.

• “Define the battle” by creating positioning to show that you are the leader in the

segment you are attacking.

• “Launch the invasion” with a direct sales force, which is the best channel for high

tech, and the best for crossing the chasm.

Moore, who defined the Technology Adoption Life Cycle Landscape , in his books “Crossing

the Chasm” and “Inside the Tornado “attitudes toward the adoption of new technology

become significant, any time users are introduced to high tech products that require them to

change behavior or modify other products and services they rely upon. Products causing this

pattern are referred to as discontinuous innovations. A high definition monitor, with format

incompatible with current equipment, is an example of discontinuous innovation. A

continuous innovation, on the other hand, refers to the normal upgrading of products (i.e. a

regular monitor with a sharper image) that do not require any changes. A basic marketing

model was created

based on discontinuous innovations, relating to psychographic buying that do not require any

changes. A basic marketing model was created based on discontinuous innovations, relating

to psychographic buying habits, forming a bell curve with divisions roughly equivalent to

where

standard deviations would fall. The divisions included:

• innovators - had larger farms, were more educated, more prosperous and more risk-

oriented


• early adopters - younger, more educated, tended to be community leaders

• early majority - more conservative but open to new ideas, active in community and

influence to neighbors

• late majority - older, less educated, fairly conservative and less socially active

• laggards - very conservative, smalls farms and capital, oldest and least educated

The above model depicts marketing success by winning one segment after another, with each

captured segment acting as a reference base for the segment following. Moore’s model shows

gaps between all of the segments, with the largest and most difficult gap to overcome being

‘The Chasm’ between the early adopters and the pragmatists.

The fundamental proble m lies in the transition from the early adopters to the pragmatists.

Careful analysis of the psychological profile of these two groups shows that they do not have

much in common. The early adopters like making decisions by themselves that do not depict

the norm. The pragmatists, on the other hand, want to communicate with others and put

together a good decision. The key to crossing the chasm was derived by studying the

fundamental

differences between the last early adopter and the first pragmatist. While the early adopter

would purchase a product that could deliver an 80% solution (seeing it as only 20% more to

go), the pragmatist takes the position of buying when it is 100% complete (a ‘whole product’

as

Moore puts it) and can be referenced as working within their industry. There are many

pragmatists out there–all in different industries.


Moore’s solution for making the transition is to focus on a ‘beachhead’ and deliver a total

solution to one of those niche markets as quickly as possible. Identification of target

customers and their compelling reason to buy are keys to fulfilling the’ whole product’

concept, which will allow you to win over the pragmatists in a particular market segment.

Crossing The Chasm contains insights of value to anyone who has worked on a technological

labor of love and wants to see it flourish and become a ubiquitous part of our world like

certain Microsoft operating systems seem to have. Moore has a marketplace model that

identifies four major groups:

Early adopters populated by visionaries who will take a new technology, gather other parts

from elsewhere and assemble a whole product that will give them a revolutionary new

solution. This marketplace segment is the one most familiar to engineers. These are the folks

we love to work with. We code and debug. They take and use. But this segment is very small

compared to the mainstream.

Early majority is a big, and crucial marketplace segment. These folks are pragmatists, with

the need to solve particular problems. They will only adopt products that they see have been

successful for others they know. For these guys its more important that they know the product

does one thing well for someone else just like them, than that the product be able to do a lot

of things.

Late majority is a segment as big as the early majority. These folks have the same

perspective and needs as the early majority. The difference is that these folks are less

comfortable with new technology. They're only going to buy after the early majority has

really shaken out all the surprises, and shown that this product is here to stay.

Laggards are a segment about the same size as the early adopter segment. These folks will

only adopt a technology when failure to do so gets in the way of doing what they've always

done. These days, very few technologies get so well established and become so important that

the laggards ever take them. I'd say the telephone was a recent example of something that the

laggards finally adopted.


Moore's book is about getting a product across the chasm between the early adopters and the

early majority. It’s called a chasm because the needs and perspectives of the two segments

are so different.

To summarize Moore's methodology:

Pick a target market in the early majority that is small enough that you can quickly become

the dominant player in that market segment. The target should be of strategic value. I.E. you

should be able to invade other nearby segments having established yourself in the first target

market. It is vital that you choose a single market to focus on, and that it be a market you can

take like a strategic objective in a war. Moore's model is the D-day invasion of Normandy:

One strategic beachhead taken, and established as a starting point for other focused

initiatives.

Moore defines a whole product. We engineers often hope the customer take the part we built

and fill in the rest, like learning how to use it, fitting it in with other tools, and getting others

to provide the content that feeds the system. You get the sale in the early majority if you can

present a whole solution to an important problem. All the pieces have to be in place, though.

For example, If you're going to sell an electronic book, you also have to show the customer

where to get the content. Otherwise you get no sale.

Moore provides a way to craft the message for the customers into two sentences:

For the <target customer>

who is dissatisfied with <current alternative in the market>,

Our product is a <new product category>

that provides a <capability to solve target customer's important problem>.

Unlike <the product alternative>

we have assembled <key features that demonstrate you have the whole product, not just a

piece of a puzzle>.

An example he gives is Quicken:

For the bill paying member of the family who uses a home PC, who is tired of filling out the

same old checks month after month, Quicken is a PC home finance program that

automatically tracks all your check writing. Unlike Managing Your Money, a financial


analysis package, our system is optimized specifically for home bill paying. Moore points

out that breaking into the mainstream requires relationship building as the key activity. For

this reason he recommends direct sales into that first target market. He also provides

principles to guide the transition from the penetration of that initial target to the ordinary

sales channels that will be used when the rest of the early majority begins to notice the

product and begin to consider buying it.

A particularly useful distinction he makes is easy to sell versus easy to buy: He advocates a

focus on the latter. Instead of developing a really easy to present sales pitch, make shopping

for your product fun for the potential customer. People like to shop, but hate to confront a

sales pitch.

By the time I finished reading this book, I had understanding of why certain of my pet

projects did not catch on, why really ugly designs made it while beautiful ones didn't. I feel

much more able to get my ideas into the world. If you read this book, you will too.


Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

BY: RICHARD BRANSON.

ALI ZAFAR KHAN

01-11082-007

BBA 6A


BUSINESS STRIPPED BAR E: ADVENTURES OF A GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR

Business Stripped Bare, a book by Richard Branson, is about Business in particular reference

to the Virgin Group of companies. The book is easy to read, enjoyable as well as informative.

Richard Branson points out in the introduction that it is not necessarily to consider all things

in terms of bottom-line, profit, trade, commerce, formality, winning, etc. What is more

important is the business itself. This makes the book appealing to every type of reader rather

than just business people. The book starts by creating a unique analogy, comparing a business

to a painting: starting; making initial decisions; how those decisions must relate to one

another; becoming committed and invested in the endeavor; swallowing your fear; focusing

on and working out the details; determining if it is good or bad; deciding whether to keep it or

sell it; and finally learning so that the next one is even better. The rest of the book is broken

into seven categories that are people, brand, delivery, learning from mistakes, innovation,

entrepreneurs and leadership a nd social responsibility.

The book details that finding great people is much more about looking for attitude,

enthusiasm and talent than it is about looking for skills. Jobs can always be learned. He

prefers the “Small is Beautiful” organizational size though he can’t always achieve it,

especially in the airline industry. According to Branson, smaller businesses foster greater

innovation and idea generation, faster communication and a friendlier working environment.

After many great stories and adventures in various chapters, Richard Branson talks about

organizational structures, corporate governance and how the bonding power of the Virgin

Brand ties all their diverse businesses together within a venture capital (VC) model. Delivery:

Special Delivery. “We thrive on ideas but our day-to-day business is about delivery”, “It’s the

attention to detail that really defines great business delivery”, “Delivery is not just hard work.

It’s endless” and “Protect the Downside” are some of the timeless quotes from Richar d

Branson. While much of the focus of the book is on how Virgin has handled challenges and

endless change in their businesses, Richard intermixes it with simple, practical advice such as

keeping a notebook, jotting down everything that needs doing, ideas and the occasional

philosophical musings. Part of protecting the downside involves having numerous smaller

companies. This also, according to Branson, increases their creativity and ease of action and

decreases bureaucracy.


In the book, Branson candidly admits how he has made mistakes in the past and shares some

of the lessons he has learned so we, as readers, might avoid similar errors or misjudgments.

“Never do anything that means you can’t sleep at night”, “It’s always worth getting the

contract right in the first place” and the seemingly contradictory but effective: “Protect your

reputation, Don’t be afraid to make mistakes”.

Richard talks about companies that he finds innovative. Encouraging employees to generate

and develop new ideas, making changes and continual improvements, being responsive and

flexible are techniques and strategies he discusses. Asking some of the most elementary

questions has led Virgin to effective innovation and increased customer satisfaction. Later on

in the book the author talks about the bigger picture and the power of research and

development. This is also where Space enters the book in a major way. He goes on to

describe other pioneering areas of interest to Virgin, particularly green fuels. The importance

of innovation and R&D rarely gets attention in most business books.

The book also describes Virgin’s contribution in the territory where business and making the

world a bit of a better place, meet. Starting with the Student Advisory Centre, Richard also

outlines the company’s endeavors into research into AIDS/HIV in Africa, climate change and

creating small war rooms to tackle big issues. Without retelling the excellent, informative and

entertaining stories, indeed the adventures of Richard Branson and of Virgin would not have

been such a delightful reading. His great sense of humor, curiosity and ability to poke fun at

him shine through. This book is well worth reading if you are interested in Space, creativity,

innovation, environmental and social responsibility and especially if you are interested in

Business.


Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

BY: HITESH S VIRAMGAMI

ANUM RIAZ KHAN

111-082-010

BBA 6A


Entrepreneurship has played a premium mobile role in development. Presently entrepreneur

is at the crest of popularity. The whole world is undergoing an entrepreneurship renaissance.

Increasing number of educated youth is getting attracted towards entrepreneurship and is

setting up their business ventures. With the liberalization , privatization and globalization of

our economy , the manager’s role is shifting from efficient utilization of resources to being

innovative and opportunity seeker, which are basic qualities of successful; entrepreneur. The

youth management students are attracted towards entrepreneurship as I offer vibrant vision of

means of fulfills their highest potentials. More so, it is the entrepreneur who has largely

recognized globally as the key to rapid and sustainable economic development as well as the

welfare and progress of mankind. Entrepreneur does the things that are not generally done in

the ordinary course of business. That is why many universities have introduced

entrepreneurship development as a compulsory subject in their syllabus. Basically

entrepreneur is a person having specific skills, ability, knowledge, awareness and self-

confidence who bears the risk of operating a business in the face of uncertainty about the

future conditions. Characteristics of an entrepreneur are establishment of a business unit by

accepting the responsibility of risk. A good entrepreneur has ability to inspire specific

personality, as has ability to motivate others to work. An entrepreneur is neither technician

nor manager. Entrepreneur is a person or a group of persons. The risk of uncertainty is higher

and he is the one who bears risk in which there is not any certainty of profit. Due to the

coordination on economic agent (entrepreneur) the society ge ts valuable goods and services.

He is innovative person who is recognized as a prime source of innovation, by innovation he

searches new products, services, production methods markets and helps rapid economic

growth. Most successful entrepreneurs tend to change if the situation so demands. They

create new opportunities and play an important role in the development of society and nation.

They are very flexible and are easily adjustable to any type of environment suitable to his

business. They have decision making ability or selecting the best alternative .An entrepreneur

has to get the things done through and by his employees so he must provide sound leadership

to his employees. Entrepreneurship is a human skill, which can be developed. Due to

entrepreneurship development, living standards of society can tend to rise, new opportunities

of employment can be created and rapid economic and industrial development becomes

possible. The factors effecting entrepreneurship or motivating entrepreneurs are individual,

industrial environment, social environment, economic environment, technological

environment, political environment, incentives, profit making. The entrepreneurs are


classified according to the types of business, use of professional skills, motivation ,growth

stages of development , use of technology, regional area etc. types of entrepreneurs are:

innovative entrepreneur, imitative entrepreneur, educated and uneducated entrepreneurs, rich

and poor, urban and rural, man and woman entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur should understand

the impact of these factors (nature of organization, scale of operation, capital requirement,

ownership rights, controlling and decision making rights) and decide the most suitable

business unit. Types of business units are: sole proprie torship, partnership, co-operative

society and Joint Stock Company. Entrepreneur is a person who always searches for change,

responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity. Opportunity is a specific event, from which

some individuals can gain specific advantages as compared to other. it arises occasionally and

for limited period, important features of business opportunity are , occasionally arise, related

with innovation, difficult to identify, comes up due to environment changes, specific benefits,

specific skills are required to identify opportunity, related with risk, favorable condition,

related with entrepreneurship. Important factors affecting business environment are economic

environment, social and cultural environment, political, legal, demographic, constitutional,

regulatory, technological, marketing, ethical and international environment. Innovation is

another important factor as it plays dominant role in creation of new product; innovative

behavior is very important entrepreneurial function. Characteristics of innovation are; it is a

process, it’s a continuous process, it has universal application, it gives economic and social

gains, creative wealth, important function of an entrepreneur, it has different forms, requires

specific qualities. Entrepreneur can play dominant role for generating employment

opportunities, an entrepreneur can create basically three types of employment opportunities,

self employment, generation of employment opportunities in own unit, ancillary employment

opportunities. The role of entrepreneur as complementing and supplementing factor of

economic growth will be cleared by these factors. Supplier of raw materials, production of

finished product, marketing activity, environment of entrepreneurship, earning of foreign

exchange as human life has many ups and downs, a business unit has also many ups and

downs during its life span. As human beings, since his birth to death, faces many crises and

also tries to overcome such crises. In the same way, many business units’ faces a number of

business crises from beginning to windup and owners are trying to beat such crises. Starting

crisis in business emerges due to, lack of managerial experience, mistake in selection of

business, lack of complete study of market feasibility, lower estimation of required capital for

the project, lack of knowledge of tax liability, wrong selection of technology, material and


project, careless in accounting, lack of knowledge about various legal requirements. Cash is

lifeblood of business, it keeps business live due to cash entrepreneur can make routine

payments without delay, due to lack of cash, cash crises arises and reasons for emerging cash

crises are, credit sales and cash purchasing, much more investment in fixed assets, not getting

adequate finance from bank, expansion of business without planning, continuous fluctuation

in interest rate, more importance to sales and profit. Management succession crises are very

difficult to overcome reason for emerging these crises are, problem of taxation and legal

matters, problem of transfer of control, problem of ownership and partnership rights, problem

of succession right among more than one successor, sadden death of owner and not any

successor. How to beat management succession crisis; plan management succession right,

pre-selection of management successor, development general management skill in one

successor and specific management skill in another successor, selection of successor team,

instead of selecting only one successor, welcome efficient personnel in board of directors,

develop expert businessmen team having homogeneous thinking, selection of successor after

proper discussion with banker, financial institution, legal expert , make regular note in brief

about assets, responsibility etc, develop managerial skills in the successor.


Entrepreneurial Management

BY: DR.S M NAQI

ANUM TASADDUQ

01-211082-016

BBA 6A


The small scale organizations have proved to make profitable gains and their importance to

Entrepreneurship has lead to the growth of the economy. Small-scale enterprises has created a

lot of jobs around and manifested to increase the economy .Through innovation and there has

been an economic growth by these enterprises. The need for managerial concepts and

techniques through training and counseling ended up in success. A guideline from the field

experience in the design and delivery of entrepreneurship developmental programs

monograph was written. Monograph had the themes, topics and issues of successful field

experience in the design and delivery of effective programs. Business creation involves

entrepreneur and the project. While some programmers concentrate on one aspect or the other

or maybe a mixture of both. The most acknowledged aspect of small scale enterprises is to

create employment, less burden on the government and more focus on self -reliance for e.g.

Japan and Korea.

The programme design consists of why is it being attempted, to whom is it directed and

resources available. Although there may be opportunities but resources are not available to

that extent. There is a need to ensure that the government does not discriminate against the

small firms i.e. licensing procedures, import controls taxations and other regulatory

mechanisms. The people making the programme design should be aware of the social,

political and economic factors. Taking a look at the economic factors he/she should consider

these points in mind:

Nature of the market: if it is a large scale or a small scale market. Small scale enterprises deal

with small local markets and vice versa.

Market analysis is an important part in trainees training in developing their projects. The

trainees which already have motivational and technical skills are selected. Training

entrepreneurs for business cr eation for business creation has multiple objectives:

Creating large supply of entrepreneurs, Industrial development of rural areas, Employment is

generated, Improving the performance level of small industries by selecting trained

entrepreneurs.

The economic factors affect the social and political goals as well due to the reason that the

economic activity generates employment and the income generating project earns a high rate

of return which raises the self-esteem of people. They are as legitimate social and political

factors as economic objectives.


Programmes are measured on such grounds that start and remain in business but if the

program is directed at people with specific characteristics harpers research shows that success

rate can be affected by prior experience i.e. higher experience high success rate, young

people were highly to succeed more than older people. The success rate depends on the

factors whether they are social political or economic.

Small scale firms get their supply of resource either through personal savings, retained

earnings and getting loan. This is a precise way to start a business for small firm companies.

The site of the business without premises adds to difficulties in a way that no credibility with

customers, no security of the firms assets etc.

Training and development organizations have formal and informal training. In the United

States introduces an awareness of the operation of the economic system and the role of

businesses, small and big, in providing goods and services. In the North America and

elsewhere, many colleges and universities now have entrepreneurship courses, and some even

have degree programs in their curriculum.

Evaluation: appropriate methodology, and what should be measured. In harpers survey he

contacted over 100 programs and received 52 replies out of which 33 should successful

trainees.

Most training programs for entrepreneurs combine some form of classroom activity with field

experience. Here the managerial refers to management training, as distinct fr om the process

of business creation which consists of feasibility analysis, business planning and project

implementation. In the monograph we shall examine the following programmed

components:

(a)Identification, recruitment and selection of trainees

(b)Opportunity guidance

(c)Business motivation and behavior training

(d)Technical training

(e)Management training

(f)Entrepreneurship training


Madhya Pradesh consultancy organization ltd, India conducts entrepreneurship development

programs for four categories of entrepreneurs those are technical graduates, unemployed

graduates, scheduled castes, tribes and other categories of workers, women entrepreneurs.

The program consists of 5 stages:

1. Identification of industrial opportunities in the target area

2. Advertising and promoting the program to attract applicants

3. Selection of the participants

4. Training in the identified project

5. Follow-up with the industrial development and financial institutions

Recruitment, identification and selection of trainees: publishing in newspapers etc

advertising for finding the following characteristics of trainees required.

Hawaii entrepreneurship training and development institute was a non-profit making

corporation established in 1977. They provided training to the individuals by the following

steps of recruitment and selection, entrepreneurship training workshop, implementation and

evaluation of results.

Executive summary:

Small scale firms are definitely an important part of our economy as they play an integral part

in raising the revenue of our country by creating employment, increasing exports etc.

Economic, social and political factors need to be put in consideration before opening a small

scale firm. Entrepreneurs need to be trained before starting up such businesses and there are

firms that provide training programs to individuals through which they learn and then start up

their own business.


DIRECT FROM DELL

BY: MICHEAL DELL

ANWA SUHAIL01-11082-011

BBA 6A


The book”DIRECT FROM DELL” describes Dell's history, but most importantly, it explains

why they were able to offer such low prices - and it wasn't because they used crummy parts.

This book has also put light on tactics for increasing customer data base (direct business

model) and also how dell revolutionized PC industry.

The book has many issues. This work is full of the most amazing collection of clichés,

platitudes, sweeping generalizations and jargon that I have ever run across. There are some

tasty nuggets, but you will have plenty of opportunities to practice your skimming skills.

And there were parts that become just too painful to read.

Starting with Michael Dell's story which begins in his childhood in Texas where from a

very youthful age he was interested in making things work faster and in making money.

While in his teens he became fascinated with computers and began buying them and taking

them apart to see how they worked. He discovered that he could buy computer components

for 1/4 the cost of what an assembled computer was selling for, assemble it quickly himself,

and sell it for a large profit.

He also discovered what many of us have discovered over the years the hard way: If you go

into a store and buy a computer and then have a problem with it, many of the people who sell

those computers don't have a clue as to how to fix it quickly and easily. That, too, was very

interesting to DELL. .

But Dell did not create his company overnight. While he did assemble and sell "home-

grown" computers as a teenager, his family wanted him to become a doctor, so he went to the

University of Texas at Austin. He enrolled and attended classes, but the majority of his time

was spent in the ever-engrossing enterprise of building and selling computers to more and

more people. His room at school was the "assembly laboratory" where he lived and put

computers together while at the University. His parents were very concerned about all the

time he was "wasting" on this "computer stuff," and once when he got wind that they were

making a surprise visit, he had to hurriedly hide all the computer components scattered across

his room in his roommate's bathtub with the shower curtain drawn to hide the "goods."

Eventually, to his parents' horror, Dell left school, rented a building, hired some employees,

and started a business of assembling and selling computers. Ever the smart salesman, Dell


sold excellent computers to people at a cost far below that of the companies such as IBM and

the word spread about the product even as Dell bid on corporate and governmental contracts

in the Austin area. Orders multiplied and Dell and his people innovated on-the-fly like surfers

jumping waves on the North Shore of Oahu. Incidentally, at some point in this exploding

business story Dell's parents saw the lottery-payment-like cash flow and they forgave him for

his youthful "diversion." Not long after, he says, he forgave them too. Ah, how a positive

cash flow in your life can bring joy to your parents' hearts!

Michael Dell then began dreaming big about what his company might do. Like most

successful entrepreneurs he saw things where other businesspersons were apparently blind.

Perhaps the greatest of these insights was that people don't need to go to a computer store, or

ANY kind of brick-and-mortar store to get a computer any more. If you made an

advertisement about your reliable and less expensive computer available to people, they

could call you on the telephone and you could send it to them DIRECT. First his company

used the telephone and next the company added the internet, using an interactive web site.

These two tools, the telephone and the internet, continue to be the mainstays of Dell's "direct

marketing" approach.

The whole thing hangs on TRUST, of course. Most people want to see and feel and try out a

product at a retail outlet before they buy it. What Dell was saying to such a customer was, in

essence, "Look. You know this is a great computer. Millions of people are using it. PC

Magazine and others are giving it high marks. You know if you have a problem you can

either get on the telephone and we will fix the problem, or you can send it back to us and we

will fix it quick, or we can even send someone to your home or office to fix it. TRUST ME.

Buy our computer." So credibility drives the direct marketing approach, and Dell earned a

high place on the credibility scale, with bandwagon results. This is both the key to the

company's success, and as he notes, it is also the soft spot of vulnerability for any potential

corporate decline. If Dell gets overloaded with complexity, or loses its sharp edge, the

credibility will decline, and the "direct advantage" will in time drop off.

The first part of Michael Dell's book deals with how the company was built from the

ground up, and eventually Dell discusses numerous innovative ideas that have

strengthened the company. Two of them intrigued me.


One was the way the company takes great pains to place blocks of stock into the

compensation of each employee. If you want to work for Dell, you are strongly encouraged to

take and hold stock in the DELL Company. The incentive is obvious: over the long haul,

many people have become as rich as if they had in fact won the lottery. But the net effect on

employee relations in terms of company loyalty and internal company harmony may be

summed up in one phrase: "Every effective employee becomes a believer in the company." If,

as one man put it, "Your attitude determines your altitude," Dell makes sure that his people

have a good attitude and therefore that helps the whole company's altitude in the

sometimes unfriendly skies of the competitive computer industry.

Another interesting thing about Dell is how it deals with its parts suppliers . Dell seeks to

change the whole relationship to suppliers of parts and components from "outside suppliers"

to "inside members of the Dell family." For example, Dell computers use Zip Drives. So Dell

has gone to pains to bring Iomega, the company that manufactures Zip Drives, right into the

internal corporate planning and development areas of Dell just as if they were fellow

employees, and has worked to bring about an inventory relationship which is as seamless as

possible. It is an attempt to move from a "them and us" status to an "all of us together" status,

and it has worked consistently well.

Dell built their business in what was, at the time, a little used approach for the PC industry.

Customers bought their machines directly from Dell. They called an 800 number, discussed

their order with a rep, and then Dell built the machine to the customer's specifications and

shipped it. They have maintained that model, with one brief foray into selling through the big

chain stores, and have become one of the top companies in the PC and server business. Dell

attributes that direct model to their success...on almost every page . The direct model is

based on direct selling – not using a reseller or the retail channel. Because we built only what

our customers wanted when they wanted it, we didn’t have a lot of inventory taking up space

and soaking up capital

This approach DID set them apart and give them some significant advantages. They were

able to interact directly with their customers, learning their needs, being in real-time contact

with the market place, and being able to quickly adapt to changes in demand. Because they


built to order and had that real-time information, they could keep incredibly low inventory

levels (that was the real key to their lower prices...low inventory). Since PC technology

changes so rapidly, keeping low inventory was critical.

Unfortunately, the authors seem to be of the opinion that Dell invented this approach. In fact,

in one passage, he implies that he revolutionized the computer industry and pretty much came

up with direct selling. Never mind that IBM and the other computer companies had been

doing this since way before Dell was born.

Another organizational tactic that they used, which also isn't new, but is interesting, is

segmentation. They organized their company by the markets they served, not by products.

And as markets got bigger, they re-segmented and more narrowly focused. This makes a lot

of sense, since it allows you to have a big company that keeps maintaining a tight focus on

the most important thing - the customer. And it allows them to maintain high rates of growth,

since the smaller actual business units can grow more quickly than a larger organization.

As one would expect from someone at the heart of the computer industry, Dell is a tireless

and fanatical believer that the Internet is absolutely necessary to every business's survival. If

you don't provide access from every one of your users' desktops, you'll be gone. I disagree.

But I wouldn't expect any other statement from him anyway. And he does make a decent

argument for some of the benefits of the Internet (and intranet).

By using the Internet to maintain a continuous flow of materials from our suppliers into our

factories, our people spend less time placing orders or expediting parts and more time adding

value. The other thing the Internet gives us is immediate transmission of product quality data.

Because of the direct model, and the development of technology, like the Internet, that

allowed an electronic link between the customer, Dell and Dell's vendors, they've been able

to tightly integrated their entire supply chain and get inventory costs even lower.

Concluding review by saying that I found this book to be very good on several levels. It was

fun and interesting learning about the man Michael Dell and who he is and how he thinks. It

was very informative to catch his take on the history of the PC revolution in our world in the

last few years. And it was fascinating to see how Dell's company has grown to its current

level, and where he thinks he may go. The very core thing that drives the business is the fact


that everything revolves around the customer, listening to customer feedback, acting on it

promptly, adding value to the customer, etc

If you are interested in computers and where you may fit in out the future of computers here

in these "early years", you'll be rewarded by this book. Someday, out in the future, it may be

an important part of the overall history of the computer revolution.


THE Woman Entrepreneur

BY: LINDA PENSON AND JERRY

AREEBA ALTAF

01-11082-012

BBA 6A


The woman entrepreneur is mostly devoted to the profiles of those 33 women whose success

stories are both interesting and inspirational. The book includes self written piece from all the

33 women, who are telling their success story themselves. Before writing the book, the author

had decided that the book will comprise of 3 things; profiles of successful women, history

and statistics and the third part on resources for women who might like to start their own

business.

With regard to the statistical part, it includes all the necessary charts and graphs.

With respect to the resource section, there is a list of library references, government offices

trade association, business organizations and books and publications.

Talking about the history, the book gives a brief overlook on the historical endeavors done by

women. Women have always faced personal difficulties, legal barriers, ridicule and dangers

to pursue own business. But in the 18th and 19th century, there were women, who successfully

could overcome these hurdles. Few examples are: Madame Veuve Cliquot, Sarah Buell,

Rebecca Webb and Victoria Woodhull. In 1940’s men were called into army for the Second

World War, women replaced them in workforce, giving rise to the women movement. Annual

growth rate became 9.4%.

In 1979, Charlotte Taylor, in her report, indicated the following barriers to women

entrepreneurs:

• Limited access to commercial credit

• Virtual exclusion of women-owned business from government procurement activities.

• Limited management and technical training to fast track women into the marketplace.

• Inadequate information and data on women-owned business.

Coming back to the profiles part of the 33 women, one problem seems to be common,

that it seemed to be that they were operating in a ‘boys club’, that looked upon women

entrepreneurs as small time operators that would never enter the real business world.

In it, they have included their personal lives; marriage, children and all, also their

professional lives; how they had coped up with very hurdle in their way. And how their

entrepreneurial goals were the most important thing before their eyes, for instanc e, one of the

women, Enita Nordeck, says that her goals were somewhat disturbing her husband and he


himself had goals different from her, therefore she had no choice but to leave her husband to

pursue her goals.

Production methods and employees are the key cogs to any business, says one of the

entrepreneur, and the statement seems to be agreed upon by the stories of the rest.

The book reveals the sorrows and hardships behind all the fame and money. Grace

McGartland, owner of GM consultants, was diagnosed with cancer in 1984. But she did not

give up, and kept on struggling hard. And in 1991, saw the birth of her new company, the

Border Gang.

Stories tell how, committed and devoted entrepreneurs can be, starting from grass root and

taking it to heights of achievement and success. Helen Shih, cofounder and CEO of the

SHE’s flowers, started off with a flower stand and today, it’s a full service floral franchise in

California.

This book also removes certain myths about women entrepreneurs that they can only be in

hosiery, food or sewing industries. Stephanie Slavin is a good example of how women can

take pert in more complex businesses. Stephanie is the president of Aviation Business

Consultant. She says; “the male dominated aviation world has been an outstanding training

ground, teaching focus, self control, and how to adroitly deal with chauvinism.

Also, how, truly devoted entrepreneurs try to get over hurdles like discrimination too. She

realized that all the leading cosmetic brands in the market were serving the skin tones of the

white and totally, did not suit the black ladies; therefore she wanted to come up with a line

having all new shades that would go with the black skin tone. Vera Moore was a black lady,

who came up with a comprehensive line of skin care and cosmetic products for professional

and retail market. Today, women from all walks of life, including models, actresses and

housewives, go for Vera More cosmetics as their first priority.

Successful entrepreneurs are those who take interest in what they are doing, and make

profession out of their passion. For instance, Marty Maschino, she turned a hobby into

business. Her obsession of dolls led her to start her own doll business called Attic Babies.

She says, “I love every one of these attic babies. Their personalities resemble little impish

kids, all like extensions of my own children”.


Another piece of advice from one of the female entrepreneurs, Joyce McLaughlin, owner of

interstate Tele marketing, is that no matter what business you are starting, there are certain

factors that you have to always keep in mind.

• Have a plan, do your homework, investigate your competitor.

• Have a different financial option.

• Set time frames and goals.

• Control expenses.

• A CPA, attorney and bankers are must.

• Don’t expect great things immediately, BE REALISTIC.

This book tells us, how consistent, strong and diverse minded an entrepreneur needs

to be. Mona Tollin, a certified business consultant, survived the death of a grown up

child and the loss of a business; yet she still believes in hard work and the ‘right

attitude’.

What is to be served in the business and who is to be served is important, but what most

important is the commitment in whatever one is doing.

Mona has had 4 business altogether in different time periods. Starting off with a beauty

supply store, to a custom design shop, then to a health food store and finally into

consultation.

Most of the entrepreneurs given in the book, when asked about what advise would they want

to give to the other prospective women entrepreneurs, they somewhat had similar replies;

prepare yourself to the best of your ability before coming into the business. Keep your

knowledge through education, association and support groups. Make your own decisions, do

not be afraid to recognize your mistakes, be tenacious and flexible. And most importantly,

keep a positive attitude.

One of the entrepreneurs seems to be so passionate about her work that she said,

“Other than the birth of my sons, being an entrepreneur has been the most exciting and

fulfilling experience of my life”.


All the women have agreed upon the fact that they have used their ethnicity, femininity,

education and culture as their strengths.

Dawn Wells, owner of the wishing well collections, says something that, can lead to wonders

if practically applied in ones life.

Dawn says, “Plan like you are going to live forever and live like you are going to die

tomorrow”.

When we think of entrepreneurship, the first few things that immediately come into our

minds are capital, opportunity, attorneys, advisors and lots of things vital in business. But

after reading this book, it’s evident that there are few things, too plain to be talked about yet

very important in an entrepreneur’s life; a good nights sleep, a regular exercise program, and

leisure time.

When I read the book, I realized that every woman seems to have the same dilemma, that is,

men do not seems to take us seriously. And according to them, even the women themselves

seem to underestimate themselves if return on investment is low in the beginning.

Bettye Smith, says, “Every business has its peaks and valleys. This is a natural phenomena

and it is vital to prepare yourself for the tough times”.

Most of the entrepreneurs have diverse personalities but similar beliefs, they are motivated by

recognition, achievement and respect for ones job. It has cost them their health, physical and

mental rest and their married lives, yet their dream of accomplishment took them through.

Most of them think that the entrepreneurial experience is worth the risk involved in it. So

‘just do it’.

Concluding, if a woman has a skill or area of knowledge which meets the needs and

demands of our society today, she should take the risk of developing a small business at least.

In addition to the financial rewards possible, the opportunity for both professional and

personal growth is great. To be a successful business person, it takes talent, energy, desires

and overall idea of not settling for second best because if you do, you will be sure to get it.

Lastly, the book, in its third part gives information that can be of a help to the prospective

women entrepreneurs. It includes, organizations, associations and magazines names


Flying Solo: How To Go It Alone In Business

By: Robert Gerrish and Sam Leader.

ARHAM TAUSIF

01-111082-013

BBA 6A


So I’ve just finished reading Flying Solo: How to Go It Alone in Business. And it has been a

very interesting and exhilarating book to read. I had been searching for a book to review not

just for the sake of writing one. I admit it did take me some time before I finally found my

book of choice. Initially, I had not been very picky about the whole task and thought any

book will do. After a while, procrastination set in. I got too lazy. Can you blame me? It’s

summer after all, and the constant load-shedding doesn’t help either. One day however, I was

searching for books on a local bookstore’s online database and came across Flying Solo. The

name caught my attention and I read some good online reviews which convinced me that this

book is the one. I went in the next day and bought my copy and started reading as soon as I

got home.

Robert Gerrish and Sam Leader have a very interesting collaboration here. The style is pretty

straight forward and casual, it avoids business and entrepreneurial jargon and makes the

reader feel comfortable and at ease. The introduction provides a quick preview of what’s to

come up in the following chapters. Gerrish and Leader constantly emphasize on the word

‘solo’. After all, it is the universal theme of the book. What is ‘soloism’? How can an

understanding of the word help you spread your wings and take off on your journey?

This complete handbook to taking the plunge into self-employment presents the necessary

tools needed to plan and begin a solo venture. Combining inspirational advice and practical

strategies, the habits and behaviors of successful self-employees are discussed along with

time management, networking, and marketing strategies. For those stuck in a professional rut,

the suggestions provided can make going to work a more satisfying experience.

Working for yourself is fast becoming the characteristic work style of the 21st century –

there’s never been a better time to turn your dreams of independence into reality. Flying Solo

is the complete guide to breaking out on your own and gives you the tools to start your own

solo venture, or totally overhaul and rejuvenate one that’s been ticking along for years. The

introduction to the book provides an understanding of different ‘solo’ professions, such as

consultancy, accountancy, lawyers, life coaches and the likes of them.

The book is divided into three sections: Thinking Solo, Acting Solo and finally, Staying Solo.

The first section is concerned with how to adopt an attitude that allows you to pursue an

independent business or venture, the mentality of a soloist and the power of vision. Why do

people start thinking about a solo business? What motivates them to do so and what are the

benefits of it? All these questions are answered in the first section.


The authors emphasize on the liberal aspect of sole proprietorships and the feeling of freedom

and independence. A person who chooses to go it alone in business can design his/her dream

job and acquire satisfaction from their work. The most important thing is to enjoy your work

and not feel bound by it. Don’t work for your job, have it work for you. It’s amazing how

quickly this book immersed me. What’s great about it is that you actually understand what

the authors are talking about and they’ve also included little exercises and pointers to help

people start their solo journey. It’s simple really. For example, in one chapter where the

authors focus on the power of a vision, they have come up with a small exercise where a

person answers a few questions regarding where they see themselves in a few year’s time and

what they actually want to achieve with their solo venture. The authors then instruct to keep

on reviewing this list as time passes and add or subtract from it once as you see fit.

In the second section of the book, we move away from theory and put everything in practice.

We are introduced to three chapters which provide insight to how to start turning your solo

dream into a reality. The first part discusses how to develop a game plan and manage

finances and the likes in order to start a solo journey. I read about quite a few solo

entrepreneurial accounts of actual people who have shared their stories. It was interesting to

read these because they were everyday people who had dreamt of an independent business

and had been able to do conceptualize it. The most interesting chapter in this section was

‘Spreading the Word’. It focused on how to generate awareness about your solo venture and

the importance of word of mouth and referrals. I particularly enjoyed the bit about how a

particular soloist had met a few people at a business convention and turned them into ‘Raving

Fans’ from ‘Total Strangers’. I’m sure you’re confused about these concepts so I’ll elaborate;

anyone who wishes to see you and your business prosper is a raving fan. They refer your

business to other people and generate a fairly considerable amount of awareness about your

business. Strangers are people who you don’t know and who you’ve never met. This chapter

also taught me a really interesting concept about how o introduce yourself and your business

in a manner which interests the person who is listening and draws certain responses from

them. For example, a friend of one of the authors was in the coffee machinery business and

every time someone would ask him about his business, he would reply; ‘I make widgets that

make coffee owners’ coffee machines percolate at twice the speed’. This is a much more

interesting statement than ‘I make coffee machine widgets’. The former statement would

probably elicit a response such as ‘Really? Tell me more!’ Finally, the authors teach us about


the eight essentials of a solo venture and include more exercises and activities to plan and

organize your game plan and strategy.

Finally, we arrive at the end of the book which teaches us how to maintain a solo venture and

business. Small basics and pointers here and there, which I’m sure, can really help a person in

their practical life.

I learnt a great deal from reading Flying Solo. Honestly, I’m glad that I chose this book fro

my review because I’m quite sure it will be very helpful in the future. I have recommended it

to a few friends and cousins who are currently stuck in jobs that they find unsatisfying and

thankless, and hope that they find all the answers they’re looking for in the book. I have

seriously started thinking about ‘Going Solo’ one day myself. I’d like to conclude this review

with one of my favorite quotes:

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

– Albert Einstein


Blue Print For Greater Success

By: David GOH

AROOJ ABID

01-211082-018

BBA 6A


Blueprint for Greater Success is an inspirational writing of David Goh aiming to develop the

basic virtues and values of human lives as a foundation for their future success. This book

explains why people fail in life and also provides a blueprint for those who have potential and

urge to achieve happiness , financial success and peace of mind. The author highlights that

rough path is an old way of industry; all great men have been through it to achieve happiness

and success. It clarifies the reasons for misery, frustration and tension among people who

strive so hard to achieve their lives’ ambitions and illuminates how to accomplish your

dreams in pursuit for excellence.

The book is full of stimulating examples from practical life of author and many other

successful personalities, which makes it such an interesting read. The quotes in almost every

chapter also break the monotony and keep all sorts of readers engaged. The way author has

played with simple words and shaped new concepts, the book becomes a great learning

experience. The book polishes your skills showing how you already knew but never realized

your actual potential and its worth in your life’s ambitions. The author has very uniquely

encouraged his readers by proving how much power they have: he defines purpose as the

power of seeking the end desire, describes the power of choice that every human being

posses; t is exercised in every simple decision we make each day in our life. All decisions

always have consequences which one must be prepared to accept because that’s when you

take charge of life and that’s what leads you to success. When your homes and schools have

done all they can for you, and you begin the work of life, you must take the hold with a will

and be content to work hard on long lines. It shows that there is temporary defeat and the

final defeat. The temporary defeat when you don’t give up and keep striving harder and better

for your goal make your final success greater.

Blueprint for greater success is written in a layman’s language, focusing on individuals start

up attitudes, and not on organizational trends to achieve success. It is basically about the

personality traits and characteristics needed for successful entrepreneurship and emphasizes

on desire and determination for success that resides within the individual. The author shows

that running a successful organization and leading a meaningful life are to some extent

similar. He has elaborated on every step to achieve success by references to his own personal

life experiences, nevertheless it is important to realize that not every person goes through the

same scenarios. The book also fails to comprehend other functional factors necessary to


fulfill ones dreams like financial assistance, acquiring management support and team

approval.

The idea of book is based on ten inter-linked pillars that are, as stated by the author, universal

and timeless and significant for success to have stronger foundations. The book keeps

warning against negativity as it results in slowing down your progress. It highlights the

importance of truly believing in your Creator, yourself and finally in your aims; emphasizing

on goodness of positivity six of the pillars being faith, courage, indomitable determination,

perseverance, positive thinking, positive self image. It strictly teaches to believe in your year

when it hasn’t been your day, week or month. Other pillars with subheadings of realizing

your purpose, self suggestion, self discipline, and overcoming adversity are also self

explanatory, touching upon the same point of optimism and confidence. The book is written

based on the fact that everyone wants either money security power fame success or happiness

the most in life. Everyone has ability, not discovering it is living in ignorance limiting your

self to your dwarfed reality and capacity. The book ela borates on how an individual can build

discover and utilize the entrepreneurial qualities and what limits them. Even in adversity,

there is an equal source of strength and opportunity.

The author has aimed to get the word “impossible” out of his reader’s dictionary. It attempts

to eliminate the fear of the unknown. He believes that human beings are like magnifying

glass; if one brings all the concentration and energy to one focal point, great changes can be

achieved while if the focus keeps deviating nothing can be done. In this read one comes

across interesting concepts like that of self depreciation when nothing is achieved in life and

an individual starts suffering from lack of courage and confidence. It teaches how rejection

and dejection of people can lower your morale and how important it is to not let it get in the

pursuit of your goals. The fire for your desire determines the level of miracle that can happen.

The book also give ten bricks of life that help you develop the pillars more effectively. Love,

honor, enthusiasm assist you by gathering support for your idea. You have to be vocal and

with your vigor charisma and believe one can be sure of making others believe in you too. if

the focus, observation is right and your thinking is accurate there is no reason for you to not

achieve what you desire; even if your path takes time to take you their, never giving up in

your believe is the technique. It is extremely important to be conscious and careful enough.

The book analyzes the constraints to ones cautiousness as well. It explains that your driving


force strongly effects your determination. The crisis you face in life ignite the fire in you to

get rid of them. The book completely scrutinizes the ultimate secrets of success.

David Goh is one of the most successful motivational speakers in the circuit. He has written

around ten books on the same entrepreneurship related topics which shows the importance of

success and achievement in his life and how he wants to ignite the fire within the people who

have potential to get out of their miseries; He is a strong writer with the skills and

experiences to share that motivate people to achieve their dreams. This book is written with

biographical stories shared from his own life which not only make the book enterta ining but

one also learns about the author with literature. Other than serving with his writings he also

conducts seminars and workshops whenever he can. He has worked for thirty years as a

trainer and done extensive research to be able to produce such inspirational pieces of writing.

As he said on the cover page “in every negative situation in life, there is always a positive

opening somewhere. U just need to press in and hold on to your ultimate dream in life, never

to give-up or give-in. if your blueprint is must worthy for success, then success be pursued, at

the end, you will know, how sweet the taste of success is.”


Entrepreneurship: Concepts Theory and Perspectives

By: Alvaro , DOMINGO & SALVADOR

ARSALAN AKBAR

01-211082-019

BBA 6A


The book entrepreneurship concepts theory and perspective is a combined effort of Alvaro,

Domingo and Salvador who have edited different author’s concept about the subject title of

the book and analyzing them to systematize entrepreneurship for future development and

study. Their effort has resulted in covering the subject in three parts first concepts, second

theory and third perspective. The book provides in depth and systematic theoretical,

conceptual and perspective knowledge compiled from existing material.

The first part, concepts, describes and classifies theories that have been used to give

structure to and formalize the field of study for such a classification the author create a matrix

based on four theoretical approaches: economic, psychological, institutional and managerial

and three levels of analyses within entrepreneurship micro, meso and macro. He then

discussed the contribution of entrepreneurs to small businesses and to the economy as a

whole, how the entrepreneurs are different from the managers and capitalists and how

entrepreneurial firms differ from new or small firms. The author addresses the problems of

differences that exist in the terminology used to describe entrepreneurship with the ides of

reducing the confusion that surrounds the field and reconciling differences between existing

definitions. The author defined entrepreneurship that covers the occurrence of organizational

creation or innovation that occurs inside or outside the existing organization and

entrepreneurs as individuals or group of individuals that act independently or as a part of a

corporate system that create new organization or innovation within an existing one. Later

high levels of risks taken by the firms were analyzed.

The second part, theory, deals with three important paradigms in the evolution of

entrepreneurship and contributes to theoretical viewpoints that, despite having a more limited

scope, have the advantage of strong links with other disciplines or bodies of knowledge

The apparent conceptual conflict between entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship

has been discussed along with the acceptance of the concept of entrepreneurship as a process

by which individuals look for opportunities without taking into account the resources they

have at their disposition at a given time.

The promise of entrepreneurship as a field of research reflects the discovery of opportunities

as real core of entrepreneurship which is recognized by some and not by others in making the

most of the opportunities to the form they take. The book also discusses concepts of

entrepreneurship based on intuitions that processes the perception of opportunities and

assesses their desirability and feasibility. Cognitive theory is currently the main link between


entrepreneurship and the science of psychology. The resource based theory covers the

recognition of opportunities and opportunity seeking behavior.

The third part, perspectives, focuses on presenting suggestions for future investigations in

entrepreneurship with the aim of achieving consolidation as a scientific field. This section

also includes an international project on entrepreneurship and recommendations for analyzing

and facilitating the publication of research on entrepreneurship.

CONCLUSION

I personally found the book a successful effort with multiple views inviting ones curiosity

and interest for entrepreneurship. The authors have toiled hard in compilation of concepts and

research by individuals. This book helped me understand the concepts and importance of

entrepreneurship and its implication in the field today. I recommend this book as a must read

for all the present and future entrepreneurs.


PATTERNS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

By: JACK M. KAPLAN.

M. Arsalan Khan

01-211082-075

BBA 6A


“Patterns of Entrepreneurship” is authored by Jack M. Kaplan who is a Professor of

Entrepreneurial Studies in Columbia University Business School. He himself is owner of

three successful businesses relating to smart cards and electronic gift. Since he is also

affiliated with the technological side of the businesses and entrepreneurial activity he is more

focused on them in his book.

“Patterns of Entrepreneurship” is an interactive learning experience that all about the

challenges, issues, and rewards faced by entrepreneurs in starting and growing a venture. The

text is different from othe rs because it provides with more easy to understand and defined

guidelines about entrepreneurial strategies and how to develop them plus how to come across

challenges of the real world. Throughout this book are certain tips which would help a person

become a successful entrepreneur and plus the things which should be avoided are also

mentioned. Throughout the text book author relates the theories and the text with the real

entrepreneurs which makes it really easy for students to understand and relate that how a

certain strategy or a certain decision help that entrepreneur gain more success. There are

many case studies which are about real life situation and how they were dealt with by the

entrepreneurs this actually very helping form of experiential learning. There is a lot of focus

on the technology and since it is growing everyday “Patterns of Entrepreneurship” provides

with the solutions which can help students overcome the technological issues created during

an entrepreneurial activity. Patterns of Entrepreneurship also gives awareness to students

about all the legalities and formalities of the entrepreneurship like; business plans and their

formats, financial plans, patent registration and many more.

The book is divided into four phases which are identica l to the entrepreneurial process. Each

chapter is designed to develop the understanding that part of the entrepreneurial process and

how the best result can be reached. First Phase is about “Starting the Venture” which walk

you through the details one mus t know before thinking about starting an entrepreneurial

activity. Second phase is about “Source of Financing” which happens to be yet another very

important topic. Third Phase is about “Implementation” and fourth one is about “Alternatives

and Options”. This simple and relevant classification of book into chapters which explain all

the ambiguities of the entrepreneurial process are very helpful and easily understandable. The

book also defines the alternatives which a person can choose and what would their results be.

Similarly there are several assessments and task which could be performed to know that what


would be your stance on a particular entrepreneurial situation after you have been taught the

guidelines of making a fruitful decision in that particula r field.

The book is very interesting and gradually provides knowledge about entrepreneurship and

all the related fields of business and entrepreneurship in a way which is easy to understand

and comprehend and then easy to apply in to real world with all the basic and detailed

knowledge about the alternatives and options and their respective results. The book focuses

upon motivating the students that they should also look around for opportunities and make

the right decision on the right time and avail them using your creative and practicality and

make the world better someway.

What I enjoyed mostly was its simple and direct structure – the chapters are easy to read and

the book is easy to navigate. In this respect, “Patterns of Entrepreneurship Management” is

more of an experiential book rather than the dry textbook. The many entrepreneur profiles

actually give you a vivid picture of what it means to struggle every day with your own idea,

and what is the taste of success. Lots of case studies, examples, assessments and exercises all

a very good supplement material for the theory.


Entrepreneurial Management

By: Dr. S. M. NAQI

Arsalan Ayaz Kiyani

01-211082-020

BBA 6A


Management:

Management is a process of effectively using the given resources and mobilizing additional

resources to achieve an agreed goal, or else to get things done through others.

There are several styles of management such as autocratic, participative, consensus,

charismatic, transactional, management by fact, coaching, democratic.

Henri Fayol developed a list of management functions.

• Planning

• Organizing

• Directing

• Coordinating and controlling

Skills necessary for effective functional management

• Technical skills

• Human skills

• Conceptual skills

David Starr Jordan said `the world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is

going`.

Planning

It is that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Planning is the thoughtful process in which an entrepreneur thinks, anticipates, forecasts,

judges and decides.

Types of plans

There are for types of plans

• Strategic plans

• Operational plans

• Short term plans

• Specific plans

Winston Churchill once said `a goal without a plan is just a wish `.

Organizing


Organizing it basically means that necessary physical arrangements be made in terms of land,

building, materials, staffing, financing, infrastructure, machinery, plants, tools, technology

and above all to setup a suitable organizational structure and system to enable the enterprise

to function and implement the plans developed by the entrepreneur.

Effectiveness

Doing things right is called effectiveness.

Types of effectiveness

There are three types of effectiveness

• Apparent effectiveness

• Personal effectiveness

• Leader`s effectiveness

Criteria of effectiveness

• Productivity

• Adaptability

• Organizational flexibility

Efficiency: -

Efficiency is accomplishing a job with the use of minimum resources or maximum output

within minimum inputs.

Productivity

It is a measure of efficiency and in its simplest and most basic form, it can be expressed as :

Productivity =output/input

Factors affecting productivity:-

Hard factors

• Plant and equipment

• Technology

• Material and energy

Soft factors

• People

• Organization and systems


• Work methods

• Management styles

Human resource and their management:-

It is the responsibility of the manager or the entrepreneur to manage the human resource

because it is the one who has to perform work or tasks for the organization.

Decision making

In ultimate analysis, management is all decision making. You decide what to achieve? How

to achieve? What to achieve? What organization is needed? How to organize?

Different approaches to decision making:-

• Entrepreneurial

• Instinctive

• Traditional

• Common sense

• Professional

• Opinion based

Peter .F. Drucker said `wherever you see a successful business, someone took a courageous

decision`.

Communication:-

Communication means exchange of information. Managers manage mainly through

communication verbal, nonverbal, implicit, explicit, direct, indirect, personal, close, remote,

written, formal and informal in short in a host of ways.

Communication helps entrepreneurs in different ways such as negotiations, finalizing deals,

motivating subordinates e.t.c.

P.F. Drucker said` the most important thing in communication is to hear what is not being

said`.

Time management

It is something which is a must for everyone not just entrepreneurs or managers.

According to Sir Arthur Keith “Want of punctuality is a want of virtue”


Qualities of Entrepreneurships

1. Creative and innovative

2. Flexible and dynamic

3. Task solving attitude

4. Leadership skills

5. Excellent communication and public dealing skills.


THE ENTREPRENEUR NEXT DOOR

By: JEFFREY GITOMER

ARSLAN JAWAID01-11082-014

BBA 6A


Someone once said “There are no elevators to success. You have to take the stairs.” Perhaps

there are no elevators, but when armed with The Entrepreneur Next Door, there are certainly

escalators. In The Entrepreneur Next Door (Entrepreneur Press, June 2006), Bill Wagner

analyzes the characteristics and personality traits that make up a successful entrepreneur

and invites readers to take an online personality test to determine their own entrepreneurial

strengths and weaknesses.

The Five -Tier Performance Pyramid outlined in this book helps the reader learn more

about their own personality, job behaviors, actions, results and metrics in comparison with

those of already successful entrepreneurs. Studies have shown that a person will be five

times more successful in a position if he or she has the right personality for that particular

job. In addition, research indicates that many personality types, even less entrepreneurial

ones, actually do have the potential to birth a successful business.

This is a well written, well researched book that is funny and insightful. As a business

executive we are always looking for the "How to" and very few business books provide the

how to. It is the stories, the anecdotes and the research that together create a very compelling

story about success, self awareness and accomplishment. Test takers are determined to have

one of seven different personality types. Four are more Generalist, big picture, more strategic

in their thinking and orientation and three are more Specialists, more careful, by the book,

more tactical with a well defined area of expertise. The Generalist is referred to as having a

stronger Entrepreneurial type of personality whereas the Specialists are referred to as more of

a Wantrapreneurial type of personality. The book is then written from seven different

perspectives so that readers are able to learn specifically about themselves. This is unique in

that most writers write from their perspective and rarely write from the perspective of the

reader. That plus the fact that the reader gets their own personality test is really cool stuff.

Successful entrepreneurs have one of two things going for themselves. They either have

the right personality to be an entrepreneur or they have the self awareness to

unders tand the difference that exists between who they are and who they need to be. It

is this GAP that allows the entrepreneur to use a cognitive process by which they can change

their behaviors in order to drive the results they desire. On page eleven of the book I

introduce a Five Tier Performance Pyramid that takes readers through this cognitive

process. Tier I is our natural personality and we all have a natural style of personality. Tier

II represents the behavioral requirements of our position. It could be an entrepreneur but it


could also be the behavioral requirements for the position of a truck driver. They do not

typically have the same personality. The behaviors (Tier II) represent the requirement and

Tier III represent the actions that are necessary or requisite to make things happen. As we

all know, Actions with a method of Metrics leaves us with planned failure. Metrics represent

Tier IV and finally Tier V is the Results we are able to accomplish. It is the reader's ability

to cognitively understand and embrace this Five Tier Performance Pyramid that allows them

to drive positive change.

The book is written for a broad spectrum. It has a great message for existing business ow ners

and their significant other, their employees and partners as it provides insights as to why they

do what they do. Years ago, I was presenting to a group of entrepreneurs in Guatemala City

and after the meeting of entrepreneurs and their respective spouses one of the spouses

approached me and said, "I use to think that my husband was the rotten apple, now that I see

the personalities of all of these entrepreneurs I realize that the whole bushel is rotten." This

was her epiphany that her husband being different was a good thing because it allowed him to

have the level of success that he required.

The Entrepreneur Next Door is also written for those that desire to go into business for

themselves as it provides them with a roadmap, an objective roadmap. Our research indicates

that it is easier if you have a personality that is perfect for an opportunity but what about the

other 60+ percent of the population, those that are more risk averse, and those that prefer

taking their time and really teach a subject well those individuals can be great as a franchisee

or a distributor. They can be great where the brand brings their customers to them so they

don't have to be the aggressive marketer themselves.

There is a third and unexpected group that has strongly benefited from their reading of The

Entrepreneur Next Door and, that is, existing companies and corporations. Their upper

management has struggled for years with those that lack initiative which is something that

entrepreneurs have in strong supply. The se corporate readers always know who they have

issues with, their new found understanding has provided them with the Why the issues exist,

what they can do about it and How they can fix it.


Wagner says, “Over the past eight years, I, and the members of my company, Accord

Management Systems Inc., have interviewed and studied the behaviors of more than 1,500

fearless business founders and leaders. Most were under 40 years old, primarily in their 20s

and 30s. They also all had annual sales of more than $1 million. What we discovered from

our study is that, as different as these entrepreneurs appear, with relation to each other, they

share a number of common personality traits. These traits were the predominant indicators of

their success; far outweighing what we usually rely on to determine one’s success: education,

family ties, skills, and experience.” Wagner is the top expert on understanding workplace

behavior and knows what successful traits entrepreneurs posses that lead to financial

independence. He can tell potential entrepreneurs how to start a business based on their best

qualities and skills, and what they can do to achieve entrepreneurial success.


The Knack: HOW STREET SMART ENTREPRENEURS LEARN TO

HANDLE WHATEVERCOMES UP

By: NORM BRODSKY

AWAIS TARIQ

01-111082-020

BBA 6A


Brodsky and Burlingham offer an excellent book for entrepreneurs, stressing the thinking

necessary to deal with many different situations and to identify and capture opportunities as

they arise. Brodsky is an entrepreneur and mentor for numer ous other entrepreneurs, and the

authors use the experiences of one small business as an example of the challenges and

growing pains common to all new ventures and what the owners learned along the way to

their success. Excellent attention to detail is provided, including the basics of accounting,

establishing a goal, determining the viability of a business, and the importance of gross profit.

Each chapter, which concludes with important summary points, covers a critical step in a

start-up journey including the right stuff, handling inevitable mistakes; why start-ups fail;

finding investors; how to lose customers; and what it takes to be the boss.

People starting out in business tend to seek step-by-step formulas or specific rules, but in

reality there are no magic bullets. Rather, says veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky, there’s a

mentality that helps street-smart people solve problems and pursue opportunities as they

arise. He calls it “the knack,” and it has made all the difference to the eight successful start-

ups of his career. Brodsky shows readers how to apply “the knack” to their own businesses.

Brodsky and Burlingham offer essential advice such as:

• Follow the numbers—that’s the best way to spot problems before they become life

threatening • Keep focusing on your real goal--it’s amazingly easy to get sidetracked by

secondary concerns • don’t get so close to the problem that you lose all perspective.

• How relying on your receivables as your “inner bank” can help you survive today’s credit

crisis

• What to do if customers stop paying bills on time

• How to protect yourself from the inevitability of creeping expenses

• How to retain customers when your competitors cut prices

• Why you must never confuse good sales with good cash flow

• Why having competitors is far better than being first to market

• Why the most impressive business plans are the least trustworthy

• Why a “sales mentality” is dangerous for business


• Why it’s better to have many small customers rather than fewer larger ones

• Why you should avoid socializing with employees outside the office

• Why it’s better to hire salespeople from outside your own industry

• How to judge if your business is viable

Readers will learn these and many other insights from Brodsky own stories of facing such

challenges as discovering theft from a trusted employee, realizing when it was time to hand

over management to his team, and rescuing his business from bankruptcy after trying in vain

to grow it to $100 million. Readers will also meet Bobby and Helene Stone, the first of many

entrepreneurs that Norm has personally mentored. He helps steer them from nothing to a $3

million dollar business in just a matter of years by focusing their attention on all the critical

factors that make a business healthy, from gross margins to cash flow. Brodsky and

Burlingham prove that business acumen is within anyone’s reach.

They are also pragmatists who understand what works...and what doesn't...in the

contemporary business world. The "toolbox" metaphor is especially appropriate because the

reader will find in this single source just about all they need to achieve and then sustain

success. For example, in the first two chapters, Brodsky and Burlingham explain how to

• Make the right decisions

• Manage cash flow properly

• Balance the sales mentality with the business mentality

• Anticipate and then prepare for changes with analytics

• Be resilient when countering failure and learn from it

• Identify root cause rather than respond only to symptoms

• Balance focus and discipline with resiliency

• Recognize answers and solutions with peripheral vision

Then in Chapters Nine and Fourteen, Brodsky and Burlingham explain how to

• Build relationships that retain your most profitable customers

• Help those customers to become "smarter buyers" by understanding your business


• Treat long-time customers like new prospects so they won't feel taken for granted

• Allocate sufficient time for face -time with customers

• Select salespeople who will be appropriate representatives of the company

• Determine criteria for determining who should not be hired to sell

• Compensate salespeople to avoid internal competition and division.

• Involve all other employees as an extended sales force.

The Knack does not offer a formulaic approach that can be implemented to achieve goals.

Rather it unveils a way of thinking that allows the reader to understand how others have dealt

with many different entrepreneurial challenges. For instance, Brodsky believes the No. 1

quality successful entrepreneurs exude is resilience, the ability to bounce back from failure

and to learn from mistakes.

Further, his calm and reassuring manner prepares the reader for what lies ahead. “Sure, we

like to think we’ll eventually get so smart we won’t make mistakes anymore,” he says.

“Forget about it. You will never stop making mistakes. Hopefully the new ones won’t be the

same as the old ones, but they’ll be equally painful.”

He says that people on their first business venture are almost always overoptimistic and, at

the same time, they are scared to death. Both traits have to be held in check before they lead

to bad decisions about how to spend limited capital. For instance, entrepreneurs must temper

the urge to grow by maintaining patience and solid risk assessment. But, too, instead of

fretting over problems, they should engage in the fun and excitement of finding solutions.

To be sure, having that mentality doesn’t guarantee that you’ll succeed at everything you do,

but it does improve your chances significantly.


FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

B y: NAFEES A KHAN

AYESHA ARSHAD01-111082-022

BBA 6A


Entrepreneurship has been recognized as the engine of economic development and

industrialization. Small business serves as the seedbed of entrepreneurship. The book with its

wide coverage is an attempt to present a lucid treatment of a wide range of issues involved in

the Development of entrepreneurship. It has focal emphasis on the identification of business

Opportunities, Creation of a venture, financing and managing it. The book highlights concept

of Entrepreneur and entrepreneurship, emergence of entrepreneurial class, motivation and

entrepreneurial behavior promotion of venture opportunity class, environmental analysis,

small scale units, various legal requirements for establishing a new unit, raising of funds,

venture capital sources and documentation, entrepreneurial development programmers and

concludes with role of entrepreneur. This book provides exposure to the students to the

entrepreneurial culture and industrial growth as to prepare them to set up and manage their

own small units. An entrepreneur may be defined as an individual who desires to add value to

the economy by creating a new business venture through the utilization of his knowledge,

passions, and dreams and desires .An entrepreneur is neither a technician nor a financier but

he is considered to be an innovator an organization builder and a risk taker. An entrepreneur

should posses all such characteristics with help of which he can perform successfully. Most

common attributes of an entrepreneur can be courage, good- judgment, initiative, skilful,

competent, perseverance and emotional stability. An entrepreneur being are risk taker

,innovator ,organizer ,creative ,motivator ,competency, self confidence, optimistic, ability to

drive, mental ability, human relations ,communication, decision maker, business planner,

visionary and adversities. In the initial stages of economic development, entrepreneurs tend to

be shy and humble but as the development process picks up speed, they tend to become more

enthusiastic and confident. Three different functions of an entrepreneur are given in this book

are primary functions, functions for developing countries and other functions. In primary

functions, there are seven steps planning, organization, decision making, management,

innovation, risk bearing and uncertainty bearing. Entrepreneurship is found in all professions,

including education, medicine, law, architecture, research, social work and engineering

.entrepreneurship growth in India is slow as compared to other countries. Women’s

entrepreneurship is still slower and rather negligible. Some social factors are lack of

education, lack of independence, responsibility of rearing the children, family burden etc.

some of economic factors could be lack of mobility, lack of exploitation, shortage of finance

etc.


The concept of entrepreneurship is as old as civilization. Theories of entrepreneurship can be

broadly be classified into four categories, economist’s view, sociologist’s view,

psychologist’s view and anthropologist’s view. Entrepreneurs are motivated and talented

class of people as key figures in the growth of new enterprises. Leadership is an

indispensable activity which every manager has to perform for directing the people working

under him. A leader may or may not be a manager, but manager must be a leader. A good

manager achieves maximum co-ordination from the group members by providing two way

communications. There are six different types of leaders. Intellectual leader, Institutional

leaders, Democratic leaders, Autocratic leaders, persuasive leaders and creative leader.

Promotion is the discovery of business opportunities and the subsequent organization of

funds, property and managerial ability into a business concern for the purpose of making

profit. Stages in promotion of a venture are concerning an idea, exploring the possibilities,

carrying detailed investigations, making projections on the idea, entering into necessary

contracts, and fulfilling legal formalities. Opportunities are of three kinds. Additive

opportunities are those which enable the decision maker to better utilize the existing

resources, complimentary opportunities involve the introduction of new ideas and break

through opportunities involve fundamental changes. Some ideas may be discovered by the

consumers, existing companies and market survey, distribution channels, professional

experts, government and their agencies, trade fairs and exhibition, research and development.

Environment analysis or scanning involves monitoring and evaluating changes and trends in

the environment of a venture. It is a sort of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

(SWOT) Analysis which helps in deciding about the right course of action for the

entrepreneur. External environment can be analysis by economic, natural, socio-cultural,

political-legal and technological environment. The entrepreneur of a small scale should seek

registration with the state directorate or commissioner of industries or district industries

centre of the concerned state. Registration is voluntary and not compulsory. there are two

types of registration certificate is provided and after commencement of production ,a

permanent registration certificate is issued provision registration certificate (PRC) is valid for

5 years and permanent registration is given later on .A firm can adopt three types of financing

policies to finance its working capital .short term finance, long term finance and spontaneous

finance. Long term loans are available for more than 5 years .Medium terms loans are made

for 2 to 5 years. venture capital is also described as unsecured risk financing features of

venture capital is also described as un secured risk financing features of venture capital are


equity and debt, high risk, professional entrepreneurs, new technology, participation in

management, long term investment and expectations. Motivation is an art of getting work

done by the people and there by achieving the best results .motivation is the process of

creating organizational conditions which will impel employees to strive to attain company

goals. There are two theories which are particularly relevant to entrepreneurship Maslow’s

need hierarchy theory (psychological needs, safety and security needs, social needs, ego

needs and self actualization needs), McClelland’s acquired need theory. Entrepreneurs are

born and not made. . A good entrepreneur has ability to inspire specific personality, as has

ability to motivate others to work. Entrepreneur is a person who always searches for change,

responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity.


Entrepreneurship: New Perspective In Global Age

B y: ANNE DE BRUIN ANN DUPUIS

AZIN MUFTI

O1-11082-024

BBA 6A


Written & edited by Anne de Bruin & Ann Dupuis , it’s a book that truly provides a fresh and

innovative approach to Entrepreneurship and I personally found it quite interesting as it used

a multi-dimensional approach. The book focuses on the underlying global aspects and their

implications for entrepreneurial activity and also identifies the need for new research

directions. It puts forward a flexible, expansive conceptualization of the continuum of

entrepreneurial behavior and integrates context, culture, social networks and entrepreneurship

as an embedded activity. Its main perspective is based on showing entrepreneurship as a

continuum of activities. It also demonstrates the problems in establishing thresholds for ideas

such as ‘innovation and risk’. The book says that there are 3 key characteristics which need to

be present for an activity to qualify as entrepreneurial, those are uncertainty and risk,

complementary management competence, and creative opportunism. Different types of

entrepreneurial ideas and fields where entrepreneurship is common are talked about in this

book chapter by chapter making it easier for us to understand.

The first chapter basically discusses the innovativeness and the risk taking involved in an

entrepreneurial process and how important is the term idea generation and creativity in this

entire process. The following chapter extends the concept of constrained entrepreneurship,

the main aim of the chapter is to heighten the awareness of the entire context in which the

entrepreneurial activity is located so it puts forward the constrained entrepreneurship as a

broad framework for contextual studies of entrepreneurship noting that all entrepreneurships

occur within constraints of social processes including institutional constraints at macro level

of the individual.

The concept of Ethic al entrepreneurship has been discussed in this book and it says that it

may be viewed in terms of constrained entrepreneurship where it was pointed out that

entrepreneurship exists within constraints at both micro level and macro levels. It is often

said that investors in capital markets are not concerned with the ethical issues and that their

only concerned with the financial returns which is a misconception. Being ethically

responsible may be very important for an entrepreneur. The demand for socially responsible

behavior, environment friendly products and services, and the sustainable use of inputs

creates new markets for the entrepreneurs to serve. It also gives scope for entrepreneurs to

develop creative differentiation strategies as means to gaining competitive advantage in

gaining and attracting customers and investors for whom ethics is an important consideration

in their buying and investing decisions. Thus you must have great ethical values to succeed as


an entrepreneur. And entrepreneurs must capitalize on the opportunities that arise from

serving a heightened ethical conscious in an economically integrated world. Entrepreneurial

capital has also been discussed in one of the chapters which focus on the nature and the

characteristics of the entrepreneurial process, and it examines the process from a resource

based perspective. Capital is known to represent material wealth which is owned and that can

be used to generate further wealth. This book here employs a broader view of capital that it is

used to encompass a range of non financial assets and resources that can be used in the

entrepreneurial process. Now there are 5 types of capitals which are talked about here namely

economic capital, human, social, physical and cultural capital. Collectively these forms add to

make a person’s total capital, parts of which will have entrepreneurial value.

The concepts of Electronic and Familial Entrepreneurship have also been discussed in the

book. As far as electronic entrepreneurship is concerned, the constant de velopment of

technology in the accompanying economy has had significant influence on the various

possibilities for developing innovative business concepts based on electronic information and

communication networks and realizing these by establishing a new company. Against this

background the term E-entrepreneurship respectively describes the act of establishing new

companies specifically in the net economy. The main purpose of this chapter was to highlight

that electronic entrepreneurship opens up a range of new opportunity in terms of resource

based perspective of entrepreneurial activity. Whereas Familial entrepreneurship explores the

overlapping domains of family and business. It suggests that joint careers are preferable to

that of symbiotic careers. It describes what we term the primary career and auxiliary career

which often go to make up a joint career. Both strands of career are a prerequisite for the

resilience and success of the family business. Observations from New Zealand are drawn on

in this book to illustrate our discussion. It wants us to further understand the boundary less

career and help move forward the research agenda on the united career trajectory.

The book tells us about the importance of Youth entrepreneurship which focuses on many

interesting facts. Youth are often referred by the adults as very complex to understand.

Unfortunately unlike adults youth rarely have the opportunity to share their opinion or have

the power to share public opinion about themselves. The ultimate results of this bias, needless

to say, are disastrous, with society shortchanging the potential contribution of youth. Youth

represent energy, sexuality, hope, fun, potential, future and freedom from responsibility. A

nation’s failure to successfully nurture and enhance the competencies of youth spells doom

for the future of that country. In short it tells us the importance of the youth and how we


should take them towards achieving more and giving them important roles and enhancing

their confidence so that they may achieve what they want. It tells us that youth

entrepreneurship is still in its infancy and may evolve in countless ways in the not too distant

future.

Municipal-Community Entrepreneurship has been discussed in the book which shows the

importance of the maintenance of the dynamism of cities and other sites of localization. It

also brings to specific prominence the forces of localization and decentralization of the role

and responsibility of state to sub national tiers of the Govt. Thus the inclusion of dual

terminology Municipal and community effectively communicates the need for active

community participation with an explicit, overarching support provided at local government

level rather than that of central government. It also tells us that as with community

entrepreneurship, municipal-community entrepreneurship can open new horizons through

market leading activity. Secondly there’s a chapter dedicated to State entrepreneurship in this

book which provides a global perspective on the changes that have taken place in the role of

the state. It has a strong synergy with the Municipal-community Entrepreneurship. The

differentiation in this chapter is the spotlight on the entrepreneurship at the central

government driven and national policy making level. It tracks the implications of the global

age for the structure and the changing nature of the state. It is further illustrated in the book

through the use of models based on New Zealand and South Korea.

Basically this book covers all these aspects and makes is easier for us to understand them and

relate to all the entrepreneurial activities which take place in different fields. It shows that

innovativeness, idea generation and risk taking exists at all levels as portrayed by the book. It

should help us to rise above age, sectors, communities, races and genders, and thus help us to

gain a better understanding of how variations in entrepreneurial behavior occur. In short the

book is perfect for understanding the entrepreneurial activities and how they take place as

they are happening at every level without us knowing about it and how we can capitalize on

them. I would like to conclude this with one of my favorite quotations;

“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a

beginning, a struggle and a victory” – Mahatma Gandhi


Business Elites- THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ENTREPRENEURS AND

INTRAPRENEURS

By: REG JENNINGS CHARLES LOX & CARY L COOPER

ASAD ALI SHIGRI

01-111082-015

BBA 6A


This book is not about the struggling entrepreneurs, rather an in-depth study of the traits that

distinguish two equally important business elites, independent entrepreneurs and the new

breed of corporate ‘intrapreneur’ who head such firms as W.H. Smith and Cadbury

Schweppes.

Based on interviews with around forty prominent business leaders, the book presents a set of

profiles showing the social origins, childhood influences, education and work ethic which

have helped shape these exceptional people. It is clear that a different pattern emerges in the

development of entrepreneurs from that of the intrapreneurs. This finding offers invaluable

insights into the different forces that shape modern leaders, both inside and outside the

corporation.

By ‘elite’ the books states the highly successful entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who are

heading very large and successful organizations. They are all successful in the sense that they

are wealthy, being multi-millionaires. By entrepreneurs, the book states the individuals who

have started their own businesses and built them into large organizations. The intrapreneurs

are individuals who are heading large corporations of which they are not the owner and

which they did not themselves develop. They may, however, be a major or minor

shareholder, although they are members of the family of the original founder. The book

shows what motivates these individuals and what factors contribute to their development.

Some case histories of prototypical entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs have been presented.

From these a number of broad generalizations concerning their similarities and differences

were made. Both groups show very high levels of motivation and need to achieve. The

intrapreneurs, however, have a more cautious approach to life, showing more concern to

develop their businesses stage by stage, consolidating each step as they go. The entrepreneurs

show a higher level of innovation and risk-taking, together with rather greater versatility.

The book tells us about two distinct streams in terms of childhood experiences. The male

entrepreneurs suffered more deprivation during childhood, but appeared to have had a closer

relationship with their mothers than male intrapreneurs. Women entrepreneurs and

intrapreneurs tended to show a pattern of rebelliousness against their parents. Entrepreneurs

suffered the loss of a parent during their childhood considerably more often than did

intrapreneurs. All business leaders have some childhood experiences in common, which

generates common character istics such as tenaciousness, ability to recover from trauma, and

the need to achieve. It appears to be the reaction to a childhood trauma and not the event


itself which counts in later life. Some basic intellectual capacity is genetic, but there is little

doubt that childhood shaping events contributes significantly to developing the leaders-to-be.

A combination of learning from adversity and tenaciousness in relation to early personal

trauma, leading to the successful testing out of different survival hypotheses, are the elements

used by business leaders to overcome failure, Entrepreneurs display a high degree of self

motivation and mastery of their environment. They demonstrate a remarkable resilience in

the face of failure. Finally, parents, particularly the mother play a most powerful role in

establishing entrepreneurial actions in the male child.

Seventy two percent of the entrepreneurs in the study were discovered to come from working

class backgrounds where their fathers worked as coal miners, plumbe rs, bookmakers, or

clerks from the ranks in the military. Only twenty percent of intrapreneurs were seen to have

working class origins. Marginalization was also almost exclusively the domain of the

entrepreneur. Forty seven percent of entrepreneurs had suffered some form of

marginalization, social, physical or religious, whereas only fourteen percent of intrapreneurial

interviewees came from marginal back grounds.

Regardless of lowly origins or marginalization, and in spite of barriers or hardships, it

appears that familiarity with obstacles that have to be overcome in some way has a

motivating quality to the entrepreneur, driving him on to ever greater achievements.

Entrepreneurs have come from a variety of educational backgrounds but, accountancy is

popular, although they are much less likely than intrapreneurs to have a university degree.

Sixty eight percent of intrapreneurs graduated from university, whereas only twenty one

percent of entrepreneurs achieved a university degree. A university or business school

education is not a prerequisite to success as an entrepreneurial business leader. However, if

one wants to climb to the top of the corporate ladder within a large organization, or assume

the leadership of a family firm, it is best to have a university degree and some school

experience. Intrapreneurs are far more likely than entrepreneurs to have had a mentor or

guardian angel who helped and supported them during the early stages of their career.

There are a number of personality characteristics on which entrepreneurs differ from

intrapreneurs. Some of them are:

1. Entrepreneurs show very high levels of innovation. Intrapreneurs score very close to

the population norm, being neither strongly innovators nor adaptors.


2. Intrapreneurs are close to average on efficiency(being methodical and precise)

3. Entrepreneurs are much less efficient.

4. Entrepreneurs are much more conformist than intrapreneurs.

5. Both groups see themselves as good verbal communicators.

6. Entrepreneurs easily become bored with routine work; intrapreneurs are more able to

deal with detail.

There is a general belief that entrepreneurs are hardnosed and greedy but there are many acts

of pro-social behavior shown in the book. Generally, their acts of philanthropy or charity

were anonymous.

In some cases, guilt seems to have been the main motivator for acts of charity. Others saw a

chance to promote their firms by being associated with good works, and some glimpsed the

possibility of knighthoods or other honors which might accrue from such acts.

Basically they do charitable acts mainly from their parents and religious teachings of moral

obligation, together with a strong work ethic, combined with internalized norms of behavior

and concern for others needs.

Although both groups achieve much the same thing – wealth, status and power – their paths

to success, their motivations and their personality characteristics are, on many counts,

significantly different.

Entrepreneurs have usually experienced and can cope with catastrophic financial failure.

They are able to rebuild their businesses after collapse. Entrepreneurs are far less likely to

have had support and help from others than intrapreneurs. Equally expected is that elite

entrepreneurs are greater risk takers and tend to be inner directed. Intrapreneurs, in the main,

being other directed, are more risk averse. Entrepreneurs can usually point to some

significant shaping event which set them on their present career paths.

However, members of both groups also had several common dimensions. They all work

extremely long hours, both groups are steeped in the work ethic, both groups are

philanthropists. They are intrinsically motivated by, interested in, and find enjoyment in their

work and the sense of achievement it provides.


Although all are multi millionaires, most claim that wealth was not their main motivator.

Wealth can be seen as a by- product of these successful men and women, who do what they

enjoy doing. They see themselves as having good communication and decision making

skills..

Successfully coping with extreme difficulties while very young seems to set a pattern of

resilience and the ability not merely to cope with but to learn from adversity. It is this ability

which is, suspected to be the key attribute of these successful individuals.

Most significant study from the findings in the book is that many successful entrepreneurs do

not learn their skills from for mal development programs, but from real life experiences.

The independent entrepreneurs’ ability to overcome failure and setbacks is amazing; it is this

do-able philosophy that keeps them winning. If success means deciding what you want to do

and then going out and doing it, perhaps by studying these high flyers, others may benefit by

learning how to achieve their own goals. After all, truly well adjusted individuals, in harmony

with the environment and community, do not need to achieve great things but simply their

own ambitions.


Entrepreneurship

By: ALAN L. CARSRUD, MALIN BRAN BACK.

BADAR TUFAIL

01-111082-025

BBA 6A


The authors Carsrud and Brannback are executives in well known multi-national companies.

They have taken their years of valuable professional experience and compiled it into this

book titled ‘Entrepreneurship’ to act as a guideline for those who want to excel in the field.

This book is aimed particularly at those considering starting a business as well as students

and researchers, this book defines entrepreneurship and its importance for economic systems.

Considering the level of experience and expertise that the authors have I have found the

information provided by them to be practically applicable and quite frankly they’ve

convinced me into their fan.

In their book the authors have examined various areas of entrepreneurship firstly giving a

brief introduction by offering various perspectives to the subject describing the importance of

entrepreneurship and the pursuit of opportunity in greater detail along with the

entrepreneurial minds, types and personalities to help the reader understand what will be

demanded of them if they choose entrepreneurship as a career alternative which I personally

feel the authors have elaborated very well. Then they have described the entrepreneurial

environment by explaining how important it is for an entrepreneur to understand the business

environment before launching a new venture. The next step described is idea generation the

part which defines an entrepreneur, providing some idea generation exercises and methods

for rapid screening of opportunities for potential new ventures. Critical in this stage is to get

the reader to get their business concept in black and white and to start on an executive

summary for their business plan.

Further on entrepreneurial strategies have been discussed in which they have said for starting

entrepreneurs the task of handling competition is new and many are quite unprepared for the

challenge. So the authors have identified different ways how the entrepreneurs can deal with

competition through different forms of innovations, be it product innovation, or business

concept innovation. Moving on new ideas for products and services have been encouraged,

underling the importance of addressing customer needs, wants and fears in developing

products and services. Also describing the criteria that successful products and services have

to meet to gain customer acceptance, including financial consideration with respect to new

products and services. Furthermore authors have provided a brief overview of the concept of

strategy and have described the role of strategy in entrepreneurial companies. Key issues of

managing the industry environment have been brought under discussion as well as the


business environment at large, including the global business environment and legal

environment.

The book also focuses on how markets and customers can be identified, categorized and

reached based on a variety of criteria. However, all activities are based on understanding and

responding to customer wants, needs and fears. Once the external world has been examined,

it is then critical for the entrepreneur to look at the proposed internal operations of their

venture to see what they need to exploit the opportunity they have identified earlier. Also

identifying the importance of an operations plan, pricing strategies, as well as financial needs

and resources that the entrepreneur may have and be able to address. Next comes the

management of human capital since people make a new venture work or fail they are the

biggest resource (and expense) any entrepreneur has. The differences between being a

manager and an entrepreneurial manager have been discussed with specific attention being

paid on hiring, out-sourcing personnel, compensation, employee management and

motivation. Finally the authors move beyond the issues of opportunity, recognition and

planning into the fundamentals of inciting a business. Focusing on the issues of growth, such

as how to manage growing organizations, building effective entrepreneurial management

teams and the management of change. Also showing how to keep the entrepreneurial spirit

alive in a larger organization.

While going through this book I have learned the ways to tackle the very basic problems that

a common man may have trouble solving in his entrepreneurial career. Before going through

this literature I perceived entrepreneurs as sheer lucky people obsessed with acquiring riches

through any means but this misrepresentation about them has been corrected and brought

their true characteristics to light.

Carsrud and Brannback have supported each topic by stating very good examples along them

to prove the practical aspect of each entrepreneurial stage. And keeping in mind all the

articles and books I have gone through on this subject are in alignment with their teachings. I

would like to recommend this book to anyone whom may like to add to his knowledge and

clear any misunderstandings that he may have regarding entrepreneurship.


Lead Like An Entrepreneur

By: NEAL THORNBERRY

BASIT ALI01-111082-026

BBA 6A


This book is about the entrepreneurial leaders, who they are, what they do, and how large

companies can benefit significantly from identifying, developing, and supporting these new

corporate leaders. Book reveals how to tackle the creativity and innovative thinking that is

typical of entrepreneurs and use it as solution to the organizational problems that affects so

many established companies. According to Neal risk taking leaderships creates substantial

benefits because it takes only a few such people within an organization to make significant

differences to the top and bottom line. Promotes the entrepreneurial spirit in your

organization by integrating leadership and management within an entrepreneurial framework.

Identifying new business opportunities with high growth potential. Focusing human energy

on value -creating activities. Identifying and developing the four types of entrepreneurial

leaders--explorers, miners, accelerators, and integrators. Attracting and supporting

entrepreneurial leaders through focused management development programs.

This book is also featuring in-depth profiles and success stories from some of today's top

companies, including IBM, 3M, Intel, General Electric, and many others, "Lead like an

Entrepreneur" reveals how to foster innovation at all levels of the corporation and how to

employ entrepreneurial leadership qualities to turn ideas into economic value.

Leading like an entrepreneur requires both an entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial

skills set into their daily lives as organizational leaders and managers. Entrepreneurial

leadership is more like transformational leadership and they focus a great deal of their energy

on aligning people behind the vision and then recognizing, restructuring, outsourcing , hiring

and firing so that the vision becomes a reality.

Entrepreneurship is about opportunity identification, development and capture. This is what

they do and why they are called entrepreneurs. Author is of the view that entrepreneurs are

made rather than born and proved with real life experience when he taught Dieter 52 year old

engineer who was nil and was not having single entrepreneurial skill and how he turned to

successful entrepreneur and established his own business plan just with the learning and

guidance in only 6 weeks. So it is important for companies to be optimistic about their

abilities to either find people with entrepreneurial skills or to develop these people through

focused management development experience. Entrepreneurial Leaders are the visionaries

and future for the success of large corporations. Today everyone wants to play it safe and

follow strategies of other companies within their own industries.


Developing entrepreneurial leaders is the key to finding hidden value in any organization.

Learning how to create or rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit in your organization, and all of

your stakeholders will benefit. Terms like innovation and entrepreneurial is starting point for

the rekindling of entrepreneurial spirit. Organizations not only require identification and

development of right people it also requires critical support mechanism if more

entrepreneurial activity is to be sustainable. Entrepreneurial Orientation Survey (EOS) and

Entrepreneurial Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) are aimed at helping companies get a

baseline analysis on the people side and organizational support side of entrepreneurship

before they rush into anything. There are 7 F’s introduced by author which are basis for EOS.

If company wants to be high in entrepreneurial orientation company must score well on the 7

F’s. They are:

1. FAST

2. FLEXIBLE

3. FOCUSED

4. FRIENDLY

5. FRUGAL

6. FAR-REACHING

7. FUTURISTIC

At the end better Leadership, better management, and increased entrepreneurial activity only

come from people agreeing and working together in the creative process that is the heart of

the entrepreneurial spirit.

Overall in the book “LEAD LIKE AN ENTREPRENUR” language and selection of the

words were good and mostly familiar. Very good real daily life examples were quoted to

simplify the concepts which made it very easy to understand the concept practicality. Some

of the very useful skills of the leadership are highlighted and explained. Individuals, students,

managers, CEO’s, can very easily learn to lead like an entrepreneur after reading and

analyzing this book. Neal Thornbe rry gives specific examples of entrepreneurial leaders

within large corporations. Most of these people are individuals that we have not heard of, nor

are they CEO's of large companies. They are for the most part everyday managers that were


opportunity obsessed and became the catalyst for change within their own respected

companies. For people that work in big corporations this book is eye opening and hard to put

down, as you start to wonder what you can do to change and add value to your organization.


My Big Idea

By: RACHEAL BRIDGE

ERUM AHSAN

01-11082-028

BBA 6A


The book I selected is titled “My Big Idea” by Rachel Bridge. This book focuses on 30

entrepreneurs, and reveals how these people achieved success. The author writes in detail

about entrepreneurial qualities that helped each entrepreneur develop their business. The

book is very entertaining and enticing as every chapter is about a different entrepreneur and

the information is clear and precise. Bridge focuses on the lives of each of the entrepreneur

and explains in detail how each of them structured their big idea. Book begins by stating that

it easier for people to think of hopeless ideas. The secret to finding potential ideas is to see

each problem as an opportunity. The author emphasizes on the point that people should often

ask themselves if there is a better way to find solution to problems. The best ideas are usually

the simplest ones, the ones that make you think “Why didn’t I think of that.” Post-it note and

the cardboard sleeves around a cup of coffee are both examples of such ideas. For an idea to

be practicable there should be a market for the product or service. It also helps to identify

gaps in the market and then develop a product or service that completes the gaps and the

potential customers needs. And the best way of doing this is to think about what other

people’s lives would be like without your idea. Speed is of the essence; it is important to

make sure these ideas are carried before somebody else thinks of it. The point of this book is

to get an ordinary individual to develop a continual flow of ideas by viewing the world as a

series of unsolved problems. Even though the book covers 30 different entrepreneurs that

have different personalities, interests and lifestyles, there are similar characteristics which

help define them to be the successful entrepreneurs they are today.

Throughout the book Bridge focuses on the traits embodied by the entrepreneurs, such as

confidence and determination. The second chapter, details the amount of courage it took for

Judy Craymer to mention her idea of developing a movie script built around the music of the

infamous band Abba. She says that “…you have to make people believe in what you are

doing.” It is necessary for every entrepreneur to be passionate about what they are doing in

order for people to believe in them and in their ideas. Stephen Waring, the founder of Green

Thumb quotes “It helps to have a strong personal belief in your own abilities and not to feel

insecure.” Waring’s challenge was to start an industry in the United Kingdom from scratch.

Even as a high achiever in school, Waring didn’t go to university because he believed that he

didn’t need qualifications to take advantage of business opportunities. Thus, through the

process of trial and error, Warring started a lawn treatment company. These people represent

the fact that in order to pursue one’s idea it is important to be confident.


Entrepreneurs also believe that they are the masters of their own fate; they have an internal

locus of control. They believe that they have control over their destiny and don’t rely on

factors such as luck. Will King is the creator of the company King of Shaves, which was a

shaving oil developed for men with sensitive skin. King believes that his secret to success

was to be able to create a product that people actually need. He says “You have to

demonstrate that there is a reason for it in people’s lives. Why isn’t there a five-wheeled

car?” Deirdre Bounds, is another entrepreneur with high internal locus of control. She says

“I remember deciding that I was going to succeed in everything I did, and that the only

person who could change things was me.” Bounds came up with the concept of creating an

online TEFL (Teaching English Foreign Language) course. She believed that she had control

of her life and when she made mistakes that would be an opportunity for her to grow and

learn.

David Sanger, says coming up with a creative idea is just a matter of keeping your eyes

open. People usually don’t just come up with ideas such as mobile phones. Instead they just

tweak or improve something that has been around us. It is important to look at the simplest

things as they turn out to be good ideas. Anthony Ward Thomas is the owner of Ward

Thomas Removal, which is a company that is responsible for moving furniture. He

recognized the problem with traditional firms was that they were employing the wrong type

of people in the business. Thomas says that his business secret was to take an already existing

idea and improve it. He believes that people make their biggest mistake when they try to

reinvent the wheel. He says “Take a simple business idea and apply a different angle.”

Pacific Directs owner Lara Morgan reveals her secret to success- continually learning. “It is

of huge value if you have no pride and no shame and are willing to say look I don’t know

what I am doing, could you help?” It is important to keep learning about the field you are in,

and it is also important to put aside your ego and be willing to ask for help. Most

entrepreneurs learn about what the market needs are by asking prospective customer’s about

their products. As an entrepreneur you will learn the most by talking to a prospective

customer, and they can help you determine if an idea is good or bad. Deirdre Bonds, founder

of I to I, says that she gets most of her ideas while talking to strangers. This just comes to

show how important it is for an entrepreneur to keep interacting and socializing with others to

create a free flow of ideas.


“You will never get rich working for someone else” is the personal philosophy of Karen

Darby who is the owner of the organization known as simply switch, which is a telephone

based service that allows people to switch suppliers. Entrepreneurs often feel unhappy when

they are forced to work for someone else. They feel as if they are not in control, or that they

don’t have the complete freedom that they want. Nick Austin, the creator of Vivid

Imaginations which is now the Britain’s largest toy company, was tired of making money for

other people. Working for other people can make entrepreneurs feel restricted and create

limitations and constrict them.

“My Big Idea” is a book that glorifies the ideas of 30 entrepreneurs and goes into detail

about how an ordinary individual can come up with such ideas and turn their life around. It

focuses on the characteristics that people need to develop in order to achieve their desired

goals. The best part about this book is that it emphasizes on the fact that people can build

upon these qualities and embody them. This book is also a good read as it is interesting, by

providing a story of 30 entrepreneurs and it prevents the reader form getting bored. The only

negative aspect of this book is that the author chose many entrepreneurs to write about. After

a few chapters the traits represented by the entrepreneurs became very repetitive. I would

suggest this book to everyone as such topics are interesting for most people. The reader

becomes curious and is determined to learn how it was possible for most of these people to

achieve such success. This book is a precise and detailed version of the entrepreneur’s lives

that inspires others to act on ideas that they must have had.


ENTREPRENEURSHIP: IDEAS IN ACTION

By: GREENE

FAWAD AHMED

01-111082-032

BBA 6A


Entrepreneurship: An idea in action goes step-by-step through the entire process of starting

and running a business. Creating a business plan is covered extensively, and a business plan

project is part of every chapter. Highlights of real entrepreneurs' pitfalls present the realities

of entrepreneurial challenges.

This book comprises of all together 13 steps of an entire process of starting and running a

business. These steps are categorized as the 13 chapters of the book. These will be discussed

in the book in steps through which a firm goes through the chapters are:

1. Should you become an entrepreneur

2. Entrepreneurship in a market economy

3. Develop a business plan

4. Identify and meet a market need

5. Market your business

6. Distribution promotion and selling

7. Select a type of ownership

8. Locate and set up your business

9. Plan and track your finances

10. Operations management

11. Human resource management

12. Risk management

13. Management for the future

The first step is basically should you or should you not become an entrepreneur? This is

basically elaborated by first identifying what basically is entrepreneurship. The main

definition that it is the process of running a business of one`s own. in it you have to

identify your business , weather it falls under the entrepreneurial businesses or not what

are the main opportunities and how well you recognize them. Then is analyzing weather

your business will succeed or fail. You have to identify weather entrepreneurship is good

for you or not.

Is it the right path or not by analyzing the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and the

characteristics of good team workers. After this the turn of exploring ideas and opportunity


comes looking for new ideas, investigating opportunities and setting your goals according to

it the last thing in checking whether you should become an entrepreneur or not is problem

solving for entrepreneurs. The best method for problem solving is claimed to be the by using

solve the problem process. This will enhance the problem solving skills as well.

The second step is entrepreneurs in the market economy. This chapter basically focuses on

the analysis of the economic conditions of the market and how the decisions are altered by

them. All entrepreneurs have to satisfy their needs and wants so in order to do that they need

to make profit which can only be achieved by making economical decisions while

considering the current economy of the market. The prevailing conditions of market

regarding the price factors , the inflation, the growth factors.

The next step is to develop a business plan. In order to do that you should know the

importance of the business plan. It is very important to have a business plan because it is

basically the foundation of the whole business that you have and if you don’t have a business

plan then the business cannot have a direction towards its goals.. A business plan is a

summary of the business owners operational, financial and marketing plans as well as a

detailed description of the backgrounds of the key personnel that will form the management

team of the proposed business. The business plan should be very comprehensive in scope and

should include a mission statement (the purpose of the company), the goals and objectives of

the business, as well as some financial information. Business plan should include a detailed

description of the proposed (or actual) business. This portion of the business plan should

include the type of business form used (partnership, corporation etc.) as well as the type of

business (merchandising, manufacturing service, franchise or other). A statement of the

potential opportunities for growth should be included.

The fourth step is to identify and meet a market need. This step includes identifying the

market, researching the market and knowing your competition. According to the business

plan you choose the appropriate market for you business where you know that your business

will flourish, keeping in view the pros and cons of the market which you will have to bare.

Researching the market. Market research is any organized effort to gather information about

markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. Market Research

is the key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research provides important

information to ide ntify and analyze the market need, market size and competition. Few

techniques of market research are


• Customer analysis

• Choice modeling

• Competitor analysis

• Risk analysis

• Product research

• Advertising the research

• Marketing mix modeling

The next step is market your business, this chapter includes developing the marking plan.

Your marketing plan is an essential part of your overall business plan. When you start a

business or introduce new products or concepts, the plan will help you:

• Assess the needs of your customers and develop a product or service to meet those

needs.

• Communicate the attributes of the product or service to the customer.

• Establish distribution channels to get the products/services to the customer.

Before writing a market plan you go to do some research on such factors which include,

Executive summary - What is my overall plan? Identify yourself - Who am I and what are my

values? Describe the product or service - What need do I meet? Identify your target market -

Who are my customers? Know your competitor - Who else can woo my customers? Detail

your distribution and delivery channels - How will I deliver my product to my customers?

Group your marketing activities - How will my message reach potential customers? Outline

how to overcome potential marketing challenges - What can I do about them? Indicate your

price or pricing strategy - How much should I charge? Project where you will be in one,

three, and five years - What are my long-term goals? Provide a date at which to review your

marketing plan - When will I review my plan?

The sixth step is distribution promotion and selling. This includes the distribution of your

markets and the promotion strategies. It basically includes the promotion mix and the main

elements of the promotion mix

• Personal Selling.

• Sales Promotion.

• Public Relations.


• Direct Mail.

• Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.

• Advertising.

• Sponsorship.

The next step which is the seventh step is basically selecting the type of business and

ownership. This includes the type of business you are getting in whether it is a joint venture

or a new business or a partnership. This identifies what your business is formally is and what

legal rules apply on it. Different types of businesses have different legal implications on them

depending upon the nature of the core business. The chosen form of business should be legal

according to the governmental laws and consideration of legal issues and business ownership

is of high importance.

The eighth step is to locate and set up your business. To start your business you have to find a

perfect location for your business where you think is the best flourishing physical location of

your business. Then you have to design the main physical appearance of your business,

considering the growth factor. Another thing that should be kept in mind is purchasing of the

necessary equipment which includes resources like office equipment, supplies inventory etc.

The ninth step is to plan and track your finances. Planning and keeping track of finances can

be done by a six step process

1. Understand your new reality

2. Recheck your financial plan

3. Adjust your risk profile

4. Seek lower investment fees

5. Protect yourself from inflation

6. Evaluate longevity protection

The next turn is of the tenth step which is operations management. Operations manage ment

includes of three basic contents operating procedures, financial management and the

inventory management.

Eleventh step is basically the human resource management. the primary functions of human

resource management are:

• Equal employment opportunity


• Staffing (recruitment and selection)

• Compensation and benefits

• Employee and labor relations

• Health, safety, and security

• Training and development

This step basically compromises of the fulfillment of all these primary functions of human

resource management. For example identifying your staffing needs , staff your business and

direct and control the human resource.

The second last step is the most important step because it is what describes an entrepreneur

and this step is risk management. Risk taking is basically the willingness to peruse

opportunities that have a reasonable likelihood of producing losses or significant performance

discrepancies. This step defines which risks are to be taken, is the risk worth taking or not.

What risk is there for your market and what risks your business will have to face over time?

The last step is the management for the future. This defines the future growth strategies of the

business, in it are defined the strategies that should be adopted in order to achieve future

goals and for the achievement of success. It also analyzes the ethical and social issues i.e. the

social and ethical responsibilities which are of the organization. The last thing is the

identification of global trends and the future opportunities.


THE ART OF DEAL

B y: DONALD TRUMP

FAZ ZAEEM

01-211082-038

BBA 6A


Trump starts his book by giving us a view of his typical week, i.e. lots of telephone calls. He

speaks with his investment broker on acquiring stock, he speaks with the commissioner of the

USFL, he calls a few people to express interest in their property, and the list goes on. Also

telling from this section is whom he'll take calls from. He takes a call from his son, he calls

his attorney, he calls his accountant, and, still, the list goes on.

First he mainly tells you how a normal day of Trump the man is spent. How he goes about

things in his daily routine. How he starts it and how he ends it. Discusses matters related to

business, meets up with clients and associates. He travels places and manages himself very

well. He is efficient in doing so and is a man of his words.

Mr. Trump tells you how a deal is done, what constitute a successful deal and things to be

taken care of while making a deal. Following are some significant issues to be looked upon

while making a deal:

• Think big. He is happy while you are not thinking big, because then you won't be a

competitor of his.

• Protect the downside and the upside will take care of itself. He states he is more of

a negative thinker in this regard and in this way protects his capital, or the downside

of a deal.

• Maximize your options. By having more options going into a deal so that in the case

of one failing you can go on to another.

• Know your market. Do not worry too much about what the 'experts' say, but use

your own knowledge and conduct grass roots surveys.

• Use your leverage. It is best to go into a deal with something that the other guy wants

or, better yet, needs.

• Enhance your location. Besides location, work to make it a better location.

• Get the word out. Market your product or service so that people know about you.

• Fight back. Do not let anyone trample on you or abuse you unfairly.

• Deliver the goods. What more do I need to say - deliver the goods!

• Contain the costs. Spend what you have to but do not overpay.

• Have fun. Live life and have some fun.

He also tells about his own learning experiences and how he went about matters in the early

days. He used his knowledge of Finance, Accounting, Mortgage and Money well. He jumped


into markets that weren’t considered to be friendly and made his mark in them. He defied the

odds and made something big out of possibly nothing. He used his persuasive and

negotiations skills to the fullest to strike deals and made a name for himself in the elite class.

He was a one man army sort of a thing and wanted to make decisions on his own and not let

others influence him in doing so. He used his instincts and mind to his advantage and made

sharp and quick decisions. He wasn’t a big fan of formal business plans and strategies and

thought them to be of less use to him.

Being an entrepreneur is about availing the opportunity at hand and that is exactly what Mr.

Trump tells here. If you don’t avail it, someone else might and the chance goes begging.

Trump also realized that it is the quality of the work rather the quantity which matters. It’s

not the hours you put in but what you do in the hours is what matters the most. He had a thing

for cleanliness and that also stood him well in his management. He wanted his places which

he hired to be clean and well maintained. He thought of presentation to be very important for

a thing to be sold. He used business tricks which he learned from his experience to good use.

Mr. Trump just wanted to get done with the job at hand no matter what. That was by hook or

by crook. He sometimes even employed people with shaky backgrounds but didn’t care as

long as they delivered.

Also he made certain contacts using his father’s name and sources. He was a charmer and

knew how to get things done. He didn’t back out from a challenge when he saw one and took

it as a challenge. He was an excellent negotiator. He took special interest in his projects and

took notice of every single detail. He had learned to be a good manager over the years and

knew how to handle the human capital. He used to talk to his employees on regular

occasions and kept them motivated. He wanted to be the best in whatever he did and quality

was his main objective.

He was a man of innovations and did not believe in written strategies and goals. He

promoted new ideas which were different from the old traditional view of handling stuff. He

appreciated quality where ever he saw it, even if it was someone else’s work that might be

his competition. He did things his way and believed in whatever he did. Stood by his actions

and believed that he was doing right. He didn’t believe in crying over spilt milk and moved

on from the situation and learned whatever he gained from it and applied it in his next

projects.


According to Mr. Trump gambling should be legalized. The reason for this is that he believes

that deals in which higher risk is involved, there is higher profit. Gambling is all about risk,

luck and your instincts. If one is to engage himself in any project or dea l, he/she must

carefully carry out his plans with planning and good intention.

Budgets and time constraints could only be met if they are well thought out. Being

cooperative and confident about certain situations; one can easily carry tedious procedures

in no time.

Mr. Trump states that ones instinct, risk and competitors are directly related to each other.

You should be able to predict someone’s behavior and act accordingly. You must know the

weaknesses of your opponent and use them for your benefit. Every mistake your opponent

makes is an opportunity for you.

Mr. Trump discusses that one must be good at negotiation skills as they can either make or

break a deal. Negotiation skills vary from situation to situation and one should adopt a

flexible behavioral approach towards any situation thrown. Whenever it comes to negotiation,

setting a price is the first thing you should prioritize. Many deals fail in the end because there

was a dispute over the price. One can save a lot of time if price is discussed first.

Focusing on the task at hand is very important. One must not deviate from the task at hand as

it would result in poor overall performance. Minor problems though sometimes can result in

larger problems but one should not keep his/her entire attention towards these small

problems. An entrepreneur should always be in the look out for lower risk, keeping on mind

the future. Entrepreneurs prefer moderate risk but Mr. Trump states that taking big risks is a

must.

A business does not always bear profits. Mr. Trump states that one should always be

prepared to face loss. It can either be financial or psychological. If you are facing loss in a

certain project or deal you should move your investment into more profitable areas.

Aggressiveness can be an advantage to an entrepreneur. Certain situations require

entrepreneurs to be and take aggressive decisions. For your competitors an aggressive

approach can be really worrying. One way to show your aggressiveness is through the media

which is a strong player when it comes to publicity and money. If finances allow, you can use

the media against your competitors.


On the other hand expensive strategies to bring down your competitors won’t always work.

You can use low cost, creative and unconventional techniques (guerilla marketing). One

should be in habit of getting things done the hard way as it would help you in getting used to

pressure and tough competition. You should not lose hope and be optimistic about a

comeback.

Mr. Trump throughout this book emphasizes the role of planning and reorganizing. Any task

can be accomplished if you are well prepared. With it he also tells us about the key to

getting a job done “Leadership”. Under the right leadership any project can be steered

towards fruitful results. People would always be present who would hinder your work but

you must adopt a tunnel vision approach towards projects.

One of the toughest business decisions Trump ever made was in 1979, when he gave up his

option on the West Side Yards (approximately 100 acres of land). The easiest business

decision was buying back those acres in 1985.

Mr. Trump states that if you have to sell something, it requires that you have both something

unique to sell and a very aggressive approach to selling it. If you are selling something you

must portray it as majestic and inspiring. One should think out of the box and produce a

product that could become a symbol in the future. One could even focus on a single strong

selling point (Views from the apartments Mr. Trump was going to make). Mr. Trump

believes that one should keep low carrying costs and a person who has low land costs can

charge more reasonable prices to consumers as compared to competitors. Keeping costs low

can give a very strong advantage to a person both in the short and in the long run.

Whe never one has to make a decision, one should consider all the external factors , the stake

holders who have a direct or indirect influence and impact on your decision. E.g. Mr. Trump

had to get clearance from the zoning department and in the process had to face many

challenges including many non friendly gestures from the mayor of New York. Mr. Trump

emphasizes the role of media on a project and that one should try not to let the stakeholders

get the upper hand. Mr. Trump believes that to solve the conflict of interest the key is to find

a mutual interest. He states that “deals work best when each side gets something it wants

from the other”.


Also the economy of the area in which a project is to be started requires deep study and one

should contribute in the betterment of the economy rather than only taking into account

personal interests (such in the case of NBC one of New York’s pride, which was planning to

re locate from New York because of less space and the local authorities incompetency

however Mr. Trump was ready to make an offer which could cause him a loss of millions of

dollars just to keep NBC in New York). Loss can be of two types, one financial and the other

psychological. The psychological impact of loss can have a long term impact on people.

One must design a project to be self supporting as it is built or else one would risk

everything before making a single dollar in profit. Another important advice Mr. Trump has

given in the chapter is never to sign a letter of intent whenever in the development business

as years could be spent in court trying to get out of a seemingly “non-binding” agreement.

Mr. Trump states that a person can face a lot of opposition but one should be strong and face

all the challenges or else people can take advantage of you and your weaknesses.

At the end of the book Mr. Trump is talking about how certain deals came out. Most of the

deals came out in his favor and in some cases he had to withdraw his decision.

He writes that going into partnerships with friends is a great risk and making choices is a lot

easier when you have to answer only to yourself. He believes that one should conduct his/her

operations in nearby areas. E.g. Mr. Trump preferred Atlantic City over Nevada as it was

closer to New York. Short term investments could be profitable if one plays his/her cards

right. Overall in this book Mr. Trump mentions that you should go with your gut feeling even

if statistics show some other results.


The Illusions Of Entrepreneurship

By: SCOTT A SHANE

GULMINA SHAUKAT

01-111082-034

BBA 6A


“The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and

Policy Makers Live” is written by Scott Shane who is a Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies

at Case Western Reserve University. This book is a very well written book (comprising of 10

chapters) about the myths of entrepreneurship. It is an essential resource for everyone who

has dreamed of starting a new business, for investors in start-ups, for policy makers

attempting to facilitate the formation and survival of new businesses and for researchers

interested in the economic impact of entrepreneurial activity. There are far more

entrepreneurs than most people realize. But the failure rate of new businesses is

disappointingly high, and the economic impact of most of them disappointingly low,

suggesting that enthusiastic would-be entrepreneurs and their investors all too often operate

under a false set of assumptions. In this book Scott Shane debunks popular theories with

research-based answers to questions such as why people start businesses, which industries are

most popular for startups and what are the most common characteristics of the typical

entrepreneur. Scott Shane offers research-based answers to these questions and many others:

• Why do people start businesses?

• What industries are popular for start-up?

• How many jobs do new businesses create?

• How do entrepreneurs finance their start-ups?

• What makes some locations and some countries more entrepreneurial than others?

• What are the characteristics of the typical entrepreneur?

• How well does the typical start-up perform?

• What strategies contribute to the survival and profitability of new businesses over

time?

In this book it is shown why policy makers, entrepreneurs and investors should focus more

attention on high growth, high potential start-ups and less on the new companies than is

currently the case. Scott Shane shares that most entrepreneurs do not engage in due diligence

and writing business plans. And unfortunately, their bad information and over-optimism will

lead them to make poor investment decisions. Shane makes a simple argument: Entrepreneurs

should focus on industry segments that have higher profit and higher potential. He shares

how to identify them. This book shows that the reality of entrepreneurship is decidedly

different from the myths that have come to surround it Scott Shane demolishes the myths and


in the process provides much-needed guidance to entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers.

Here are some of the myths he talks about in the book that are quite surprising (which I

quoted directly from the book):

• The typical entrepreneur doesn’t start a business because of a desire to make money,

for the thrill of starting a business, to support their families, or become well known;

the typical entrepreneur starts a business because he doesn’t like working for someone

else.

• Education doesn’t hinder entrepreneurship; getting an education makes people more

likely to start businesses.

• Working for someone else increases the chances that a person will start a business

• It does not take a lot of money to start a business; the typical new business established

in the United States take less than $25K in initial capital.

• Informal investors are a more important source of capital for startups than venture

capitalists.

Shane argues that increasing the rate at which new companies are formed does little for the

economy or job growth; instead, expanding existing businesses would be a more efficient

way to spend time and money.

The author tells some tips for success. Few of them are as follow:

• If you can make it through the early years, your odds of success go way up.

• Pick a favorable industry: agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing,

wholesale and retail trade and the finance sectors

• Industry is even more important when considering what new businesses will not only

survive, but will grow the fastest. For instance, software companies are 608 times

more likely to be one of the top 500 fastest growing private companies than new

restaurants, with companies that have a patent or trade secret doing the best.

Scott Shane starts off the book by revealing a bleak picture of entrepreneurship in the U.S. I

was surprised to know that America is not as entrepreneurial as i thought it would be. In fact,

the data shown by the author that the proportion of the US population that is starting business

is not growing but possibly shrinking. In fact, the author corroborated data with the US Small

Business Association. On the self-employment rate in the Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, US is the third lowest with countries and


rank lower than countries you would perceive to be entrepreneurial: Korea, UK, Japan,

Turkey and Italy. The number of new businesses emerging is significantly much higher than

in China as compared to the US based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2005 report.

In second chapter Scott says that the chances for success are much higher if people choose

the right industry. Some industries have dismal success ratios and people may want to avoid

them.

In third chapter, people don’t get a rosy picture on who becomes an entrepreneur. Scott Shane

states that physiological factors account for much less than demographics like age, race and

gender. Some may view this as a controversial viewpoint.

By reading the book you start to think in new directions. Plenty of the old myths are taken

care of in an elegant way. It is reassuring to read the following paragraph:

“Starting a new business isn’t as quick, painless, linear, collective or all-encompassing a

process as our popular conception suggests. A remarkably small percentage of entrepreneurs

– one third – manage to get business established within seven years of starting the process,

and even then it often takes several years to do so.” (Forth Chapter).

Scott Shane ends the last chapter with criticizing the government’s intervention in the

business field, pushing their own agenda to show the voters that they have “created”

economic growth by actively promoting the establishment of new enterprises.

This book is important not just for clearing our minds of what is incorrect but for

reconsidering our public policy, which is based on the widespread feeling that startups are a

magic bullet that will create a lot of jobs and generate innovation. And after reading his book,

I am convinced he is right. The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is written in an easy to read and

direct style. Besides charts and supporting evidence to explain why a particular myth isn't

valid, all busted myths are summarized at the end of each chapter.

I will like to end this review with a great quote from the conclusion:

“We shouldn’t get rid of the start-ups. Despite the dismal story about the typical start-up

portrayed in this book, getting rid of start-ups isn’t the answer. Entrepreneurship is central to

the success of a capitalist economy.”


LATERAL LEADERSHIP

By: ROGER FISHER

HAIDER SHAHID01-111082-036

BBA 6A


This book basically aims to develop leadership skills in all of us. It emphasizes on the

importance of a cohesive work teams. Even though this book doesn’t have much to do with

entrepreneurship directly, I think it is developing the skills necessary to become an

entrepreneur someday. A good entrepreneur is a good leader as well, you don’t have to be an

assigned leader to become one, leadership and championship arises from even the most

unlikely of sources.

The author first of all emphasizes the importance of personal skills, how we must improve

ourselves as not only a team member but also an individual. The better we are individually

the better we will work when in a group. The writer also suggest 5 elements that are the key

to getting things done, these elements are discussed in more detail in the later chapters.

Next the author describes why “telling” is ineffective and what are the various methods that

can be used to influence others and to get your point of view through without having anyone

feel undermined or offended. If you put your idea forward in the right manner, instead of

facing a line of resistance from your colleagues you will instead get a flurry of ideas which

not only make the co-workers feel like a part of the plan but will also make your idea into a

better and more effective plan.

Next step is the purpose, now the purpose maybe present in the form of the company’s

mission statement etc but do they truly inspire you to work hard? Your purpose needs to be

clearly defined in measureable and attainable. They should be enough to motivate you. You

should define your purpose in terms of distant results initially, that where you want to be after

a certain period of time, a mid-range purpose, that say half way through ill look at what I

have done till now and see how far long and how effectively my purpose is being fulfilled

and finally an immediate objective. You should revise all three set of goals till the point that

they’re totally aligned and start to complement each other and that they inspire and motivate

you with high levels of confidence. Secondly, you should formulate and clarify a purpose that

everyone wishes to achieve together, as a cohesive unit. These goals should be formulated in

collaboration with your colleagues so that everyone is guided by them and they are motivated

by this vision. The purpose should be understandable by all. Finally, the purpose of the

purpose has to be defined, why are we doing this in the first place? Why is it that we are

doing all this hard work? You can do this by asking everyone to help formulate the goals in

the first place, if they help design it, they’ll know the reason why they were being designed in


the first place. The final step is to ask everyone to derive subsidiary goals, so that the larger

purpose is broken down into smaller and shorter term orientated goals that are achievable.

Once the purpose has been defined, you move onto the thinking part. Once again the writer

has emphasized the point that we have to adjust ourselves before adjusting the lot. Since

everyone thinks differently, we have to learn to take advantage of such a situation, rather than

fighting over the fact that our own thinking is better than the others and being stubborn over

it, we should learn to listen to others, make others listen to us and create an outcome which is

a result of everyone’s combined effort and input.

Learning is an ongoing never ending process, we learn from not only each other but from our

own past mistakes as well. The writer has again emphasized the point that he has been trying

to tell us since the very first page of this book, that we need to fix ourselves before having to

bring everyone aboard with the cohesive unit theory. We have to accept our past mistakes and

we have to listen to others if we are to learn. An integrative thinking process where past

experiences have a high contribution will have a positive outcome.

Most people only work because they have to, that in itself is a big de-motivator and is a big

hurdle between you and success. You have to start to enjoy working if you want to get it

done. You have to engage yourself onto different tasks and different options, sometimes

venture onto the unknown or where your jurisdiction has ended. You should include tasks

that are challenging but attainable. At the end of the day everyone has a personal interest

everywhere, you have to be able to serve those interests to some extent so that everyone is

engaged in the process. With proper collaboration and good communication between

colleagues the results will almost always be positive.

One of the most important parts of team work is feedback; we shouldn’t only judge others

around us but also judge ourselves and let others judge us as well. Feedback isn’t only a

process where you evaluate your peers; there are multiple types of feedbacks with evaluation

only being one type of feedback. Appreciating, advising and evaluating are important factors

of feedback. Giving feedback should be like a casual conversation where you discuss

amongst each other, the good and bad of each and every individual. Feedback may also be

means of coaching individuals, when people realize what they’re doing wrong they start to

rectify those problems and everyone, even they are juniors may act as a coach. But a positive

feedback and support environment is required for this to work out.


The final step in all this is putting all this together. After we have learnt all the stuff described

above, we put it all to use. Make all of this into a systematic ongoing process where there is a

sense of co-operation and unity amongst you and your colleagues.

So in a nutshell this book teaches us how to develop group cohesiveness which paves the way

to success for not only you and your company but also your colleagues. The author has given

a lot of emphasize on the fact that we ourselves are the first hurdle to cross and he has told us

in great detail as to how we can overcome those issues and make ourselves better team

players, even if you aren’t the leader of a group or a manager. The book comprehensively

defines the 5 main variables (purpose, thinking, learning, engagement and feedback) on every

level and scale.


Entrepreneurship: values and responsibility

By: LEO RYAN, STEFAN

HAIDER ALI TAHIR

01-111082-035

BBA 6A


PURPOSE OF THE BOOK:

The main purpose writing this book is to explore the entrepreneurship values &

responsibility. You can term it as an academic forum exploring values and responsibility in

regard to entrepreneurship. As entrepreneurship is not an easy subject to write about it’s a

slippery an amorphous term. It has been used to such excess that it has lost specific meaning.

WHY DID AUTHOR WRITE ON THIS BOOK?

Leo Ryan & Stefan wrote this book to clear & explore more on the definition of

entrepreneurship from different perspectives, to better understand the values and

responsibility in regard to entrepreneurship. The author has also discussed on the religious

impact that has an effect on entrepreneurial decision making and in last part author discussed

entrepreneurship in action.

THEME OF THE BOOK : this book basically is based on three parts

1) PERSPECTIVES ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Part one examines some foundation theories about entrepreneurship, historical definitions,

and contemporary classification of entrepreneurs, the role of ethics & values, the potential for

entrepreneurial society & the challenges.

2) RELIGION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Part two explores the role of religion, culture & personal value formation & how those values

affect entrepreneurial decision making.

3) ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ACTION:

Part three integrates the first two parts with the examples of men and women entrepreneurs

who demonstrate that how value influence their decision making. These men and women are

executives whose values guide their decision making.

INTENDED AUDIENCE:

According to my study of this book I came to jaw down a list of intended audience who can

benefit from this book.


1) Business students.

2) Large & middle size company owners.

3) Managers of corporate companies.

4) People who want to have knowledge about entrepreneurial activities.

AUTHOR'S STYLE:

Author has used a formal style of communication and has maintained the standards of clarity,

originality, correct use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of development, fluidity. & it

suits the intended target audience.

AFFECT OF BOOK ON ME:

After reading this book I came to know more detailed view of entrepreneurship, the classical

view about it and a bit of history of entrepreneurship. Another interesting thing that I learned

from reading this book was the second part of the book i.e. (Religion & entrepreneurship) it

was interesting to know that how your religious beliefs and your culture, values can have an

effect on your entrepreneurial decision making. I think it was a good learning process which

gave me extra information and views of different corporate entrepreneurs. After reading this

book I had a change of my views on certain things.

ACHIEVEMENT OF GOAL:

According to me yes the author has achieved its goals & has given his message clearly as it is

the latest release of 2011 the information given in the book is also up to date and the target

audience can get a very clear understanding of the topic and content of the book. It is all

because of the hard work and efforts of author that we are able to understand the few aspects

of entrepreneurship which were not discussed in detail before.


Entrepreneurship

By: LINDA DOKE

HAMZA AHMED KHAN

01-11082-037

BBA 6A


In the summer of 2008 I set out with my friends with dreams and plans to start an advertising

agency. Our ultimate goal was to make the best ad films and short films in the country one

day. Five months later two us were out, one continued forward with his dream. His manner of

operations caused us to back out. He planned to change and planned big, 30 months later

(today) he is running his father’s construction company. We planned to operate as unit with a

single brain divided in three. We ended up operating as a trio of stupid boys looking at the

business world through their lens of stupidity. I am not saying that it was the mistakes of one

man that cost three boys their dreams. One has to admit responsibility and I admit my

mistakes. The hunger for success helped us push each other, only the direction and the way

was wrong. The question that remains is, what was the one big reason we failed?

The answer is “knowledge”.

This book is taught and used to help students and lecturers teach at different vocational

colleges in South Africa. Linda Doke is a journalist by profession and a trail runner by

passion. What she and co-authors Rob Smorfitt and Ed Hatton have done with this book can

be deemed as the perfect handbook for entrepreneurs.

The book has six chapters comprising of

§ The entrepreneur

§ Entrepreneurial opportunities

§ Customer relations and marketing

§ Basic finances

§ Manage time and work processes

§ A business plan

The authors have covered pretty much everything with the very minor of details ranging from

patents and intellectual properties to business plans. The first two chapters deal with the

entrepreneur himself. Who is an entrepreneur, the basic objectives, task opportunities and all.

They also deal with the research part and recognizing those opportunities.

Chapter Three and Four deal with basic finances and customer relationships. This is the part

where they tell us how to operate customer relationships and how to market our business. The

book has details over surveys and how to find potential customers. How to promote the

business how to satisfy the customers so that it’s easier to retain them.


Basic finance starts up with the very basic terminologies and methods for pricing and

financing. But as the chapter progresses they dig into the subject of financing a small

business and how to maintain the flow. They also tell on how to do situational analysis and

dhow to take calculated business risks in order to expa nd.

The last two chapters deal with managing time and developing business plans. These are

indeed very important chapters. The book has detailed guidelines over how to develop work

processes and how to manage time for the business. Most business face the problem of

recruitment and placement, this book solves those issues by providing set guidelines and

ideas that have previously worked.

In the last chapter of the book, the authors discuss how to develop a business plan and how to

make sure it works.

The beauty of the book lies in the very basics, where the author discusses everything from the

birth of an idea (be it new or innovative), how to patent it. The author discusses everything

from copyright laws and patent filing keeping South Africa as a focal point, to financial

techniques on how to protect an idea or a plan.

But then comes the part where they discuss the tricky financial terminologies and customer

attraction and retention techniques. How to evaluate an idea, how to evaluate the market and

things as simple as SWOT analysis. Business plans are discussed in deep detail and the

authors made sure to point the most common and lethal mistakes made by entrepreneurs.

This book has structure that works in peculiar fashion to help those who seek it and make it

interesting for those who find the subject dry. The book is loaded to the brim with examples

and activities. One thing I must admit that I learnt from this book is that ‘NANDOS’ is a

south African brand.

The book has easy to understand, every day English. The use of jargon has been omitted on

purpose and the terminologies in the book have been explained very efficiently. The case

studies in the book help students apply theory in real work environment. The study skills

section in the book helps the students to practice their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.

This book is not something I would recommend to be taken along on 9 hour bus ride, but it is

something that I would recommend for students. Because the content and material is very


good and up-to-date both for students and for lecturers. It will help the user to be prepared for

the real world and for the final exams.


Small Giants: COMPANIES THATCHOOSE TO BE GREAT INSTEAD

OF BIG

By: BO BURLINGHAM

HASSAN INTASAR

01-11082-038

BBA 6A


When you typically think of a "business," the image that comes to mind is an enterprise

existing for the purpose of profit - and the more profit the better. That's what capitalism is all

about, right? The entrepreneurial dream of starting from nothing and making it big - like Ray

Kroc did with McDonald's, or Michael Dell with Dell Computers.

That image makes a 180-degree turn in Bo Burlingham's book "Small Giants". He's identified

and analyzed 14 businesses that "choose to be great instead of big."

Why would a business intentionally try to keep a lid on growth? Quite simply, so it doesn't

lose its soul. Burlingham calls it "mojo."

How does a company get this mojo to begin with? The author notes these common elements

in the companies he profiled:

• Culture of intimacy.

• Close ties to their communities.

• Personal, one-on-one relationships with customers and suppliers.

As a business grows, it becomes harder and harder to keep these elements in place, so

consequently the "Small Giants" chose to keep "bigness" out of their business equation.

Of particular interest was Burlingham's discussion of the "culture of intimacy" fostered in the

Small Giants. He identified three imperatives that are pursued to create it:

1. Articulating, demonstrating, and imbuing the company with a higher purpose. This is not a

"mission statement" - rather, it's a framework that makes the work meaningful for employees,

and "continually reminds them how their contribution matters, and why they should care

about giving their best effort."

2. Reminding people in unexpected ways how much the company cares about them. This

goes beyond the usual perks, awards, and bonuses, by "doing what most companies wouldn't

dream of doing or by using one of the standard tools in an unusual way."

3. Collegiality. Burlingham is referring to "feelings that employees have towards one another,

the mutual trust and respect they feel, the enjoyment they get out of spending time together,


their willingness to work through any conflicts that might arise, they collective pride in what

they do, and their collective commitment to doing it well."

It's understandable how this would be easier to achieve in smaller scale companies, but does

that mean that it's folly to believe that the culture of intimacy could be achieved in a high

growth, dynamically expanding company?

Burlingham doesn't suggest it's impossible. It's just more difficult.

However, in a business environment where ownership changes hands fairly often and the

private equity or public shareholder "return windows" take over, going for the true "mojo"

Burlingham describes is not possible, because, in his words, if these types of investors choose

to acquire or invest in a company, "...it won't be because (they) share the passion or believe in

the mission (whatever the new management may say). They'll want to own it only if they

think it will improve their financial returns. People will work there mainly because they need

a job. Customers will buy its products and services only if they offer the best value for the

money. The company will be an economic mechanism and little more."

Anything really wrong with that? Burlingham says no, but acknowledges that there are some

people who are looking for more - they want to build companies that "allow them to pursue

their passion and follow their bliss". They want a business that will contribute "something

great and unique to the world."

Burlingham has delivered a great read that takes us deep inside fourteen remarkable

companies that have chosen to march to their own drummer. They include Anchor Brewing,

the original microbrewer; CitiStorage Inc., the premier independent records-storage business;

Clif Bar & Co., maker of organic energy bars and other nutrition foods; Righteous Babe

Records, the record company founded by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco; Union Square

Hospitality Group, the company of restaurateur Danny Meyer; and Zingerman's Community

of Businesses, including the world-famous Zingerman's Deli of Ann Arbor.

While doing research within these companies, Burlingham outlined The 7 Qualities of Small

Giants that ran through all of the profiled companies:

1. They consciously questioned the usual definitions of success and imagined different

possibilities than the usual ones. This concept had surfaced in the world of professional


businesses, such as CPAs, physicians, and architects, where people talk about having a

profession rather than a job.

2. The leaders had to overcome enormous pressures to take traditional paths to success. Often

this meant rejecting outside capital and growth opportunities outside their usual geography.

3. Each company has an extraordinarily intimate relationship with its local community in

which it does business.

4. Each company cultivated exceptionally intimate relationships with customers and suppliers

based on personal contact, one-to-one interaction, and mutual commitment on delivering on

promises.

5. They had unusually intimate work places, which were in effect functional little

communities that strove to address a broad range of their employee's needs as human beings,

creating an emotional, spiritual, and social, as well as the economic ones.

6. This sample represents a broad variety of corporate structures and modes of governance

that they have come up with to help them achieve their driving force.

7. The passion that the leaders brought to what the company did-they loved the subject

matter, whether it was music, safety, food, lighting, special effects, or constant torque hinges.

They had deep emotional attachments to their business, and this deep emotional attachment

extended, as mentioned earlier, to employees, vendors, customers, and their community.

Burlingham shows how the leaders of these small giants recognized the full range of choices

they had about the type of company they could create. And he shows how we can all benefit

by questioning the usual definitions of business success. In his new afterward, the author

reflects on the similarities and learning lessons from the small giants he covers in the book


Innovation and Entrepreneurship; PRACTICE AND PRINCIPLES

By: PETER F. DRUCKER

HIRA JAVED

01-111082-042

BBA 6A


Thomas Edison once said that "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Since Edison,

the nineteenth century's most prolific inventor, was also a successful businessman, he is often

regarded as the archetype of the modern entrepreneur. Unfortunately, in spite of Edison's

comment on genius, most of the articles and books devoted to entrepreneurship have tended

to focus on the largely apocryphal "flash of inspiration' rather than on the tremendous amount

of hard work that goes into every successful new enterprise.

If you're looking for a good, theoretical introduction to entrepreneurship with a healthy dose

of business history thrown in, consider the classic, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice

and Principles by management theoretician Peter F. Drucker.

In his latest book, Peter Drucker seeks to reverse this trend and place the emphasis where it is

due. "Innovation and entrepreneurship are," he asserts, 11 purposeful tasks that can [and

should] be organized." They are, in fact, simply part of the effective manager's job. This is

not to deny the importance of inspiration. An open mind, a willingness to exploit change

rather than resist it, the ability to see opportunities where others see threats these are all

important characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Drucker's premise is that these attitudes

and skills can be cultivated and that the search for innovation can be systematized and

managed.

Entrepreneurial attention is focused on customer values. This is an especially important point

for us in the information industry since we, more than those in other, "low tech" industries,

tend to associate innovation with technical features of our products. Without devaluing the

importance of our advances in areas such as semiconductor technology, communication

systems design, and continuous service architecture, we must recognize that our opportunities

for treating new value for our customers extend far beyond the technical feature our hardware

and software products.

Drucker focuses on large-scale entrepreneurship, e.g., aiming to dominate an industry niche

or entire industry, rather than small business management. Drucker discusses innovation,

which Drucker says is both conceptual and perceptual. Perceptual in that you must go out and

talk with your market to learn from it. Drucker's recurring theme is that good

entrepreneurship is usually market-focused and market-driven.


Contrary to the belief of many, Drucker says that innovation isn't inspired by a bright idea;

rather it "is organized, systematic, rational work." Innovation can be mastered and integrated

into a company or non-profit organization.

The process, the "business system," by which we create and deliver products and services to

our customers starts with technology, but then relies on the design, manufacturing, marketing,

sales, distribution, and service skills of thousands of NCR people. At every stage, innovation

is possible and, in many cases, "non-technical" innovation can provide the key to success in

the marketplace.

For example, Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, didn't invent the hamburger; he

established a new system of clean, reliable, fast food delivery that created a whole new

industry. Similarly, Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile and J. P. Morgan didn't invent

banking; but they applied their imaginations to the systems by which cars were produced and

money was exchanged.

Drucker first opens our thinking to the many targets of innovation and he then describes a

method by which we can begin to identify and to explore successful new ways of doing

things. If innovation really is the tool of entrepreneurs, then, like a tool, it must be easy to

use. Drucker proposes that there are seven sources of innovative opportunity:

• unexpected events,

• incongruities between the expected and the actual,

• new process requirements,

• unanticipated changes in industry or market structure,

• demographic changes,

• changes in perception, mood, or meaning, and

• New knowledge.

Drucker asserts that the last entry in this list, new knowledge, is the least reliable and least

predictable of them all! This runs counter to conventional wisdom, which holds that

innovators are usually scientists or technicians who extend the frontiers of knowledge.

Drucker argues convincingly that many, many more business successes can be attributed to

innovations in the business process than to a knowledge breakthrough at the product level.


There is a great deal of practical advice for NCR managers in this, the latest book from a man

who is widely considered the father of modern management. While many of the ideas are not

new, the structure into which Peter Drucker places them transforms them from a collection of

interesting thoughts into an effective management tool. The responsibility that we all share

for changing the shape of our business and delivering more value to our customers can no

longer be denied or underestimated.

Drucker gives us guidelines for identifying innovative opportunity. For example, unexpected

successes or unexpected failures within an industry often point to opportunity. Drucker also

suggests that innovative opportunity exists where there is "an internal incongruity within the

rhythm or the logic of a process" or a process need.

As a great example, Drucker tells us the story of William Conner, a salesman to the medical

industry who decided he wanted to start his own company. Conner went out and spoke with

surgeons about the problems and difficulties the surgeons faced.

While talking with surgeons, Conner learned that the process for cataract surgery was

generally routine and easy, except there was one incongruity making the surgery difficult and

unpleasant for physicians. During the surgery, surgeons had to cut one ligament which

involved some risk.

With research Conner learned that there was an enzyme that dissolved this ligament. Conner

also learned that new methods of storage could preserve this enzyme allowing it to be used in

surgery. After patenting his compound, Conner quickly captured a niche market providing his

compound to surgeons performing cataract surgery. No longer did they need to cut the

ligament. They could dissolve it. With process need, the market already exists for the

innovation. Drucker notes this is a relatively low-risk type of entrepreneurship.

While process need is a great area of entrepreneurial innovation, Drucker also suggests

demographics may provide opportunities. I'm more dubious of this. Even though we may

know how the population will change in ten years, capitalizing on this change isn't easy.

Further, most entrepreneurs already tend to be focused on a particular industry or market and

large-scale demographic changes wouldn't induce them to change their company's focus.

Plus, there are entrepreneurial opportunities even in declining industries.


Sometimes, there is a dissonance between reality and the perception of reality in an industry.

This may offer innovative opportunities, according to Drucker.

For example, Drucker mentions the evolution of the ship container industry. While

established shipping companies focused on cutting transit time and cost by making ocean-

going ships faster and more cost effective, this really wasn't the key. Ships were already very

efficient in transit.

Rather, the real problem with the shipping industry was the loading and unloading of cargo,

which kept ships in port and tied up valuable harbor space. When the shipping container was

developed, it could be pre-loaded on land before the ship arrived. The pre-loaded container

could then quickly be loaded onto the ship when the ship arrived in port. This made ocean

transit much more cost effective and efficient. Drucker notes that the big cost of ocean transit

was having ships held up in port, effectively tying up a capital asset without being able to

utilize its full earnings capability.

Drucker discusses entrepreneurial management, claiming three keys to building a successful

new organization are

• having a market focus

• financial foresight, i.e., cash flow budgeting and planning for capital needs

• assembling a top management team

Other topics covered in Innovation and Entrepreneurship include creative imitation,

entrepreneurial judo, and filling a specialized, ecological niche. Peter Drucker's Innovation

and Entrepreneurship provides great insight into seeking entrepreneurial opportunities

SHORT SUMMARY:

INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP is divided into three main sections: “The

Practice of Innovation,” “The Practice of Entrepreneurship,” and “Entrepreneurial

Strategies.” The introduction describes innovation and entrepreneurs in relation to the

economy; the conclusion describes them in relation to society.


In Part 1 , Drucker defines innovation as a means by which entrepreneurs may exploit change

in order to create new service and business opportunities. Entrepreneurial enterprises by their

nature create a market niche and fill a consumer need. These enterprises include small

businesses, large enterprises, and non business service institutions. Sources for innovative

opportunities in enterprises include new knowle dge (scientific and non-scientific) and

changes in industry structure, demographics, and perceptions. Drucker’s principles of

innovation require analysis of opportunities, receptivity to new opportunities, starting small,

looking to the simple, and achievement of leadership.

Part 2 focuses on managerial strategies for the new venture, the existing business, and the

public service institution. All organizations must acquire entrepreneurial competence to keep

pace with changes in economy and society. Leaders in the three types of organizations must

become skilled in entrepreneurial management.

Part 3 examines practices and policies that entrepreneurs should follow in the marketplace.

Drucker’s strategies involve aiming for leadership and/or dominance of a new market or

existing market, finding and occupying a specialized niche, and changing the economic

characteristics of a product, market, or industry.

In concluding, Drucker stresses the need for innovation and entrepreneurship in society. To

obtain this, entrepreneurial executives must make innovation and entrepreneurship “a normal,

ongoing, everyday activity,


THE INTENTIONAL ENTREPRENEUR

By: DAVID L. BODDZ

HIRA HABIB KHAN

01-11082-040

BBA 6A


The book written and edited by David L. Bodde is ideal because it is guided by the view that

entrepreneurship is a behavioral skill, and that we benefit most from opportunities to practice

the behaviors and thinking of successful entrepreneurs. Written with an appreciation and

understanding for technology by an accomplished engineer, who went far beyond the practice

of engineering during his life, it relates to how technical ideas only succeed when they are

merged with an even more important understanding of the market and customer needs. The

book emphasizes that success is driven more by understanding markets, customer

development, and timing than the technology itself.

It introduces you to Kevin Bolin, founder of EnerTech Environmental and Maurice

Gunderson co-founder (with Nancy Floyd) of Nth Power Technologies in the first chapter

that is ‘a tale of two entrepreneurs’. Their stories are woven throughout the book so you

become familiar with them and develop empathy for the way they respond to the challenges

they face. As you progress through the chapters of the book, you continue to reflect on these

stories, and ask yourself how well the behaviors practiced by the protagonists mesh with your

own interests and character.

The book covers a wide range of topics related to entrepreneurship and its different aspects.

For example, it tells about the creation of opportunity and how it has been grabbed. David L.

Bodde touched upon a very important part which is the need for entrepreneurial innovation

and the competition and competitive advantage that firms have because of technology. It

focuses on the opportunities to creating lasting value from technology and build the new

economy of knowledge of the physical world enabled by advances in science and technology.

The book takes you towards the process of creating economic value with technology, both as

an independent entrepreneur or as part of a team from an established company. This book can

easily improve your chances for success. It makes you learn the basics of entrepreneurship

within the context of the unique disadvantages and challenges posed by advanced technology.

It helps you Gain skills in the analysis of interesting business cases that continue throughout

the book and build interest and build understanding as new subjects are addressed. Secondly

the author has a unique ability to communicate concisely and persuasively and provide

interesting examples to illustrate key points. It helps develop sufficient understanding and

insight to prepare a business model for an independent venture you might actually like to start


or for a venture launched from an existing enterprise that you might like to lead. One

important aspect I have learned after reading this book is that it is quite unique because it is

so down to earth and interesting.

There have been many topics which have been covered by this book and some of them may

take you towards creating effective market value from technology. Bodde the author of the

book covers Technology cycles, marketing strategy, intellectual property protection, and

financing of high growth businesses. He also indicates on how to quickly scrap a business

model and adopt a new one if the market so dictates. It tells us how management teams work

and how they must have knowledge base appropriate to the purpose of the enterprise. The

book also tells us a bit about the concept of intrapreneuring from within an existing business.

The book deals with defining what technologists need to know to turn invention into product.

In particular, Bodde says that such ventures must include market insight, a business model

that combines both technology and market knowledge, and an effective organization.

He finishes the book with a discussion of how the business landscape is changing. He

illuminates a complex area of our economic system that is usually leaned through experiences

rather than in the classroom. This book brings principles and structure to the subject of how

to bring a new idea or technology into the competitive marketplace and succeed. The

experience that the book relates to shows the value of team organization, energy, enthusiasm,

and persistence. They show the overriding importance of considering what is to be needed in

the future world as it moves dynamically forward. The book focuses on the audience it tends

to serve that is ‘people with great ideas but not necessarily great business sense’. We've all

seen the graveyard of great ideas ruined by bad business decisions. For example, the inventor

who has a single great idea makes a popular product and then is beaten by a competitor with

an even better idea. So the book spends a fair amount of time discussing the service concept

of technology and I quote “you're not just creating a better widget but a bundle of services

that unlocks the true value of the widget and gives you a chance to evolve with the market”.


FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

By: HITESH S. VIRAMGAMI

JAMAL RAZA01-111082-051

BBA 6A


The book Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship is a master piece of Hiteshs S.Viramgami. It

consist of 13 chapters based on entrepreneurial activities. I will give a brief description, an

overall summery of what the author tells us about in each chapter;

Chapter 1: This is an introduction about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activities. An

entrepreneur is a person who has specific skills, ability, knowledge, awareness and self

confidence who bears the risk of operating a business in the face of uncertainty about the

future condition. In this chapter author has briefly defined characteristic of entrepreneurs,

definition of entrepreneurship and relation of different terms with entrepreneurship. Author

also has explained theories if entrepreneurship and the factors br inging the change. Chapter 2

author has briefly described the various types of business organization and legal

requirements. The core of the chapter is based on different types of business and advantages

and disadvantages related. He also explained the laws or act faced by all types of businesses.

In chapter 3 authors has analyzed different types of business opportunities, their characteristic

and the sources which lead toward particular opportunities. As these opportunities lead to be

the success of an ent repreneur. chapter 4 comprises of analysis of business environment, as

environment of an organization has a great impact on business .author has explained all the

kinds of environment and the factors effecting the environment as it helps an organization to

minimize its strength and minimize its weakness. Chapter 5 comprises of the resources

involved as business capital. Author has explained the importune of the resources on the basis

of two main categories (1).owned funds (2).borrowed funds. Chapter 6 is ba sed on venture

capital which means that output of which is uncertain but which is accompanied by the risk of

danger of loss. Author has explained major characteristic and the steps involved in venture

capital. Chapter 7 is based on innovation that helps an entrepreneur to shift the resources in to

area of higher productivity, in chapter 8 authors has briefly described the characteristic of

innovation and the important areas of innovation where an entrepreneur can be effective.

Chapter 8 consists of achievement theory for entrepreneur which explain how an entrepreneur

can be motivated and on what basis .author has also explained the ways to measure the

performance of entrepreneur. In chapter 9 authors has explained the term project report where

project is a map of an industrial unit and report is prepared after detail study and analysis of

various aspects of a project. in hater 11 author has explained the step to investigate a project

report, element of project report and the importance of project report .chapter 12 comprises of

various roles of an entrepreneur and the effect they have on a organization .author has also

explained role of an entrepreneur on the basis of different fields of a business .chapter 13 is


based on crisis of entrepreneurship, the term business crises, emerging issues of business

crises and how could an entrepreneur crush the issues to make an organization effective.


Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born

By: LIYOD E SHEFSKY

MAHAM FARRUKH CHAUDHRY

01-211082-059

BBA 6A


The idea behind this book is to provide with an insider's view on entrepreneurship as the

author has combined personal stories of successful entrepreneurs along with his own

experience and theories to give secrets to generating ideas, taking risks, overcom ing the fear

of failure, developing strong work ethics, breaking the rules and boundaries and preparing for

opportunity in advance. The book starts off with a brief understanding of what

entrepreneurship really is and what and who is an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are the prototype of the American persona. They are given as much respect as

any other heroes because of the added dimension they have other than managers.

Entrepreneurs are creators who have the ability to make something from nothing. They are

passionate about their dreams and have the chance of doing what they want. Entrepreneurs

don't' have a boss, instead the y get to be their own boss. so one doesn't have to be a genius,

an MBA , a hot shot or wealthy, as long as you know what you want and want it very much

the is nothing stopping you from becoming an Entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is in easy word

an individual who enters a business in order to change something. It is important for

entrepreneurs to focus on the opportunity, have confidence in their dreams and in the ability

to make it happen along with knowing the risks that every opportunity comes with. Many

entrepreneurs also may have to face rejection of their ideas but the most successful

entrepreneurs were the ones who were immune to the barriers they were confronted with.

All that is needed to become an entrepreneur is to have a dream. It can be all sorts of dreams.

The dreams are not always about being independent but about a particular product or service,

methods of distribution or manufacture, or new form of marketing or selling alongside a long

term goal. It is said that the dream lies in the eye of the beholder not necessarily the creator,

so if it’s not your dreams u can adopt it and it can become your dream as well. sharing a

dream can be very helpful as it helps greatly in making your dreams come true if you have

strategic partners as having strategic partner can bring in required investment, ideas,

decisions and missing components for creating or growing etc. if one doubts whether their

dream is viable or not they can just be onto the safe side by doing something they have good

knowledge of. It is much easier if you follow dreams that you understand because it should

be the dream of your destination.

Lack of confidence or trust or fear of failure has forced many dreamers to tuck away their

dreams in dream drawers. At times some early entrepreneurs have a number of ideas in their

dream drawers which many at times they have saved for the future or for some other time.


this is when the know that their dream will probably turn out to be somewhat different in

execution than in conception, and that market conditions change and opportunities open up.

Many at time dreams also meet coincidences.

There is a large variety of excuses that many people use and sometimes the apparent excuse

hides the real one but to become a successful entrepreneur your dream need to be more

important than your excuses. Many excuses have even gotten to the levels of conventional

wisdoms.

Interference created in making your entrepreneurial dreams into becoming a reality are

certain myths. The most common is the chauvinist myth that is men are better entrepreneurs

than women which is nothing but a social stereotype. Another myth in different dreams

different genders but this is because both men and women have been raised in separate

environments with their own likes and dislikes and so the point is that gender is not an

impediment but an opportunity. another myth is that women are lightweights but women

should be taken seriously social stereotype are changing and more and more women are

becoming entrepreneurs. Other myths are that usually immigrants and ethnic minorities

become entrepreneurs but the truth is that they start their own personal businesses to get

independence and because they don’t really have proper education or experience etc. Another

one famous myth is that only children born with a silver spoon and children of current

successful entrepreneurs can become entrepreneurs but in reality a great many entrepreneurs

come from families where entrepreneurship was neither practiced nor understood. There are

ways that one can break the myths that could stop you. First when you notice a myth you

must stop and see them for what they are, then separate the myth from its source and think

about it and lastly scrutinize over it. After one overcomes the myths one must overcome the

fear of failure. It is different from excuses or myths, it’s a terror inside you and to master the

fear of failure you must first understand it. But you should know that failing isn’t that bad.

Failure teaches you that failing isn’t fatal. In the long run failing may be better for you. In

today’s world failing in business teaches you what to do and how to succeed and it

strengthens your resista nce to barriers and teaches you how to resolve the hurdles. In short

there is no entrepreneur who has not failed ever and there is no entrepreneur who is a failure.

Besides other reasons for leaving your dreams unfulfilled, trap of the attractive track is the

other most common. The thinking of ‘one bird in the hand is better than two in the bush’

refrains people from risking their settled, permanent and secure jobs.


Risk, It is all a question of magnitude. Some put more at risk and some not that much.

Entrepreneurship is a win-win situation as entrepreneurs are economically productive, they

create jobs, profit, etc... Entrepreneurs handle risk differently than managers as they put a lot

more at stake.

Every entrepreneur does ‘work’ differently. They all have a different meaning of work. But

what binds all entrepreneurs together is the work ethic. Work ethics are developed very early

in life and usually it is influenced upon oneself. Entrepreneurs do not work for the sake of

working but work towards achieving a goal, usually very specific goals. Entrepreneurs are

usually workaholics but their addiction is to make their dreams come true.

Entrepreneurs break the rules. But before breaking the rules you must understand what the

rule is and why it exists. Breaking the rules seems natural for most entrepreneurs, it is, after

all, a pre requisite if you want to break the shackles of restrictive behavior and build a new

nerve centre for your business.

Failing shouldn’t be the goal but it is necessary to succeed. Obstacles cause failures and

entrepreneurs cannot study their failures but they can study their obstacles. Many

entrepreneurs that the author interviewed said they had never failed. Nevertheless

Entrepreneurs may not be affected by their past failure itself but they are molded but what

they have learnt from how they dealt with past failures.

Next step is preparing for an upcoming opportunity. One must be prepared before the

occasion arises so that any valuable time should not be wasted. The preparatory work

involves increasing your business knowledge and capability so when the opportunity arises

you won’t have to think about preparing for it rather than think of taking maximum

advantage of it. Once fully prepared the entrepreneur has a natural energy and focus that

comes naturally with preparation.

Making the first step is usually the hardest part. You have to decide if you want a partner,

how you want your partner to be, and what kind of partner do you want. Then you define

what types of partnership do want. Then you decide what other help you may need which

would include an accountant, an insurance consultant, a lawyer, financial consultants, and

other specialist consultants. Also one needs to ha ve a good working network while being

beware of false positives, crosschecking is very important, understanding the needs and goals

of fellow professionals etc.


All entrepreneurs cherish what they have created and can do whatever it takes for it. They

have such a desire that they are even willing to let go of their sleep but it is not a good thing.

Also one must learn to harness your energy rather than fight it.

A pre requisite of entrepreneurship is being a leader. Leaders are different from one another.

They come in all shapes, sizes, persuasions and nationalities. Leaders need to have a realistic

but clear vision of a goal, the means to accomplish it, and a sense of how, once achieved,

success will be measured and rewarded, and the ability to communicate the vision the means

and the measures to others. But do remember leaders are not managers. But anyone comes

across some points while working where they are faced with difficulties regarding other

employees but if you are fair and compassionate all turns out well. All entrepreneurs lead by

different means. There are a few steps to develop your entrepreneurial leadership. Keeping

perspective, knowing why you want to lead, identifying your targets, being clear and fixed,

observing when people listen to you, leveraging your small successes, being tough and not

mean, letting them see your err, showing you are willing to pay your price, creating positive-

sum games, withstanding temptations, studying your opportunities, selecting the right

followers, taking the responsibly for their mistakes, selecting the birds you flock with,

giving, keeping your goal in sight, trusting, communicating to inspire, being a cheerleader,

remembering that others wish they were in your place, and do the windows but not the

details. Entrepreneurs are special people but only after the become entrepreneurs. Clearly

they are made not born. All you need s desire and willingness and you must remember that

becoming an entrepreneur is not an accident, you are always surrounded by opportunities and

you have to fine the switch that lights the way. There is no specific education necessary for

becoming an entrepreneur.

It is important for entrepreneurs to only chase their dreams and not to chase after the

rainbows that may appear along their way because they tend to lead people astray. They must

focus on their dream and they may well find success and money will come in but if they

focus on keeping score they won’t find success. Entrepreneurs don’t do t for money, they do

it to follow their dreams. .

There comes a time when one should realize that its time to stop dreaming. It is difficult to

give up something one becomes so attached to and something that one has worked so hard for

but a good entrepreneur is one who keeps on trying, trying and trying.


In this book Shefsky defines entrepreneurs as people with dreams. They're not necessarily

smarter than the average bear, or more ambitious. They're not more courageous or bigger

risk-takers.

Unlike the people whom Shefsky interviewed, I've found that quite a few entrepreneurs

decide to pursue that lifestyle after finding that their jobs have been outsourced, downsized,

or otherwise eliminated. They take this opportunity to finally try something they've thought

about for a long time.

Shefsky tells us that entrepreneurs have the passion to pursue the dream that they nurture.

There is nice, inspirational material on the excuses, myths, fears, traps, and risks that can

cause you to "keep your dreams tucked away."

Shefsky points out that there's a big difference between entrepreneurs and workaholics.

Entrepreneurs aren't driven to work. They're self-administering task masters, with a fervent

pursuit of their own dreams


Good To Be Great

By JIM Collin

MUHAMMAD ALI BAIG

BBA 8


GOOD TO GREAT

Jim Collin. In the first five chapters of the book it is basically the concepts that Collins and

his research team has learned about the companies who make this remarkable transition from

good to great. According to him they really don’t do it over-night. He compared their success

to that of a flywheel, where a sustained momentum accelerates the energy output. The

companies able to create this flywheel effect had the following characteristics in common:

Level 5 Leadership –Leaders are not charismatic, media types and celebrities. Chances are

you’ve never heard of them. They are humble, self-effacing, humble, shy, reserved and more

concerned about the prosperity of the company than their individual success.

First who…Then What – Using a bus analogy, Collins claims that great companies first get

great people on the bus, then decide where to drive it. According to Collins, the right people

are your most important asset.

Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith) – Good-to-Great companies maintain

unwavering faith that they can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at

the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of their current reality –

whatever that might be.

The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circ les) – Good-to-Great companies

do what they can do best (as opposed to what they want to do best), what they are deeply

passionate about, and they focus on what drives their economic engine.

A Culture of Discipline – Having a disciplined culture is the opposite of having a controlled

one. There is no need for hierarchy, bureaucracy, or excessive control.

Technology - None of the Good to Great executives put technology as one of their top 5

drivers. None of them jumped on the .com bandwagon out of panic. All of them took a

cautious approach as to how technology can already help them do what they do well even

better.

The 5th Level Leader – 5th Level Leaders have a combination of strong will and personal

humility. The 5th Level Leader demonstrates an unwavering resolve and sets the standard for

building great companies. In balance, he/she demonstrates a compelling modesty, relies on

inspired standards and channels ambition into the company, and not into the self. The 5th

Level Leader “looks in the mirror, not out the window” when focusing on responsibility and

does just the opposite when apportioning credit for success of the company.


Collins asked a critical question: Can 5th Level Leadership be taught? Well, yes and no. To

the extent someone is gifted with these innate capabilities, they certainly have a head start.

For any leader it is a matter of degree. It is about growing into the role of a 5th Level

Leadership leader.

It is interesting to note that most 5th Level Leaders do not live extravagant lifestyles. They

have strong family and community relationships. They have healthy and long-term marriages.

Most of them are highly spiritual people who attribute much of their success to good-luck and

God, rather than personal greatness. These men and women are servant leaders, not self-

serving ones.

First Who…Then What

Once you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage

people largely goes away. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they

will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating

something great. (Doesn’t that describe you?) According to Collins “if you have the wrong

people, it doesn’t matter whether you find the right direction; you still won’t have a great

company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” Again, I couldn’t agree more.

While Collins doesn’t say it, here is the reason having the right people is so important. Until

recently, business has been largely dominated by how we can do things. How well we can

implement the latest technology. In fact, until recently, the Fast Company magazine motto for

success was “faster, better, cheaper”.

But now things have changed. We are seeing a fundamental shift. It is becoming less about

what we can do than who we can become less about rugged individualism and more about

connectedness. Interestingly, Fast Company’s new mantra is “change, learning, and

leadership”. Notice the fundamental shift from things to people. The reality is, we can no

longer compete based on faster, better, cheaper. We’re already going as fast as we possibly

can, producing better quality than ever and to compete on price is a game only few can win.

Today’s great company competes on the strength of its relationships.

While we may wish it otherwise, the vast majority of people are not going to take 100%

responsibility. In large part, it is because few of them are convinced they can. They are still

stuck with the notion that their life is being controlled by external circumstances. These

workers are not self-disciplined. They want handholding. Then when things don’t go right

they want to blame someone else. Given simple statistics, the reality is the vast majority of


companies are not capable of “greatness” because of the available workforce talent. This is

also why top talent commands the best opportunities.

There will be a handful of companies where the need to externally motivate is not all that

necessary. However, for the majority of companies, self-motivated individuals will continue

to be a key to productivity.

How people are compensated makes little difference when it comes to productivity. Again,

this makes common sense. Pay someone a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, and money

is usually no longer an issue. For those people who are motivated primarily by compensation,

send them to the competition. Their energy is not that of a Level 5 person. They may cause a

short burst in productivity, which is guaranteed to be followed by lots of drama and the

eventual crash. These unnecessary dramas you can best do without. According to Collins “the

purpose of a compensation system should not be to get the right behaviors from the wrong

people, but to get the right people on the bus in the first place, and to keep them there”.

Here are some additional suggestions that Collins makes in order for us to improve our

workforce:

1. Lead with questions, not answers – Level 5 Leaders spend a lot of the time “just trying to

understand”. They have an open door, engage in radical honesty and have non-agenda

meetings. In my terms, they are “present”.

2. Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion – Any of you that have heard me speak

know one of my favorite subjects is that of dialogue. Dialogue creates a “safe place” for

communicating. According to Collins “all the good-to-great companies had a penchant for

intense dialogue”. Amen. One reason why I preach performance dialogues over performance

evaluations.

3. Conduct autopsies, without blame – Again, in a responsible corporation there is no

blame or justification. What comes its way is simply a learning lesson. Adjustments are

made, and you move on towards a new and higher understanding. As Buckminister Fuller so

aptly stated, “The reward we get for solving one set of problems is yet a greater set of

problems”.

4. Build “red flag” mechanisms – According to Collins, there was no evidence that the

good-to-great companies had more or better information than the comparison companies.


They had virtually identical access to good information. They key then is in turning the

available information into information “that cannot be ignored”. The ability to wave a red

flag so that you can get someone’s attention is a must. Whether by using surveys, open

agenda meetings, or other mechanisms, your company has to get access to critical

information…and do something with it.

The Hedgehog Concept

According to Collins, the hedgehog concept is a “simple crystalline concept that flows from

deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles”:

1. What you can be best in the world at,

2. What drives you economic engine, and

3. What you can be passionate about.

A critical point is the “hedgehog concept is not a goal to be the best; it’s a strategy to be the

best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can

be the best at. The distinction is absolutely critical”. For example, you may want to be the

greatest violin player in the world, but if you don’t have natural talent for music, you’re out

of luck. Make it your hobby, not your profession. Collins points out how companies that stray

outside their core competency pay for it dearly. In contrast, when a great company can no

longer do a certain thing better than someone else, despite the fact that it had been doing it for

a long time, it dropped that line of work. And it never looked back. The question for you

might be “what can we become best in the world at”, or maybe in your city, or industry at.

George Rathmann established a biotechnology company Amgen, creating blood products to

improve the lives of the people suffering through chemotherapy and kidney dialysis. It is

one of the biotechnology companies which are providing consistent growth and profit to the

company and high capital gain to the investors.

The success of the entrepreneur lies behind his creativity and imagination. Lack of

structural functions can cause problems with the customers, cash flows etc. the entrepreneurs

who indulge themselves to create bureaucracy and hierarchy in their business can not achieve

their objectives but Rathmann didn’t follow this rule and created culture of discipline with an

ethic of entrepreneurship.


Rathmann admired the rules of the company Abbot in which he worked for few years and

now he is successful in his business. According to him Abbot Company believed that when

an entrepreneur sets his goals to accomplish he must revise those goals and make the best

strategies to achieve them for the particular year.

The new appointed financial officer created a new framework called Responsibility

Accounting, in which every employee was responsible for his work and the entrepreneurial

leaders and individuals were free to take the best path to achieve objectives but within the of

a highly developed system. The Abbot company best use the combination of financial

discipline and entrepreneurship and using the creativity formula the company was successful

in launching the new mechanism 3M.

In this paragraph the author has tried to explain that the system of the company is not as

much strict and inflexible as the air traffic system where the traffic control officer has to

follow the rules strictly even in the crucial stages and there was no need of creativity,

freedom to experiment in take of or landing of the aero plane.

The company like City circuit added new technological items while remaining within the

framework of system and beat the general stock market. This was all done by creating a

culture of discipline . According to them the great results can be produced by getting self-

disciplined people to engage their rigor thinking, they then take action within the

framework of consistent system according to Hedgehog Concept.

Every company would like to become “Good to Great” which requires discipline but

unfortunately most of the organizations lack the golden rule “Discipline”. These

organizations could not best select the ways to accomplish the objectives. They lack

discipline to rinse their cottage cheese.

There is a comparison of Wells Fargo to Bank of America. The Wells Fargo was a great

company because it rinse is own cottage cheese by taking away all the comforts from the

Executives suite to rip the old mentality of the bankers. On the other hand, Executive suites in

bank of America were provided with all comforts but when the bank faced loss due to

deregulation it decided to get rid of comforts given to Executives.

Eric Hagen, conducted an analysis on Leadership Culture of companies. He found that the

CEO’s of the companies brought tremendous discipline to their companies due to which they

acquired the great results. But there are two different approaches with respect to discipline.


Good-to-great companies of Level 5 building an Endure culture of discipline and the

unsubstained comparisons having Level 4 who Personally designed the culture through

Sheer force.

Ray McDonald used Sheer Force of Personality to get the things done in McDonald.

Another example of discipline is in Gault’s Rubbermaid Company where he organized

discipline and due to this discipline culture the company beat the market.

Another example of disciplinarian syndrome is Chrysler under Lee Iacocca. Chrysler played

a role model for his organization and imposed his personality discipline to shape the

organization. He focused more on the improvement of organizational structure and product

and produced spectacular results in industrial history.

But in the second half tenure Chrysler focused less on the business activities in which he

made investments and due to undisciplined diversifications his attention distracted and

because of this reason the company slide away and faced bankruptcy. The above illustrations

show that great results cannot be produced without three circles i.e Endure and personality

culture of discipline and the disciplined action.

Pitney Bowes had a monopoly in the Postage mail market. It earned the excess margin of

gross profit of 80% with no competition. After six years Pitney had 16 competitors . Pitney

reacted towards them and invested a lot in acquisition and joint ventures and in 1973

company lost a large amount of money first time in its history.

Pitney faced a loss due to lack of discipline in 1973. Then Allen and his successor Harvey

created a model of disciplined diversification and he invested a lot in new technologies like

Paragon and due to this Pitney outperformed Coal-cola, 3M, GE etc from 1973-2000.This

illustration shows that when company lacks discipline within three circles it bears loss and

take benefits when regain discipline.

Another classic case is R.J Reynolds whose tobacco company was best in the world for 25

years but after 1964 his and Philip Morris company faced loss due to cancer diagnosed by

doctor report. Then R.J bought Sea Land company but could not succeeded in his business

due to undisciplined culture and finally sold that but Morris on the other hand, redefined his

Hedgehog concept and remain in better position to R.J which disappeared from the market.


Hedgehog concept was used by Nucor to harness culture and produce steel. His idea was to

remove hierarchical inequality from his organization he translated the simple concept into

disciplined action consistent to that concept. But there are some organizations where concept

of hierarchical inequality exists.

The executives working under Nucor did not receive better benefits. Nucor’s office was just

the size of the small dental practice. When Nucor had a prof itable year, the workers were so

well paid. But when Nucor faced difficulties, everyone from top to bottom suffered. And

pays went down in 1982 during recession.

Nucor took an extraordinary step by mentioning the names of all employees in annual report

through class distinction. In contrast to small sized Nucor’s steel mill Bethlehem steel mill

was 21 storey office and the executives were provided with all benefits. But Bethlehem

declined because the culture was to focus more on negotiating social hierarchy and not on the

customers, competitors etc.

From 1996 to 1999 Nucor generated the higher margins of positive profits while at the same

time Bethlehem loses money. Bethlehem faced a problem of union which Nucor did not due

to aligning workers interests with management interests.

The Good-to-Great companies much used “stop doing” lists. These companies used a

budgeting discipline to decide that which sectors of the company needed more funding and

which needed less and which activities best support the Hedgehog concept and which are

eliminated completely. The example of this concept is Kimberly-Clark paper industry.

It can be seen that all the Good-to-Great companies mentioned above would be succeeded by

“Being right” means using Hedgehog concept and “highly undiversified” means investing

in the business which would be in the three circles of discipline. Getting the right people can

make the better decisions within the framework of the designed system.

A culture of discipline is not just about to act. It is about getting disciplined actions. Sub

stained results require the specification of disciplined culture. Such a system allows duality

interims of adherence to consistent system and also giving freedom and responsibility to

people.


Chapter 7: Technology Accelerators

In 1999 drugtore.com which was a pharmacy decided to sell its hare to the public and within

4 month its share price increased by 4$ which was great for a company which wasn’t very

large and profitable.

All this was due to the new technology internet in the field of business. You can generate lot

of profit by creating company related to internet even if its non-profitable you can still earn a

lot by selling shares, all you have to do is jut convince people to buy it. Some entrepreneurs

didn’t even build a real company like in 2000 one entrepreneur create a website and some

information with business plan nothing more and he still convinced investors to buy his 1.1

million shares. All this was due to new technology of internet.

Drugstore.com became big competitor for Walgreens due to which Walgreens stock price

suffered up to 40% due to drugstore.com which was using the internet and generating 398

times revenue as compare to 1.4 times of Walgreens.

Walgreen reaction was slow at first because of their approach “crawl, walk and run”. They

decide to experiment with website at first. Lot of debates was going on within a company

whether it’s good or bad. They were confident that they can be a great company on internet

but some internet leaders have few doubts.

Then Walgreens were little faster (walk) and decided to connect internet with their business

like distribution model. At last they enter into their approach ‘run” and build a well-designed

website which really increased their momentum and within a year their stock price nearly

were double after the set back in 1999.

Drugstore really suffered from this and they came down all the way and lost all its initial

value. To become great again they will have figure out how to apply technology to a coherent

concept.

As internet was new technology it came and burst but as other technologies come and goes

same was happening with internet and will happen to other new technologies but all the great

companies have adopted very well like past and will do so in future.

We could predicted Walgreen will adopt internet very well like they did in 80s when they

linked all their stores electronically and send customer data to central source and had a

system called intercom. When Walgreen invested (400$ millions) in intercom in 70s no one

had any idea about it which really improve Walgreen staff, offices so internet was just one

more step. They used technology perfect as a tool not just as new thing.


Every good company became pioneer in the application of technology who itself varied

greatly.

Like Kroger who was pioneer in the application of bar code scanners and replaced their small

stores into superstores which required huge amount of investment 9$ billion. They used cast

intensive revamping for that throughout 80s and 90s and modernized whole setup.

Other example is Gillette who became pioneer in specially manufacturing technology. They

invested 200$ million in technology and kept it secret as Coco Cola with lot of security

because it was unique and very expensive.

There is a table of companies at page 150-151 who shows their strengths in technology.

Technology As accelerator not creator of momentum

When Jim Johnson became CEO of Fannie Mae he was a consultant Kelvie to move

company ahead with the help of technology audit which improved their ranking within short

time. He and his team created over 300 computer applications and created expert system

which lower their cost and saved $4 billion for home buyers. In the beginning of Fannie in

1981 they were lacking technology which become their key in 90s similarly happens with

other companies like Kroger, Gillette etc. which adopted technology late not at beginning. To

become pioneer it is important to see which technology suits well and without a clear

hedgehog concept technology can’t make company great.

20th century will be remembered as its advancing in the field of technology and science. In

past if Einstein wouldn’t be the way for technology to come it still had to come even maybe 5

or 10 years later but technology had to come. In 1999 time editor instead of Einstein picked

Jeff Bezos as the person of century due to his theme Amazon.com which shows the

importance of technology. Some people think technology will sneak up and know them on

the head which fear them but it’s not true because it is important force of change still any

executive hardly talk about technology even knowing inside out of their technologies in

which they are pioneer which also hailed by media. E-g Nucor who are pioneer in mini-mill

steal manufacturing but when asked their CEO to put technology rank wise in their success

he didn’t put it in top 5 and when asked other members just one of them picked technology as

number one rank. But technology was the main factor of their success which mostly denied

and mostly put it in secondary not primary. Mediocrity failure also happens due to

management failure not due to technology because it is an accelerator not a cause.


There is not a single company which came down due to technology no matter if it’s R. J.

Reynolds or A&P. Throughout the history early pioneer companies hardly prevail in the end

like VisiCalc no one todays knows what is it. There can be a list of companies who were

pioneer at early but didn’t finish as a great company which shows technology can’t lonely

turn companies into great one as well as can’t destroy it you need to have planning and

thinking that how to use technology.

Examples of USA war against Vietnam even having all latest weapons they failed because

they lacked coherent concept of war on which to attach technology instead they just only

relied on it.

On other hand Vietnam used coherent planning attach with technology such as AK 47 very

well so technology alone don’t hold key success.

Chapter 8: THE FLY WHEEL AND THE DOOM LOOP:

The picture is showing heavy and huge fly wheel. The task is to get the flywheel rotating on

the axle as fast and long as possible. Pushing with great effort, you get the flywheel to inch

forward, moving almost imperceptibly at first. Keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to

move a bit faster, and with continued great effort, you move it around a second rotation. You

keep pushing in a consistent direction till it takes 100 turns.

Each turn of the flywheel builds upon work done earlier, compounding your investment of

effort. The huge heavy disk flies forward, with almost unstoppable momentum. Some pushes

may have been bigger than others, but any single heave -no matter how large-reflects a small

fraction of the entire cumulative effect upon the flywheel.

B U I L D U P A N D B R E A K T H R O U G H

The flywheel image captures the overall feel of what it was like inside the companies as they

went from good to great. No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great

transformations never happened in one fell swoop. Good to great comes about by a

cumulative process. the media does not cover a company until the flywheel is already turning

at a thousand rotations per minute. This entirely skews our perception of how such

transformations happen.

Forbes magazine published an article on Circuit City. It was the first national-level profile

ever published on the company. it was, the first public acknowledgment that Circuit City had


broken through. The concept of a warehouse showroom style of retailing met with success,

and the company began systematically converting its stereo stores into Circuit City stores. it

transformed the concept into the first-ever Circuit City store. Over the next five years, as it

shifted entirely to this concept, Circuit City generated the highest total return to shareholders

of any company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Graph of a circuit city is given and explained. Ken Iverson and Sam Siege1 began turning the

Nucor flywheel in 1965. For ten years, no one paid any attention, certainly not the financial

press or the other steel companies. By 1975, the year of its transition point on the stock chart,

Nucor had already built its third mini-mill, long established its unique culture of productivity.

Different histories about their articles are also given.

All the major magazines and newspapers jump on the event, writing feature stories-"The

Transformation of Egg to Chicken!". From the chicken's point of view, cracking the egg is

simply one more step in a long chain of steps leading up to that moment. the good-to-great

executives simply could not pinpoint a single key event or moment in time that exemplified

the transition. Frequently, they chafed against the whole idea of allocating points and

prioritizing factors.

The good-to-great companies had no name for their transformation. There was no launch

event, no tag line, and no programmatic feel. According to some executives, they were not

even aware that a major transformation was underway until they were well into it. It was

often more obvious to them after the fact then at the time.

NO M I R A C L E M O M E N T I N GOOD TO GREAT

There were certain representative quotes from the interviews. Some of them are as follow:

Abbott "It wasn't a blinding flash or sudden revelation from above”.

Fannie Mae "There was no one magical event, no one turning point. It was a combination of

things. More of an evolution, though the end results were dramatic."

Kimberly-C lark "I don't think it was done as bluntly as it sounds. These things don't happen

overnight. They grow. The ideas grow and mushroom and come into being.”

An example of the UCLA Bruins basketball dynasty of the 1960s and early 1970s has been

considered. Most basketball fans know that the Bruins won ten NCAA Championships in


twelve years, at one point assembling a sixty-one-game winning streak, under the legendary

coach John wooden. John wooden has been coach for fifteen years from 1948 to 1963.

Like the Wooden dynasty, lasting transformations from good to great follow a general pattern

of buildup followed by breakthrough. At Circuit City, the buildup stage lasted nine years, at

Nucor ten years, whereas at Gillette it took only five years, at Fannie Mae only three years,

and at Pitney Bowes about two years. But, no matter how short or long it took; every good-

to-great transformation followed the same basic pattern.

NOT J U S T A L U X U R Y OF C I R C U M S T A N C E

It's important to understand that following the buildup-breakthrough flywheel model is not

just a luxury of circumstance. the good-to-great companies followed this model no matter

how dire the short-term circumstances deregulation in the case of Wells Fargo.

The key is to harness the flywheel to manage these short term pressures. The good-to-great

companies were subject to the same short term pressures from the wall street as the

comparison companies. The have the patience and discipline to follow the buildup- break

through flywheel model.

Like Fannie Mae and Abbott, all the good-to-great com panies effectively managed Wall

Street during their buildup-breakthrough years, and they saw no contradiction between the

two. They simply focused on accumulating results, often practicing the time -honored

discipline of under promising and over delivering.

T H E “F L Y W H E E L E F E C T”

The good-to-great companies understood a simple truth: Tremendous power exists in the fact

of continued improvement and the delivery of Results. Point to tangible accomplishments-

however incremental at firsthand show how these steps fit into the context of an overall

concept that will work. The flywheel diagram is also shown in the page number 175. In

which the four points are clearly defined which helps to complete the fly wheel circle. You

can see the diagram.

The good-to-great companies did get incredible commitment and alignment, but never really

spent much time thinking about it. We learnt that under the right conditions, the problems of

commitment and alignment and change just melt away.


Collins describes two cycles that demonstrate the way that business decisions tend to

accumulate incrementally in either an advantageous or a disadvantageous manner. Both, the

author emphasizes, accrue over time. Despite the popular misperception that business success

or failure often occurs suddenly, Collins asserts that it more typically occurs over the course

of years, and that both only transpire after sufficient positive or negative momentum has been

accrued.

Collins describes the advantageous business cycle that, in some cases, can foster the

transition from Good to Great as "the flywheel effect." By making decisions and taking

actions that reinforce and affirm the company’s "hedgehog" competencies, executives initiate

positive momentum. This, in turn, results in the accumulation of tangible positive outcomes,

which serve to energize and earn the investment and loyalty of the staff. This revitalization of

the team serves to further build momentum. If the cycle continues to repeat in this manner,

the transition from Good to Great is likely to transpire. In contrast, the doom loop is

characterized by reactive decision-making, an overextension into too many diverse areas of

concentration, following short-lived trends, frequent changes in leadership and personnel,

loss of morale, and disappointing results.

Chapter 9: From Good to Great to Build to Last

In the concluding chapter of Good to Great, Collins makes a connection between this book

and his previous work, Built to Last, which represented the findings of a six-year study into

the factors that determined whether a new company would survive in the long-term. First and

foremost, Collins contends that companies need a set of core values in order to achieve the

kind of long-term, sustainable success that may lead to greatness. Companies need to exist for

a higher purpose than mere profit generation in order to transcend the category of merely

good. According to Collins, this purpose does not have to be specific -- even if the shared

values that compel the company toward success are as open-ended as being the best at what

they do and achieving excellence consistently, that may be sufficient as long as the team

members are equally dedicated to the same set of values.

Although many of the conclusions of both of the books overlap, Collins notes that Good to

Great should not be seen as the follow-up to Built to Last, which focuses on sustaining

success in the long-term. Instead, Good to Great actually functions as the prequel to Built to

Last. First, a company should focus on developing the foundation that is necessary to work


toward greatness. Then, they can begin to apply the principles of longevity that are set forth

in Built to Last.


Entrepreneurship Theory, Practice and Process

By: Dr. KURATKO

MUHAMMAD HARIS

01-111082-074

BBA 6A


The author of this book is Dr. Kuratko (known as “DR. K”). Dr. Kuratko is considered a

prominent scholar and national leader in the field of entrepreneurship. He has published more

than 160 articles on aspect of entrepreneurship, new venture development and corporate

entrepreneurship. He has authored 24 books, including the leading entrepreneurship book in

American universities today, Entrepreneurship: theory, process and practice.

This book is attempted to provide a broad perspective on entrepreneurial revolution. The

entrepreneurial revolution that captured our imagination during 1990’s has now permeated

every aspect of business thinking and planning. as exemplified by the “dynasty builders” of

the previous decades such as Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Fred Smith of FedEx, the

applications of creativity, risk taking, innovation and passion lead the way to economic

development far greater than anyone could imagine. Basically this book is structuring and

illustrating the discipline of entrepreneurship in a manner that is unique and creative as

entrepreneurship itself. This book is to bring together in one place the most significant

resources for exploring the development of new and emerging ventures and to present them

in an exciting, organized and challenging manner.

The book contains four parts and each part contains four chapters. First part introduces the

entrepreneurial mind-set that permeates our twenty-first century. Examining the

entrepreneurial revolution throughout the world, this part reveals the evolvin g nature of

entrepreneurship and its importance to the entire global economy. The book has addressed the

entrepreneurial mind-set that resides within individuals by exploring individual

characteristics as well as the “dark side” of entrepreneurship. This part is also telling us about

the corporate entrepreneurship as an emerging corporate strategy to foster entrepreneurial

innovations within the larger domain. Finally and perhaps most importantly this part has also

focused on social entrepreneurship and ethical perspective that entrepreneurs need to take in

developing a morally conscious approach to business.

Second part tells us about initiating of entrepreneurial ventures. We begin with the pursuit of

ideas and opportunity recognition by examining creativity for individuals and the concept of

innovation. The pathways to enter in a new venture are then explored, whether one is starting

a brand new venture, acquiring an existing firm, or purchasing a franchise. The legal

perspective is discussed through structures of organizations. This book is also presenting

certain legal issues, such as proprietary protections and bankruptcy laws are examined. This


part concludes with a thorough examination of the sources of capital formation available to

entrepreneurs.

Third part focuses on development of an entrepreneurial plan. This part includes the method

of assessing new ventures and business opportunities, as well as the discussion of the issues

in marketing that affect the preparing, planning and operating of entrepreneurial start-ups.

The financial tools that entrepreneurs need also are discussed. Finally, the development of a

clear and comprehensive business plan is examined.

Fourth part focuses on the growth, valuation and harvest of entrepreneurial ventures. The

need for strategic planning, the challenge of managing entrepreneurial growth, and the global

opportunities available entrepreneurs are all discussed in this part. Then presenting the

valuation process for an entrepreneurial venture, as well as the effective methods for

valuation that need to be considered. Finally told us about the harvesting strategies available

to the entrepreneurial firm.

I have found the eighth edition of this book to be remarkably effective, in both stimulating

interest in entrepreneurship and in equipping students with the basic tools and understanding

they need to be successful in the entrepreneurial realm. The book is well organized and

establishes a foundational basis for theoretical concepts of entrepreneurship prior to moving

onto application and the development of practical skill sets necessary to actually start a new

business. Additionally, the book is filled with contemporary examples of real startup

anecdotes and commonplace business issues that make the book highly releva nt and

intriguing to students in building a bridge from the class room to the real world.


The Successful Entrepreneur’s Guidebook

By: COLLIN BARROW, ROBERT BROWN AND LIZ CLARKE

MUSA KHAN AFRIDI

01-11082-077

BBA 6A


To be honest when I was first told that out entrepreneurship cour se would consist of a book

review I did not feel the least bit motivated to have to pick up and read an extra book related

to an academic course.

The reason for this was mostly due to the fact that having done a similar assignment in the

previous semester the task seemed dull and would not be able to hold my interest. So when I

had to shortlist my choice of books for the task I did so with a feeling of reluctance.

A familiar name

I tried to choose the smallest possible book, but a certain name caught my eye. The name was

Colin Barrow. I recognized the name because he had written a book on economics I had

studied for my economics A’ Levels Examinations. It was my favorite subject and the book

had done it justice.

So I added “the successful entrepreneur’s guidebook” to the shortlist even though it was quite

daunting in terms of size. Picking up the book I skimmed through the pages and noticed that

it had more diagrams and examples tha n actual text.

Never a fan of text books, this was a good sign and I picked up the book again with a

renewed sense of interest. Reading the one page ‘About this book’ page that greeted me I felt

I had already read the entire 324 pages.

The section had a brief yet comprehensive overview of the three main sections the book was

divided into; which were ‘Where are we now?’, ‘Where are we going?’ and ‘How will we get

there?’ Pretty much the three main stages an entrepreneur has to go through.

An early scare

After leafing through the introduction which did not hold my interest and was more of a

general overview on the field of entrepreneurship, I was worried the rest of the book might

follow in the same vein of monotony. Luckily enough that was not the case and the tone of

the book shifted from formal to a more relaxed and open form.

The ‘Where are we now?’ section of the book consisted of many smaller sections each

continuing where the previous left off. I found myself actually intrigued by some of the

many, many examples that followed every theoretical section, and was looking more forward

to how the theory had been put into practice by real people in real world situations.


The section did a pretty decent job of explaining how one can get a sense of where one’s

business is in terms of room for growth, any weaknesses or strengths that needed work on or

enhanced as well as identifying opportunities and threats.

Another thing that bothered me initially was the amount of assignments littered across the

textbook. By the 53rd page there had been a total of five assignments the book had suggested

for the reader’s benefit. At first glance they seemed pointless yet it turns out they required no

more than a few minutes and were mostly applied rather than theoretical.

While no student or reader would like extra work on top of what was already required, I got

the sense that the assignments were just there as short exercises rather than heavy duty

assignments as the heading seemed to suggest.

Learning to think like an entrepreneur

One is constantly told how an entrepreneur thinks, yet the description and explanation is

mostly generalized and brief, it gets the job done but one finds it hard to apply when it comes

to being specific.

The book again did a good job explaining in detail (backed up with real world examples) the

process of deciding where to take the company after assessing the firm’s current situation.

The last section of the book dealt with the “How will we get there?” aspect of the

entrepreneurship cycle. By now any reader would have gotten into the flow of the book and

know what to expect.

Yet here it seemed a bit dragged on, mostly because some of the things suggested were either

too vague or too general. I felt that this part of the book was based more on the aut hor’s own

opinions on the subject, more than the actual theory.

While this may seem a good thing, the previous two sections seemed to strike a balance

between the two factors and were a more interesting read. This bit however, seemed more

like a lecture rather than a lesson.

By the time I’d read through the book I had mixed feelings. Firstly the book was a textbook,

it tried to do things different but at the end of the day it dealt with theory.


Secondly the way the book was compiled and presented seem intuitive at first but by the end

of the read, the text seemed too crammed together and the topics seemed to mix with either at

times restricting the flow.

There were plenty of examples throughout the book and at times it seemed that some were

just put there to fill the space rather than teach something. Though they were rare not every

example seemed relevant.

On the flip side however, it was a more applied read than most other books, something that

Collin Barrow seems to have in nearly all his books. That took the sting out of it being a

textbook to such an extent that it was more than just a little bearable. In fact it was

interesting.

The overall flow of the book was very smooth and one felt that he was on a kind of

entrepreneurial journey rather than an academic course.

Overall “the successful entrepreneur’s guidebook” did an admirable job of trying to be

different from one’s standard text book and is a good option if one wishes to read up a little

extra on the subject with practical real world applied examples, rather than just theory.

To be honest I will not be picking up this book again if it was up to me, but if I ever had to

use a book for reference in the future this would be top of the list.


THE ENTREPRENEUR NEXT DOOR

By: JEFFREY GITOMER

NOOR UL HAYA

01-211082-100

BBA 6A


The idea of having your own business and being your own boss sounds like a fantasy come

true. Unfortunately, although many individuals have the dream, not everyone actually follows

through on entrepreneurship. Furthermore, off those people who do start their own

businesses, many fail within the first three years simply because the entrepreneur doesn’t

have the skills, the know -how, or the right personality to do the job at hand. The Entrepreneur

Next Door primarily looks at personality types. The book id entifies seven different

personality types: Trailblazers, Go-Getters, Managers, Motivators, Authorities, Collaborators,

and Diplomats. These groupings are based upon levels of dominance, sociability, relaxation,

and compliance. The first four personalities in this list are labeled generalists and tend to be

natural entrepreneurs while the final three categories include specialists that tend to be more

successful when they find a particular entrepreneur opportunity that matches their area of

expertise. I found these personality categories very interesting and helpful. At first, it didn’t

seem like the category closest to my personality actually suited me. However, after going

through the chapters on how each personality type leads, learns, sells, and what tic ks them

off, I realized that the information was quite insightful and useful in my planning and

strategies.

Purchasers of the book are invited to complete a personality test. Test takers are determined

to have one of seven different personality types. Four are more Generalist, big picture, more

strategic in their thinking and orientation and three are more Specialists, more careful, by the

book, more tactical with a well-defined area of expertise. The Generalist is referred to as

having a stronger Entrepreneurial type of personality whereas the Specialist is referred to as

more of an apreneurial type of personality. The book is then written from different

perspectives so that readers are able to learn specifically about themselves. This is unique in

that most writers write from their perspective and rarely write from the perspective of the

reader. That plus the fact that the reader gets their own personality test is really cool stuff.

The author write this book because he believe most readers are interes ted in becoming

millionaire and he did a survey that 70 percent of people read these sort of books who are not

entrepreneurs.

The book is written for a broad spectrum. It has a great message for existing business owners

and their significant other, their employees and partners as it provides insights as to why they

do what they do.


The Entrepreneur Next Door is also written for those that desire to go into business for

themselves as it provides them with a roadmap .An objective roadmap. Our research

indicates that it is easier if you have a personality that is perfect for an opportunity but what

about the other 60+ percent of the population, those that are more risk averse, those that

prefer taking their time and really teach a subject well those individua ls can be great as a

franchisee or a distributor. They can be great where the brand brings their customers to them

so they don't have to be the aggressive marketer themselves.

There is a third and unexpected group that has strongly benefited from their reading of The

Entrepreneur Next Door and that is existing companies and corporations. Their upper

management has struggled for years with those that lack initiative which is something that

entrepreneurs have in strong supply. These corporate readers always know who they have

issues with, their new found understanding has provided them with the Why the issues exist,

what they can do about it and How they can fix it.

The entrepreneurial next door describes the natural entrepreneurial personality types

1. Born leaders

2. Corporate leaders

3. Wantapreneurs

This book is helpful because it discusses the pitfalls and potentials that go hand in hand with

entrepreneurial personalities and offer insights or solving challenges.

EQ and IQ play important roles in business.

After reading this book I get to know that four personality factors really works in achieving

goals and these are:

1. Dominance

2. Sociability

3. Relaxation

4. Compliance

After reading this book I can say that I lie in GO-GETTERS. That means that I have a higher

than average level of both dominance and sociability and are also very driven and

independent and welcome authority and responsibility but share some of the spot life.


One of the greatest challenges is developing an appreciation as to why others can do what we

can so easily accomplish.

This book was very interesting and motivating. It helped me to evaluate myself and my

personality. I learnt a lot from this book but I feel as if the author has provided examples of

successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs it would be easier to understand. And author

should also mention the concept about corporate politics because corporate politics play an

important role in business.


GOOD TO GREAT

By: JIM COLLINS.

RAJA KHALID HAFEEZ

01-111072-233

BBA 6A


Key Points

• “Level 5 Leaders” - leaders who have both “personal humility” and “professional

will”. These are not rock-star leaders whose companies go into decline when they

move on. They are diligent and hard working - more bite than bark. Celebrity leaders

often work for a time, but appear to be damaging in the long run, because they don’t

create sustained results.

• Get the right people on the bus - that has to happen before the “what” decisions are

taken. That can change if you have the right people, but the wrong people will

certainly make the enterprise fail.

• You must always be willing to “confront the brutal facts”. Don’t ignore reality in

favor of what your hopes reflect it to become. Only by having accurate information

can you achieve success?

• The “Hedgehog concept” means having a simple, extremely clear concept of what

their business is. That business is something they can

1. Make money at

2. Be passionate about, and

3. Be the best in the world at

These are also known as “The Three Circles”

• A culture of self-discipline is critical, because it creates an environment where people

work within a defined system, and yet, because the confines of the system are known,

gives them more freedom to act within that system.

• Technology is an accelerator, not an agent of change. Good companies use it to

execute better, but it won’t save a mediocre company.

• “The Flywheel” refers to the idea of momentum - keep pushing in one direction and

you’ll build up a lot of it that will help you to overcome obstacles. Momentum is built

a little bit at a time - it’s not a dramatic, revolutionary change, but constant, diligent

work.


• Summary

The idea that sparked this book was to answer questions about how good companies might

become great companies, and how they went about doing so.

Methodology

The study looks at companies from 1965 to 1995, looking for those that, for 15 years, either

tracked or underperformed the stock market, followed by a transition, and subsequently

returning at least 3 times the stock market for at least 15 years. The goal was to eliminate

“flash in the pan” success from the results. Further filtering was performed in order to ensure

that companies also outperformed their industries, so as not to include spurious results

showing entire industries that grew by leaps and bounds in a given period. Eleven companies

were located that matched these criteria, and were studied in depth, and compared to

competitors in their fields

The companies studied were:

• Abbot Laboratories

• Circuit City

• Fannie Mae

• Gillette

• Kimberly-Clark

• Kroger

• Nucor

• Philip Morris

• Pitney Bowes

• Walgreens

• Wells Fargo

Level 5 Leaders

All the companies studied had what Collins describes as “Level 5 Leaders”. Despite sounding

like something from a space-alien worshiping cult, what the term refers to is an individual

who is very humble on a personal level, but who possesses a great deal of drive and desire to

succeed, where “success” is not personal, but defined by creating something great that will


outlast their time at the helm. These are people with an unwavering will and commitment to

do what is necessary to drive their organization to the top. Most of the good to great

executives discussed luck as an important factor in their success [and perhaps cynical readers

of The Black Swan will agree with that assessment more than the factors Collins cites -

davidw]. Level 5 leaders, are, in any case, the kind of people who do not point to themselves

as the cause for an organization’s success. The chapter closes with a discussion of whether

Level 5 Leaders are born, or made, with the conclusion that many people probably have the

kernel of abilities and attitude necessary to attain that status.

First Who … Then What

During the transformation from good to great, rather than concern themselves first with the

“what” - products, direction, strategy - the companies studied ensured they had the right

people “on the bus” before anything else. By having a strong team, these companies avoided

the pitfall of the “lone genius” CEO. For example, think what would happen to Apple’s share

price were something to happen to Steve Jobs. “Great” companies are those that have a very

solid foundation, and don’t depend on the brilliance of any one person.

The research indicated that compensation did not correlate at all with the “good to great”

process. No particular compensation scheme appeared to be advantageous.

Also important was that, while the companies were “tough” places to work, they were

because of the general high quality and hard-working mindset, not because of ruthless

management. Some practical tips for how to be rigorous:

• Don’t hire someone unless you’re %100 sure that they’re the right person. It’s better

to wait and get someone that you know is a good fit.

• Once you realize you need to fire someone, don’t put it off. Do it quickly and fairly,

but do it and be done with it, rather than put it off.

• Give good people good opportunities, rather than the biggest problems. Fixing

problems makes you good, but taking advantage of the right opportunities can make

you great.


Good to great teams were mostly composed of people who had a good sense of balance with

the rest of their lives - family, church, and so on. Of course, they had a deep commitment to

their companies, but not one that blinded them to the other important things in their lives.

Confront the Brutal Facts

One of the key factors in the success of the great companies was a series of good decisions.

The good decisions flowed from the fact that they all made a consistent and thorough effort to

confront reality, internalizing the facts relevant to their market. Having lofty goals can be

good, but you can never lose sight of what the reality is on the ground, no matter how much

you will it to be different.

In a large organization, where it’s impossible to personally poke your nose in all corners of

the company every day, it is crucial to create a climate where honesty is valued and honored.

If people aren’t telling it like it is, those at the top may not realize the truth until too late.

Some tips to create this kind of climate:

• It’s often better to ask questions rather than dispense “answers”.

• Encourage healthy debate. It has to be real debate, not a show put on to make people

feel included. It should also not just be argument for the sake of argument - reach a

conclusion and move on.

• When things go wrong, investigate to avoid repeating the mistake, instead of

assigning blame. If people are too worried about protecting themselves, it becomes

difficult to honestly analyze and learn from failures.

• Create mechanisms, “red flags” that allow people to communicate problems instantly

and without repercussions, and in a way that cannot be ignored.

Amidst these “brutal facts” that must be faced, you must also have faith in your final goal. By

maintaining this vision, and keeping your ear to the ground, it won’t be necessary to motivate

people - if you’ve got the right people, they’ll be motivated of their own accord.



The “hedgehog concept” refers to a parable of a hedgehog and a fox, where the fox knows

many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. The good to great companies were by

and large built by “hedgehogs” - this doesn’t mean stupid - au contraire - it just means that

they were able to focus on one big important thing that made their companies great.

Sometimes it takes real genius to see through all the clutter and grab the one, simple, unique

thing that gives you the advantage.

The “three circles” is an idea regarding how to find your “hedgehog concept”: think of three

interlocking circles, representing 1) what you are passionate about, 2) what you can make

money at, and 3) what can you be the best at. At the intersection of these three things lies the

winning target. If you can bring all three things to bear, you have found a way to excel. Learn

to realize, as well, what you will never be the best at - those are things you must avoid, if

possible. The economics of various industries varied widely, but the good great companies

were winners, even within industries that weren’t rising stars. One consistent rule of thumb is

to identify a ratio, profit per X, (where X could be customer, web site user, per unit sold, per

employee etc…) and focus on that. Sometimes it may not be obvious.

Passion, on the other hand, does not come from executive rah-rah sessions with employees,

but by doing things that make people passionate on their own. Passion isn’t something that

can be forced on people; it has to come from a mission that they truly believe in, that’s more

than just a paycheck.

Another practical suggestion is to create a “Council”, of between 5 to 12 people, to discuss

and gain insights into the organization. It should meet regularly, not a one-time group. Its

members should bring to the table a deep understanding of some portion of the firm. They

need to freedom to speak their minds, and always have the respect of the other Council

members. The Council exists to help the chief executive, not reach a consensus. It is an

informal group, in the sense that it is not spelled out in official documents or org charts.

Culture of Discipline

Great companies have both an entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of discipline. They are both

necessary - without the drive to try new things, and some degree of independence, a company

becomes a rigid, stifling hierarchy. Without some sense of discipline, things begin to break

down as the company grows. The best companies have both latitude for individual action, as

well as a culture of disciplined behavior. This begins, once again, with the right people. It’s


useless trying to create rules to force the wrong people to behave correctly - it simply won’t

work. Instead, you need to find people who have an innate sense of self-discipline that

doesn’t c ome from above. There is a big difference between having a “tyrant” that enforces a

culture of discipline by fear, and finding people who naturally adhere to a disciplined

approach. The former will disintegrate when the leader moves on, the latter creates a lasting

system.

One helpful approach to discipline is to have a “stop doing” list. Stop doing the things that

aren’t central to your business. Stop doing the things that are just clutter, but even more

importantly, stop doing even things that might be seen as important, if they are not in your

“three circles”.

Technology

“Great companies adapt and endure” - technology is not a differentiator in and of itself, but

rather something that enhances great companies. They use it to further increase their

leverage, in a conscious, directed way, rather than rushing to embrace it for the sake of its

newness. Technology won’t light a fire where there is none, but where there is already good

momentum, judicious use of technology can help accelerate it. Technology is an enabler of

change, not the cause of it - but the “people factors” must be in place before application of

technology will do any good. Technology as a reaction - to the latest fashion, to the

competition - was not what was found in great companies. These companies possess a drive

all their own that pushes them to be the best in their chosen field, and picking the right

technology is a natural part of that.

The “Flywheel” and “Doom Loop”

These two concepts represent positive and negative momentum. A flywheel is a heavy wheel

that takes a lot of energy to set in motion - to do so usually requires constant, steady work,

rather than a quick acceleration. Great companies’ transformations were like this as well.

There was no magic recipe or no ‘aha’ moment when everything changed. Rather, with

everything in place, lots of hard work slowly but steadily got the great companies going faster

and faster, with a lot of momentum. Once it’s in motion, all that stored ene rgy tends to keep it

moving in the right direction.

Conversely, the “doom loop” is the vicious circle that unsuccessful companies fall into,

rushing first in one direction, then another, in the hope of creating a sudden, sharp break with


the past that will propel them to success. Some attempt to do this through acquisitions, others

through bringing in a new leader who decides to change direction completely, in a direction

incompatible with the company. The results are never good. The difference between the two

approaches is characterized by the slow, steady, methodical preparation inherent in the

flywheel, as compared to the abrupt, radical, and often revolutionary, rather than evolutionary

changes within the company.

Built to Last

The results from this book were obtained without regards to Collins’ earlier work, Built to

Last, but when all was said and done, Good to Great is what has to happen before a company

becomes Built to Last. Much of what is present in Good to Great was present during the

creation by their founders of the Built to Last firms. Companies that have endured have a

raison d’être beyond simply making money - they have distinguishing and unique

characteristics, goals and ways of operating that go beyond a simple desire to make money.

These core values are preserved, while tactics change continuously to deal with an restless,

tumultuous world that never stops.

The “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”, a concept introduced in Built to Last can be either good (as

motivation, something to pursue), or bad (if it’s impossible or a bad fit). Good BHAGs are

those formulated from a deep understanding, whereas bad ones come from brash recklessness

without regard for the actual values and capabilities of the company.

Why greatness?

Because it’s not really that much harder to be great than good, and if you’re not motivated to

greatness, perhaps you should consider doing something else where you are.


THE TIPPING POINT

By: MALCOLM GLADWELL

RAMEEZ NAYYER RANA

01-1110720-236

BBA 6A


The Tipping Point is the biography of an idea which is the best way to understand the

phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark

everyday life in to epidemic. Ideas, product, messages and behaviors spread just like viruses

do.

An event to assume the character of epidemic generally follows three characteristics

• Contagiousness

• The fact that little causes can have big effect.

• The change happens just happens it does not happen gradually but at one dramatic moment.

The idea that epidemic can rise and fall in one dramatic moment is the most important and is

named as “Tipping Point”.

The word contagiousness is generally associated with cold, flu or something as dangerous

cholera. However in the real world, it can also be used for describing epidemics of fashion or

epidemics of crimes. Even yawning is epidemic as it does have the yawning effect on the

others around. Contagiousness thus is an unexpected property of all kinds of things which

must be remembered if an epidemic change needs to be recognized and diagnosed.

The second characteristic that little changes can somehow have big effects is a fairly radical

notion. We know that what our behaviors should be in a dealing or relationship and what

should be its intensity and dimension. For example any rational person would speak

passionately if he is expressing his affection or liking for someone, however the same person

is likely to lower his voice and chose his words carefully if he is about to break a bad news to

anyone. This shows that humans are trained to make approximation between cause and effect.

If the actual outcome of an event is far greater than our expectation we find it hard to accept.

Epidemics however grow in ge ometric progression. Therefore we need to abandon the

expectation about the proportionality of cause and effect and have to accept the possibility

that sometimes small events can cause big changes and sometimes these changes can happen

very quickly.

The possibility of sudden change is at the centre of the idea of the “The Tipping Point” and

might well be the hardest of all to accept. It is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the

boiling point.


The case studies briefly described below would help elaborate the characteristics of described

above

Case of Hush Puppies is the classical American brushed-suede shoes are being manufactured

by company called Wolverine. Till early 1994 the brand was almost dead with annual sale

declining to just 30,000 pair’s annual sales. The company was thinking of discontinuing the

brand when Tipping Point for Hush Puppies came in late 1994 and early 1995 when the

demand for this brand suddenly picked up. The company sold 430,000 pairs in 1995 and in

the next year sold four times the figure. The company had neither resorted to any aggressive

promotion scheme nor did anything extraordinary to boast the sales. It turned out that few

kids turned up in a club wearing Hush Puppies classics they were not deliberately projecting

the brand they were just wearing those shoes because no one else was wearing these shoes.

The idea got the fancy of other youngsters at the club and became almost epidemic through

out the world town and spread like a virus through out the country in no time. Those kids,

who first who first wore the shoes brought the Tipping Point foe the sale of Hush Puppies.

When we say that handful of village kids started the Hush Puppies epidemics, we are actually

saying that in a given process or system, some people matter more than others. Social

epidemics work in exactly the same way they are driven by the efforts of a handful of

exceptional people.

In this book, Gladwell speaks about the above described concept in terms of three rules of

epidemics: Law of Few, The Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. In the first rule,

Law of Few, he illustrates certain type of people who help tip the scales. These are

connectors, mavens and salesman. He gives an example of a famous connector, Paul Revere,

which was a most surpr ising story. In introducing the next rule, the Stickiness factor,

Gladwell uses Sesame Street and Blues Clues to exhibit repetition as a learning tool in the

youth of today. The law of the few says that there are exceptional people out there who are

capable of starting epidemics .all you have to do is find them .the lesson of stickiness is the

same .there is a simple way to package information that under the right circumstances can

make it irresistible .all you have to do is find it. The third rule, The Power of Context,

touched on the crime rate of New York City. A little gesture such as cleaning graffiti off the

subway walls helped to reduce crime in the area. He introduced the “Broken Glass Theory”

depicting that unchecked signs of deterioration in a neighborhood or community could result

in a declining quality of living. If a window is broken or left un-repaired, people walking by


will conclude that no one cares or no one is in charge. This could lead to an epidemic of

crime. The power of context says that an epidemic can be tipped by tinkering the smallest

details of the immediate environment.

The three rules of Tipping point The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, The Power of

Context .Offer a way of making sense of epidemics. They provide us with direction for how

to go about reaching a Tipping Point. The balance of these ideas will make us understand

how the epidemic occurs around the world.


THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

By: STEPHEN R. COVEY.

RAMEEZA ZAHID

01-211082-109

BBA 6A


Introduction

They say acquiring knowledge in any field of life is the safest and quickest path to winning

success in this world. The term ‘success’ remains relative therefore different people draw

different inferences from it but the reality is that without happiness, health and meaning

success is nothing but a mirage. In Seven Habits Stephen Covey has chalked up the path that

allows a person to take control of his life and to become the complete, fulfilling person that

deep inside he envisions being.

The First Step

Before divulging into the details of the seven habits Covey has given a look into why

effectiveness is so important in our lives- be it our professional or personal. In this book,

Covey wants to express to us how we can base our behavior on a paradigm of the world

which is centered on our unchanging principles instead of being centered on what happens in

the world and the vicissitudes of life. Covey has divided the independent seven habits into

three groups: Private Victories, Public Victories and Renewal.

1-Being Proactive

“Proactivity” is a characteristic that enables a person to choose his responses to various

stimuli he is subjected to. Proactive people are driven by internalized values and are very well

acquainted with their inner self. According to Covey there is a basic difference between being

proactive and being pushy-in the former one has to take responsibility for the actions

conducted and therefore the credit as well. Being a courteous girl, I never forced or asserted

my opinion during group works which would often lead to difficult part of the project falling

under my domain. Continuously being subjected to this behavior frustrated me to a point

where I used to finish the whole project by myself just to prove to them and myself “I can do

it all!”

Keeping commitments, to ourselves or others, is another essential part of being proactive and

independent. I was determined to formally acquire religious knowledge along with doing

BBA no matter how tough it got, because I was really passionate about it and above all I had

promised myself I would. The idea that we are able to react to situations around us is

essential in developing effectiveness.


2- Begin with the End in Mind

This habit is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first)

creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a

building follows a blueprint. Personal and business management can be divided into three

aspects; leadership, management and. A starting point in beginning with the end in mind is to

develop a mission statement which helps in focusing on our character,

contributions/achievements and on the principles upon which the former two are based. I

personally experienced this during my internship at a renowned organization. The head of the

department announced at the beginning of their official quarter that in order to complete all

projects in the given time frame they had to develop a department mission statement for

which everyone was to contribute, therefore boosting our confidence.

Another fact that Covey mentions in this habit is that the principles we base our lives on

should be deep, fundamental truths because they will become tightly interwoven themes in

the fabric of our lives. Visualization is a great aid that can be used to develop a personal

mission statement. When I decided to gain religious knowledge, it became my goal, and I

visualized every future scenario that I might encounter which greatly helped me out of many

difficult situations.

3-Put First Things First

The third habit is what Covey refers to as “Executing the Program” because this is the habit

where one has to implement the first two habits. Time management is an essential skill for

personal management and its essence is to organize and execute around priorities. Methods of

time management include checklists, calendars and appointment books, prioritizing etc. The

best method is where we manage ourselves rather than time which focuses on preserving and

enhancing relationships and accomplishing results. I decided to help my mother in the kitchen

by cooking one meal of the day which it turned out was a rather difficult service. Not only

was it a great responsibility but I also had to reschedule my day around it so that dinner was

served in time therefore managing myself rather than time so that I could become a better

daughter.

Another critical skill for personal management is delegation which if effectively done is

perhaps the single most powerful, high-leverage activity there is. Learning to drive is fun but

becomes a pain when one starts being treated like a driver; picking younger siblings and


groceries etc. Later on in life I realized that if my father had not ‘delegated’ me these tasks I

would never have shined my driving skills.

4-Think Win-Win

The part of ‘Public Victory’ begins with this habit where Covey states that in situations of

human interaction we should aim for a win-win result, which is principle -centered and

mutually beneficial for all. Out of the six paradigms of human interaction mentioned win/win

is the only viable alternative when relationships are paramount. When the time came for my

brother to choose a career there used to be many heated discussions at home with both my

father and brother forming opposing parties. With passing time the inconclusive discussions

started marring their relationship and the environment at home which resulted in a cold

stalemate between them. My father was thinking on the lines of “Medical is a noble

profession and Art is useless!” while my brother thought “Art too can be used for noble

purposes.” To solve this dilemma my mother suggested that my father and brother spend time

learning both the fields and maybe they can learn to appreciate each others’ interest. Years

later my brother did become a doctor but continued to paint and my father appreciating his

passion sponsored his first show.

There are five dimensions of the Win/Win model: Character, Relationships, Agreements,

Supportive Systems and Processes. Competition has its place against market competitors, last

year's performance, or another location or individual where cooperation and interdependence

aren't required, but cooperation in the workplace is as important to free enterprise as

competition in the marketplace. The spirit of Win/Win cannot survive in an environment of

competition or contests. Students often complain that our education system is primarily

competitive in nature where everyone is just trying to get the highest marks without

understanding a word they read while the passion the teachers had in making their students

grasp concepts have consistently diminished now it’s a rat race where unfortunately no one is

the winner! If we have to succeed we have to walk the talk.

5-Seek first to understand, then to be understood

We often prescribe solutions before making a proper diagnosis when communicating. It is

essential for building concrete relations that we first take the time to deeply understand what

is being ‘said’ to us. Skills of empathic listening must be built on a character that inspires

openness and trust and high emotional bank accounts. It is the skill where we ‘listen’ with the

intent to understand the other person's frame of reference and feelings therefore listening with


ears, eyes and heart. In school there was this girl in my class who used to have great difficulty

writing, even though she was bright she could never pen down her thought. She used to get

passable grades which baffled the teachers because they thought she could do much better;

her parents had no clue and often scolded her rather harshly. One day our principal sat down

with her and gently started asking her about her life at home and school- to her amazement

she found that that she had dyslexia and her parents never ‘listened; to her problems and

instead blamed her for being ‘careless’ with school. Such problems can be diagnosed much

easily if we try to listen and understand instead of making effort to be understood.

Empathic listening takes time, but not as much time as backing up and correcting

misunderstandings, including living with problems and the results of not giving the people

you care about psychological air. We by default are trained to give autobiographical

responses to every situation that we encounter when we hear someone got fired from their job

we assume he was incompetent in the first place. Parents scold him and relatives frown upon

him which completely destroys his confidence. If we instead give him a chance to explain we

might understand the hidden reasons allowing us to advice him better. Therefore this habit is

powerful because it focuses on our circle of influence making it an inside-out approach.

When we focus on building our understanding we can influence others easily- we appreciate

people more, they will appreciate us more.

6- Synergize

The essence of synergy is to value differences to respect them, to build on strengths, and to

compensate for weaknesses. While communicating synergizing allows us to open our mind

and heart to new possibilities, although it may seem like we are casting aside "beginning with

the end in mind," but in actual we are fulfilling it by clarifying our goals and discovering

better ones. When my sister was getting married my mother and she used to go out on long

shopping sprees only to come home empty handed-my sister liked the expensive designer

wear while my mother wanted her to be a traditional bride. Both had their own distinct taste

and not wanted to sour the environment by arguing so my grandmother suggested getting my

mother’s bridal dress‘re-created’ so that both my mother and sister can get their wishes

fulfilled. The result of combing ‘old’ with ‘new’ was terrific. The paradigm shift in this habit

focuses around differences, they’re not annoying, and they’re very precious. The moment you

realize this is wonderful, you recognize the hidden value in it.


Stephen Covey notes that synergy is difficult for many of us as independence is promoted as

a strong value in the world today. Many people have been trained or have learned that other

people can't be trusted. Achieving synergy requires high trust and high cooperation and can

lead to better solutions than anyone thought of alone. Working in groups is often preferred in

every field of life because two brains combined can better solve issues than one but one has

to understand and acknowledge that everyone is different and must be dealt with differently.

In universities we often fight amongst friends when we don’t like the way the project is going

but the best ones are also the one where we sit together and listen to each other’s ideas and

create new ones.

7- Sharpen the Saw

All the 6 habits require that we all humans are ‘healthy’ enough to bring about changes in

ourselves. This is only possible if we regularly check and correct ourselves physically,

spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Our regular ‘checkups’ will help us become sharper

and more aware of our souls so that we can become a better, more effective person. I as a

student became so engrossed in my studies that I often neglected my family, causing relations

to become strained. I often felt like I didn’t know what was going on around me and did not

even bother finding out resultantly I started feeling lonely. It was not until my mom hugged

me out of the blue that I realized that I was a daughter too.

Self-renewal must include balanced renewal in all four dimensions thus we have to eat, think

and feel healthy. My father picked up jogging just to feel he had legs after sitting in a chair all

day long. It's so easy to get caught up in the demands of life, or even developing the Habits,

that we forget ourselves. We can't do that. We have to be proactive and do this for ourselves.


GOOD TO GREAT

By: JIM COLLINS.

SARA BATOOL

01-111072-268

BBA 6A


Jim Collins was a business consultant, author, and lecturer on the subject of company

sustainability and growth. In 1994 he wrote a book “Build to Last” which had a detailed

analysis of all the great companies of that time. After some years he came to realize that he

only focused on companies that had strong base and were logically destined to be great, and

he actually missed out the fact that real studying would be of the companies that transformed

themselves from being good to being great. This quest for greater knowledge led him to a

new project named as “Good to Great”.

Good Is the Enemy of Great

If we put all the goods and the greats on a graph with similar attributes, they will form a

pyramid which shows only a small ratio of goods transform themselves to be greats. “Good to

great” is focusing on the phenomenon of why so less becomes great and the major part settles

on just being good. The author studied two groups of organizations to identify the differences

which led normal companies to great heights and the good ones remained good. This book is

about the synopsis of all those differences, concepts, practices and even some un-identified

factors that were the cause of such dramatic development. These findings were not only

limited to business aspect of this world but it was to be used in all the parts of human

interaction/life.

Level 5 Leadership

By studying different organizations Jim Collins and his team identified the main reasons or

factors which facilitate a company to move from average institution to a great institution.

Level 5 leadership is one of those key factors. Jim Collins selected 11 companies out of 1400,

which moved from good to great and 10 out of those 11 companies have level 5 leadership

during crucial transition years. All most all of the level 5 leaders are self less, they credit

factors like luck for their successes rather then there personal greatness. They are highly

dedicated to their work, and amazingly they produce sustainable results to make their

companies great. Eventually the level 5 leaders set their successors to greater successes in the

coming next generation. These people are workaholics and they actually enjoy their work

which in return motivates them to work even harder. Effective decision making and

reasonable risk taking are the differentiated characteristics of the level 5 leaders. Mostly these

leaders praise other people involved for the successes and blame themselves for the failures

taking the full responsibility, however in most of the cases discussed in the chapter it is

opposite. The two sides of level 5 leadership include professional will and personal humility.


Professional will support the idea of aggressiveness and doing whatever it takes to make the

company great, and also the idea of building the strongest and settling for nothing less than

that. While on the other hand personal humility demonstrates the idea of sustainability it may

include ; setting up successful successors, giving credit to the external factors and people for

the success and modesty. Potential level 5 leaders exist all around us, it’s just that we should

know what to look for there are a lot of people who have the potential to evolve themselves

into level 5 leaders.

First Who… Then What

Recruitment and hiring is one major stride which helps companies to do great in the market.

Recruitment is vital to any management process and failure in recruitment can certainly

create difficulties for any organization including a bad effect on its profitability. In this

chapter Collins says, “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Confront the Brutal Facts

Jim Collins explains that how we should deal with the brutal facts that arise as time is

changing and the pattern of living and purchasing is changing. Many companies come across

with these facts because they didn’t come up with different strategies and lose the ir market

share and those who adopt with the trend are still holding the market share as well as

increasing profits day by day. Large companies need to maintain a climate where the truth

can be heard and everyone gets a chance to speak on certain issues. If people in an

organization do not speak truth then it will be very much difficult for the top management to

have a true picture until it’s too late. Some tips to create this kind of climate:

v Lead with questions, not answers.

v Support healthy dialogue/debate over different issues in organization.

v If something went wrong then investigate the root cause and then learn a lesson from

the findings instead of just blaming someone.

v Build "red flag" mechanisms.

Red Flag mechanism was also introduced by Jim Collins. In which students were given

complete freedom that they can raise their hand with red flag and share anything whatever

they want, this mechanism helped to sort out the information which cannot be ignored.


Good-To-Great companies are dual in nature. On one hand they know that they are facing

severe problems but on the other hand they never lose the courage, they struggle hard and do

their best. This is called Stockdale Paradox. Name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, the

highest military ranked officer, who remained in prison for 8 years but he didn’t lose the hope

and struggled hard even in this situation. After his release he became the 1st Three Star Navy

Officer in the history of navy.


Chapter 5 of the book “good to great” primarily focuses on the hedgehog model. The

hedgehog model is related to the hunting story of a fox and a hedgehog, telling that no matter

how clever the fox really is, the hedgehog always wins because of its sheer simplicity and

robust consistency. Simplicity is therefore the main key feature of the model. Jim Collins

strongly emphasizes on entrepreneurs to come up with simple ideas and pursue them with

high level of consistency by keeping in the hedgehog model. If, all the key points of

hedgehog model are not fulfilled then the company might be good but can’t be great.


Purple Cow; TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS BY BEING

REMARKABLE

By: SETH GODIN.

UMER MANN

01-111082-112

BBA 6A


Introduction:

Purple Cow: Transform your Business by Being Remarkable is written by Seth Godin. We all

know about the traditional P’s of Marketing, which are: Product, Price, Promotion, Position,

Publicity, Packaging, Pass-along, and Permission, but Godin went step further came up with

something new, the Purple Cow. The Purple Cow is all about being remarkable and comes

with many benefits. Being remarkable is always something that is worth talking about and

what makes a company better and there needs to be a way to make a company’s product more

noticeable.

Godin in his book says that financial success is no longer achievable through a remarkable

marketing plan. Instead, the key to success now lies in the creation of purple cows --

remarkable products that market themselves. In short, Godin’s plan requires that companies

create an idea and infect their targeted customers with it. This idea should transform its

recipients into sneezers, who subsequently spread the product information. Once the word

spreads, the result is a purple cow which can be milked for all its worth.

Review:

According to Seth Godin, there are more than the four P’s that we have learned about. They

are Product, Price, Promotion, Position, Publicity, Packaging, Pass-along, and Permission.

The newest P that has been created is the Purple Cow. The Purple Cow is meant to be

remarkable. The reason why the Purple Cow was created was because all the traditional P’s

just weren’t working right. Some terms that are important through the book are remarkable

marketing, TV-industrial complex, post-consumption consumer, and marketing department.

Remarkable Marketing is the art of building things that are worth noticing into the product or

service. TV-industrial complex is the relationship between the consumer demand, TV

advertising and the companies that are built around the investments in increasing marketing

expenses. Post-consumption consumer is when the consumer has nothing they need to buy.

Lastly, the

Marketing department spends money to communicate the benefits of the product or service to

the target audience. Before there was advertising, there was word of mouth and this was

when products were worth mentioning, were talked about and eventually purchased by the

mass market. During advertising, using the power of television, sales would go up if the


advertising was directed towards the consumer. After advertising, companies are almost back

to where they started word of mouth.

There are many companies that sell the same product and there needs to be a way to make a

company’s product unique, which is where the Purple Cow comes in. Consumers are either

hard to reach or they simply cannot afford the product being marketed to them. Due to the

ideas, overwhelming the consumers, they are less likely to give their opinions to others about

products unless they are sure that others are willing to listen.

One of the best ways to effectively advertise a product is through the television. Television

has changed the way that products have been marketed to the mass media. However,

television is fading and so are newspapers and magazines. Godin mentioned some rules. Old

rule for the TV- industrial complex is: “Create safe, ordinary products and combine them

with great marketing” but the new rule is: “Create remarkable products that the right people

seek out”. The concept of the Purple Cow is very significant to the new rule of TV- industrial

complex.

Godin mentions that, problem is not that a company does not have any remarkable ideas but

that they do not know how to properly execute them. The lesson and goal of the Purple Cow

is to show that it is safer to be risky which will make a company fulfill their desire to do

something remarkable. Once a company knows that their product’s demand is decreasing, it

is time to create something worth talking about.

The only people willing to listen to risk-taking consumers are the innovators, who are people

that might not need a product but purchase it anyway. The early and late majorities listen

about a product but ignore the need to buy it. They only make an exception when there are

enough people talking about it. This is when they will follow the crowd and purchase the

item. Then there are those people who do not follow the newest trends and stick to older

products that can be considered obsolete and outdated.

Not many people like to adapt to a new product so they tend to feel stuck in the products that

they have. The only thing an advertiser can do is sell their product to people who are

interested in buying something new. This is when the company hopes that the idea will


spread. The idea is to design a remarkable product that will attract the early adopters but

simple enough for them to spread the idea to others.

Brands are nothing more than just ideas which are more likely to succeed if they spread. Idea-

viruses are the code name for ideas that spread. People that are the key spreaders of ideas are

called sneezers. These are people who go around telling friends and family about an idea. The

way to break through to the mass market is to ta rget a niche. By creating a niche, a company

is targeting a smaller target market, making the idea easier to sink in and get appropriate

response. The sneezers from one of the targeted niches can get the company to the critical

masses needed in order to create an idea-virus.

Marketing in a post-TV world is not about making a product attractive after it has been

designed and built but to design it to be unique in the beginning. However, marketing has

become more time consuming and more expensive. Investing in the Purple Cow is a very

smart decision to make, one should know if a service or product is worth talking about.

Advertisements do work even though there is mention of the death of the TV-industrial

complex. They do not work as well, as they used to but they still attract and generate sales.

Advertisements are meant to target everyone in the market. This is a problem because not

everyone wants the same product. There is a big idea that has been created, “It is useless to

advertise to anyone (except interested sneezers with influence)”.

The problem with the Purple Cow is the concept of fear. If a product is already remarkable

then it is not likely it will receive much unanimous praise. However, if a company is

constantly avoiding feedback and criticism then it is not going to succeed. The thing that

most people do not realize is that those who do not listen to criticism will ultimately fail. You

can never predict how sales are going to be & the best thing is not to be afraid of the end

results, rather to focus on being remarkable which is the main ingredient of Purple Cow.

The catch-22 equation comes from the knowledge that mass marketing demands, mass

products and that mass markets beg for mass marketing. Companies that build their product

around mass marketing will develop their products in the same fashion. These are products

made for the entire market and are pushed to the market through the influence of prices and


performance. When marketing to the masses it requires a large budget. When using a large

budget, everything should be perfect else the opportunity is wasted.

People who like to play safe by eliminating risk from their businesses are making a mistake.

When this happens fewer and fewer people are creating new Purple Cows. However, those

who do create a Purple Cow are succeeding because so many people avoid taking a risk. The

creators of Purple Cows usually receive huge benefits in form profits and success.

Marketing departments usually feel the need to refresh their slogan if they feel that it is

getting too old. These are usually due to budgeting or product compromise. A budget

compromise is when a company wants to launch a new slogan but has insufficient funds to

launch a new product. Product compromise makes it less radical so it will not offend the

customer base. By refreshing the product or slogan it makes it harder for the existing and new

customers to keep track of the item. Marketing should hence avoid confusing its customers.

Otaku is the feeling of wanting to try out a new brand or product because the reviews made it

sound remarkable. The Purple Cow phenomenon begins with Otaku. By using Otaku, the

early adopters spread the word and Sneezers will learn about the product, try it and tell

others. A smart business will target marke ts that already have Otaku giving them advantage.

There is no secret formula to creating a Purple Cow but there is process and a system. It is to

go for the edges i.e. challenge yourself and your team to see which of the edges will give the

desired results. In order to determine the edges and where the competition is, the P’s should

be reviewed.

“A camel is a horse designed by a committee” says Godin. This old saying is right.

Compromises can diminish the chances of success even though the goal of the marketing

department is to create a Purple Cow. Boring brands are hard to market compared to the ones

that have the real growth, because those are: too expensive, annoying, too simple and the list

goes on. Market leaders that once dominated due to the Purple Cow are now continuing their

profitability by compromising.


There are four steps to the magic cycle of the cow. They are: To get permission from the

people, who were impressed, to be able to alert them the next time there is a Purple Cow.

Give the sneezers proper tools they need in order to get the idea to safely cross the chasm.

Once the product goes from remarkable to profitable, let others milk it. Lastly, it is necessary

to reinvest in the product to launch a new Purple Cow.

As Purple Cow is a new P in marketing the whole definition of marketing has changed.

Advertising has always been the better meaning for describing Marketing. Marketing

communicates the values of the businesses product to the consumers. Marketing consists of

inventing a product, designing, producing, pricing and selling the final product.

Consumers like cheap products and it never seems to lose its appeal. A cheap item will

always gain the advantage and market share over the repeatedly purchased item. The problem

starts because once a competitor sees that other companies have cheap items, then so will

they. A way to become an exception is to dramatically redefine the way the product has been

produced and even delivered.

These are all good insights to the marketing world of today and the need to always have

something new to keep your company successful. The Purple Cow can be used as a tool to

know what should and should not be done in the marketing world. Always know that the

Purple Cow is not something to be feared but to be used for new ideas that could have a

remarkable effect on the compa ny.

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