Question

Read the information below and follow the instructions carefully. [40 marks] Owing to the challenging economic climate in South Africa, you and a group of friends decide to start your own business. You decide to brainstorm a number of creative ways in which you can make money. After much debate, the group eventually settles on one idea which appears to be the most suitable. The idea is to open a hotdog stand outside the Mancosa Campus to cater for the needs of the students and surrounding businesses. After many arguments and butting of heads, you realise that not all of the members of the group possess the entrepreneurial skills to execute this endeavour successfully. As a result, you decide to take the leading role as you have the most business experience. One of the major problems that the group faces is the fact that their lack of experience and business knowledge hampers their progress. After three months of planning, the business is launched and operates well for about one month. This is largely as a result of peaked enthusiasm for the business to succeed. However, after the initial month, the ‘cracks’ begin to show. There are frequent arguments amongst group members. The profits are inconsistent in that you experience a high turnover in one week, but a very low turnover the next. Business is constantly running out of stock during peak periods and this results in inconsistent profit being made. The group members cannot seem to agree on anything and eventually after another two months of business, you are forced to close down the hotdog stand.

Required: 1. The scenario above presents one way in which entrepreneurs can generate business ideas, and also speaks about some managerial expertise and experience. MODULE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 2B TOTAL MARKS 40 MARKS

Discuss in Essay Format: Ways in which entrepreneurs can generate business ideas. What characteristics they can adopt to be great and successful entrepreneurs. How to position their businesses for opportunities by developing Business Plans with complete elements? And look at the various forms of businesses paying particular attention to partnerships and the various elements required for a Partnership agreement.

Answer 1

Please use the following points as reference and elaborate these to answer the essay question:

• General discussion

In the first part of the essay, provide a general discussion on modern trend of preferring entrepreneurship. Example related to new emerging start-ups and innovation can also be provided in short brief as introductory part.

• Ways of generating of business ideas

In this part of the essay, give a small introductory line related to new emerging business ideas. In the later part, provide the ways that entrepreneurs can use to develop/generate business ideas. For example;

1. Identifying business opportunities
2. Brainstorming, open group discussions, etc.
3. Deep research and study of markets presence and target population’s behavior
4. Identifying and matching the hobbies and interests with the business opportunity

These are the few ways using which a business idea can be generated. However, these are not exclusive and thus can take various forms. Make sure to elaborate each of these points, as stand-alone they would not fulfill requirement of the question.

• Characteristics of a great and successful entrepreneur

Provide the characteristics or qualities that one person should possess to be a great and successful entrepreneur. Include qualities such as passionate towards work, a great motivator, having good communication skills, etc. Give a brief for each quality in such a way that gives an insight about how each characteristic can help a person to become great motivator.

• Business positioning by developing business plans

In the introduction part, explain in brief about why a business should go for making business plans and business positioning. In addition to this, some key points that need to be addressed are as mentioned below:

• Define in short about business plan
• Provide detail about elements of business plan that includes business concept, financial terms, financial requirements, current position of business, and any other essential item to ensure success of business
• For adding more quality, provide in points with added relevant explanation on, what should a business plan will look like or what does it includes to ensure its success. For this, use a hypothetical example of a business so that concepts can be related well.

• Forms of businesses

For this part of the essay, provide with brief about various types of business forms. Moreover, suitability of each type of business in particular situation/circumstances, should be included. For example, for which type of business partnership is suitable or, sole proprietorship works well, etc.

As per the question’s requirement, provide detail about Partnership. It can be done in the following way;

• Define Partnership
• Partnership agreement and related elements
• Basic forms of Partnership
• Types of partners in a firm