Showing Enterprise

-What is enterprise?- Thinking creatively- Questions to be asked- Invention and innovation- Taking a calculated risk- Important enterprise skills

Enterprise A willingness to take risks and show initiative

in order to establish new business ventures• Without enterprise or entrepreneurs new

business will not be started

Thinking Creatively• A mental process involving the generation of new

ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts

• This means that creative thinking is about:- innovation- new product ideas- improving existing ideas- solving problems- obtaining a competitive advantage

• Most importantly, it is about asking questions

Evaluating New Ideas

• Thinking creatively may generate a large number of ideas, the key is identifying the good ones

The six thinking hats

What facts do we know

What does out intuition tell us?

What are we feeling?

What are the potential

problems?

How can the problems be

solved?

What are the benfits

What decisions have been made?

What Questions Do Entrepreneurs Ask?

• Why?- Looking at the current situation to try to identify opportunities- Can help a business identify possible opportunities

• Why not?- Requires firms to look beyond the obvious- Ideal if a firm wants to know about the future > why not...? > what if...? > why don’t we...?

Invention and Innovation

Success?

InventionTo develop a completely

new product

InnovationThe ability to build upon

new ideas based on ones that already exist

Product Development

• When participating in invention or innovation it is important to ask these questions:

- What do customers want?- How long will they want it for?- Are the materials available?- How much will it cost to produce?- Is the product safe?- What are our competitors doing?- Which method of production should be used?

Protecting the Product

• Developing new products is time consuming and expensive, so businesses will want to protect their new product

Patents- Has to be applied for- gives the inventor the sale rights over their idea for the next 20 years

Copyright- the copyright owner has the legal right to prevent unauthorised copying of their work

Licence- Applies to a single product

Risks• Running a business is risky

• To avoid risks businesses should- Know what that customer wants- Ensure they can deliver what the customer wants- Make sure they have the finance

• Main rewards- To become wealthy- For the buzz- To become your own boss

Calculated Risks• Since risk is unavoidable, it is important to think about

what might happen which can then be used to make informed decisions

• To do this firms must think about:- What are the chances of success?- What are the costs or benefits likely to be?- What are the implications on the business?

• In order to answer these questions, firms must- Gather information- Make a decision

What Does it Take to be Enterprising?

• Creativity and the willingness to take risks aren’t the only qualities needed to be enterprising

• You also need to be able to:- Think ahead- Show initiative- Make connections- Show leadership- Make decisions

• Using a mind map is a useful tool to develop these enterprising qualities