Qualities of a successful businessman or Entrepreneur

The modern business is very complex. Due to scientific and technological developments, fast changes are taking place in every business field. The

high speed computers, new mathematical and statistical tools are providing a “knowledge explosion” to the businessman. As the business world changes, the businessman or the entrepreneur has to acquire the

basic developing skills for effective organization of the business units.

Skills and qualities of a good businessman.

Knowledge of business Ability to plan and organize Foresight Ethical standard Initiative and creativity Steadfast and courageous Adaptability Industrious Sound financial management Technical skill Team Spirit Conceptual Skill Honesty (Most Important)

Knowledge of Business

The businessman should have a thorough knowledge of his business. It should be supplemented by the knowledge of trade, finance, marketing, income tax laws etc.

For example, if a person is doing a business of cars, then he must have knowledge about cars, all it’s specifications, prices, rates, cars market to sell and buy cars etc . Without the good knowledge about the business, one cannot flourish in it.

Ability to plan and organize

A businessman, if he is to shine in business, must have the ability to plan and organize.

Planning is the important thing in it. In order to get in the race of business, you need to work out a plan before you can start. So it is one of the basic step in business.

Similarly organizing is also one of the abilities that helps a businessman to take his business where he wants.

For example,the HP CEO planned to link it’s printers with microsoft, and after planning it out, they were successful in negotiating with them by properly organizing the situation. So this is one of the practical examples of planning and organizing.

Foresight

A good businessman has an eye on the past performance of his business, its capacity to produce for the future demand of his products etc. If he has the necessary foresight to it’s operations for a period ahead, the business will be a success and the businessman earns profit.

Foresight also means one kind of planning things for the future, a businessman should keep an eye on it’s past records and mistakes in each and every step in order to make his future bright.

For example, Nokia, working on the basic formula of satisfying customers, and they started to improve their handsets according to the customer wants, so, through this they had a foresight of ruling markets which they did.

Ethical Standard

The ethical standard of business is that there should not be cheating, fraud and commercial bribery in business. An entrepreneur who uses unethical practices will soon find himself without customers. A good businessman has the social, moral and religious responsibility to follow the ethical standard of business to earn legitimate profit and stay long in the market.

Ethics is on of the most important things in business, if a businessman is weak on his ethics side, there would be no chance for his survival in business.

We can take an example of our local markets, one can always see number of good shops in the market, but no rush on it, that is because of their ethical standard which they lose, once ethical standards are lost, regaining it is almost impossible.

Initiative and creativity

The business world of today is moving at a very fast speed. An entrepreneur should have the ability to take initiative by producing new things, new methods of marketing the products and services. The business opportunity, creative imagination is regarded as priceless asset in the business world.

Many people think that only fashion designers need to be creative and only in security forces to be initiative, which is wrong, Business is such a field in which businessman must have these both qualities in order to get himself up to the top.

For example, to flourish the business, entrepreneur must take initiative to start dealing with the required companies before someone else takes advantage of that opportunity.

And must be creative as well, because, he should introduce new ideas, new products, new ways of keeping his staff interested in working.

Steadfast and courageous

A good businessman should be firm, steadfast and courageous. If he is upset and discouraged by initial setbacks and cannot face the business obstacles, he shall then have to close the business soon.

Only the steadfast and courageous can stand in any field and can get to the top not only in business but in every field. Being steadfast and courageous is the quality that few people have.

For example, the ferrari CEO took courageous decision of keeping their standards high by producing only 10-12 cars per year. It was a decision according to which many people thought that they will lose their market, but he steadfast on it, and now it’s one of the best companies with very high standards.

Adaptability to changes

The physical and technological sciences are yielding new products and more efficient methods of production. A good businessman should have the aptitude for research and adaptability to apply scientific findings to compete and stay in business.

Because, in today’s world, competition is most dangerous thing, which can really put one’s head under the table. So the businessman must keep himself up to date and must have the ability to change with the time.

For example, Nokia changing themselves with the passage of time put them on top of all the other handset manufacturing companies.

Industrious

A good businessman must be a balanced man of cool temperament and capable of working hard for long hours. If he avoids hard work and cannot bear the business strain, he will be left behind in the competitive race of business.

Only calm and hardworking businessman find success in the end.

Sound or Good financial management

Finance is essential to any business. The larger the business grows, wider should be the sources of finance available to it. An intelligent businessman tries to meet the financial needs of the business from within as well as from external sources and manages them effectively. If adequate capital is available but the entrepreneur has not the ability of sound management, the business will soon go into the liquidation. Sound financial management is thus the key to the success of a business and is regarded as essential quality of a good entrepreneur.

Financial management is the base of the business, if one’s management in this particular area is good, that would help him his business to stand on it’s own feet.

A good businessman shouldn’t rely on it’s external resources and by keeping the money in the bank, but if investing it is more profitable then keeping the money, then the businessman should have the idea of investing it rather than storing it, because it can become it’s external source of income.

For example, Toyota company, opened up it’s branches not only in one place but almost in every big city, and invested their income by making more and more car building machines which produces more quantity of cars and sends them to different branches hence they can now fulfill all the customer want and not making them wait in which they might change their decision.

Technical Skill

An entrepreneur should have sufficient technical skill for understanding, carrying out and completing a particular job which he has undertaken to perform. He should have specialized knowledge in that field so that the processes and methods involved are efficiently carried out.

Mean the businessman must have basic knowledge of all his surroundings and the operations that are related to it.

For example, the CEO of any organization has all the basic knowledge of the work that are carried out under his observations.

Team Spirit

A business activity is carried on by the workers. The human skill is concerned with working of the people in such a manner that the entrepreneur builds up a team spirit among the group members. He should be aware of the temperament, aptitude, belief of the staff working with him. He should also know the limitations and feelings of the individuals. He should be able to communicate his ideas to his equal and subordinates effectively. The subordinates should be encouraged to suggest ideas for better organization of the business. He should create an atmosphere of approval and security.

It is the team spirit that makes organizations. If there is not team spirit then it would be almost impossible to carry on with it.

So it is also one of the qualities of a businessman to create team spirit in his organization.

Conceptual Skill

The entrepreneur should be able to coordinate and integrate both the technical and human skills of organization. When new production decisions are taken, the executives who are in charges of production, control, marketing, finance, research should be involved for the achievement of a common objective.

This is one of the skills that most of the government organizations lack. Because most of the time, uneducated people who doesn’t know even the start of some organization are made heads of the specific organization and hence they lack in concept about it which ruins everything.

For example, the MD of Sui Gas was some illiterate man which almost ruined the big organization.

Honesty (Most Imp)

A businessman should be honest in dealing with others.

If there is not honesty in a man, the obviously no one will trust him or his products.

And not trusting means customers are not going to be satisfied which means the business might be closed.

One can always find examples of it in the local markets.

Questions and Answers?