Entrepreneurship Final (Term Paper Sample)

Student’s Name Course Title Instructor’s Name Date Entrepreneurship 1. The two most important strategic resources are a firm's core competencies and its strategic assets. Please define each and give two examples of each using existing companies. Different business organizations encounter various types of competition making them adopt strategic competitive capabilities to outshine their competitors. In this case, strategic assets and the Firm’s core competencies are fundamental strategic resources that determine the competitiveness of a business company. Strategic assets are the type of resources that are specialized, limited, and not easy to be copied, establish repeated advantages, and the abilities that hold a company’s competitive advantage (Michalisin 360). Also, strategic assets can be grouped as tangible and intangible assets. Some examples of strategic assets are such as intellectual property and proprietary business processes. An example of intellectual property in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). For instance, the ingredients that Coca-Cola Company uses in coke are proprietary business processes. On the other hand, a Firm's core competencies are the different, unique, worth company resources that competitors of an organization cannot manufacture, copy, or replace. In this case, a firm’s core competencies provide an organization with a competitive advantage for a competitive business with its rivals. Some examples Firm’s core competencies include Honda, which uses core competencies such as superior engines and powertrains, and Google Company which uses core competencies such as high-end software engineering, indexing technology, and mapping platforms. 2. The most important thing that any entrepreneur can do to build a strong ethical culture in their organization is to lead by example. Please define ethical behavior and give two examples of companies that are doing or have done the right thing so much so that their ethical culture has become a competitive advantage. Ethical culture ensures members of an organization behave ethically. In this case, ethical culture directs employees and other members of an organization on what they should do and what not to do in an organization. Based on this, entrepreneurs can build a strong ethical culture in their organizations by leading through examples. Also, ethical culture can be determined through ethical behavior. According to Remišová (156), ethical behaviors are good actions or traits that prove a person’s moral code. Some examples of ethical behaviors include honesty, integrity, fairness, understanding, and many others. Such characteristics in business organizations can make a company gain its competitive advantage. One of the companies that stand as an ethical company in the world today is International Business Machines (IBM) Corporations. It is a consulting company in the United States that devotes itself to practice ethical behavior, by encouraging ethical traits such as integrity. IBM has a holistic approach that involves the sustainability of the company’s global supply chain, the integrity of how the company makes and launches its machines, and governance ethics (Hoyt e157)). For this reason, IBM is one of the ethical companies in the world, hence gaining its competitive advantage. Another company that is termed as an ethical company is Alcoa Company located in the United States. It is a company dealing with metals and mining. The company is ethical because it has corporate social responsibility programs, enhances the well-being of employees, advocates for integrity, and many other ethical behaviors. 3. Financial management deals with two things: raising money and managing a company’s finances in a way that achieves the highest rate of return to maximize profit. We discussed 8 questions that every entrepreneur must address to do so. Please discuss 4 of these questions in detail. Financial management is important as it gives an entrepreneur a clear picture of having to manage business finance. In this case, an entrepreneur can determine the highest rate of return the business makes to maximize profits. Some of the most important questions that entrepreneurs should address concerning financial management include, how is the business doing? Is it establishing or making a profit? By this question, the entrepreneur should be sure how the business is progressing financially. The finances of the business determine whether the business is doing well or not. Another question that an entrepreneur must address is where will the money the business needs for capital come from? The entrepreneur needs to know the source of money for the business. If maybe the business can get the money from investors, or sponsors. How efficiently is our company using its assets is another question that can be addressed by an entrepreneur? A business company should make sure it uses the business assets well for the sake of growing the business and making it successful. The final question is how does our net profits and success compare to our competitors? A business needs to know how it manages to outdo its competitors. The business should utilize its competitive advantage to outshine its competitors. 4. To maximize profit, an entrepreneur must meet these four financial objectives: profitability, liquidity, efficiency, and stability. Please define each and give an example from an actual company for each. Maximizing profit is the key role of a business. In this case, for a business entrepreneur to ensure that profits are maximized in a company, profitability, liquidity, efficiency, and stability should be maintained. According to Hartati (105), profitability is how a business can make profits. Many companies as they start are not profitable because maybe they have not established their brands. However, it is significant for a company to remain profitable because that is the main purpose of a business. One of the most profitable companies is Amazon Company which has managed to make billions of money. Another important objective is liquidity. Liquidity is the strength of a business in terms of accomplishing short-term responsibilities. As much as a company needs to make profits, it may be difficult for it to keep adequate cash in the bank. An example of a company that maintains its liquidity is the Forex markets such as ICM Capital. Efficiency is how a company uses its assets. The assets in a company should be used to make the business successful. For instance, Southwest Airlines uses its turnaround time to unload and reload. The final objective is stability. Stability is the entire growth and success of a business. Stability is majorly determined in return on equity. An example of a company that shows its stability is NTPC. 5. Distinguish between debt financing and equity financing. Give at least two examples of each. What are the three uses of funds? Debt financing and equity are essential and play a vital role in business. Debt financing is when a business organization has money that it can use as working capital by selling bills or bonds to people or other business investors. Some examples of debt financing include bank loans, and personal loans, which are given and are refunded back with an interest. Equity financing is the process whereby a business company gets capital by selling its shares and stock to investors. Some examples of equity financing include venture capital and royalty financing. Debt financing simply means that cash is being borrowed from outside and the borrowers promise to pay it with interest while equity financing simply means that someone is investing money in a business and gets a share of ownership of the business (Fianto et al. 165) Further, funds are significant in a business. They are incorporated in a statement that reflects the financial status of a business. Some uses of funds include capital asset purchases, limits in total liabilities, and self-employment taxes. 6. Culture is an integral part of any organization. Please define culture, how is it created, and give three examples of companies with a strong culture and explain how it is a competitive advantage for them. Culture is an essential and complex concept in an organization. Culture is a way in which an organization shares particular values, assumptions, and beliefs on how the organization should behave. Also, organizational culture explains customs, attitudes, written, and unwritten policies that an organization creates over time and needs to follow (Warrick 400). Culture in an organization is created in various ways. For instance, through the initial values, goals, and objectives of an organization. Further, organizational culture can be created through the company’s demands, and through the founder of the organization’s preference and ways of doing things. Many organizations today adopt an organizational culture and as a result, turns to be their competitive advantage. For instance, Twitter is one of the biggest global technology organizations that believe in organizational culture (Li et al. 338). The employees are always warm and smiling with their co-workers or customers. They also have rooftops meetings, an onsite gym, and many others that make the employees love the company. Google is also another company that embraces organizational culture. The company has cultures such as trips for employees, laundry services, parties, and many other activities that the company offers to the employees and its clients. Finally, ProofHub is an organization that gives project management services and has been acquiring its competitive advantage through its open communication system, team building activities scheduled for every Friday, and other activities. 7. What is bootstrapping? Give five examples of bootstrapping methods and two examples of what actual companies have done to bootstrap. Bootstrapping is a system in business whereby a ...