Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … Failure in Business Ventures
Entrepreneurs, firms' success, and failure factors are a subject of extensive research over many years. It is necessary for entrepreneurs and organizations to understand both the internal and external motivational factors that may lead to success or failure of a business venture. A business in the startup level encounters various barriers and challenges. It is the task of the entrepreneur or the managing board to decide on the right moves for the success of the business. This study will use an example of two companies Siebel and eBay to analyze the various factors that determine the success or failure of a startup company.
Siebel and eBay are an example of two companies that show contrasting characteristics of handling the market area for their products and services. Siebel and eBay both ventured into their lines of business successfully, but Siebel developed various problems on its way up and finally absorbed by another company. Various factors led to the collapse of Siebel and success of eBay. The Siebel software designing company entered the market for its products when there were few competitors. Their products had a competitive advantage in terms of efficiency compared to others. This gave Siebel an opportunity to dominate the market and expand at a fast rate. Key factors that led to the failure of Siebel include an introduction of a product upgrade in the year 2001 that was difficult and complicated to use. According to Kerstetter (2003), Siebel introduction of this product reduced its reputation as many clients turned into simple competitors' products.
Although Siebel Company had a successful startup, they failed to maintain their standards and focus on customer satisfaction. The reputation of the company experienced negative publicity especially on customer satisfaction records. On the other hand, eBay had a humble startup but successfully ventured into the market for its services. Various factors led to the success of eBay Company. The company struggled to distinguish itself from its competitors in the market place by creating services that did not exist before. As an auction company that uses the internet, the firm provided education on how their systems operate in all parts of the country. This not only...
The success of eBay has also accredited to a strong executive team that worked like servants to their clients. The company aims at customer satisfaction and holds frequent meetings and conferences with both sellers and buyers to get their views about the services of the firm.
In a move to ensure customer satisfaction and revenue maximization, eBay hired many virtual cops to check and prevent the auction system from fraudsters. A startup company must follow the traits of the eBay auction company. A company must understand the startup costs for its line of business. The startup costs for a new company explainable by designing a suitable business plan. A business plan helps identify problems such as the costs of starting the business before implementing the plans. A suitable business plan will help a startup company compare results as the business proceeds from paper to reality (Larson, n.d.). A startup company must have the capacity to recruit and maintain customers. In the case of Siebel Company, failure to maintain customers through satisfaction led to the collapse of the company. The management team of Siebel was over optimistic and confident in retaining their customers but failed to control the firm's reputation. A startup company must focus its attention to acquiring and maintaining its customers in order to penetrate the market for its products and services
A startup company must strive to employ the right people. A qualified and experienced workforce is necessary for a startup company in order to make the business successful. A strong workforce contributes a bigger percentage in the success of a company. A strong management team can successfully arrange all other things. A startup company must have a strategic focus in order to venture successfully in its line of business. The entrepreneur or the management team should be able to focus the organization's resources on the opportunities available and which can create a competitive advantage. Failure in a startup business may occur if available resources are not directed in the main purposes of the business.
Siebel and eBay differ…
References
Kerstetter, J. (2003, June 2). Can Siebel stop its slide? Missteps -- and tough rivals -- undermine the software giant. Business Week 3835. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_22/b3835081_mz063.htm.
Larson. R. (n.d.). Pages on Business Planning. Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://www.mapnp.org/library/plan_dec/bus_plan/bus_plan.htm.
Baron, R.A. (2006). Opportunity recognition as pattern recognition: How entrepreneurs
"connect the dots" to identify new business opportunities. The Academy of Management
from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_34/b3846650.htm.
Integrating network relationships with entrenched resources, can lead to the development of organizational ability for achieving long-range business sustainability. Internal and external knowledge processes are a characteristic of organizational capabilities. Building organizational capability is reliant on the qualities of networks, tacit knowledge, collective learning, and organization of work, delivery of value, coordination of diverse skills, commitment, involvement, and flexibility within organizational structures. Similarly, firm value formation helps to build organizational
Burns (2007) indicates that the text is about that which motivates the actions and decisions of the entrepreneur, including the influence of personal social networks, family and personal background. Moreover, the text reports itself to be about the tasks of management which are associated with the entrepreneurial approach as well as how decisions are make, how risk is balanced and most essentially how there is a clear distinction between
Business Information Systems What is a Business Information System? A program involving a business information system would prepare the person who is studying the intricacies of the process to be able to oversee the efficient and proper manner in which to use computer hardware and software systems. The individual who has completed the training process in a business information system would be able to work as a computer programmer, or a
.....entrepreneur one must endure multiple hardships. These hardships define people as leaders or failures. Women in the last few decades have amidst gender inequality, started businesses. This had led to a major growth in the number of women entrepreneurs in a predominantly male-dominated area. However, while women entrepreneurship has written, the persistent inequalities and continued views of women have led to the assumption that entrepreneurship may still be gendered. Meaning,
business proposition business competition chain. Word count: 400 words B) Based idea produced question 1 part A, explain main difficulties/barriers? Word count: 400 words Question 2 A) Reflect possibility finance business. In the current context of the unstable economy, more and more people and firms have come to lose their activity and their savings. In such a context, they seek to become engaged in new opportunities, to create new business
Limitations of the Research or Gaps A Critical Analysis of the Business Judgement Rule under the Australian Corporation Law There have been many large businesses which have collapsed unexpectedly to cause irreparable damage to the investors worldwide in recent years. The most recent and larger cases are those of the fall of the mighty U.S.-based Enron International and the Australian firm, HIH Insurance. These cases shook the faith of the stakeholders