Buell and the Case Study

¶ … successful entrepreneur takes a lot of hard work. People often require a great idea and excellent implementation of said idea to gain success. Using the business competition chain, people can come up with an idea and through effort, turn it into an innovation and therefore, a marketable product. The business competition chain is as follows: Idea attracts entrepreneur that seeks capital that enables a team/business to compete in the market.

So considering those, I suggest the idea of flashlights that have an end piece that expands or narrows for both focused, intense light on the narrow version and weak wide-covering light on the open version. Many products already have the idea of opening and narrowing the end piece of an object. For example, a metal steamer opens and closes in order to accommodate a range of food items.

Joseph Schumpeter understood that by taking the business cycle approach, during financial crises or downturns, products must be made that were efficient in terms of both cost and use. The American economy and several other economies worldwide are still experiencing financial instability. Therefore, providing a multi-use item will develop greater consumer demand versus providing a specialty item. By identifying degree and source of market shifts, the entrepreneur can understand where innovation is needed the most. Hurricane season is here and people are experiencing flooding.

A flashlight could help them, especially if it is small but shines enough light to lighten up in a large area or provide intense light for a small area. In order to create such an invention, one would have to research ways to gain capital like angel investors by creating a sound business plan. Then a business or team that will then carry this business plan creates strategies that allow the product to compete in today's market.

The use of feedback in developing a product is a behavioral characteristic of entrepreneurs as well as clear goal setting. Learning styles also come into play, as an entrepreneur may want to carry out ideas with other people, or by applying rules and testing them, or by seeing things from various perspectives. This of course comes from Kolb's learning styles.

Entrepreneurs are often also seen as leaders and may decide to take a directive, or innovative, or participative, or normative, or paternalistic leadership style depending on the demand and the kind of people the entrepreneur works with. Innovative leadership styles for example are necessary in networked firms or team entrepreneurial firms. Directive is used for startups. B.

There are numerous sources of doubt and uncertainty within the world of entrepreneurship and they typically range from lack of personal experience in the subject, or turbulence in customer markets, as well as a number of other things. Current research suggestion literature that grants those wishing to learn how to circumvent such changes, tools to aid. "The new product development literature offers several tools to help. These tools are based on one of six innovation strategies: process, speed, learning, market, technology, and quantitative" (Lynn & Akgun, 2015, p. 11).

Still, one must understand the various potential barriers in order to avoid such pitfalls. Alan Pearson for example, identified the barriers in a simplistic version, recognizing two main areas. 1. Uncertainty about means or processes for accomplishing the ends. 2. Uncertainty about ends or objectives Essentially that means that most of the barriers for innovation or a result of confusion over ends and means.

Then it splits off into subcategories such as exploratory (high ends & high mean), developmental (high mean, low ends), identification (low means, high ends), and competitive (low means and low ends). Typical examples of failure innovations are lack of resources, poor return from risk, poor commitment, poor communications, and fear of failure, to name a few. When looking at where innovation can fail, it is also important to identify the business cycle. The business cycle begins with step 1, which is expansion. This when a business grows and prices grow.

Then comes step 2, which is contraction. Here crises occur because of competitors offering better prices and supply and price may decrease. Step 3 is stagnation, which is when the minimum demand and offer are reached. Step 4 begins the cycle again with expansion as the lower prices promote growth again. That is why removing some of the barriers to innovation like price and demand may come from creating cost-saving innovations that customers can will be drawn to even amidst financial turmoil.

It is very important to take into consideration the business cycle when developing a new product as well as the condition of the market and the overall cost of designing and distributing a product. Three solutions that assist during the process of the cycle is renovation (updating the product), stagnation (keeping it as is), or even closure (closing the product). Question 2 Part A The multi-angle flashlight will be explained with the information-knowledge pyramid. The first step is data.

In order for a product to gain potential funding and interest from future buyers, raw observations, facts, and events must be considered. Flooding has become a major problem for many people throughout the United States. There has been recent flooding and tornadoes in Texas and flooding throughout Mexico and the eastern part of the United States. "A large weather system moving through the region has been producing heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms since Friday," said weather.com meteorologist Quincy Vagell.

"Record rainfall has caused flooding across Texas, and the storms have spawned numerous reports of tornadoes over parts of several states" (The Weather Channel, 2015). Because there have been several evacuations and emergencies, things like a flashlight can come in handy when it comes to safety and escape. The flashlight will be designed to be lightweight, waterproof, and slim with a rubber grip. The end part will have an expanding opening that can widen providing weak light to a large area or narrow, providing intense light to a smaller area.

This is a great way people can use one tool to do two things and enables the next step of the period, which is information. Information is data shared and used for a purpose. By generating articles over the effect that the weather has had on the United States, the flashlight will be seen as an important part of any emergency kit.

Presenting research into the effectiveness of waterproof, slim flashlights versus large and bulky lights that are heavy and burdensome will give consumers awareness of what options are out there for their particular needs. The next step is knowledge (information and experience with meaning, context, and understanding). This would be the part where people provide testimonials of their experiences with the flashlights and where one can find studies or articles that explain the benefit of flashlights in crises.

Information like this will enable customers to understand what the flashlight can be used for as well as its importance. Other situations can also be included like repair and so forth. The last step is wisdom (longer-term considered judgment, insight, and understanding). This is when market research comes into play and provides what may happen in terms of buying trends, what latest products are coming out and even weather patterns.

All of this is important as it provides the groundwork for generating an effective marketing campaign and providing trends for potential stakeholders and investors. B. Businesses are at risk for failure every day. The enterprise value-cycle provides insight into the kinds of feedback involved in risk assessment. Breaking it down, it involves secondary and primary feedback. The secondary feedback consists of inputs such as capital, land, labor, raw materials, and job specification. The other aspect is transformation and that consists of technology, capital and labor, and management.

Then follows outputs or goods services which transitions into primary feedback such as marketing involving promotion, logistics, and delivery. Then finally, there is performance consisting of market share, sales, revenue, and growth/survival. Secondary feedback is easy to illustrate in terms of potential risks. For example, if a self-publisher invests money into their book, there is a risk of wasting capital.

Then goes into the phase where technology must be applied as well as labor and capital by for example writing a manuscript on a computer and then hiring an editor to line edit. Sometimes the self-publisher has to manage several people such as editor and illustrator and make sure to pay them for their labor. There are many risks here as the people working for the self-publisher may not submit work or may submit subpar work.

Then after time and effort, a book is produced and sold making a risk in the fact that the self-publisher may not attract enough customers. Then the self-publisher invest time and capital promoting the book and trying to get honest reviews to attract attention. Finally, after all is said and done, the self-publisher collects revenue and sees how much he/she has sold. There is large risk throughout the course of this endeavor. The self-publisher risks significant capital for potentially no pay out.

Not only is this what causes many self-publishers to fail, but also, where self-publishers do not recognize the need for additional labor or capital. Sometimes putting too little money in an endeavor or producing subpar products leads to wasted endeavors and increased risk of failure. People often do not realize the importance of feedback and understanding their competitors. When someone self-publishes, there is a huge risk of failure, especially when the book looks less like a traditionally published book, and more like a homegrown effort.

Millions of people aim for developing and writing a book. "An article in the New York Times claims that 81% of us believe we have a book in us. In fact, extrapolated across the entire U.S., this 81% equates to 200 million books" (Winters, 2015). Investing enough capital to make a book look more professional and promote in the right places will decrease risk of failure. Part II Question 3 Buell may need to rely on more than one source for funding. This is known as layered financing.

In addition, what is important to note are the two main sources of getting capital: Debt capital and Equity capital, plus other sources like crowdfunding and seeing which processes can be done at a reduced cost or for free. To begin, there are advantages as well as disadvantages to debt and equity financing. The advantages to debt financing is it allows someone to pay for new equipment, building, as well as other assets needed to expand a business before earning the necessary funds.

This is great for those wishing to pursue an aggressive growth strategy. This is also great if the entrepreneur has access to low interest rates meaning paying off the debt over a period will be easier. Debt financing also means an entrepreneur does not have to relinquish any control of the business or ownership like how it happened with Harley Davidson closing down the company. There are some disadvantages however. "The most obvious disadvantage of debt financing is that you have to repay the loan, plus interest.

Failure to do so exposes your property and assets to repossession by the bank. Debt financing is also borrowing against future earnings" (Kokemuller, 2015). There are some advantages to equity financing. A big advantage is one does not have to repay equity financing. New investors will share the liabilities and risks that come with company ownership. Since no debt payments have to be made, a cash flow created allows further growth.