Role of an entrepreneur in the modern-day world
Discuss About The Entrepreneurship Process Practice Cengage.
The above quoted lines of Peter F. Drucker from the book “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles” clearly outlines the role of an entrepreneur in the modern day world. The modern world of business has become much more competitive than the traditional one and a reflection of this is the launch of several new small as well as medium scale enterprises (Drucker, 2014). It is here that the role of the entrepreneurs becomes very significant. The entrepreneurs are imbued with the role of “designing, launching and running a new business” (Kirzner, 2015). Therefore, they form an integral part of the new business organizations as well as companies and their contributions often help the business organizations or the companies to expand and also to increase their business (Kirzner, 2015). However, a miscalculated entrepreneur policy can even lead to the decline of the prospects of the company or the business organizations. Therefore, the role played by them becomes very significant in this particular context (Kirzner, 2015).
“The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”
The above quoted lines of Nolan Bushnell clearly indicate the character or the personality that an entrepreneur should possess. An entrepreneur is someone who is attributed with the major responsibility of not only designing and launching a new business but also with the successful running of that particular business (Schaper et al., 2014). In the opinion of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea”. Therefore, an entrepreneur should be able to inculcate the virtues of competitiveness among the various employees of the company or the business organization for which he or she is working. In other words, entrepreneurship can be defined as the “capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit” (Kuratko, 2016).
Marriott International Inc, founded in the year 1927 by J. Willard Marriott, is an American company which provides services in the hospitality sector (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). The company manages as well as offers franchise to “a broad portfolio of hotels and related lodging facilities” (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). The company has more than 6,000 hotels and related lodges in more than 122 other nations of the world (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). The company is the 117th largest business organization of the world in terms of the revenue which it generates on yearly basis (“Forbes Welcome”, 2018). Some of the financial details of the company are provided by the below given figure-
The above given figure clearly indicates that in the recent times the profits of the company has considerably decreased. Although the company has its humble beginning in Maryland, it has emerged as one of the major companies in the genre of the hospitality industry offered more than 1.2 million rooms to the customers from diverse parts of the globe (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). The company is one of the best rated service providers in the hotel industry and most of the hotels belonging to the company have an impressive rating of 5 star (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). It is to be noted that the company is a pioneer in the genre of the hotel industry and was the first hotel of the world in the year 1995 to offer the facility of online reservation to its customers (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). In addition to this, the company also takes the help of the latest technology as well as innovations to cater to the needs and the requirements of the customers in the best possible manner. However, it is seen that in the recent times the business of the company has suffered a setbacks due to various diverse factors. In the recent times the business of the company is shrinking due to various factors like the rise of several competitors in the same sector who are offer quality services at a relatively cheaper price, the issues with the supplier system, the economic downturn which the world is facing at the moment and others (Al-Zoubi & Alomari, 2017).
Characteristics of an entrepreneur
An “Entrepreneurial School of thought” tries to examine the various factors which are specific to the concept of entrepreneurship (Abosede & Onakoya, 2013). The focus of this particular school of thought is also on the internal “locus of control” (Fisher, 2012). The various entrepreneurial schools of thought also concern itself with the identification of the various “major market segments as well as interstice (in-between) markets that arise from larger markets” (Fisher, 2012). The two major schools of thought in the entrepreneurial genre are the “Entrepreneurial Trait School of Thought” and the “Strategic Planning School of Thought” (Abosede & Onakoya, 2013). J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. was the CEO of the company Marriott International Inc. till March 2012. His leadership saw the rise of the company from a meager one to one of the largest ones in the world. It is to be noted that he was the one was who came up with the innovative idea to offer the option to the customers to make online reservations in the year 1995 (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). His leadership also saw the expansion of the company in more than 122 nations of the world. It is to be noted that the ideas used by him belonged to the “Entrepreneurial Trait School of Thought” (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). The present CEO of the company Marriott International Inc, Arne M. Sorenson, on the other hand, belongs to the category of the “Strategic Planning School of Thought” (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018). As already mentioned, the company Marriott International Inc., is facing a crisis at the present moment because of various reasons. Therefore, to overcome the problem the present CEO of the company has undertaken several collaborations with other major companies of the world like Alibaba Group, Bulgari Spa and others in order to reduce the competition faced by it and also to expand their business in lesser explored parts of the world (“JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts”, 2018).
It is to be noted that the world at present is undergoing a kind of a economic recession while trying to recover from the economic recession which originated in the United States of America a way back (Bridge & O’Neill, 2012). Therefore, the buying pattern of the customers has changed in the present times and many people avoid taking the services of the luxury hotels which charge them extravagant amount of money for providing the services. This is one of the factors which might affect the prospects of the company in the longer run. It is to be noted that the social environment of the world is changing in a very rapidly. A common trend noted among the present world is its fragmentariness (Bridge & O’Neill, 2012). It is to be noted that the people these days very seldom go on vacations with their entire family. This has affected the prospects of the company in a negative manner. The company specializes in providing hospitality services to the customers and therefore this fragmentariness of the world has affected the business of the company. Another interesting trend to note is the over-reliance of the present world on technology. It is true that the company was the first one to provide online reservation facilities to the customers however since then the company has not made any significant use of the modern technologies as well as modern innovations. This has tremendously affected the prospects of the company as the majority of its rivals take the help of the digital media to offer better services to the customers.
The company in order to overcome the economic recession which it is facing at the moment can offer discounted offers to the customers (Drucker, 2014). This will allow the company not only to retain their loyal customers but will also help in the future when they will increase the cost of the services offered by them in the near future when the condition of the market turns better. In order to overcome the social trend which the world is facing at the moment, the company can provide attractive family packages to the customers in order to get more customers. In addition to this, the company can take the help of the digital marketing and digital media and also provide online services to the customers in a bid to increase its business (Drucker, 2014).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it becomes clear that entrepreneurs play an important role in the overall growth as well as the development of the entire company or the business organization concerned. In addition to this, the type of the school of thought selected by the entrepreneur also goes a long way in deciding the effectiveness of the services provided by the entrepreneur to the company.
References
Abosede, A. J., & Onakoya, A. B. (2013). Intellectual Entrepreneurship: Theories, Purpose and Challenges. International Journal of Business Administration, 4(5), 30.
Al-Zoubi, A. F., & Alomari, M. (2017). The Role of Internal Customer in Improving the Quality of Hotel Services in Jordan: A Case Study of the Marriott International Hotel in Amman. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 9(6), 82.
Bridge, S., & O’Neill, K. (2012). Understanding enterprise: Entrepreneurship and small business. Palgrave Macmillan.
Drucker, P. (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. Routledge.
Fisher, G. (2012). Effectuation, causation, and bricolage: A behavioral comparison of emerging theories in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 36(5), 1019-1051.
Forbes Welcome. (2018). Forbes.com. Retrieved 17 March 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/companies/marriott-international/
JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts. (2018). Marriott News Center. Retrieved 17 March 2018, from https://news.marriott.com/p/jw-marriott/
Kirzner, I. M. (2015). Competition and entrepreneurship. University of Chicago press.
Kuratko, D. F. (2016). Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.
Schaper, M. T., Volery, T., Weber, P. C., & Gibson, B. (2014). Entrepreneurship and small business.