Literature Review
Entrepreneur is a person or an individual, who instead of working under someone as employee, runs some small business, by making an assumption of all the rewards as well as risks of a business venture. An entrepreneur of an organization is mainly seen as an innovator of ideas and strategies regarding any business. Entrepreneurship is being regarded as a critical component of economic growth and innovation. It is considered as an integral part in the growth of economic strategies of national and local governments across the world (Aulet and Murray 2013).
The main objective of the report is to compare and contrast the differences and similarities in the phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship between nineteenth and twenty first centuries. It also discusses in detail the historical experiences, cultures, values and various challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in the past decades. Furthermore, it includes the concept of migrant entrepreneurship and how it has changed over time.
The report highlights the experiences of Claus Spreckels and the Marx family in their journey of entrepreneurship. It explains in detail, the similarities and differences of their business journeys along with several limitations of the analysis, values and aspirations of the migrant entrepreneurs as well as micro and macro challenges and opportunities.
Claus Spreckels: A Biographical Case Study of Nineteenth-Century American Immigrant Entrepreneurship
Born in July 9th, 1828, Claus Spreckels was the most successful and accomplished German-American immigrant entrepreneur in the late of nineteenth century. At the time, Spreckels unofficially retired, his estate evaluation was approximately fifty million dollars. He was given the title of “sugar king” in the West and of Hawai. Moreover, he was ranked among ten most rich Americans of that time. His career comprised building as well as breaking monopolies in transport, sugar, electricity, gas, real estates, banks, breweries and newspapers. Jovial yet ruthless, exploitive yet progressive, Spreckels represented the fundamental virtues of America, that is, independence, liberty, risk taking and courage. He continued returning to Germany at every interval, in order to recover from the West’s taxing life (Bailetti 2012).
The first business industry in which Spreckels succeeded is the one which is quite common for the German immigrants, that is, beer brewing. After that, he and his brother along with others, founded the first large scale beer producer of San Francisco, named, Albany Brewery. However, he sold his business of grocery items for around 50,000 dollars, in order to focus on his breweries (Barringer 2012). In addition to this, he introduced some improvements in the technological department, which will prove beneficial for the brewery in regional markets for many years. Later in the year 1863, Spreckels sold his shares of beer brewing for 75,000 dollars, in order to switch into some new field which would make him richer. He started a new venture of sugar business (Baklanov et al. 2014).
In contrast to the beer consumption, people in United States consumed sugar in much higher volume than that of Europe. Spreckels in order to study the sugar business in United States returned to New York. In the year 1865, he again sold his enterprise at much considerable profit. However, not satisfied with his own work, he started studying and researching more on production of beet-sugar. After learning a lot about agricultural science, refining, waste utilization and farming, Spreckels mastered in the fields of transportation, labor costs, export costs and whole sale trading for the production of sugar (Baum et al 2014).
Claus Spreckels: A Biographical Case Study of Nineteenth-Century American Immigrant Entrepreneurship
Claus Spreckels had an accomplished career as an entrepreneur but he experienced several hardships in his businesses as well. He survived and managed to become the most successful entrepreneur in the late nineteenth century. However, today none of the business firms survived; still his name is mentioned in Hawaiian and San Francisco travel guides. His name is used as a remarkable example being the most successful and exceptional self sufficient man. Spreckels name is widely known in America; however he is still unknown in the contemporary Germany (Bridge and O’Neill 2012).
The Empire of Giggle marks the comeback of Marx, which started off as Marx Revolution. The Marx brothers were determined to create something which would shake the whole world. Marx family had always taught the younger ones to be hard working and to be the best. They wanted the younger ones to be successful in life and achieve greater. Marx’s father always believed in the concept “behind every great man there is a woman.” The three brothers namely, Groucho, Chico and Harpo were born in Belorussia; out of them Groucho was the eldest one with an entrepreneurial mind. He always wanted to achieve something greater which would make their family richest of that time (Drucker 2014).
The second one was quite a thinker and an accomplished performer, who would always think of others’ wellbeing. He was quite an urban and a real renaissance man. The last child was not much into business and loved spending his time chatting in a pub with girls or gambling. Furthermore, there was another member in the family, Emily the darling and shy little girl who was under the protection of her brothers and father. Groucho was the most ambitious one in the family and wanted to do something greater for themselves. The Internet and Information Technology opened their eyes and they understood that there is a vast world outside. Groucho wanted to get a sweet taste of the world and finally wanted to travel in some other countries to fulfill his dreams. He decided to face his parents with his innovative ideas and opinions (Kelley, Singer and Herrington 2012).
Groucho took the courage of facing his parents and left his home in order to spread his wings and achieve his dreams. After being established in Australia, he took his family there and wanted them to have the taste of his successful journey. Groucho was always ambitious and responsible towards his family. He wanted to do something greater and better in order to secure his family members. Moreover, in the twenty first century, internet usage helped in greater understanding of the world outside, helping them in a huge way (Koellinger and Roy Thurik 2012).
The clearest and simplest shared trait and characteristics of the German immigrant business entrepreneurs in United States is, they all moved physically from Germany to America. Transatlantic business of the migration travel was basically being used by all American immigrants, who were from Europe, including Germany (Drucker 2014). The business in the oceanic transportation held for over centuries, with the migrant entrepreneurs grasping the international businesses. More than six million Germans changed their place of business and migrated to United States of America, in order to expand their business. In the nineteenth century, majority of the German people were the first ones to migrate to Western countries for social as well as economic innovations (Schaper et al. 2014).
The Empire of Giggle ‘AKA the Marx revolution’
In the nineteenth century, people from Europe and Germany left their native country and moved to the Western hemisphere, in order to start a new life and new business and that too in a new country. They had migrated with the hope of gaining more profits in new countries. In the twenty first century, however, the scenario is a bit different. Entrepreneurs move to new countries because of several economical issues in the native countries (Kirzner 2015). Moreover, entrepreneurs have this pre conceived notion these days, that moving in the first world countries would be beneficial for them, gaining them more opportunities. Entrepreneurs want to grow their businesses in the newer markets, with better and bigger potentials, for gaining international acclamation (Storey 2016).
In the nineteenth century, travelling was a major issue as it took months to travel to other countries. Migrant entrepreneurs mainly travelled via ships which had minimum water and food reserves. The journey was tiring and too long and also there was a chance of getting lost in the midway as the knowledge of the area was minimal (Baum et al. 2014). In the twenty first century, however, the whole scenario is much different. Travelling takes less than ten hours and immigration process is much organized. There is no chance of getting lost in the midway. Moreover, in the nineteenth century, it was very hard to start a new life in a new country as availability of resources was minimal. However, establishing a new business was easier as compared to the twenty first century (Mauer et al. 2017).
In the twenty first century, moving to a new country is not that difficult, as availability of resources is more. Adaptation process is faster as compared to the nineteenth century business. However, with the advent of digital media, starting a business in some new country is not that difficult (Kuratko 2016). One can completely gain knowledge through information technology, regarding the working environment and policies of other countries and select what is suitable for him/her. With the technology, business entrepreneurs can easily make connections with other people and learn new and innovative business skills. It helps them gain knowledge regarding new people and new working environment (Hwang and Chang 2016).
Taking into consideration all the above factors, it can be said that in twenty first century competition is higher, as majority of the entrepreneurs tend to move into other countries, in order to expand their business. In the nineteenth century, competition was however less and business expansion was easier. Moreover, moving to a new country and starting a business also costs higher in contrast to nineteenth century (Bhachu 2017). Government and immigration policies as well as cultural adjustability also play a major role. In the nineteenth century, brand recognition was not a major factory. However, twenty first century entrepreneurs should also keep this point in mind, as brand recognition and awareness plays a major role in any business. Therefore, an entrepreneur must keep these above factors in mind before expanding his/her business to some Western hemisphere and before migrating (Hwang and Chang 2016).
Migrant Entrepreneurs
The journey of Claus Spreckles and the Marx family is one of the best in determining the entrepreneur traits of a business unit. Both the examples provides the perfect case study for new entrepreneurs who are willing to venture into business for the first time and also for the business entrepreneurs who are involved in the business for a long time.
Claus Spreckles was the most successful entrepreneur in his times and was referred as the sugar king of California. He is one of the best examples of an important group of American immigrant entrepreneurs who used opportunities in his time to create a completely different form of entrepreneurship and a different economy. On the other hand the Marx family immigrated to Australia to establish their business. They were able to perfectly establish their business. The brothers were able to display perfect entrepreneur level skills to be successful in business.
Communal Relationships and exchange relationships are segmented out by the motivating factors of providing benefits to the other persons in the community. In such a relationship benefits are provided as a response to the needs or in order to show a general concern for the other persons but on the other hand exchange relationships are the benefits that are given with an exception of providing benefits in return of the benefit provided by the person or as a well gestured behaviour of giving benefit in exchange of the previous benefit. These kinds oof relationships generally exists within a family and other close relationships like romantic relationships, family friends or some close aides of the person (Baum et al. 2014).
The persons in a communal relationship are dependent on each other for receiving benefits through love from each other and thus they enjoy a mutually rewarding and entertaining relationship in between each of them. The mentioned relationship is particularly beneficial to the people who like to play a care giving role for their family or close aides. For example the head of the family or the eldest child of a family or the eldest daughter who have the tendency to offer additional care giving tasks to protect their families, love them and stand by them in times of crisis. There are also some persons who have a history of mutually beneficial communal behaviors that can perceive care giving facilities as a continuation of reciprocally rewarding relationship. In the given case study the eldest brother Gaucho Marx can be said to be the ideal example, who plays a beneficial role when he takes up the responsibility to be successful in life and take care of the other family members.
From both the case studies of The Empire of Giggle and the Claus Spreckels the readers can get a clear idea on how to handle conflict situations with ease. Some of the key similarities that helped the two families to handle conflicts were;
- Stubbornness- Stubborn behavior was one of the main reasons behind the success of the brothers and sisters to handle conflict situations with ease. The successful people in life tend to develop a stubborn nature about the belief system. The elder brother and the younger sister always got into a conversation or a debate with their parents who were not willing to cooperate with them at the beginning. Stubbornness is just the beginning of the elements that helps to deal with conflict.
- Avoidance- The readers can also find that the people who had ambitions in their life were in a mood to avoid. There are people in the world who avoid any kind of problems that comes in their way. Eventually there are problems after a long gap as all the problems that were avoided earlier seems to bounce back and disturb the entrepreneur (Mauer et al. 2017).
- Compromise- Compromise is one of the key ways to achieve success in the modern business environment. The entrepreneurs just cannot depend on one particular thought that manipulates the ideas of the person and they have to make sure that they compromise something or the other to achieve greater and better results that can be beneficial for their well being.
- Collaboration- Collaboration is the best way to avoid any kind of mistakes while taking serious decisions. Collaboration does not mean that one person has the best idea or the partner in the business has the best idea but it means that both the persons have some good ideas about a particular decision that can have a great deal of influence to make the decision almost perfect and effective in nature.
- Accommodation- Accommodating with better ideas and better people is the basics of avoiding conflict situations. Sticking to same old ideas does not help the cause of the organization as well as the entrepreneur himself. Therefore accommodation is one of the best ideas to avoid conflict situations (Kuratko 2016).
Providing Leadership Support- The philosophy or mentality of the top management of the company is the main determinant behind a leadership support environment. The executives as well as the officers must establish a proper and efficient social environment that can be useful for the success of the company. Providing confidence and self belief to the employees helps them to easily interact with the officials and the top level management of the company (Hwang and Chang 2016).
Setting Ground rules- The leaders must establish some ground rules and regulations in the company that can be beneficial for the upgrade of the company. The ground rules helps the employees to interact freely with the senor level management of the Company and take wise decisions that are beneficial for the company.
Establishing Realistic Expectations- It is important for the management to clarify the goals of each of the team members in a collaborative environment. For this the management must;
- Review and analyse the roles of each of the members
- Each member must help the other in times of need
- Relate the needs of each members to the overall purpose of the team
- Mention the responsibilities of the team members while describing the work plan
Organizing the process- Organizing the entire process must be done in an efficient way to achieve success in a collaborative environment. Apart from providing support it is utmost important to clarify the roles and responsibilities of all the members in a team. The organization process also includes the inclusion of the decisions of the team members while taking any important decisions (Bhachu 2017).
Building a trust- Trust must be present in a collaborative business environment as because absence of trust leads to failure of the organization process. Building a trust can help the business to sustain in the long run.
This section of the report explains about the various methods of research, which are available and applied in this study as well as their analysis for addressing the problems. They are directed towards the research topic, that is, the differences and similarities between the entrepreneurial behavior in the nineteenth and the twenty first century. Likewise, it also presents different procedures and strategies for identifying the problems or issues related to this topic. It provides detailed analysis the phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship between nineteenth and twenty first centuries. It also discusses in detail the historical experiences, cultures, values and various challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in the past decades (Kirzner 2015).
Multiple procedures are employed to this study, in order to examine the status of migrant entrepreneurship which includes the descriptive research methodology, ensuring that the study is quick and cheap as well. In addition to this, usage of qualitative analysis method has helped in the understanding of reasons, opinions and motivations, while providing a thorough insight into the problem along with some rich data. Secondary data is collected through internet, review of existing literature, journals and research thesis related to the topic. The academic articles are referred and studied, for the detailed analysis of the topic and the interpretation of the data which are being collected from the articles. The report contains Harvard style of referencing.
Both the experiences of Claus Spreckels and Marx family were different. They faced hardships, which has pushed them to the success. They both had different kind of experiences, in their migrant entrepreneurial journey. The major differences between their business journeys are; the way both the entrepreneurs thought and worked. Spreckels was more experienced than Groucho, he changed his business including his business patterns more often. Groucho was ambitious and wanted to do something for his family. With the advent of internet in the twenty first century, Groucho was much influenced by the technology (Liargovas and Skandalis 2012).
On the other hand the similarities are; both of their entrepreneurial journeys were not smooth and both of them faced hardships in life. In Groucho’s scene, his family was not much supportive in the beginning. Spreckels has gained fame in America; however, he didn’t get much acclamation in Germany. His name is used in the Hawaiian and San Francisco travel guides. Both of them were risk takers and adventurers, which helped them, succeed in their specific fields (Sahin 2012).
Conclusion and Limitations
To conclude, in many countries the migrants are better entrepreneurs than the native ones. They are more self-employed than the natives. Starting a business is an important career step. The first and foremost step an individual needs to undertake before starting a new business venture is to decide what type of entrepreneur he/she wants to become. It is important to have a clear understanding on the type of business a person hopes to acquire. It can be an independent business or buying a franchise or a corporate enterprise. Starting an independent venture is more beneficial than buying an existing one, as the business type fits my personal as well as business goals.
However, there are several limitations to this report. Analysis is purely on the basis of the items, which are available on the academic journals, internet and theses. The time was limited for the collection of data for this study. Survey and personal interviews could have established and supported the study more. The study was confined only to the phenomenon of migrant entrepreneurship between nineteenth and twenty first centuries and not to the whole entrepreneurship subject.
References
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