Everything you need to know about the characteristics and features of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs start their own business enterprise in small size and make it a good fortune. To take their organisation to great heights the nature innate characteristics and general qualities are the factors behind the success of an entrepreneur.
In the words of Peter F. Drucker, “An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it and exploits opportunities. Innovation is the specific tool of an entrepreneur.”
Some of the characteristics of an entrepreneur are:-
1. Desire or Urge to Achieve 2. Retain Motivation towards Achievement 3. Leadership Quality 4. Risk Bearing Capacity 5. Convert Dreams into a Concrete Action Plan 6. Possess High Level of Energy 7. Technical Knowledge 8. Work in Uncertain Conditions 9. Decision Maker
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10. Innovator 11. Sense of Efficacy 12. Goal Oriented 13. Hard Work 14. Highly Optimistic 15. A Good Organising Ability 16. Seizing Opportunities 17. Dedication and Devotion 18. Dynamism 19. Self-Motivation 20. Persistent Problem-Solver and a Few Others.
Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur: Leadership Quality, Risk Bearing Capacity, Technical Knowledge and a Few Others
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – 10+ Characteristics of an Entrepreneur: Desire to Achieve, Leadership Quality, Risk Bearing Capacity, Decision Maker and a Few Others
In this contexts two questions arises.
What makes an entrepreneur successful? Is there anything common in the personal characteristics of the entrepreneurs?
In an endeavour two answer these questions we need to understand the characteristics of an entrepreneur. There have been sufficient studies to trace the common characteristics of the entrepreneurs.
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Here, we shall try to enlist few entrepreneurial characteristics:
1. Desire or Urge to Achieve:
An entrepreneur must have an inherent urge to achieve the desired goals. McClelland found that people with a high need for achievement perform better. The “n Ach” people are achievement motivated and look forward to attain challenging goals and achieve marvelous achievements in their endeavours.
2. Retain Motivation towards Achievement:
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A successful entrepreneur must retain the strong motivation level towards the achievement of a task. There may be obstacles and hindrances, but an entrepreneur must keep himself/ herself motivated even at the difficult times.
3. Leadership Quality:
An entrepreneur ought to be a good leader. The entrepreneur has to bring all the factors of productions into a single platform. He/she should be able to lead the workers successfully.
4. Risk Bearing Capacity:
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An entrepreneur makes his move under uncertainty. The entrepreneur should be willing to bear risk. The entrepreneur takes moderate risks. He is not a gambler. In the entire process of establishing an enterprise, the entrepreneur bears the uncertainty involved in the enterprise. The entrepreneur undertakes the responsibility of bearing the losses that may arise on account of new ideas and projects undertaken by him/her.
5. Decision Maker:
An entrepreneur is expected to be very good in decision making. Every phase in entrepreneurship needs proper decision making. The decision making ability of the entrepreneur helps in solving many problems.
6. Innovator:
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An innovating mind is an inherent characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. An entrepreneur introduces new technology in production; discover new products, source of raw materials, and new markets. The entrepreneur as an innovator comes up with new ideas, products, services, methods in order to meet the ever changing needs of consumers most successfully. The entrepreneur has a profound influence on the level of business activities.
7. Goal Oriented:
An entrepreneur should be highly goal-oriented. An entrepreneur must be able to set realistic but challenging goals for him as well as for others in the organisation.
8. Desire to own Responsibility:
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An entrepreneur must be able to own responsibility .The entrepreneur must have a sense of personal responsibility for the outcome of the initiatives that he/she takes while pursuing his/her entrepreneurial pursuit.
9. Organizing Skill:
An entrepreneur must be able to mobilize the available resources in an efficient manner. The entrepreneur must be able to organize all the factors of production. The entrepreneur should be able to allocate the appropriate worker for a task to be accomplished. Effectively combining manpower and jobs would enable the entrepreneur to be successful.
10. Work in Uncertain Conditions:
All entrepreneurial endeavours are shrouded with uncertainty. The entrepreneur must possess the guts to work in this uncertain environment. The ability to handle uncertainty is the key to success.
11. Emotionally Stable and Have Self-Control:
An entrepreneur is expected to be emotionally stable. It helps him/her in meeting the challenges of exploiting a new business opportunity.
12. Communication Skill:
An entrepreneur is expected to possess a high level of communication skill. The entrepreneur needs to efficiently communicate with all the concerned business partners. He/ She must be able to communicate his/her views and ideas to the employees, customers, suppliers, and financiers.
13. High Level of Commitment and Dedication:
An entrepreneur must be highly dedicated and committed towards his task. Beginning a enterprise successfully requires total commitment from an entrepreneur.
14. Possess High Level of Energy:
An entrepreneur has to be energetic. Organizing resources and coordinating all the factors of production requires long hours of work and therefore, an entrepreneur should possess high level of energy.
15. Technical Knowledge:
An entrepreneur is expected to have a reasonable level of technical knowledge. The entrepreneur should be aware of the latest technology available. The technical knowhow allows the entrepreneur to appreciate and understand changes in the technological environment. The entrepreneur can bring about required technological up gradation or changes.
Technical knowledge is an inevitable prerequisite for a normal entrepreneur to bring about innovation in the technology used in the production process.
16. Analytical Mind and High Mental Ability:
An entrepreneur should bear an analytical mind in order take pragmatic and realistic decisions. He /she should be able to analyze various problems and situations associated with the enterprise. Moreover, the entrepreneur should not have a prejudiced mind, but should deploy his/her analytical mind to solve all the issues.
17. Flexibility:
The business environment is very dynamic. There are often changes which could be detrimental for an enterprise. A true entrepreneur should be able to adapt to the changes in the business environment. Rigidity and inertia to change could be fatal. There may be changes in demand conditions, supply conditions, government policies, global business environment .The successful entrepreneur is very flexible in his/her approach and deals with the changes with great caution. The entrepreneur should be ready to change the strategies whenever necessary.
18. Willing to Learn from Feedback:
A successful entrepreneur likes to receive feedback of his/her performance. The feedback allows the entrepreneur to decide his/her future course of action.
19. Self-Confidence:
An entrepreneur must have self-confidence to successfully complete the business endeavour. Self-confidence helps the entrepreneur to tide over all the problems associated with his/her entrepreneurial pursuit.
20. Perseverance:
An entrepreneur must be perseverant. He /she may face failures. But the entrepreneur should never bow down. He/ she should change the strategy and try again and again to materialize his/her vision into reality. An entrepreneur should never quit till the project is successfully completed.
It is prudent for an aspiring entrepreneur to understand the different characteristics of an entrepreneur. The potential entrepreneur should take stock of what might be lacking and acquire those skills through training.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – Most Important Characteristics of an Entrepreneur: Hard Work, Desire for Achievements, Highly Optimistic, Foresight and a Few Others
Entrepreneurs start their own business enterprise in small size and make it a good fortune. To take their organisation to great heights the nature innate characteristics and general qualities are the factors behind the success of an entrepreneur. Few of the qualities prominent in them are innate and some other qualities like analytical ability, computational skill etc., are enhanced through education, practical experiences, foresight skills etc.
The main principal characteristics of an entrepreneur are:
1. Hard Work:
A successful entrepreneurs works hard right from the beginning of his enterprise. This helps him to revive his business from verge of failure.
2. Desire for Achievements:
The desire for achievement of success, motivates an entrepreneur to overcome obstacles, suppress anxieties, repair misfortunes, plan for further expansion of business and run it successfully.
3. Independence:
A successful entrepreneur always wants to be independent and not being guided by others. These entrepreneurs set their own policies and procedures in their organisation. They take all the decisions by them self, unguided by any one. They are their own master.
4. Highly Optimistic:
A successful entrepreneur are highly optimistic and always look into favourable conditions that would prevail in future. They don’t take their step back by seeing the unfavourable conditions prevailing, they look ahead and overcome the situations, and prove to be successful in their business.
5. Foresight:
An entrepreneurs is a very good visualiser. He has a keen foresight to predict the future changes like Governmental policy, technological changes, customers’ needs and demands etc. Thus visualising the future he takes corrective steps and measures to overcome the future hurdles and meet the expectations of their customers.
6. Innovative:
To become a successful entrepreneur one has to be a very good innovator. Entrepreneurs always encourage research and innovative activities so as to produce goods and services that would meet the changing needs and demands of the customers from time to time.
7. A Good Organising Ability:
A good entrepreneur has a good organising ability. He organises all the scattered resources together, that are required for setting up of his enterprise and production of goods.
8. Maintains Good Public Relations:
A successful entrepreneur has to first maintain a very good relation with his employees so that the efficiency and quality of the organisation is maintained. He should have a cordial relation with his customers to get their patronage forever. He should also maintain good relations with his business clients, creditors, bankers, Government etc., So as to succeed in his ventures.
9. A Good Communicator:
An entrepreneur’s success depends on his communication skills. It is in the hands of the entrepreneur as to how clearly, precisely and systematically puts his ideas into words and present it effectively.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – 4 Common Features of Successful Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs exploit opportunities and turn them into successful new ventures. They start their own firms because of the challenge, profit potential, and enormous satisfaction they foresee lying ahead. They seek independence and the satisfaction of creating a successful business of their own. They feel tremendous satisfaction in building something from nothing and then seeing it succeed and embraced by the market. They seek profits while accepting the risk and uncertainty.
The following are some common features of successful entrepreneurs:
i. Take Calculated Risks:
Entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers. They spot opportunities, choose less-travelled paths, and do unusual things while trying to realize a dream. Entrepreneurs see ‘problems’ as – ‘opportunities,’ then take action to identify the solutions to those problems and the customers who will pay to have those problems solved. Entrepreneurial success is simply a matter of turning gaps into opportunities.
ii. Coordinate Efforts:
They pool resources, build a solid business plan and apply their will and skill to get things done. Entrepreneurs can rightly be called the force that drives economic and social progress.
iii. Innovate and Deliver Value:
They are the innovators and also the source of employment, productivity, and progress. The annals of history are replete with inspiring stories of famous entrepreneurs who have earned each and every penny through hard work and dedication.
iv. Convert Dreams into a Concrete Action Plan:
Each of them had a dream and the belief in their dream. They tackled all the problems and strode towards achievement of their goals. They worked out their difficulties and devoted their lives to work. There are innumerable examples of famous entrepreneurs who earned their billions with their ideas and hard work. They have the will and skill to turn mere dreams to reality. According to the Forbes website, the real essence of entrepreneurship is ‘define, invest, build, and repeat’.
Heroes of present-day world – Dedicated entrepreneurs are passionate; they turn their passion into their business. They are the heroes of today’s marketplace.
Successful entrepreneurs have acted as pillars of society, and because of their contribution, we live a better life today. They were born to bring their vision to life. For example, Henry Ford’s mass production of vehicles changed the way people lived in the 20th century by offering mobility. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt revolutionized the cyber world, which has become an integral part of our lives today.
Create jobs and improve the quality of human life – Entrepreneurship has proved to be a catalyst in the process of technological development and improvement of human lives. Entrepreneurs create millions of jobs and generate enormous wealth in society. They are the ones who not only have the right ideas but the courage to explore things and create the opportunities for themselves and in turn the society at large.
Entrepreneurship is more than simply ‘starting a business’. It is, in a nutshell, a process through which individuals identify opportunities, allocate resources, and create value. This creation of value is often through the identification of unmet needs or through the identification of opportunities for change.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – Important Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs (With Tips for an Aspiring Entrepreneur)
David McClelland and Winter have established that achievement is a potent motivation for entrepreneurship. Studies in India also show that the sense of achievement is the biggest motivation for people aspiring to become entrepreneurs. People, who have a high drive and high activity levels, constantly strive to achieve what they could call their own masterpiece arc most likely to be successful entrepreneurs.
They can be easily differentiated from others on the ground that they strive to achieve goals that are not perceived as easily achievable. They are a class apart with a vision that stimulates an inner drive for making their dreams come true. They find a special joy in winning; for them achievement is an end in itself.
Some important characteristics of successful entrepreneurs are as follows:
1. Commitment to Task:
Entrepreneurs are a committed lot. Once committed to a course of action, they do not let go a situation easily and try to work things to their advantage. An unaccomplished or unfinished task or project is seldom left unattended. The burden of failure seems to bother them too much and too long. They do not wait for luck chances and dig in their heels for a long haul, and stay with a project until accomplished successfully.
2. Choosing Moderate Risk:
Basically entrepreneurs can be compared with gamblers. While some people prefer to take risks wildly, and other prefers a conservative approach to minimize their exposure to loss, a successful entrepreneur generally undertakes moderate risks. That is why they are often referred to as – ‘calculated risk-takers’.
3. Seizing Opportunities:
A person with an entrepreneurial bent of mind is quick to detect and seize opportunities. They are creative and have innovative skills that enable them to successfully convert opportunities around them into economically and commercially viable programmes that generate impressive return on investments. As they are intensely realistic and practical, they anticipate and plan their moves carefully, and favour logical predictions based upon facts.
4. Sense of Efficacy:
The entrepreneurs try to project themselves as persons steering towards goals that involve action. They see themselves as problem-solvers rather than problem-avoiders, as initiative takers rather than conformists, because they are confident of their own abilities and resources.
5. Objectivity:
Entrepreneurs are more realistic than others about themselves and the ends they seek. They are extremely professional in their approach and do not let personal likes and dislikes come in the way of achieving goal. When they require assistance, they are most likely to select experts instead of unqualified friends and relatives at the helm. The attitude towards their enterprise is purely objective and business-like.
6. Open to Feedback:
A successful entrepreneur is one who learns from his experience and revisits his plans on the basis of feedback from the market. Most entrepreneurs are of the view that market feedback is very productive as it helps them to reshape their strategies towards customer satisfaction, and, in turn, goal achievement.
7. Independence:
Entrepreneurs prefer to work for themselves rather than others. They like to be their own bosses. They are among the people who would want their efforts to come to fruition as a result of their decisions, and feel their contribution to a project would be limited and restricted if it was not their own.
8. Hope of Success:
One of the greatest qualities among entrepreneurs is their unflinching hope in success. Diehard optimists, they start an enterprise with the will to succeed. Hope of success instead of fear of failure is predominant when they begin any task. This instills a lot of confidence among them that invariably leads to success.
9. Optimism in Novel Situations:
Entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic even in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations. Even in the face of odds, they have the ability of making the most of the circumstances and sailing through troubled waters.
10. Attitude toward Money:
Entrepreneurs tend to respect money, for every penny is hard- earned. They do not hold on to it either. Money, for them, is not a commodity to be hoarded. The attitude towards money is similar to how a money counter views it in a game. When the operations are profitable and returns on investment high, they view it as an indication of their winning a game.
11. Proactive Management:
Most conventional managers let things happen. Then they race around putting out bushfires, and trying to straighten things out. They practise reactive management. Not so the successful entrepreneur. Although they are careful to keep an eye on the present, successful entrepreneurs have a significant part of their thinking process directed toward the future. They plan their business in a way they would like it to be. They then work hard to bring their plans to actuality. This quality of working out ways to achieve a desired objective is the essence of proactive management.
12. Competition and Collaboration:
The new age entrepreneurs do not compete but collaborate with their rivals. Instead of playing win-lose games, they devise win-win games to ensure growth of the demand as well as supply. Competition is viewed in a positive way. They prefer competitors to prove their abilities and go in for healthy competition as an input for further innovation in goods and services. Destruction of competition is no longer the keyword. If necessary, they would collaborate with competitors to achieve their goals.
13. Reinforcing Achievement Motivation:
Entrepreneurs are a highly motivated lot. The achievement factor of motivation is very high among successful businessmen and they exhibit relatively higher energy, persistence, and action-orientation levels than their counterparts.
14. Flexible Authority Relationship:
Entrepreneurs being managers of their own organizations prefer to work with people and not work over people. At different stages of their growth they are expected to exhibit different leadership styles. More often than not they lead from the front and show a high degree of inclination for team work.
At times an entrepreneur may present himself or herself as very protective of employees, taking care of their needs, and give them directions in such a way that they happily accept him/her and follow his/her instructions. This is referred to as benevolent style of leadership.
15. Sound Decision Making Ability:
Entrepreneurs are generally endowed with the good quality of making sound decisions. Their decisions are generally well received and appreciated by the environment in which they are operating. This is so because their decisions are based on precise information and evaluation.
16. Good at Team Work:
Entrepreneurs always prefer to work in teams and lead from within. At the same time they consider the opinion of team members even as they are in a position to influence them and sort out issues as they proceed towards goal achievement.
17. Perseverance:
It is a great quality of an entrepreneur who prefers to stick to his or her commitment. In spite of odds they do not change their convictions and strive hard to do what they believe is right. ‘Stick to the knitting’ is an abiding principle of successful entrepreneurs.
18. Vision:
Entrepreneurs always have a vision. They view their future with a purpose or mission to realize in their life. Although there is much debate on this issue, the ultimate opinion is that entrepreneurship-oriented personalities do visualize a bright future.
19. Leadership Skills:
Basically, entrepreneurs show significant amount of leadership qualities in their endeavours. It is their perception of things and their creativity that attracts people and makes them their followers.
20. Self Confidence/Gut Feeling:
Entrepreneurs have enormous self-confidence in their work and in themselves. Unless they have confidence in their abilities, they may not be able to overcome the hurdles in their way. It is this confidence that enables them to convert their challenges into opportunities.
21. Dedication and Devotion:
Dedication and determination are the two important qualities which make them good entrepreneurs. They make optimum use of available time and resources and do not mind working hard in pursuit of their goals.
22. Positive Attitude:
Successful entrepreneurship is basically more of an attitude of a person than the person himself. That attitude has to be positive. Unless a person has a positive attitude, he/she may not be able to perceive things correctly and clearly and bring a task to completion.
Tips for an Aspiring Entrepreneur:
We see that an entrepreneur is one who is willing to take chance in the hope of making profits. He/she believes that business involves risk and risk is rewarded with quick and large profits. He/she became a successful entrepreneur because he or she had the patience, wisdom, and ability to succeed in the project.
Secondly, entrepreneurs should be quick to grasp the changes taking place in the environment around them; they should be mentally alert, practical, shrewd, and exceptionally intelligent. They should recognize that technological changes are basic to any process of economic development, show interest in new products, the processes of production, and should be dynamic enough to explore new markets, and new processes.
At the same time, they should be flexible to adopt them. They should be steady and understand the threats posed to their organization at any given time.
Economic development is an ever-changing and growing process. In this process, several opportunities come in the way, but the organization is also exposed to threats posed by the changes. An entrepreneur will have to marshal all strengths and resources either to grab the opportunities or to overcome the threats faced. Thus, intensive study of the strengths and weaknesses of the institution is essential for an entrepreneur.
Developing organizational structure is another important requirement for entrepreneurs. Since any organization is an edifice with administrative staff and meant to achieve the desired objectives, an entrepreneur should be able to select and train the organization persons who can deliver the goods.
There should be clearly defined goals and objectives for the organization and administrative authority should be delegated to suitable persons. The relationship between superior and subordinate staff should also be clearly specified. A well- defined organizational hierarchy not only ensures smooth day-to-day functioning of the organization but also facilitates its future growth and expansion.
It also gives a sense of stability and security to the group of people working with the institution. Therefore, the success of entrepreneurs lies in their capacity to create an organizational setup in which the desired goal and objectives can be achieved.
John Kao made a distinction between creative and/or charismatic entrepreneurs who are commercially innovative, and develop their own business and those who own business but stick to conventional product/service ideas. Although creative people and successful entrepreneurs share certain characteristics, not all creative people are entrepreneurs and not all entrepreneurs are creative.
The key to great entrepreneurial success may involve possessing a unique constellation of traits which includes creativity and entrepreneurial drive. A corollary distinction should also be made between entrepreneurs who are keen on last growth and expansion and those who are content with viable small business.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – Traits and Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an individual, who establishes an enterprise. The word entrepreneur has been derived from a French word enterprendre, which means to undertake. An entrepreneur is a person, who undertakes risks, mobilizes resources, and generates employment by establishing and running an enterprise.
Some of the entrepreneurship experts have given the following definitions of entrepreneurship:
According to Encyclopedia Americana (1988), “An entrepreneur is a businessman who assumes the risk of bringing together the means of production including capital, labor and material and receives his reward in profit from the market value of his product”.
According to Schumpeter, “An entrepreneur characteristically innovates, introduces new technologies, increases efficiency, productivity, or generates new products or services. An entrepreneur act as a catalyst for economic change and research indicates that entrepreneurs are highly creative individuals who imagine new solutions by generating opportunities for profit or reward. ”
In the words of Peter F. Drucker, “An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it and exploits opportunities. Innovation is the specific tool of an entrepreneur.”
In the words of Richard Cantillion, “An entrepreneur is the agent who buys means of production at a certain price in order to combine them into a product that is going to sell at prices that are certain at the moment at which he commits himself to his costs.”
According to International Labor Organization, “Entrepreneurs are people who have the ability to see and evaluate business opportunities together with the necessary resources to take advantages of them and to intimate appropriate action to ensure success.”
According to Kirzner (1979), an entrepreneur is the arbitrageur, who buys a product in lower price and sells the same product in higher price to earn profit.
Traits and Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur:
The success or failure of an enterprise depends on the efficiency of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur undertakes various activities, such as formulating and implementing a business plan and managing resources, to establish and run his/her enterprise successfully. He/she should possess some abilities and skills to perform different activities successfully.
Following are certain traits and characteristics of a successful entrepreneur:
i. Creativity:
Creativity refers to the ability of an entrepreneur to bring out new ways to run a business. An entrepreneur needs to verify the feasibility of the new idea before implementing it. Creativity and innovation are always used interchangeably, but there is a huge difference between both of these two words. Creativity is bringing something new into existence, whereas innovation is doing new things. Therefore, creativity is a prerequisite for innovation.
ii. Innovation:
Innovation refers to the ability of an entrepreneur to provide things in a novel manner. It is a specific instrument of entrepreneurship to add value to products or services or the unique recombination of resources to give something new to the world. The market is never saturated for an entrepreneur.
For example, replacing fruits with soft drinks is not merely an innovative activity. It can be a new method of decreasing the cost of production, improving the design of the product, and increasing the market share by beating the competitors. Innovation is the result of continuous generation of new thoughts and ideas.
iii. Dynamism:
Dynamism refers to one of the important characteristics of an entrepreneur. A successful entrepreneur should strive to bring dynamism to industries and markets. He/she should be able to convert a new idea into a successful innovation. He/she should replace inferior innovations across markets and industries with new products.
iv. Risk Taking and Decision Making Ability:
It refers to the capability of entrepreneurs to make decisions under the conditions of uncertainty. They should have courage to put everything on stake to convert his/her idea into a reality. However, he/she should assess risks involved in the decision and estimate the probability of success before acting upon.
v. Self-Motivation:
Self-motivation implies that an entrepreneur can be successful if he/she is guided by inner self and motivated to accomplish set goals. In addition, an entrepreneur should take initiative to do something beyond their job requirement or the demand of the situation. He/she should also look for opportunities and take necessary actions to avail them.
vi. Self-Confidence:
Self-confidence refers to one of the most required attributes in an entrepreneur that brings success in everything they do. An entrepreneur has a strong belief in self and own abilities. They express confidence in completing any task or meeting any challenge. They stick to the judgment in the face of opposition or early lack of success. They feel confident enough to take new challenges.
vii. Time Management:
Time management refers the skill of an entrepreneur to manage time effectively and efficiently. He/she should strive to work within the allotted time or before that, and utilize rest of time in learning more skills.
viii. Persistence:
Persistence implies that an entrepreneur should keep putting repetitive efforts or different actions to get over the obstacles. He/she should not be discouraged by the initial failure or obstacle that they get in the way of reaching goals
ix. Problem Solving:
It indicates the ability of an entrepreneur to solve problems rather than avoiding them. An entrepreneur should identify the cause of problems that come in the way and searches potentially unique ideas to solve them. He/she should either switch to an alternative strategy to reach a goal or generate innovative solutions.
x. Flexibility:
Flexibility helps an entrepreneur to adapt to the changing marketplace, strategies of competitors, and preferences of customers. It also helps the entrepreneur to make necessary changes in his/her products and services as per the market conditions.
xi. Vision:
Vision refers to the characteristic of an entrepreneur to visualize the way to successfully complete tasks to achieve set goals and objectives. In addition, the entrepreneur should communicate his/her with all shareholders of the enterprise, which, in turn, motivates them to achieve the set goals.
xii. Leadership:
Leadership refers to one of the most indispensable quality of an entrepreneur that decides the success of the organization. The leadership spirit helps the entrepreneur to move forward in every sphere of his/her life. The entrepreneur should be able to handle the problem effectively, generating resources, and influence others to perform efficiently.
xiii. Technical Knowledge:
Technical knowledge implies that an entrepreneur should be able to understand all the technical aspects, such as systems, procedures, and methodology, used in production. Additionally, he/she should need to develop technical skills to understand, communicate, and lead the technical staff of the enterprise.
Competencies of an Entrepreneur:
i. Body of Knowledge:
Body of knowledge refers to the fact that knowledge is a collection of information and retention of facts stored in an individual’s mind. For example, an individual may possess knowledge of driving the car, but acquiring the knowledge of driving a car alone would not enable him/her to actually drive unless he/she has something more than the knowledge component to perform the activity. Therefore, apart from knowledge, the individual needs to possess skills to transform knowledge into action.
ii. Skills:
Skills refer the ability to demonstrate a system and sequence of behavior that are functionally related to attain a performance goal. For example, if one wants to drive a car, he/she needs to have the skills besides the knowledge. Knowledge can be acquired through reading, listening, and visuals, whereas, skills can be acquired only through practice. Therefore, one should possess skills to perform a given task effectively.
iii. Motives and Traits:
Motivation and traits refer to important competencies of an individual. A motive is related to a particular goal state or condition appearing in the cognitive level, which drives, directs, and selects behavior of the individual.
For example, people having high achievement motivation aspire to improve their performance and compete against a standard of excellence. In other words, a motive can be defined as psychological features that enable an individual to take action toward a desired goal. On the other hand, a trait is a characteristic of an individual to respond in a particular situation.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – 10+ Important Characteristics of an Entrepreneur: Hard Work, Desire for High Achievement, Optimism, Independence and a Few Others
An analytical study on the successful entrepreneurs like Tata, Birla, Modi, Kirloskar, Dalmia and others reveals that they all had a humble beginning leading them up to great heights. The success or failure of a small enterprise mainly depends on personal characteristics of the entrepreneur.
Some of the important characteristics of an entrepreneur are the following:
1. Hard Work – The success or failure of an entrepreneur mainly depends on his willingness to work hard. It is the most distinguishing characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. An entrepreneur’s tireless, tedious and laborious work will enable him to lead his business to success.
2. Desire for high achievement – Achievement motivation is the single most factor which determines the success of an entrepreneur. This achievement motive enables him to overcome the obstacles and anxieties, to encounter misfortunes, to devise remedial actions and to run the business successfully.
3. Optimism – The successful entrepreneurs are not anxious or worried about problems faced by them in the present. They are optimistic and think that the situations will become favourable to business in the future. This optimistic approach will result in the effective management of the enterprise.
4. Independence – A successful entrepreneur does not like to be guided by others. He should have his own ways and means of performing things. He should be independent in matters regarding his business.
5. Foresight – An entrepreneur must have the ability to foresee the future changes in the business environment. He must be vigilant with regard to the changes that are taking place in the market.
6. Organising ability – An entrepreneur should possess organising capacity. He should have the ability to mobilize the factors of production – land, labour, and capital – required for starting an enterprise and then to produce the goods.
7. Innovative skill – The entrepreneur has to evaluate the changes in the tastes and preferences of the consumers. He must conduct research and innovative activities with a view to producing goods to satisfy the consumers’ changing demands for the products.
8. Mental ability – An entrepreneur should possess intelligence and analytical mind to evaluate the business situation for making innovations.
9. Ability to guard business secrets – Business secrecy is one of the fundamental aspects of a successful business. Disclosure of business secrets will favour the rival firms. Consequently, there will be a tough competition in the field.
10. Decision making – For running a business, a number of decisions are to be taken. In order to take decisions, the entrepreneur should have the capacity to analyse the various aspects of business.
11. Ability to maintain human relations – An entrepreneur has to deal with a number of persons like customers, suppliers, govt. officials, employees etc. He should be tactful in dealing with them.
12. Initiative and risk bearing – He should have the initiative and drive to venture into new areas and to accept responsibility. He should also possess the calibre to take the risks associated with his business. Profit is his reward for taking the risk.
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur – 5 Characteristics of a Good Entrepreneur
According to Vasant Desai, “The entrepreneur brings in overall change through innovation for the maximum social good. Human values remain sacred and inspire him to serve the society. He has firm belief in social betterment and he carries out his responsibility with conviction. In the process, he accelerates personal, economic as well as human development. The entrepreneur is a visionary and an integrated man with outstanding leadership qualities with a desire to excel, the entrepreneur, gives top priority to Research and Development. He always works for the well-being of the society. More importantly, entrepreneurial activities encompass all fields/sectors and foster a spirit of enterprises for the welfare of mankind.”
Based on the above definition, we can conclude that a modem entrepreneur tries to keep himself updated by way of evaluating new situations and analysing his environment to explore new prospects, takes risk and then arranges for necessary resources to start his enterprise.
Characteristic of Entrepreneurs:
The characteristics of an entrepreneur that contribute to success are the result of his achievement motivation. A successful entrepreneur must be a person with technical competence, initiative, good judgment, intelligence, leadership quality, self-confidence, energy, attitude, creativeness, fairness, honesty, tactfulness and emotional stability.
1. Mental Ability:
Mental ability consists of intelligence and creative thinking. An entrepreneur must be reasonably intelligent, and should have creative thinking and must be able to engage in the analysis of various problems and situations in order to deal with them. The entrepreneur should anticipative changes and must be able to study the various situations under which decisions have to be made.
2. Clear Objective:
An entrepreneur should have a clear objective as to exact nature of business, the nature of goods to be produced and subsidiary activities to be undertaken. A successful entrepreneur may have the objective to establish the product, to make profit or to render social services.
3. Business Secrecy:
An entrepreneur must be able to guard business secrets. Leakage of business secrets to trade competitions is a serious matter which should be carefully guarded against by an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur should be able to make a proper selection of his assistants.
4. Human Relation Ability:
The most important personality factors contributing to the success of an entrepreneur are emotional stability, personal relations, consideration and tactfulness. An entrepreneur must maintain good relation with his customers if he is to be establish relations that will encourage them to continue to patronize his business.
He must also maintain good relations with his employees if he is to be motive them to perform their jobs at a high level of efficiency. An entrepreneur who maintain good relation with customers, employees, suppliers, creditor and the community is much more likely to succeed in his business that the individual who does not invest in maintaining these relations.
5. Communication Ability:
This ability pertains to communicate effectively. Good communication also means that both the sender and receiver understand each other and are being understood. An entrepreneur who can effectively communicate with customers, employees, suppliers, and creditors will be more likely to succeed than the entrepreneur who does not.
6. Technical Knowledge:
An entrepreneur must have a reasonable level of technical knowledge. This is the one ability that most people are able to acquire if they try hard enough.
7. Motivator:
An entrepreneur must build a team, keep it motivated and provide an environment for individual growth and career development.
8. Self Confidence:
Entrepreneur must have belief in themselves and the ability to achieve their goals.
9. Long Term Involvement:
An entrepreneur must be committed to the project with a time horizon of five to seven years. No ninety-day wonders are allowed.
10. High Energy Level:
Success of an entrepreneur demands the ability to work long for sustained periods of creativity is an essential ingredient.
11. Initiative:
An entrepreneur must be able to set challenging but realistic goals.
12. Persistent Problem-Solver:
An entrepreneur must have an intense desire to complete a task or solve a problem, creativity is an essential ingredient.
13. Moderate Risk-Taker:
An entrepreneur must be a moderate risk-taker and learn from failure.