Assignment 2 Front Sheet
Assignment 2 Front Sheet
Unit number and title Unit 9: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
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Table of Contents
I. Introduction: .......................................................................................................................................... 5
IV. Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................... 11
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 12
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I. Introduction:
As in the previous article, information on different types of businesses was provided with detailed
examples spanning from public to private, from local to foreign. On the other hand, this will provide a
brief glimpse of entrepreneurs who have the potential to run a company. This article will give an overview
with theories and illustrative examples of entrepreneurs.
II. Methodology:
By using three examples of local, global and social entrepreneurs; the article will examine their
characteristic features and abilities in order to find the explanation for their success. Not only that, it will
include hypotheses to support the critical research. In addition, the world around the entrepreneurs is
being analyzed to look for the factors that affect their business decisions. All in all, ideas will be applied to
entrepreneurial research; critical thinking would also come to light, accompanied by suggestions for
potential entrepreneurs.
III. Analysis:
1. Key aspects of an entrepreneurial mindset:
1.1 Characteristic traits and skills of successful entrepreneurs that differentiate them
from other business managers:
Nearly all of the entrepreneurs have parallels in temperament, mentality, or even skill. All of this adds to
their entrepreneurial achievement. But each of them has its own special character to be exceptional in
the industry. The following are the three famous entrepreneurs who, after suffering some difficulties,
became fully wealthy to the company.
First of all, regarding local entrepreneurs, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu is one of the most successful
entrepreneurs in Vietnam. He founded Trung Nguyen Cafe and achieved much success when he was
officially named "Vietnamese Coffee King" in the prestigious National Geographic Traveler magazine
(topcv, 2020). It is also known as one of the leading coffee chains in Vietnam. He wanted to create a
famous coffee brand not only in the country but also abroad and Mr. Vu always kept the idea of
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dominating the world market, bringing Trung Nguyen coffee to the US and beating Starbucks (topcv,
2020). A closer look at the origins of his successes, by claiming quality coffee, his charisma and talents
have transformed him into an amazing foundress. An entrepreneur's first and most important trait is
taking chances and they have to adapt to them. In this scenario, Mr. Vu is put under strong pressure from
other coffee industry competitors. Moreover, he started his business from a rickety house and old low-
power coffee roaster (topcv, 2020). He seems to have bet his whole life on this business. But from his
energy and passion for business, Mr. Vu has found a solution for it, which is to create quality coffee beans
for coffee connoisseurs. On a coffee bike, he went to each coffee purchasing agent to start his career.
Moreover, Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu grew up with a very difficult life with his mother (topcv, 2020). So, this
is he's always inspired to do his hardest to better his life. Last but not least, the Creator assigns great
importance to love. Applying this to Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu, his passion is not to coffee but to bring
customers the best coffee in the world, in this way, he has created the best service for the Customers
come to Trung Nguyen Coffee, so they will become loyal customers that allow Trung Nguyen Coffee to
have a sustainable business. Gradually, people ordered all kinds of delicious coffee, Trung Nguyen coffee
flavored as a guide for the Vietnamese coffee market (topcv, 2020). This is also Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu's
special attribute as his passion is different from others, they seem to be enthusiastic about the business
they consider, but Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu does it all just to satisfy the customers. All of these factors
have trained him to become a successful entrepreneur in the coffee industry with over 2,500 franchised
cafes across the country and abroad such as the US, Japan, and Singapore (topcv, 2020). In short, it can be
asserted that he is an entrepreneur with a mentality of growth. Regardless of the reality, he accepts
obstacles, learns from mistakes and never abandons what he does (topcv, 2020).
Speaking of international companies, Milton Hershey is the founder of Hershey Company, now one of the
famous chocolate brands worldwide. In 1872, Milton Hershey was admitted to an apprenticeship at a
candy factory near Lancaster. By 1876, Milton had started his business when he had the skills to enter the
candy business himself. He sold hard candy and caramel on a stroller for 6 years. But in the end, because
of the disputes between him and his father made the business unprofitable (Nhi, 2018). Milton hasn't
given up due to his passion for business and his eagerness to learn. He's captured his strengths, knows
what he's going to be giving consumers and what they want to get. Therefore, he has successfully
provided customers with milk chocolate products he created. This showed that he had a mindset that was
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defining what he was doing and that it was giving him good results. Since the first step of his business, he
has encountered many difficulties from the family, and moreover, Milton has gone through 3
bankruptcies (Nhi, 2018). But with his passion and understanding, he created Hershey Chocolate
Company. Moreover, Milton was a self-taught man; Therefore, he taught himself everything that gives
him the knowledge to start a business in the industry. Milton is determined, unlike others, when many
entrepreneurs start their businesses they appear to give up when somebody asks them to do it. This leads
us to the conclusion that Milton is also a person with the same mentality of growth as Mr. Dang Le
Nguyen Vu, eager to take on challenges and not hesitating to try new stuff. These factors contributed to
Milton's success, helping him build the largest and most famous chocolate factory in North America. And
the city of Hershey - Pennsylvania - which was dubbed the "sweetest city" continues to be preserved and
developed by the people in their line. This shows that Milton Hershey's enthusiasm and initial idea
became the corporation's business principle (Nhi, 2018).
In addition to the two local and international comparison organisations, Governmental organizations are
now conducting work on a wealthy businessman such as Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh. She is the founder and
CEO of the Center for Supporting Community Service Initiatives (CSIP), also known as a pioneer
organization in developing the social enterprise movement in Vietnam. Ms. Oanh founded the
organization in 2008. This idea came up with an inner drive that motivated the 25-year-old girl at the time
to seek real values. She can fully visualize the difference between what she has learned, what she is doing
and the real life of everyone. As a result, Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh gave up a stable job at a government
agency and entered many different positions at prestigious NGOs, studied for a Master's degree in
Australia and had one many people dream at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (vccinews,
2017). Like Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu and Mr. Milton Hershey, Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh became an
entrepreneur because of her passion. With the help of Declan Ryan, founder of The One Foundation, she
gained a better understanding of the model of Social Enterprises - organizations that use business as a
tool to solve problems urgency of society and environment. Integrity is also a trait that helps Oanh
achieve her achievements. The mission set by CSIP from the beginning is "We Inspire, Connect and
Empower Individuals and Communities to Address Social and Environmental Issues through Business
Solutions." (vccinews, 2017). In this way, organization through business has brought the whole world a
better life and social issues will also be solved. A special thing in Oanh is that she has confidence, she does
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not hesitate to quit her job or try new things to find real value, helping both social good and human life.
Finally, thanks to the efforts of pioneer Pham Kieu Oanh, in 2014, Social Enterprises were included in the
Vietnam Enterprise Law, becoming one of the state-recognized business models. CSIP continues to pave
the way for Vietnamese social enterprises to integrate into the common flow of social business
movement in the region and the world (vccinews, 2017). All of the above proves that with great
accomplishments in her career, Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh is a successful businessman.
How a company is founded largely depends on the thinking, motivation and passion of the entrepreneur.
Specifically, with a high motivation, commitments can be made to help them stick with the company for a
long time. In terms of thinking, every entrepreneur has his own unique idea of running their company.
But in the end they all do it out of passion. The three entrepreneurs mentioned above, about passion,
they all have enough passion to run a company; They use their resources and devote their best efforts to
making the business successful.
In particular, there are an entrepreneur's personalities which affect the company. First and foremost,
customer attention, if an individual wishes to keep their company viable, then they need to concentrate
on the customers as they are the key tools companies use to build values. Second, enthusiasm means that
the entrepreneurs need to know what they're going to do by learning from others and adapting to new
ventures as well. Furthermore, communication is a vital skill for an entrepreneur because they have to
use interaction to create relationships and consumer trust. Moreover, the locus of control is important for
the entrepreneurs, it is proved that people with internal locus of control are the ones who have the
potential to become an entrepreneur, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, Milton Hershey and Pham Kieu Oanh have
defined this more. Last but not least, risk-taking is a critical feature as entrepreneurs face a variety of
challenges and need to embrace it to shape a wealthy company. Studies have shown, however, that the
entrepreneurs take risks into account because they only take into account the measured risks, not any
risks (napoli, 2019). In support of this theory, a survey conducted by 107 entrepreneurs by Halim in 2011
found that the company will be influenced by entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, namely risk-taking,
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market prospects, locus of control and innovation (Halim, 2011). From the above analysis, it can be
referred to that by using motivation and attitude the entrepreneurial personality will affect the company.
For Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu, from the beginning, his field of study was Medicine. However, he had bravely
entered the business road despite the ridicule of friends and the frustration of the mother who did not
trust her son. Mr. Vu studied by himself and worked for a living. During that time, he also made his own
research and research on the field of coffee. And up to the present time, all his business is still revolving
around the love of coffee. With all the knowledge he accumulated, he built a roasting facility just a few
square meters and a manual coffee roaster. He started with supplying quality coffee to other small coffee
shops in Buon Me Thuoc. Mr. Vu mainly focuses on the quality of coffee and the style of serving his
customers, so the business goes very smoothly. With his passion and the will to get rich, Mr. Dang Le
Nguyen Vu has constantly sought and learned from life experiences. Not only that, Mr. Vu was raised in a
very difficult family, so he was determined to improve his life, which became the driving force of his
business. At first, there were many challenges for him but he managed to overcome them all by himself.
Dang Le Nguyen Vu has found Trung Nguyen Coffee with the desire to bring customers the best quality
coffee beans. Currently, Trung Nguyen Coffee brand has been exported to more than 60 countries around
the world. Mr. Vu's most memorable achievements are that he was honored as "Vietnamese Coffee King"
by National Geographic Traveler magazine; Forces magazine also repeated the title with the acclaim "Zero
to Hero". The above information can prove that he is a talented and successful businessman. (Lien, 2019)
Meanwhile, Milton Hershey, North America's largest chocolate company, also had no opportunity to
properly study his business. But after success with Caramel Candy Company, he had the opportunity to
explore and understand more about milk chocolate. From this, it is possible to know that Milton had
knowledge of his industry that he would start his business. Like Mr. Vu, Milton was born into a poor
family, so he could not gain experience from the family. But because of his passion for business, he came
up with many perfect business strategies based on many different circumstances. For example, at the
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outbreak of World War II, Milton immediately had the idea of creating compact bars but containing many
essential nutrients to help people overcome the time of food shortages. This practical product was quickly
received and Milton Hershey was honored all over the United States. Moreover, through market demand,
Milton produced 114 different Hershey chocolate flavors to turn it into a favorite snack for children and
adults around the world. At first, Milton had to deal with a very big problem of not having enough capital
to start a business, fortunately, thanks to trust in him, his friends and former colleagues helped
enthusiastically, for him to stay and borrow money. These brought various awards to the life of Milton
Hershey. He succeeded in creating an chocolate manufacturing empire and turning his chocolate
company into the largest company in North America. (Trang, 2018)
Talking about Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh, she is a pioneer of the Social Enterprise community in Vietnam and is
the executive director of CSIP. In education, Ms. Oanh graduated from the University with a degree in
philosophy. But there was an inner drive that motivated her to seek real values, at which point she
understood the problem and she left her field of study to learn about Social Enterprises. Thanks to her
motivation to seek real value, she has searched and learned to better understand this type of business.
This shows that she has a business background, allowing her to use it to make a profit and bring them to
charity. She has an idea to pave the way for Vietnamese social enterprises to integrate into the common
flow of social entrepreneurship movement in the region and in the world. The beginning of CSIP is quite
difficult as it is a very new type of business in Vietnam. Finally, thanks to the best efforts and passion for
work, in Vietnam, in 2017, CSIP will host a social honor event for social enterprises in the country for the
first time. Her contribution to the globe has brought her many awards but the most valuable is the award
for the business initiative that contributes to changing the community of En Xanh 2019, and all of this has
made an entrepreneur successful society. (Minh, 2019)
2.2 The link between entrepreneurial characteristics and the influence of personal
background and experience to successful entrepreneurs:
Every entrepreneur has his own influences because they are not the same about the personal background
of the experience they earn in life. Take Pham Kieu Oanh as an example of this, she was born in a well-off
family, she graduated from university with a high degree and worked in many famous companies such as
UNICEF. So she has business knowledge and skills. Not only that, she became a social entrepreneur
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because of her passion, resulting in her life tied to this business. From the examination of Ms. Oanh, it can
be proved that an entrepreneur is affected by many factors related to personal context.
Motivation is also created through daily activities or good actions from others that an entrepreneur can
understand. Ms. Pham Kieu Oanh also gained a better understanding of social business through Declan
Ryan, founder of The One Foundation. Motivation is based upon the motivation of other traders. Last but
not least, cultural affects entrepreneurs too. Many businessmen living in a country refuse to pursue new
ideas because they think their society doesn't fit those ideas. In the end, though, entrepreneurs do not
have the chance to grow their ideas, some of them take this to become inspiration. It is the inspiration to
surmount the views of other people, they feel they can change it. All in all, they become successful
businessmen, and change the minds of people about entrepreneurship as well.
Talking about experiences, this has grown in many stages of business life. Entrepreneurs will have the
opportunity to receive a advanced education to begin in the future, so that they may benefit from it. But
some of them get real-life experience. As Mr. Dang Le Nguyen Vu has moved to the coffee business path
by experiencing his own business process. He had tasted all the flavors of failure to turn a raw square
meter of coffee producing land into the largest coffee corporation in Vietnam. What they have gained,
the experiences they have accumulated, will all turn into a "springboard" for entrepreneurs to develop in
the future.
IV. Conclusion:
In short, each entrepreneur must have unique characteristics and skills in order to succeed in the
industry. Environmental and social factors will also affect them. And there are many other factors.
However, all of this depends on the entrepreneur's ability to make decisions. They must be assertive,
confident in their hard work and not afraid of difficulties and challenges to succeed. Future young
entrepreneurs should also consider having a better starting point for themselves. As a result, they can get
higher income rates or success rates.
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Bibliography
Halim. (2011). International Journal of Business and Management. Halim.
Lien, N. (2019, 12 15). bstyle. Retrieved 4 28, 2020, from bstyle.vn: https://bstyle.vn/dang-le-nguyen-
vu.html
Trang, H. (2018, 3 30). ngoisao. Retrieved 4 29, 2020, from ngoisao.net: https://ngoisao.net/thuong-
truong/ba-lan-pha-san-cua-ong-chu-de-che-san-xuat-chocolate-hershey-s-3730088.html
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