WELCOME TO THE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSE
S G Raja Sekharan
DIRECT OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
 For Entrepreneurs- To give you a sweeping view of the
process from Idea creation to IPO
 For Intrapreneurs– share with you the way Entrepreneurs
think – it will help you succeed faster
 Scenario in India today
INDIRECT OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
 To make you think like Entrepreneurs / Intrapreneurs
 To improve your
 Learn_ability skills
 Thinking skills
 Team interaction skills

 To build you up for success in life

BROAD PLAN FOR THE NEXT 30 HOURS
 Course lectures from me - 22 hours
 Team presentations – 6 hours

 Sharing of experiences from visiting executives - 6 hours

 I will also touch upon story of an entrepreneur every

class for 5-10 minutes
 Entrepreneurship / Intrapreneurship
Session 1 Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Session 2 How the mind of an entrepreneur / Intrapreneur works

Session 3 Entrepreneurial process –idea generation, Business plan, project

appraisal
Session 4 Entrepreneurial process -legal, marketing, financial, HR strategies
Session 5 Entrepreneurial process -managing growth –early stage financing till
IPO
Session 6 Challenges faced by entrepreneurs / corporate Intrapreneurship

Session 7 Team presentations

Session 8 Team presentations

Session 9 Interface with Entrepreneurs / Intrapreneurs
Session 10 Final wrap up
REVIEW OF LAST SESSION
 MIND OF AN
ENTREPRENEUR/
INTRAPRENEUR
WITH RESPECT TO
COMMON
CHARACTERSTICS,CREAT
IVITY, INNOVATION AND
THE MIND OF AN ENTREPRENEUR /
INTRAPRENEUR
 We met an Intrapreneur – Prateek Madhav
 We met an Entrepreneur – Ashok Jain

 Both talked about their experiences.

TYPE A AND TYPE B PERSONALITIES
 Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-
conscious, controlling, concerned about their status,
highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive,
having difficulty relaxing.
 Type B individuals, in contrast, are described as patient,
relaxed, and easy-going, generally lacking an overriding
sense of urgency.
 Most thought leaders opine that Type A individuals are
better suited as Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs (to a
lower level).
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF
ENTREPRENEURS / INTRAPRENEURS
1. Commitment, 9. Calculated risk taking
determination, and 10. Integrity and reliability
perseverance
11. Tolerance for failure
2. Drive to achieve
12. High energy level
3. Opportunity orientation
13. Creativity and
4. Initiative and
Innovativeness
responsibility
14. Vision
5. Persistent problem solving
15. Self-confidence and
6. Seeking feedback
optimism
7. Internal locus of control
16. Independence
8. Tolerance for ambiguity
17. Team building
THE DARK SIDE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP (NOT
SO MUCH IN THE CASE OF INTRAPRENEURS)
 The Entrepreneur’s Confrontation with Risk
 Financial risk – many a times, the entrepreneur needs to put
most of his financial resources at stake.
 Career risk - loss of employment security.
 Family and social risk — competing commitments of work
and family
 Psychic risk — psychological impact of failure on the well-
being of entrepreneurs.
ETHICS IN
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND
INTRAPRENEURSHIP
EXAMPLES OF ETHICAL ISSUES FACED
 Advising a particular product for investment as you have a higher
commission as an investment advisor
 Misleading advertisements by companies

 Faulty design being cleared for production

 Misleading financial reporting

 Favoritism in promotions

 Superficial performance appraisal

 Using illegal software

 Tax evasion at personal level and corporate level

 Collusion in bidding / forming cartels

 Padding expense accounts

 Bribery to get a deal

 Accepting large gifts from suppliers

DEFINING ETHICS
 Ethics
 A set of principles prescribing a behavioral code that explains
what is good and right or bad and wrong; ethics may outline
moral duty and obligations.
 Provide the basic rules or parameters for conducting any
activity in an “acceptable” manner.
 Implementation of ethical conduct is challenging as the
environment is dynamic and ever changing
 Reasons for Ethical Conflicts
 The many interests that confront business enterprises both
inside and outside the organization
 Changes in values, mores, and societal norms
LEGAL VS ETHICAL
legal Illegal
ethical

unethical
LEGAL VS ETHICAL
legal Illegal
ethical

unethical •Recommending stuff that has higher

commission
•Superficial performance review /
favoritism in promotion
•Accepting gifts from suppliers
•Faulty design cleared for production
LEGAL VS ETHICAL
legal Illegal
ethical
unethical •Recommending stuff that has higher •Bribery
commission •Misleading financial
•Superficial performance review / reporting
favoritism in promotion •Using illegal software
•Accepting gifts from suppliers •Forming cartels
•Faulty design cleared for production •Tax evasion
•Padding expense
accounts
LEGAL VS ETHICAL
legal Illegal
ethical •Mercy killing?
unethical •Recommending stuff that has higher •Bribery
commission •Misleading financial
•Superficial performance review / reporting
favoritism in promotion •Using illegal software
•Accepting gifts from suppliers •Forming cartels
•Faulty design cleared for production •Tax evasion
•Padding expense
accounts
LEGAL VS ETHICAL
 Managerial Rationalizations -Justifications in defense of
unethical acts :
 Is not “really” illegal or immoral.
 Is in the individual’s or the corporation’s best
interest.
 Will never be found out.
 That helps the company will be condoned by the
company.
 The reason for this is that the interpretation is left to the
manager /individual – law cannot cover all scenarios.
 OVERLAP BETWEEN MORAL/ ETHICAL STANDARDS AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

INHERENT PROBLEMS ARISE WHEN PEOPLE BELIEVE LAWS REPRESENT

MORALITY
MAJOR PROBLEMS REGARDING LAWS REFLECTING
ETHICAL STANDARDS

1. The ethical standards of members of society may be based on

a lack of information relative to issues of corporate conduct.
2. The ethical standards of members of society may be diluted
by the formation of small groups.
3. The ethical standards of members of society may be
misrepresented in the consensus of large organizations.
4. The ethical standards of members of society may be
misrepresented in the formulation of the laws.
5. The legal requirements formed through the political process
are often incomplete or imprecise and have to be
supplemented by judicial court decisions or administrative
agency actions.
 REASONS FOR UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
 Greed
 Distinctions between activities at work and activities at home

 A lack of a foundation in ethics

 Survival (bottom-line thinking)

 Reliance on other social institutions to convey and reinforce

ethics.
APPROACHES TO MANAGERIAL ETHICS
Immoral Amoral Moral
Management Management Management

• Managerial decisions, • Management is neither • Managerial activity

actions and behavior moral or immoral, but conforms to a
imply a positive and decisions lie outside the standard of ethical,
active oppositions to sphere to which moral or right, behavior.
what is moral (ethical). judgments apply. • Managers conform
• Decisions are discordant • Managerial activity is to accepted
with accepted ethical outside or beyond the professional
principles. moral order of a particular standards of
• An active negation of code. conduct.
what is moral is implied. • A lack of ethical • Ethical leadership is
perception and moral commonplace on
awareness may be implied. the part of
management.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR
ENTREPRENEURS AND
INTRAPRENEURS
 Principle 1: Hire the right people
 Principle 2: Set standards more than rules
 Principle 3: Don’t let yourself get isolated
 Principle 4: The most important principle is
to let your ethical example at all times
be absolutely impeccable
SHAPING AN ETHICAL STRATEGY
 The entrepreneur’s / Intrapreneurs guiding values and
commitments must make sense and be clearly communicated.
 Entrepreneurs / Intrapreneurs must be personally committed,
credible, and willing to take action on the values they
espouse.
 The espoused values must be integrated into the normal
channels of the organization’s critical activities.
 The venture’s systems and structures must support and
reinforce its values.
 Employees throughout the company must have the decision-
making skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to make
ethically sound decisions every day.
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY

Ethical
EthicalProcess
Process
Ethical
EthicalConsciousness
Consciousness and
andStructure
Structure

Ethical
Ethical
Responsibility
Responsibility

Institutionalization
Institutionalization
ETHICS AND BUSINESS DECISIONS
 Complexity of Ethical Decisions:
 Ethical decisions have extended consequences
 Business decisions involving ethical questions have multiple
alternatives.
 Ethical business often have mixed outcomes.
 Most business decisions have uncertain ethical consequences.
 Most ethical business decisions have personal implications.
SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS OF
ETHICAL BUSINESS DECISIONS
 Have you defined the problem accurately?
 How would you define the problem if you stood on the
other side of the fence?
 How did this situation occur in the first place?

 Whom could your decision or action injure?

 What is the symbolic potential of your action if

understood? If misunderstood?
 Under what conditions would you allow exceptions to
your stand?
INTRAPRENEURS HAVE A MUCH MORE DIFFICULT JOB ON THE ISSUE OF ETHICS
COMPANIES THAT EMBRACE
CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP MUST
 Establish flexibility, innovation, and employee initiative
and risk-taking.
 Remove barriers faced by middle managers.

 Include an ethical component to training

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP BY ENTREPRENEURS
AND SENIOR MANAGERS
 They have the unique opportunity to display honesty,
integrity, and ethics in all key decisions.
 Their actions serve as a model for other employees to
follow.
 Their value system is a critical component of the ethical
considerations that surround a business decision
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
CREATIVITY IS A MENTAL PROCESS INVOLVING THE
DISCOVERY OF NEW IDEAS OR CONCEPTS, OR NEW
ASSOCIATIONS OF THE EXISTING IDEAS OR CONCEPTS,
FUELLED BY THE PROCESS OF EITHER CONSCIOUS OR
UNCONSCIOUS INSIGHT
INNOVATION IS A NEW WAY OF DOING SOMETHING
OR "NEW STUFF THAT IS MADE USEFUL". IT MAY
REFER TO INCREMENTAL AND EMERGENT OR
RADICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN
THINKING, PRODUCTS, PROCESSES, OR
ORGANIZATIONS
Creativity is thinking up new things.

Innovation is doing new things

 Innovation is an “external” word. It can be measured. It
generally talks about things that have been tested
properly and found to have worked in the real world.
 “Creativity”, however, is more of an “internal” word. It’s
subjective, it’s murkier. It’s far harder to measure, it’s far
harder to define. It’s an inward journey, not outward.
CREATIVITY = IDEAS
BUT
INNOVATION = IDEAS + ACTION
THE IDEAS ARE OFTEN JUDGED MORE
BY THEIR NOVELTY THAN BY THEIR
POTENTIAL USEFULNESS, EITHER TO
CONSUMERS OR TO THE COMPANY.
CREATIVITY = NOVELTY
BUT
INNOVATION = NOVELTY + VALUE
YOU DON’T GET TO BE MORE
INNOVATIVE, UNTIL YOU MAKE
YOURSELF MORE CREATIVE
FIRST
ENTREPRENEURS /INTRAPRENEURS THINK
CREATIVELY AND ACT INNOVATIVELY
 For them “Creative thinking + systematic analysis = success”
 They seek out unique opportunities to fill needs and wants
 They turn problems into opportunities. They recognize that
problems are to solutions what demand is to supply
 Have the capability to successfully implement a creative idea
THE NATURE OF THE CREATIVE
PROCESS
 Creativity is a process that can be developed and
improved. Some individuals have a greater aptitude for
creativity than others.
 Typical Creative Process
 Phase 1: Background or knowledge accumulation
 Phase 2: The incubation process
 Phase 3: The idea experience
 Phase 4: Evaluation and implementation
PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH THE TWO BRAIN HEMISPHERES
WAYS TO DEVELOP LEFT- AND RIGHT-HEMISPHERE SKILLS
HOW TO DEVELOP CREATIVITY
 Take time to create something as often as possible
 Allow yourself to make mistakes and try things (allow
ambiguity, tolerate mistakes)
 Surround yourself with ideas and influences and
opinions
 Question assumptions; Define and redefine problems;
Cross fertilize ideas; imagine other view points
 Be open and non judgmental; encourage creative
collaboration in the team; create an open fearless
environment to foster creative thinking
THE CREATIVE CLIMATE
 Characteristics of a creative climate:
 A trustful management that does not over-control the personnel
 Open channels of communication among all business members
 Considerable contact and communication with outsiders
 A large variety of personality types
 A willingness to accept change
 An enjoyment in experimenting with new ideas
 Little fear of negative consequences for making a mistake
 The selection and promotion of employees on the basis of merit
 The use of techniques that encourage ideas, including suggestion
systems and brainstorming
 Sufficient financial, managerial, human, and time resources for
accomplishing goals
IMPEDIMENTS TO CREATIVITY
 Either/or thinking (concern for certainty)
 Security hunting (concern for risk)
 Stereotyping (abstracting reality)
 Probability thinking (seeking predictable
results)
INNOVATION AND THE
ENTREPRENEUR /INTRAPRENEUR
 Innovation:
 Isthe process by which entrepreneurs /intrapreneurs convert
opportunities into marketable ideas.
 Is a combination of the vision to create a good idea and the
perseverance and dedication to remain with the concept
through implementation.
 Isa key function in the entrepreneurial /intrapreneurial
process.
INNOVATION IN ACTION
SOURCES OF INNOVATION
MAJOR INNOVATION MYTHS
 Myth 1: Innovation Is Planned and Predictable
 Myth 2: Technical Specifications Should Be
Thoroughly Prepared
 Myth 3: Big Projects Will Develop Better
Innovations Than Smaller Ones
 Myth 4: Technology Is the Driving Force of
Innovation and Success
PRINCIPLES OF INNOVATION –THESE
CAN BE LEARNT
 Be action oriented.
 Make the product, process, or service simple and
understandable.
 Make the product, process, or service customer-based.
 Start small.
 Aim high.
 Try/test/revise.
 Follow a milestone schedule.
 Reward heroic activity.
 Work, work, work.
CREATING NEW PRODUCTS /PROCESSES
 Stages of Innovation
U
N Breakthrough
I Innovation
Q
Technological
U Innovation
E
N Ordinary
E Innovation
S
S

NUMBER OF EVENTS
WHERE DOES ONE GET NEW IDEAS?
 Consumers – paying close attention to consumers /
potential consumers
 Distribution channels – they are close to customers and
hence normally have suggestions
 Improvements over existing products and services

 R&D

 Competitors
HOW DOES ONE GENERATE NEW
IDEAS?
 Focus groups – groups of 8-15 people lead by a
moderator discuss and conceptualize new product ideas
based on a specific unfulfilled need.
 Brainstorming – a group method for obtaining new ideas
& solutions. It allows people to be stimulated to greater
creativity by meeting with others and participating in
organized group experiences.
 Problem inventory analysis - A method for obtaining
new ideas and solutions by focusing on problems.
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
METHODS
 Brainstorming  Forced Relationships
 Collective Notebook
 Reverse Brainstorming
Method
 Brainwriting  Attribute Listing

 Gordon Method  Big-Dream Approach

 Parameter Analysis
 Checklist Method
 Free Association
OPPORTUNITY RECOGNITION
 The ability to recognize a business opportunity is
fundamental to the entrepreneurial process.
 The key to opportunity recognition lies in knowledge of
customer problems/markets and entrepreneurial alertness
 Knowledge is a combination of education and experience
PRODUCT PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
 Idea stage
 Concept stage ( lab development)

 Product development stage (pilot production)

 Test marketing stage (semi commercial stage)

 Commercialization stage

 At each stage we must establish a criterion for evaluation

 Entrepreneurship / Intrapreneurship
Session 1 Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Session 2 How the mind of an entrepreneur / Intrapreneur works

Session 3 Entrepreneurial process –idea generation, Business plan, project

appraisal
Session 4 Entrepreneurial process -legal, marketing, financial, HR strategies
Session 5 Entrepreneurial process -managing growth –early stage financing till
IPO
Session 6 Challenges faced by entrepreneurs / corporate Intrapreneurship

Session 7 Team presentations

Session 8 Team presentations

Session 9 Interface with Entrepreneurs / Intrapreneurs
Session 10 Final wrap up
HERE’S INVITING IDEAS FOR
BUSINESS FROM YOU ALL
HERE
 Please mail me a short description on any business idea
that you may have.
 Please mail me your idea at:
[email protected] in the next 5 days ( by
Friday evening).
 Based on the ideas, we will proceed with the group work
for this course.
THANK YOU