Starting and Developing a New Venture. Nature of Entrepreneurship Essay

Starting and Developing a New Venture. Nature of Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Improving further the existing ideas using creativity and innovation seems to be the most appropriate way of coming up with such ventures. In spite of this, some entrepreneurs still find opportunities around them, which they develop as new ideas. A new venture does not necessarily have to mean a new business altogether. It could be a new idea in a big company’s department, or a new product developed by an existing company. Improving on an existing product still encompasses entrepreneurial skills and innovation. However, starting a small business entity requires patience and strong entrepreneurial skills. The development of an idea to a big venture requires patience and courage. Big and established businesses in the same industry will try to push the new entrepreneur out of the business through packaging and price battles. Additionally, the giants will try to prove of experience in the industry which they already have their customers. To win customer confidence, the entrepreneu r should ensure quality in their products and competitive pricing. Waging such a tough war requires commitment and dedication by the entrepreneurs. In exploring this topic of starting and developing a new venture, this paper will look at the entrepreneurial skills and careers of two of the worlds’ most successful entrepreneurs, Stelios Haji-Ioannou of Easyjet and Richard Branson of Virgin. Many scholars have written about entrepreneurship. According to oxford English dictionary an entrepreneur is a person who attempts to make profit by taking risk through an initiative. Richard Cantillon is credited to be the originator of the word â€Å"entrepreneur† in the year 1755 in his book â€Å"Essai sur la nature du commerce en general.† Stokes & Wilson (2010, p. 1) believes that entrepreneurship is more than just the business of making money. According to Sjovoll & Skogen (2010, p. 8), the creativity and innovation exhibited by the members of a society and at family le vel are forms of entrepreneurship. Hardly do these talents get noticed however, until an idea is put into action. A visible entrepreneurial idea is called a venture. The different skills and attributes portrayed by a person makes them entrepreneurs, while the ability of a person to see an opportunity where other people cannot see one defines the person’s entrepreneurial skills (Sarasvathy 2004, p. 521). There exists a distinction between entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship, which is a rather new term in the corporate world. While entrepreneurship defines both the act and the art of undertaking innovations that include introducing new things especially in the business acumen, Intrapreneurship is the act and art of entrepreneurship in large organizations. Employees who undertake to develop their organizations through creative ideas such as product development are referred to as intrapreneurs. Nature of Entrepreneurship A lot of arguments have been raised regarding the nature of entrepreneurship. While some experts believe that great entrepreneurs are born, others believe that the best entrepreneurs are trained (Pittaway & Cope 2007, p. 212). However, the argument of whether entrepreneurial skills are an inborn talent or are a learned and acquired through the process of experience and education, different accounts of the careers of successful entrepreneurs provides answers to this. According to scholars though, the best entrepreneurs are trained. Greene & Mole (2007,  p. 14-20) strongly believes supports this. According to them, entrepreneurship as a process does not end in a person’