Contemporary Issues Ent 412h5v

Issue 1: Capital / Financial Problems Entrepreneurs can face a variety of financial issues that can impact the business's profitability, and even its long-term survival. Some financial problems may be caused by factors outside of their control, like when the economy dips or a new competitor moves in next door. Other issues may be more directly related to how entrepreneurs choose to operate their business Obtaining financing for a business can be extremely difficult, especially when first starting out. Banks are reluctant to lend money to new businesses, and potential investors may steer clear of budding entrepreneurs with little or no prior business experience. A well-crafted written business plan is essential when attempting to convince lenders and investors that you know what you're doing and have thought through your idea carefully. Other possible financing sources can include loans or grants from the Small Business istration or even borrowing from friends and family . Cash flow refers to the amount of money coming into the business by means such as revenue from sales, versus the amount leaving the business in the form of expenses. Start-up companies may have difficulty developing and maintaining a positive cash flow, especially during the early stages when they have yet to establish a regular customer base. Spending too much money on things like rent and employee salaries can also create negative cash flow. Entrepreneurs may be tempted to spend money on one expensive advertising medium like television, thinking it is the best way to reach a large number of people. By doing so, they may not reach their desired target market, rendering the ad ineffective. In contrast, some very small business owners may feel that they can't afford to spend much money on marketing, As a result, few people hear of the business, making it difficult to build a sustainable customer base. A business owner's medical disability or a large liability claim can cause the financial ruination of a business. Some business owners may choose to do without items like health, disability or liability insurance to keep expenses to a minimum. However, doing so can put the business at major risk. As a rule of thumb, business

owners should carry enough insurance to cover any expenses they could not afford to pay out of their own pocket.

Issue 2 Gender Issues Entrepreneurship is a human universal. All over the world, and throughout history, people have created businesses. Yet, although women make up more than 50 percent of the world population, they own and manage significantly fewer businesses than men. Venture types and management styles vary across genders as well. Women entrepreneurship presents several distinctive characteristics that differentiate it from men entrepreneurship. But variations exist also across women entrepreneurs in various countries, and between women who are involved in entrepreneurship and those who are not. Overall, the explanation for the behavior of women entrepreneurs and its distinctiveness is complex and multifaceted. Evidence to date suggests that reasons contributing to explaining these differences include demographic and socioeconomic variables, subjective perceptions, and cultural factors and institutions, and that such differences have significant implications at the macro-economic level. Studying female entrepreneurship allows researchers to ask questions that shed light on the linkages between entrepreneurship and wealth creation, employment choices and cognition, human capital accumulation and labor market structure, employment choice and family dynamics, business creation and peace, and many others. From a scientific point of view, the study of female entrepreneurship as a distinct area of inquiry informs us not only about women behavior, but also about entrepreneurial and human behaviors in general. All over the world, female entrepreneurship has become an important component of academic and policy conversations around entrepreneurship. Still, there is much we don‟t yet understand. Taking stock of what has been learned so far, identifying the main gaps, and encourage scholars to push the frontier of knowledge in this area further are the goals of this work.

Issue 3 Technology Current technology problems reveal sophistication in the technology field and in how businesses use technology. The top problems faced currently by entrepreneurs are effective business use of the internet, creating a web site and integrating technology into the firm.

Issue 4: Lack of skill of management Entrepreneurship as embracing the skills required to operate a business during the rapid expansion and growth phase rather than skills for starting business. This view is concerned with entrepreneurship in the running of a company and the skills associated with it rather then the traits and skills needed for the setting up of a business. i.e. growth stage rather then start up. There are numerous skills essential to operate a business. But are all these traits learned, in college, through experience, from their upbringing etc. Or are they purely natural, were they “born with it”. Skills such as needed in management, marketing, finance and operations. Management is the, “attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources”. Control of time and putting the right person in the right job remain significant problems for more than one-third of the entrepreneurs. In addition, the role of manager and leader emerge as entrepreneurs grow their companies placing motivating and preparing strategic/annual business in the top five problems for experienced business owners. But the main factors that drive managerial entrepreneurs are the same as those in start up enterprises, the need to achieve, for control, the ability to take risks.

Issue 5: Marketing At this point in the business, entrepreneurs have learned how to handle some of the foundational marketing tasks, although ability to cost-effectively remained the number one problem for entrepreneurs. In addition, the continued need to set one‟s business apart from others surfaces in that competition from large business and identifying new opportunities are the among the main marketing issues in entrepreneurship.

Issue 6: Internal and External Challenges

Entrepreneurs face both internal and external challenges. They are not spared from either of which. In of external challenges, entrepreneurs would take the challenges from their existing competitors in a certain target niche, banks not approving their loan and government policies not issuing them license or whatsoever. On

the

other

hand,

internal

factors

lie

within

the

business.

It could be the way an entrepreneur handle the business and other circumstances innate to the business. This is far more detrimental compared to the external factors which are less grave. These challenges are considered negligible if to begin with entrepreneurs already know what actions to take in such situations.

Issue 7: Lack of innovation through research and development

Doing things differently, better, quicker and more cost efficiently are all what innovation is about in small businesses. Unfortunately too many see innovation as only the application of new technologies or the carrying out or application of formal research and development. This reflects one of the main difficulties when discussing innovation in relation to its application to small businesses – what exactly do we mean by innovation and what do we mean by innovation in small business?

Drucker (1985) defined innovation as „the means by which the entrepreneur creates new wealth producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth‟. Drucker in his definition clearly relates innovation to entrepreneurs and states clearly that innovation is a specific instrument of entrepreneurship. Innovation is that process by which companies seek to gain a competitive advantage in the market place and to increase their capacity to generate wealth. Innovation has now become one of the key elements within a business. As competition for customers and resources become more and more intense the ability of a company to innovate is often more important than any other factor in its sustainability. Innovation therefore needs to transcend all areas of operation production, finance, planning, human resource management and marketing. However in the small business many of these functions are carried out by the owner manager and thus often leads to a lack of realisation of the processes needed to implement innovation within the small business. If innovation is used merely as a one dimensional function, as it very often is within the small business, there is a real chance that innovation will only be sought through major technological breakthrough or as an output of once-off events or difficulties to be overcome. For most businesses innovation and the quest for innovation, must be a continuous process of improvement and change. Therefore if we regard innovation as change it is more purposeful to consider it as a continuous process aimed at seeking competitive advantage.

However for the small company a critical issue to be considered is where innovation will come from.

Issue 8: Recession There seems to be a mentality especially within small businesses, that if you have made money doing something before then you automatically deserve to be able to keep making money in the same way. When recession comes and profits are down, then the main consensus seems to be to sit tight, not change anything, and wait for the recession to clear and profits to rise again. Recession is like an illness, it‟s a warning that something is wrong and needs to be fixed. The fixing doesn‟t just need to happen at the top, it needs to happen at the middle and the bottom too. Not all SMEs are great at what they do, and not all provide good value in their services / products which is part of the reason why they feel the pinch when the economic climate changes. A recession is a difficult time to start a company, of course. Credit is scarce. Would-be entrepreneurs are further handicapped by falling asset prices, since they might want to use their homes as collateral for a start-up loan. Whether downturns on balance help or hurt entrepreneurs depends therefore on the relative strength of these opposing sets of forces.

Issue 9: Weather related catastrophe A few disadvantages of running a business when the weather is bad can be overwhelming traffic, delayed shipments, tardy employees, and the list can go on. Most businesses have to take risks and try to force through it. Surprisingly, 75% of restaurants report a sales drop of at least 10% due to undesirable changes in the weather. Simply stated, if weather is bad certain businesses suffer. Issue 10:

Conclusion So for Entrepreneurs, they must take advantage of this fact, and must be willing to “become the change in which they want to see” as Ghandi famously said. Nothing was ever accomplished by complaining and expecting other people to sort the problems out; the problems are solved by the doers. They always have been, and they always will be.

REFERENCES:  Chris Joseph,2012, Entrepreneurs & Financial Problems, [Online] Available from: http://www.ehow.com/info_7753192_entrepreneurs-financial-problems.html

 Maria Minniti,2010, Gender Issues in Entrepreneurship, [Online] Available from: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1543464

 Nature Vs Nurture,2012, [Online] Available from: http://www.dceb.ie/KnowledgeCentre/General-Business-Issues/Entrepreneurship

 Gwen Richtermeyer,2003,Problems Entrepreneurs Face,[Online] Available from: http://www.missouribusiness.net/bridg/problems_entrepreneurs_face.pdf



Mabmiles,The Major Challenges Faced by Entrepreneurs, [Online] Available from: http://mabmiles.hubpages.com/hub/The-Major-Challenges-Faced-by-Entrepreneurs



Michel

Tunney,2012,Innovation

in

small

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from:

http://www.dceb.ie/Knowledge-Centre/General-Business-Issues/Innovation-in-SmallBusiness



The effects of recessions on entrepreneurs and managers run deep,2012, [Online] Available from:http://www.economist.com/node/21542390



D. Scott Abbot,2009,How does trend of weather affect business?[Online] Available from:http://www.dscottabbott.com/2009/12/10/how-weather-affects-business/