Global Entrepreneurial Strategies 2009 Part 2
Published June 21, 2009 | 
“Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.“–Anita Roddick
One important global entrepreneurial strategy aims at market leadership if not dominance, and is an aggressive strategy from the start, planning to have a permanent leadership position. Before any entrepreneur undertakes this bold strategy they must realize it is the strategy that represents the greatest gamble and there is very little room for mistakes and no room for second chances. It is important to understand completely that everything has to work out correctly for this strategy to succeed, and it requires significant amount of time for thought, careful analysis and preparation of the business plan, and in addition, the strategy demands substantial and continuing efforts to retain a leadership position, or all the work simply creates a market for a competitor to take the position as the leader.
Indeed, many feel like this strategy is so risky that other strategies have been developed as a result of the notion that the leadership strategy will fail more often than it can possibly succeed, which leads us to another important entrepreneurial strategy that takes what has been developed by somebody else, making improvements that create a better product or service than the innovative entrepreneurs that first developed it.
Basically, the concept is to simply let someone else innovate, and then run with their idea and give the consumers of “what they really want” and are “willing to pay for,” and a perfect example of this is IBM creating the PC after Apple created the market with its leadership strategy, and within two years it had taken over from Apple leadership in the personal computer field, becoming the fastest-selling brand and the standard in the market.
The main point here being that IBM chose a much less risky entrepreneurial strategy, and succeeded at it, and although Apple Computer has been a great success, as the original innovator it might have failed to fully understand its success in the beginning.
This type of simple entrepreneurial strategy starts with markets, is both market-focused and market-driven, requires a rapidly growing market, satisfies a demand that already exists rather than having to create one, and is likely to work most effectively in high-tech industries for one very simple reason, and that reason is that high-tech entrepreneurs and innovators are least likely to be market-focused and naturally concentrate on the technology and product.
The strategy of imitation requires a high degree of innovation, as it is not good enough to offer same product or services at a lower cost to the consumer who is “looking for greater innovation” in addition to “competitive pricing.”
Openings in the global markets are created by “habits and mistakes of market leaders” including arrogance of believing that something cannot be any good unless they thought of it first, focusing entirely upon one segment of the market such as the high profit segment and ignoring the volume of the larger market, and the “misunderstanding of quality” which is not what the innovator puts in, but “what the consumer is ultimately willing to pay for.”
A market leader also tends at times to eventually price products and services too high, which is significant because it always results in creating openings for competition, while failing to adapt to different segments of the market as it remains focused on one market segment.
Global Entrepreneurial Strategies 2009 Part 1
Published June 20, 2009 | 
“Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.“ –Peter Drucker
In a nation of Entrepreneurs like the United States and other global markets, Entrepreneurs make up the backbone of the global economies, and they will be the ones who create economic growth and the jobs to bring the global economy out of the recession. So when looking at entrepreneurs and their inherent strategies it must be noted that some strategies are purely deliberate and some strategies purely evolve with the market. Of course, the real world, inevitably, involves some thinking ahead as well as some adaptation along the way.
Entrepreneurial innovation has never been part of the institutionalized systems and of large corporations with labor unions, and never will be. Systems have never been able to reproduce the thoughts and passions of genius entrepreneurs, or even the most ordinary competent strategist, and in almost all cases never will, and large systems, processes, and especially the labor unions aren’t designed to encourage the creative and innovative thinking that comes from the passions, of true independent innovative entrepreneurs.
So when we examine the requirements of entrepreneurship we know that good entrepreneurial management is part of the formula along with real entrepreneurial strategies and the strategies for entrepreneurial success are few and simple, but yet difficult, since it takes a true independent entrepreneur to identify the real opportunities which present themselves, especially during times of recession, and recognition of market trends and conditions that create new opportunities is a strong trait that identifies the true entrepreneurs. Additional traits of entrepreneurs are innovativeness and creativity, willing to take risk for their new ideas and innovations, able to anticipate future needs and problems, willing to work independently with self-direction, and a strong sense of competitiveness that comes from the passion inherent to the entrepreneurial spirit.
At the very heart and essence of entrepreneurship is innovation, which is the effort to create purposeful and focused change in economic or social potential, which includes three kinds of innovation. The first kind of innovation is “technological innovation” which is innovation including new products, ideas, and technologies. The next kind of innovation is “economic innovation” which includes entrepreneurship and turning those things into new businesses and industries, and finally, “cultural and social innovations” which are the ability to invent new ways of thinking, new art forms, new designs and concepts that identifies trends in the marketplace and associated opportunities.
These different identifiable components of innovation can share the same thought processes of the entrepreneur as they reinforce each other and overlap, and many times the genius of the entrepreneur is noticed and identified because they are able to apply all three kinds of innovation at the same time to the same problem or opportunity.
As always, the “Entrepreneur Nation” will eventually spur economic recovery, but the timing of the recovery is dependent upon what kind of problems or barriers entrepreneurs encounter with systems and institutions, huge U.S. Government intervention and its related regulations and taxes, that affect how quickly they can adapt their innovations to the marketplace, which will start to create growth and jobs in the U.S. and global economies.
The Global Entrepreneur Nation
Published June 19, 2009 | 
“Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.”– Ronald Reagan
The voice of entrepreneurs in the Global economy is a quiet voice that will save the US and Global economy, and although their collective voice is several million, entrepreneurs are quietly working hard every day to operate and maintain their businesses, although certain aspects of Entrepreneur Nation is not so quiet since the economic engine is heard loud and clear for those who take the time to listen, but right now it is being drowned out by the special interest groups that own US congressional members and the White House including labor unions and big business that have seen their better days and now only serve to be a major drag on the rest of the economy as evidenced by statistic after depressing statistic directly related to their market place meddling , and because they proportionally demand too much from the people of the United States just for survival, and in the union’s and big business quest for survival they have brought down every corner of the economy.
Many everyday common business names that many of us have grown up with, and developed the mind-set that they would be around forever, have been forced to close or are faced with liquidation and bankruptcy, while others will be able to reinvent themselves in time to adapt to the ever changing markets and trends.
This is a critical time in the life of the US and Global economies, as this is the time for Entrepreneur Nation begin to awaken through reinvention, change and adaptation and begin to shine and save both the US and Global economies, since innovation and recognition of opportunities are its cornerstones, and as many businesses are forced out of business because consumers that make up the markets are still not spending, and are currently idling in save mode, or paying off their tremendous share of debt built up over the past 20 years.
With the natural forces of the market place, it is part of the natural occurrence and flow of inevitable market events, that businesses with extremely weak and unfavorable balance sheet and cash flow positions, are too weak to continue operating in today’s economic environment, and should execute any exit strategies they might have, and new entrepreneurs and investors 
with clear and concise business plans, and good balance sheet and cash flow positions take advantage and seize opportunities to take their place and meet future demands as markets begin to recover, and develop new innovations to improve services and products.
The Entrepreneur Nation knows that it is unnatural for the tremendously bloated spending and associated debt that is being accumulated by the result of misguided and wrongly influenced bureaucrats in Washington, funding businesses which need to close, or be reinvented or scrapped altogether, scrapped to make room for new breeds of entrepreneurs and business that can meet the new challenges and demands, and change quickly to meet new trends as soon as they are identified and develop new and more effective market strategies. It makes more sense to provide this type of funding to growing businesses with more solid financial positions and detailed business plans to create wealth, jobs and more opportunities.
The Global Entrepreneur Nation is made up of innovators that observe and take advantage of opportunities, create new goods and services, and improve existing products, provide choice by adding goods and services to the marketplace, as they offer variety and design different approaches to familiar problems, and finally but most importantly, hire workers for their businesses, and by consuming resources and provide jobs in the industries that supply those resources, and helps the Global economy grow.
Housing Prices Continue Downword
Published March 31, 2009 |
A question that continues to be asked by millions globally is where and when the “recession” will hit bottom, and the answers are as many as the number of people asking the questions, and either no one wants to be completely honest in their response, due to their private agendas, or for fear of causing panic, but the truth is that there exists natural laws of the market that will determine where the bottom is. Now when the bottom will be hit is a different story, because when there are huge manipulations like the ones currently being engaged by the U.S. and other governments, they only serve to delay the natural flow of events that affect the market.
The market naturally seeks the “real value” of assets over time and for the past approximately 20 years there have been a lot of shenanigans played by the financial market through financial instruments created to be as it turns out, “pseudo-assets” with high risk and potentially no “real value”, except on paper, but as these instruments or “pseudo-assets” were turned over multiple times by players throughout the global finance market, the “asset value” continued to rise, especially in the housing market.
And guess what? When the players including members of the U.S. Congress decided it was a good thing to allow consumers to buy houses without jobs, equity injection, and no proven sources of income, the market really heated up with the real estate “flippers” flipping houses, condominiums, and any other property they could get their hands on left and right. The resulting phenomenal rise in housing prices amazed everyone by zooming into uncharted territory never seen before in locations throughout the world, but especially in the United States, and it seemed like a perfect world for everyone.
However, as with all “house of cards” the weak cards that represented the property owners in over their heads because their real income wasn’t enough to make scheduled mortgage payments, started to fall, slowly at first, and then like a snowball rolling downhill, faster and faster, and it continues to grow even today. Asset values are currently falling at an alarming rate, as the market seeks the natural level of “real value” determined by multiple market factors including supply, demand and other factors.
The level of “asset value” for housing in the U.S. is still about double where it will most likely settle once all factors are considered, and all the measures taken by governments will only extend the time it takes for the market to settle out, and the cost to tax payers will be extreme. Remember, it took a very long time to build the “house of cards”, and for this “perfect storm” of circumstances to develop. So it will take a long time for the market to settle out and right itself, and as long as the players that created the “house of cards” are still in power, manipulating and pulling strings for their handlers and special interest groups, the market will remain troubled and continue to negatively impact the economy.
Finally, what is even more ominous is the fact that commercial real estate has yet to feel the full impact of the market finding the natural level of “asset value” for the commercial sector.
Entrepreneur Nation – The Voices
Published March 12, 2009 |
No one has ever been able to accuse the law makers in the U.S. Congress of ever making good decisions based on solid evidence and common sense, and they seem to have set new standards for decisions that basically slap every U.S. Citizen in the face with the amount of largess they are heaping on constituents and special interest groups throughout the country. What has happened is so frustratingly tragic, especially to the “Entrepreneur Nation” that makes up the backbone of the U.S. economy that one might tend to think they are using the recession as an excuse to spend, spend, spend, since that’s what they normally would do anyway, so the result is “congressional spending on steroids”.
It seems like their goal is to turn the “good old US of A” into the western version of the “socialist state”, or the U.S.S.A., and all on the backs of the country’s Entrepreneur Nation. Don’t they realize this has been tried once before with the “New Deal” and things just got worse when the country slipped into the second great depression (1936) after a wave of business closings and employment reduction as a result of socialist idealism.
It will take the collective voices of Entrepreneur Nation to stand up, speak up, let it be heard and shout out “I’m as mad as HELL, and I’m not going to take this anymore” (1976 Movie Network, Peter Finch). Entrepreneurial groups everywhere need to take stock of how their lives and businesses they have built are being laid siege to, and remind whoever represents them in congress that “no job was ever created by a poor man”, and what the “great spenders” need to focus on is determining how to increase available capital to jump start and grow businesses.
The Washington bureaucrats can’t wait to spend extremely large amounts of money that every American has to pay back for generations, well maybe not every American, since the bureaucrats are also increasing classes of people that have no accountability or responsibility, and therefore can never be expected to pay anything back.
Opportunities are dramatically increasing as the competitive field is being shaken out with businesses that are weak from poor cash flow, and heavy debt load, making room for new entrepreneurs and growth-oriented businesses to move in and capitalize on the opportunities, however, capital is required to take advantage of even the smallest opportunities, and instead of giving funding to projects that won’t even start for several more months, make the funding available to businesses now, and watch the positive results quickly start to build the economy back through job and wealth creation.
Without the capital funding, increases in taxes, fees, and additional costs and expenses related to mandatory government regulations will only serve to extend the cycle of recession the global market is currently experiencing.
The Entrepreneurial Nation needs to stand up, speak with one voice and be heard, and now is the time to start a ground swell of opinion needed to move the bureaucrats to take action and provide the capital needed in a timely manner to start the economic recovery, and rebuild confidence in not only the United States economy, but the global economy as well.