Читать книгу A Trilogy On Entrepreneurship: Preparing for Entrepreneurship - Eduardo A. Morato Jr. - Страница 4

Entrepreneurs are innovative opportunity seekers. They have an insatiable curiosity to discover new or different ideas that will work in the marketplace. This curious streak is what separates them from the ordinary businessman whose obsession is, simply, to make a profit from producing, buying and selling goods. A lot of business venturers set up shop to repeat what everybody else is doing but this is not really entrepreneurship. It is just doing “business as usual.” So what is an entrepreneur and what does innovative opportunity seeking got to do with it?

When the word entrepreneurship was coined, the discerning economist wanted to stress the point that entrepreneurs contribute significantly to the economy by raising productivity from one level to the next. Entrepreneurs create value by introducing new products or services or finding better ways of making them. They may innovate on the design of a product or add features to existing ones. They may experiment on work flows and operating systems to extract greater efficiencies. They may improve technologies to gain better economies or achieve unassailable superiority. They may create new demand from undiscovered customers. They may expand horizontally or vertically to maximize market coverage or ensure production control. They push their competitive advantage to the limit in order to gain industry dominance. They will not stop seeking for that proverbial pot of gold at the end of the entrepreneurial rainbow.

The entrepreneur as seeker begins with the Entrepreneurial Mind Frame. This mind frame allows the entrepreneur to see things in a very positive and optimistic light. What is garbage to others is green gold to them. In my favorite anecdote on opportunistic optimism, there were these very young twin brothers who woke up one morning to the foul smell of horse shit. The first twin, an incorrigible pessimist, moped woefully on his bed. “When mom smells that, she will tell us to get rid of it because it is near our window. Then I have to solve this messy problem by getting a dust pan, a broom and a plastic bag to get rid of the horse shit. Then I have to throw it in the garbage can, making sure I put the lid on.” The second twin, a pollyanic optimist, exuberantly exclaimed, “if there is horse shit, there must be a pony somewhere.” He then ran out the house to look for the pony.

The mind frame of the entrepreneur puts a positive spin even on problematic situations in order to generate innovative ideas. In contrast, many managers in the business world will only focus on what they are paid to do, which is to solve business problems. They may find the solutions but that just brings them back to where they were. In many business schools, the focus of discussion is to “find the central problem” in a business case, determine the “areas of consideration,” screen the alternative solutions according to certain criteria and assess the pros and cons of the alternatives in order to arrive at the best solution. This is actually well and fine but business schools do not stress the positive and creative part of business. They tell students to “stick to the case facts” and not stray away from them. However, the entrepreneurial mind frame is different. The entrepreneur experiments on possibilities by asking, “In how many ways can I solve the problem?” and goes beyond problem solving into the realm of creative thinking.

The optimistic mind finds the potential even in crisis situations. The pessimistic mind sees the risk. Many pundits on entrepreneurship often repeat the observation that the Chinese calligraphic representation for the word crisis is composed of two characters: the first character means danger while the second character means opportunity. This reminds me of one of the darkest years for the Philippine economy following the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. The country lost all international support. There was massive capital outflow. The GNP growth rate turned negative. Real estate prices dropped precipitously. An entrepreneur friend of mine encouraged me to buy a condominium. He himself was borrowing money in order to buy ten units. He said it was the best time to buy. I did buy one. Two years later, the martial law government was overthrown. A year after that, real estate prices multiplied seven times in the Makati district where we bought the condominiums. The same thing happened after the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption. Mansions could be bought in Pampanga for a song.

The entrepreneurial mind frame makes me doubt the adage that entrepreneurs are “risk takers.” From the many case studies I have written on entrepreneurs, they did not seem to be worried about the risks as much as they were enthusiastic about the opportunities. Many, in fact, think like inventors who know that they must attempt many times in order to find success, even if there would be a lot of “failed experiments” along the way. Each experiment is a step closer to success. Provided the entrepreneur reacts quickly to his or her failures, then they are not risks but heuristic processes towards finding success. Again, this inventor mind frame is important because entering the world of business throws the entrepreneur into many uncontrollable situations where there are too many variables shifting from time to time.

Business is not a mathematical equation with a definite method for solving the equation which has only one correct answer. Business is not an algorithm. It is, oftentimes, a trial and error process with a lot of art, rather than science, into it. Experience, education, contacts and connections, personality, market conditions, technological evolution and countless other factors enter the largely human equation of consumers, employees, suppliers and competitors. Juggling all these factors all at once necessarily means that each and every factor actually represents a risk. On a day to day basis, the entrepreneur is more engrossed in making all the juggled factors stay up in the air rather than focused on the risk contained in any one factor. Risk fetish would only serve to distract the entrepreneur into losing sight of the objective. In other words, the entrepreneur should concentrate on controlling the factors for success rather than obsessing about “taking risks.”

What drives the inventor also drives the entrepreneur. Both are consumed by the Entrepreneurial Heart Flame or that surging passion to find fulfillment in the act and process of discovery. Inventors and entrepreneurs do not even stop to relish the victory of their discoveries. Each discovery is just a step to another one. Hence, the fire of creation is always alive in their hearts. The entrepreneur as seeker will soon lose interest if the passion behind the seeking subsides. This passion springs from the perfect (or near perfect) fit between who the entrepreneur is as a person and what he or she is doing for a living. Passion comes from great desire to attain a vision or fulfill a mission. Passion is about wanting something so much that a person would be willing to devote one’s self totally to the quest.

Passion is, therefore, not for the dilettante nor the dabbler in business who thinks that a little effort is enough to get by. Passion is not for the person with some capital and asks, “Now what is a good investment to put my money in?” If one has to ask, then that person has no heart for entrepreneurship because it is passion that would make or break a business. The passionate person cannot easily be disheartened by business obstacles and setbacks. He or she will endeavor to overcome them. Passion is the critical ingredient for perseverance and long term sustainability.

The entrepreneur with a lot of heart will face business storms head on and there will definitely be a lot of storms while running a business. The entrepreneur will brace himself or herself for the long struggle to success. And even if some modicum of success has already been achieved, the entrepreneur will fight on to attain greater success.

Heart is also about emotional intelligence. This is often manifested in the entrepreneur’s relentless efforts to nurture relationships with customers, employees and suppliers. In many Asian societies, relations and relationships separate the good business network builders from the mediocre ones. Heart is about genuine interest in people, how to motivate, gestate and elevate them. Heart is about nurturing a caring culture in a goal-oriented enterprise because the entrepreneur cannot grow the organization by himself or herself. It needs the synergy of people working in harmony.

The final ingredient to the alchemy is the Entrepreneurial Gut Game. The “gut” symbolizes two things in common-day language. The first is the ability to sense without using the five senses. This is intuition or the ability to jump to insightful conclusions without the rigorous process of logical, systematic and sequential thinking. Entrepreneurs rely on their gut feelings when making decisions too complex to simplify in rational syllogisms. Their constant exposure and immersion in the marketplace heightens their observation skills and sharpens their ability to discern patterns in the behavior of customers and competitors. Their reflexes have been highly developed to react, proact and enact in their ever-changing business environment.

The second symbolism of gut is courage, intestinal fortitude and “chutzpah,” as in the phrase “He has the guts to overcome the challenge.” Guts enable entrepreneurs to withstand adversity and weather crises. Guts give entrepreneurs the courage to plunge into difficult ventures with all their traps and pitfalls, tests and temptations. Guts is the “chutzpah” of the entrepreneur who thinks that everything is possible. It is utter confidence in one’s self. It is the belief that everything is within reach if only the entrepreneur would aspire for it.

The Entrepreneurial Gut Game is the total involvement of the entrepreneur in the exciting game of business, demanding the keenest of intuitive abilities and the strongest of intestinal fortitude. For indeed, business is a giant game where stakes are high, players are legion, moves are plenty and rules are complex and changeable. The game field of business is not confined within circumscribed boundaries. Market forces are as volatile as the preferences and behavior of customers. New technologies render old ones obsolete overnight. Neophyte challengers rise as fast as faded champions exit the business game. Suppliers shift loyalties, some driven by price, others by logistics. People come and go, talking about greener pastures and wounded egos.

Management books, journals and dissertations are replete with recommendations on how to play and win the business game. Corporations spend huge amounts of money to train and educate their staff because there are, in fact, management methods and systems that help in improving business productivity and profitability. This is the learnable part of entrepreneurship but it requires discipline and a fair amount of brain power. Just like in any contest where there are many combatants, the entrepreneur must fortify himself or herself to enter and win the business game by employing the best techniques, choosing the right weapons and honing one’s skills. “Entrepreneurs are made” this way.

While the business game is being played, the myriad variables come into play. The entrepreneur with the sixth sense of rapid situational recognition and intuitive leap of brilliancy will win the coveted prize. This is the more “unlearnable” trait of entrepreneurs which make people say that “entrepreneurs are born.” Guts, will power, passion and innate inquisitiveness are the other elements of entrepreneurship that are difficult to learn.

The Many Sources Of Opportunity

The seeker has many sources of opportunity to choose from in order to succeed in his or her entrepreneurial quest. Some sources suggest looking at the entire forest. Other sources see the trees. Some focus on what is liked by customers, others rely on what is hated. Some capitalize on successes, others concentrate on failures. Some harp on hobbies and interests, others prefer the harsh road of science and technology. Whatever the source, the entrepreneurial mind, heart and gut sally forth into the fray.

Macro-Environmental Sources

The big picture of the macro-environment contains opportunities galore. Acts, events and trends in the social, political, economic, ecological and technological environment paint the “forest” scenario. This is the larger playground of the entrepreneur. The business rules of engagement are made here. The root determinants of market behavior can be traced here. Major changes in industry competitiveness are lodged in the macro- environment. Insidious shifts in consumer preferences creep into this arena. Cataclysms and catastrophes suddenly change the game for everyone. The entrepreneur who keeps a watchful eye on the macro- environment will notice the little waves that turn into groundswells and tsunamis of opportunities. The first to see them is the most likely to win with the first mover advantage.

The macro-social environment includes the demographics and socio-cultural conditions of the entrepreneurial arena.

The structure, social status and dynamics of the population at large, as well as the people’s beliefs, tastes, mores, customs and traditions dictate the major parameters of market behavior. For example, countries with aging but longer-living populations and with declining child births present several opportunities. There will be opportunities for drug companies in producing medicine for the chronic ailments of the old. Retirement homes and long term care facilities will find a large market. Early retirees will spend their pension funds and savings to travel and enjoy the rest of their lives, giving rise to a booming tourism industry. There will be need for smaller homes for smaller families, smaller furniture for smaller homes. Fewer children will mean more pampering with expensive toys. The “little emperor” syndrome will create child-centered families looking for the best school, the best summer vacation, the best computer games, the best clothes and the best neighborhoods. In less-developed countries where the majority of the people have low incomes, there are opportunities for microfinancing, products in sachet packages and instant noodle meals that are cheap but filling. What the entrepreneur must resolve to do is assess the macro-social environment very well and ask what specific social conditions and trends would affect his or her business and in what way. The entrepreneur must be able to relate a major social trend to a specific business opportunity. Trends in the social environment can also signify a threat to the entrepreneur.

The political environment defines the governance system of the country or the local area of business. It includes all the laws, rules and regulations on allowable and disallowable business practices. It prescribes all the permits, approvals and licenses necessary for doing business. It regulates the use of natural resources, the disposal of wastes, the taxation of income, the importation of goods and services, and the accounting and reporting of business financial statements, education and health statistics, use of public funds and other such concerns. It defines public policies and guidelines. Finally, the political environment is largely responsible for peace and order. It is the main builder of infrastructures, provider of logistical access and determinant of the cost of doing business. All these influence business investors who must evaluate the relative attractiveness of any political domain they intend to locate in.

Again, the entrepreneur must be aware of political conditions and trends in order to find opportunities or uncover threats. A law that is passed to protect the environment is a threat to business polluters but an opportunity for makers of environmentally friendly products. The creation of a new highway opens up opportunities for businesses along and at both ends of the highway. Tax holidays and exemptions encourage investments in certain industries. Anti- trust laws prevent monopolies and cartels from forming, allowing competitors to sprout. The liberalization of the telecommunications and banking industries in the Philippines, for example, opened the door to new entrants, driving prices of phone calls and interest rates down. This expanded the market for both industries and delighted consumers. The declaration of an “open skies” policy for airlines to travel freely to a destination will increase the number of players in the industry, to the consternation of existing airlines but the delight of new ones. This will probably result in lower air fares, a greater volume of air travelers and myriad of opportunities for hotels, resorts, spas, restaurants, tour buses and taxis.

The macro-economic environment is mainly driven by supply and demand forces. Interest and foreign exchange rates fluctuate according to market forces. They influence major movements in the housing industry (which favor long-term and low interest rates) and the import-export business (which favor either the importer or the exporter depending on the foreign exchange rate). Huge growing economies, like China and India, have had a major impact on the prices of fuel, strategic metals, industrial products and consumer goods.

Industries all over the world have been severely affected by these two economies. Meanwhile, countries and stock markets tremble at downturns in the biggest economic superpower of all, the United States. The US is a major consumer of world goods and services, creating and uncreating opportunities. Within the economic walls of any one country, the income levels and purchasing power of its people, the competitiveness or uncompetitiveness of its enterprises and the business cycles of its industries are sources of opportunities as well as threats. The entrepreneur must apply critical thinking to determine how each economic event impacts on his or her business.

The ecological environment includes all natural resources and the ecosystem that defines the habitat of man, animals, plants and minerals. There is a growing ecological consciousness in the world today that will make this factor more and more important for countries, industries and businesses. Threats of ecological degradation have spawned countless opportunities. Oil-starved Japan is leading the way in producing electric cars and solar power. Opportunities shine in recycled materials, water-saving toilets, clean emissions, renewable forests, air purifiers and bio-degradable products. Smoke and spill detectors, filters and screens, pollution counters and energy-saving devices are the opportunity translations of an ecologically-worried world. New strains of viruses propel developers of anti-viruses. Along the way, fear grips the population into buying tons of vitamins and boxes of face masks. Opportunities abound for greener, cleaner, healthier and organically-grown products. Saving the planet and prolonging lives have become opportunity battlecries.

The technological environment makes or breaks competing participants in any industry. New scientific and technological discoveries often lead to the commercialization of new products, rendering old ones obsolete because of superior attributes. The entrepreneur’s nightmare is to wake up one day to find his or her enterprise wiped out by better, cheaper, bigger, smaller, cleaner, friendlier, easier and lovelier products from frontier-pushing competitors. The entrepreneur’s choice is simple: either keep abreast of technological trends or die. The technology can come in the form of new machinery and equipment, new systems, new processes or new products. It can also be all of the above when technology paradigms are changed.

Industry and Market Sources

A thorough analysis of industry structure and dynamics yields opportunities for the astute entrepreneur. Situating the enterprise inside an industry realm, the entrepreneur can examine the entire supply to market chain of that industry. The entrepreneur may discover weak links in the chain that need strengthening or gaps in the whole chain that need filling. Sometimes the opportunity lies not in finding gaps and weaknesses but in assailing the strongest links where there may be a concentration of bargaining power. Each link in the supply to market chain represents an enterprise or a set of enterprises playing an economic role in transforming raw materials into finished goods and distributing those goods to market traders, wholesalers and retailers. The entrepreneur should determine which players produce the most volume of goods, which ones control the flow of those goods, which ones make the most profits, and which ones push the most volume through the market channels and to the final consumers. This rigorous profiling of the industry supply to market chain may reveal strategic opportunities for industry intervention.

While industry structure lays out opportunities along the industry supply to market chain, industry dynamics present opportunities that arise from how the different industry participants interact, bargain and transact business with one another. There is a complex web of collaborators and competitors who are looking for strategic allies, outsourcing partners, better marketers, superior solutions, revolutionary technologies, excellent service providers or quality suppliers. Industry jousters will always be on the lookout for opportunities to gain greater competitive advantage or to decrease the bargaining power of other industry combatants. The entrepreneur should always be alert in detecting windows of opportunities emanating from shifts in the industry power equation or changes in the industry rules of the game.

Market sources of opportunities can be gleaned from increased or decreased demand as well as higher or lower supply. For example, the newly-discovered medicinal properties of mangosteen increased the demand and the price of the fruit while the very high levels of cholesterol, plus the threat of mad-cow disease, decreased the demand and the price of beef. The former brings opportunities for mangosteen growers while the latter provides opportunities for chicken raisers. Similarly, a low harvest of mangoes for the majority of growers gives high profit opportunities to those who are able to produce a decent harvest. However, when there is a glut in mango supply, the producers of mango puree, mango juice and dehydrated mangoes will be the ones to benefit. They make money only when the harvest is plenty and the prices of mango fruits are low.

Markets exhibiting very high growth rates, such as those for high tech electronic products, will find tremendous business opportunities. However, markets that have collapsed may still yield opportunities for the persevering supplier. Take the case of a World War II jeep restorer. Since the entrepreneur is the only one left supplying the product for avid vintage jeep collectors, he makes tremendous profits out of his “dying business.” Market trends should be monitored closely by the opportunity-seeking entrepreneur. If there are available market statistics, well and good for the entrepreneur. Otherwise, the entrepreneur must watch competitors’ products very keenly. Which ones are selling and which are not? For that matter, the entrepreneur should conduct frequent sales data mining of his or her own enterprise. There may be products surging ahead of the others. This presents opportunities for carrying larger inventories and selling more of those products. A retailer of men’s apparel discovered from her sales data mining exercise that her biggest sales and profits came from men’s briefs. She expanded the shelf space and the number of posters for the product. This increased her sales quite significantly. To bolster the search for promising opportunities, the entrepreneur is well advised to watch out for unforeseen successes and failures within one’s own business experiences or those coming from competitors. These unforeseen outcomes may not be flukes but serendipitous revelations of customer needs and wants.

Consumer Preferences, Piques and Perceptions

Customer preferences change over time. Because of scientific researches, education programs and information campaigns, customers today are more health conscious compared to twenty years ago. Planes, buildings, restaurants and public gatherings have become smoke-free zones and the once ubiquitous nicotine inhalers have been exiled to the pariah of isolated smoking rooms. The benefits of red wine have catapulted its sales to unprecedented heights, to the chagrin and lamentation of hard liquor producers. Unmarried adults have ceased frequenting singles bars. They have turned to more wholesome fitness gyms and health spas.

People’s tastes in clothes, music, shoes, entertainment, dance, sports, hobbies, and even careers have evolved over the years. Sometimes the change is insidious, like the slow cooking of beef stew in a crackpot. Sometimes, it is fast and furious like a meteor shower. The slower the burn, the longer the trend. The faster the change, the quicker the fad. The entrepreneur must be very keen in discerning which opportunities will be worth investing in for the long term and which ones require rapid entries and exits. In general, customer preferences for items with high emotional valence take a longer time to change. This is true for food cooked “the way grandma used to make it,” music composed “during the good old days” and lifestyles that “we grew up with.” Items that customers purchase because “everybody else is buying it” have a shorter lifespan like pearl shakes, puka shells and potpourri.

What piques customers is a great source of opportunities. Take the example of an upscale hotel like Westin Hotels and Resorts (Frances X. Frei, Chekitan S. Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock, “Westin Hotels and Resorts: Operations of a Lifestyle Experience,” Harvard Business School. May 7, 2007). It wanted to go to the upper end of its market segment and beat competitors like Marriot and Hyatt. Westin commissioned a research group to conduct a survey of 600 executives. The survey revealed that 63% of the executive travelers complained that their quality of sleep was much less on the road than at home. They were piqued that their performance suffered because they had a terrible night’s sleep in a hotel room. Westin searched for the right bed for six months. They wanted to make it look and feel residential. In 1999, they launched the all-white luxury “Heavenly Bed,” costing Westin US$30 million. Another research in 2001, with 1,000 respondents, zeroed in on low water pressure in the bath or shower as their top pet peeve. A smaller percentage complained that the shower curtains got sucked in and touched the showering guests. This prompted Westin to introduce the “Heavenly Bath.” These and other “heavenly innovations” jettisoned Westin ahead of its slow- reacting competitors.

There are many irks and irritants that customers experience everyday, like long queues, rooms that are too cold or too warm, soup that is not hot, zippers that get stuck, bands that are painfully noisy, restaurant lights that are too dim for reading the menu, salesladies that follow you around the shop, guards that frisk, smoke that stick to your clothes, shoes that don’t fit “just right,” horrendous traffic, late planes, waterless bathrooms, smelly staff, no sugar-free desserts, dry skin, oily hair and so on ad infinitum. For every irk, there is a customer quirk. For every irritant, there is a customer want. The opportunistic entrepreneur should learn to love the picky, pesky and petulant customer airing out all his or her piques. It will be the start of a wonderful romance if all the lamentations are converted to adulations.

Before the customer is won over, there is first a battle for his or her mind. Next, there is a battle for the heart. Finally, there is a battle for the wallet. The first battle is one of perception, of convincing the customer that the product is “the one” best choice to make among many. Oftentimes, the “best” is confused with the “first” choice because customers have the tendency to perceive that the “original first of its kind in the market” deserves a “monument” in the mind. That is why people never forget the first man on the moon nor their first love for that matter. The second one is often relegated to the graveyard unless the second makes an unabashed claim to be a zealous second. The most famous example is Avis rent-a-car which admitted that it only plays second fiddle to Hertz, that’s why “we try harder.”

The human brain tries to categorize and classify information received so that it does not get overwhelmed with too much detail. Because of this, product promoters spend considerable effort and resources to be at the customer’s “top of mind.” They advertise very heavily. They distribute their goods everywhere to make them very visible. They organize sensational product launches, hire celebrities to endorse the product and offer promotions too good to refuse. Their major goal is to convince the customers that the product is worth trying. Then the battle for the heart begins. Customers become loyal to the new product only if their expectations are met when they do actually use the product. Winning this immediate loyalty is crucial because the product promoter cannot continue spending tons of money to win over another set of customers who will try out the product. Besides, the first set of customers would have already spread the good or bad news about the product.

The longer the customer wants to use the product, the greater the chances for creating lasting loyalty. The objective is to make the customer identify with the product. The customer should say “this is me, this is what I want!” It is quite important, therefore, for the product promoter to target a chosen group of customers who will readily identify with the product, the message it carries and the attributes and features it boasts of. This creates a “position” in the mind, which leads to a “place” in the heart. The customer then gives the product its so-called brand equity, connoting a sense of ownership and belonging.

Case Example: San Miguel Beer

San Miguel beer has won the hearts of its most avid customers. The company has long found out that their loyal customer base comprises only 18% of the drinking population but they consume 80% of the beer. These are young and old adult males who drink out together as a “barkada” or a closely-bonded group of friends. In fact, beer drinking probably helped to solidify the group through shared experiences and stories that get told and retold every drinking session. The ads of San Miguel have always emphasized the happy, rowdy, fun-loving barkada to etch an indelible imprint in the hearts of its loyal customers.

Since the loyal customers of San Miguel consume a lot of beer, winning the battle for their wallet depends on the price of the beer. If the customer drinks four or five bottles per drinking session,

the relevant price of the beer equals its total consumption in terms of liters. There are other ways for the barkada to make merry. There are substitutes like gin, vodka, whisky and brandy. Or, there can be a stronger beer like Red Horse, which packs a stronger kick. The budget-conscious customers might shift to the cheaper substitutes on ordinary drinking days but return to good old San Miguel when there are occasions to celebrate. In other words, San Miguel might win the mind and hearts of customers but winning the wallet may be more difficult because the product has a more expensive bottle and contains lesser alcohol per bottle compared to other alcoholic beverages. In the past, San Miguel beer drinkers have benchmarked the “acceptable” price of each bottle against the price of one “balut,” a delicacy consumed with beer. Balut, or duck embryo, is supposed to have aphrodisiac effects. The bonding of beer with balut has, therefore, created an even stronger brand equity for the macho, San Miguel beer-drinking male. It would be extremely difficult for purveyors of intoxicating drinks to change the perception of the Filipino male drinker that San Miguel is the “best beer in the world.” They already “own” the product and all it connotes.

Fierce loyalty in products such as Coca-Cola has embarrassed even its own makers when they tried to change it. In consumer blind tests, the Coca-Cola customers who were surveyed indicated that they preferred a “sweeter version” of Coke. The maker of Coke, therefore, introduced a new Coke and called the older one the “Classic Coke.” This resulted in a consumer “revolt.” The customers wanted to bring “the real thing” back. Decades of patriotic American identification with Coke challenged the modern-day taste test. In a way, the ads on “the real thing” backfired on the Coke makers when they introduced “the fake thing.” In this instance, perception has indeed become greater than reality.

Opportunities abound in shaping consumer perceptions or occupying spaces in their minds or places in their hearts which have not yet been filled. Before, there was just a Colgate toothpaste, which had become a generic brand. Then there came Close-up to win that space in the mind called intimacy and up-close interaction among socially-active consumers. Then came Aim, a toothpaste for kids. Nowadays, it is very hard to be a “product for everyone” as consumers try to individuate themselves, resulting in products that differentiate themselves, at least in the minds and hearts of consumers. Market segmentation has taken over market aggregation, although many still yearn for that blockbuster product that caters to all ages and all income levels. For a while, plain tap water occupied that spot until people started differentiating distilled water from mineral water, sports water from “nutritious” water, clear water from colored water. At the end of the day, water may still be water but not according to the consumer’s mind that is shaped and reshaped.

Going back to Westin, they decided to go beyond “Bed and Bath” to connect emotionally with guests, create memorable experiences and cultivate great customer preference and loyalty for their brand. They identified the five basic human truths of wanting to feel special, to belong, to be in control, to reach full potential and to be understood. Westin invested in lifestyle branding. This time they surveyed customers about how they felt inside them rather than what they were looking for in hotel amenities. Their study showed that 50% of travelers were sick or did not feel well while traveling. Some 52% felt lonely while 57% yearned to meet new people. Most of the travelers were not expecting hotels to provide them any physical, emotional or spiritual renewal. These objectives and new findings of Westin unveiled heretofore unrecognized opportunities.

Westin introduced the Sensory Welcome Program with the following features: a signature white tea scent in lobbies; mood music composed by “musicologists;” ambience lighting that got adjusted depending on time of day; and, specialized botanicals. Westin was the first hotel to become smoke-free. They launched the Breathe campaign along with the installation of “breathing lights.” Projected on the wall was a blue light that pulsed at the average speed of a healthy human being. The number of fresh breaths taken by Westin guests was counted. Westin trained its staff to be “experience engineers,” teaching them to read the body language of guests, watch for emotions and instinctively engage guests by anticipating their needs and making them feel special. Westin even gave its service associates a monthly credit ranging from US$500 to US$1,000 just to provide guests with unexpected delights such as taping a TV program they would miss while going out to dinner, a computer adapter or extension cord, a special hair brush, etc. Employees were motivated by fitness and renewal programs, encouraged by innovation sessions and communication seminars, and equipped with all the tools and techniques for great service delivery. All these created countless opportunities for winning customers’ long term loyalty and strong brand preference for Westin.

New Knowledge as Sources

New inventions, new systems and work processes, new insights about the human psyche, new applications for old knowledge, new revelations about how the physical world works, new interpretations, new combinations based on the convergence of previous technologies, new outlooks about how life should be led and a host of other new things are tremendous sources of opportunities. The entrepreneur who wants to take advantage of new knowledge should train himself or herself to be a voracious reader, a keen observer, a good situation assessor and an expert people sensor. Opportunities come readily to the ready mind. And the greatest virtue of the ready mind is intense curiosity and the insatiable desire to make the outside world relevant and applicable to the inner world. The ready entrepreneur asks the following questions: “What of the new knowledge can I make my very own? How does the new knowledge make me obsolete today so that, tomorrow, I can be a new me? How do I convert new knowledge to winning products and services?”

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR OPPORTUNITY SEEKING IN NEW KNOWLEDGE

On a practical basis, the entrepreneur can apply new knowledge to attain his or her business purposes by asking the following questions:

1.What is a new product or service that I can bring to the marketplace and how will the existing market take to it?

2.What is new for my enterprise, but not for others, which can still find a niche in the market?

3.What is a new version or extension of my existing products and services that would meet changing, growing or sophisticating market needs?

4.What is a new market I can enter with my existing products and services?

5.What is a new way of satisfying customers that will totally change the market landscape and the industry rules of the game?

6.What is a new way of producing my products or rendering my services that would be more efficient, economical and effective?

7.What is a new way of managing my company’s people and resources?

8.What is a new way of distributing and selling my products and services?

Talents, Hobbies, Interests, Skills and Exposure

Many entrepreneurs discover their business passion by transforming their personal preferences into enterprise propositions. These personal preferences are highly influenced by what interests the entrepreneur the most, what their talents and skills are, and what crafts, jobs and training they have been exposed to. Entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed in ventures dear to their hearts, familiar to their hands and intriguing to their minds. This is true because motivational drive is what separates the persevering entrepreneur from the dilettante. The would-be entrepreneur who asks, “What business should I go into?” does not yet have that crucial ingredient to succeed, which is total belief in and full commitment to a particular entrepreneurial endeavor. He or she is still at the acquaintance stage of a torrid love affair.

The person who loves to cook and bake will find great interest in the restaurant or bakery business, provided that person aims to please the customer’s palate rather than just his or hers alone. Keen interest in photography has spawned the entrepreneurial careers of professional photographers. A young man trained by his father in selling, retailing and wholesaling will take to this business more readily than others. A woman with great talent in designing and sewing dresses will easily find opportunities in the fashion industry. Workers skilled in jewelry making and exposed to many jewelry makers clustered in a town like Meycauayan, Bulacan can, over time, graduate into small jewelry shop owners. Later on, they may even become big time jewelers. The same goes for furniture craftsmen and wood carvers in Betis, Pampanga. In a nationwide survey of entrepreneurs, which I undertook in 2004, personal talents, skills and educational training ranked high, along with personal capital, as the major factors which determined their entry into entrepreneurship.

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR DETERMINING

PERSONAL PREFERENCES AND COMPETENCIES

AND MATCHING THEM WITH BUSINESS VENTURES

Before answering the seven questions below, determine first what entrepreneurial ventures you would like to consider. Second, ask what the chosen entrepreneurial ventures would demand of you as a person. Ask what kind of work it would entail and what kind of person would succeed in managing the venture. Third, assess whether you have what it takes to succeed in those ventures by answering the eight questions below. The questions try to uncover your personal preferences and competencies.

1.What activities and tasks do I usually love doing and find easy to do? What topics interest me when I read newspapers, books and magazines and when I surf the internet?

2.What work accomplishments or personal achievements do people usually praise me for?

3.What skills and competencies have my educational background, job exposure and training courses given me?

4.What do I easily learn and what gives me a hard time learning?

5.What kind of a person am I? Do I like working or dealing with people or do I prefer being alone? Am I the big thinker type or do I prefer working on the nitty gritty details? Do I usually follow a logical, rational way of arriving at decisions or do I go put more emphasis on the people or relationship aspects of the decision? Do I tend to explore many possibilities before I decide or do I tend to focus on the few things I can decide and make a judgment on?

6.What are my innate intelligences? Am I good at numbers and logic? Do I have good language skills? How are my musical-rhythmic abilities? Do I function well in physical pursuits like sports, hiking and climbing? How are my visual and spatial, navigational and directional aptitudes? Do I possess interpersonal skills? How about intrapersonal skills? Do I have a fondness for the natural environment?

7.What things make me happy and feel alive? What energizes me? What personal pursuits drive me to work very hard?

Opportunities from the Unexpected

Unexpected occurrences in both the external and internal environment of the enterprise indicate that significant changes are happening and opportunities are sprouting. This should be cause for joy or alarm depending on one’s analysis of the unexpected occurrence.

When a new craze or sensation hits the marketplace by storm, that means that somebody has uncovered a latent market demand that no one has filled before. The pertinent question to ask is why the occurrence has happened and what motivated the market to embrace it. In contrast, a once favored product may suddenly be losing market share. Again, ask why and what are the shifting preferences of customers that have forsaken the once favored product.

Inside an enterprise, the entrepreneur may experience unexpected successes or failures. A variant of a product, a promo gimmick, a consigned item, or an allied service may suddenly be experiencing success. Behind this unexpected success is a secret that needs to be unlocked. Why was it not expected? What is driving the success? What attributes, features, characteristics or chance events are responsible for the success? Unexpected failures tell the opposite story. Something has gone wrong in the assumptions of the entrepreneur? What were those erroneous assumptions? How can the failures be turned around to achieve success?

Opportunities from the Future

Megatrending allows the entrepreneur to take a leap of faith into the future in order to exploit opportunities today. A systematic way of megatrending is to scan newspapers, books and journals for new rhetoric that seems to be uttered more and more often. Another way is to watch “futuristic” shows or read magazines on new technologies and innovations that are being experimented on. Still another way is to observe the behavior of teenagers because they will be the major customer group five to ten years into the future.

Blue-skying, daydreaming and imagineering are creative methods of conjuring opportunities. The entrepreneur should put himself or herself in some future time period and imagine the way people live, behave and function in that futuristic world. Some weird ideas may pop out. No matter how absurd the idea is, try to extract a “grain of truth” from it. There is always a rational strain even in the most illogical idea because all ideas are founded on the totality of our real-life experiences and our highly functional environment. Surely, something cannot come out from purely nothing.