Unit Number and Title: 9 entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
Assignment Title: Entrepreneurial Ventures
Learning Outcomes:
LO1: Explore and illustrate the range of venture types that might be considered entrepreneurial
LO2: Assess the impact of small business on the economy
Assignment Brief:
Starbucks Case Study (Adapted)
An entrepreneur is an individual who starts and runs a business with limited resources and planning and is responsible for all the risks and rewards of his or her business ventures.
Growing a busines is tough, exceptionally tough. Its is one thing to control and manage a business when your operation is small and close with a limited number of outlets but it is completely different when you expand and feel further and further removed from the day-to-day operations. Some businesses are easier to grow than others; online and financial services businesses often have highly scalable business models whereas location-based businesses or consulting services are lot more difficult to expand and grow. This is why the story of Starbucks is such an intriguing phenomenon. In 1984, the concept of a retail coffee shop barely existed and where it did exist, retail coffee stores were seen as small owner operated enterprise with very low growth potential. Yet, Howard Schultz, the then CEO of Starbucks, revolutionaised the coffee industry by laying the foundation for a 13 000-store global coffee shop empire.
By the end of the fiscal year 2008, Starbucks engaged more than 160,000 employees to handles approximately 50 million weekly transactions in the nearly 17,000 stores that the firm had opened in49 countries.
You recently joined a growing small business in your area (or use an organization of your choice) as an intern and your first task is to write a professional report on range of venture types to be considered entrepreneurial and to assess the impacts of such businesses on the economy. The report should cover the following topics:
Explain different types of entrepreneurial ventures and how they related to the typology of entrepreneurship Explore the similarities and differences between entrepreneurial ventures
Investigate a diverse range of entrepreneurial ventures to show an understanding of entrepreneurship in both public and private sector
Critically examine the development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures
Interpret and assess relevant data and statistics to illustrate how micro and small business impact on the economy
Explain the importance of small businesses and business star-ups to the growth of social economy
Evaluate the differences small, medium and large business make to the the economy supported by relevant data and statistics;
Critically examine how small businesses have an impact on different levels of economy (local, regional, national) and in global context.
