How do we recognize and spot good opportunities for us to pursue as entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs train themselves to recognize opportunities that could potentially turn into a business. An opportunity can essentially be seen as a gap between an existing state compared to a desired state. If you ask customers what is the state that they desire, they may not be able to articulate it. However, if you describe or show them a prototype, it may be easier for them to do so.
I remember working on a project where we were trying to understand the value of a SUV versus a small compact car brought by the same company to customers in the late 1980’s in India. The small car had taken the country by storm because of its low price, and the automobile manufacturer as well as the advertising agency for the small car were trying to figure out the value that the new SUV would provide to the potential customers.
Ten members of the creative team from the ad agency went to a picnic. Five went in the SUV, and the remaining five in the small car. When they reached the picnic spot about 30 miles away, the group that went in the small car jumped out relieved that they could finally breathe. While returning from the picnic, the teams changed cars, and on returning to the office, it was clear that the most important value that the SUV would provide is SPACE. And that became the creative message of a great campaign that followed.
Readings # 1
Read carefully pages 6 -18 from Chapter 1 of your e-book. It discusses how we can recognize opportunities and come up with ideas; and how do we know what which opportunities are good for us to pursue. In your first informal assignments, you came up with 15 different ideas based on problems/needs you were observing in your environment. That is one way.
But entrepreneurs also need to be visionaries. They need to research the environment and looks at trends. By looking ahead they are able to guide their business venture to take advantage of the changing trends. They are able to spot the opportunities that are looming in the future that they can leverage and also the threats that could affect their business and take measures to guard their business against these threats.
For e.g. you may agree that there is a trend for people to be more health conscious than before; men are starting to get more interested in having facials and going to spas; more high school students are going to college; people, especially young people, care more about sustainability and how we impact our environment. Products and services that are in line with these trends are likely to be perceived by customers to be valuable. The two articles below show us how to observe trends, and how these trends are applied in coming up with a successful idea for a product
Thinking about the project that you are working on for this semester, ask yourself what are some of the trends in your industry that could work in your favor. Do research to check how you can leverage these trends. Make sure that in your paper, you quote the research sources.
And now for the Discussion questions that need to be completed by Sunday evening. Based on the Readings from your e-book and the two additional readings listed below, respond to the Discussion Questions for this module.
Read:
Now read the article on how Fisher Price Targets Hispanic Markets and then respond to Module3-DQ1
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Now watch the Dropbox video based on an interview with the COO of Dropbox and respond to Module 3-DQ2
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Conclusion
To summarize, in Module 3 you learn about the importance of recognizing opportunities, observing trends, and learn how trends are applied in developing new products. Trends vary by industry. For example, trends in the fashion industry would be different from trends in the personal technology industry. Is the industry (which means all the companies in that business sector) ready for innovation? Are customers in that industry satisfied? Is the industry growing or is it stagnant in terms of its size in dollar value? What are the barriers for a new entrepreneur to enter that industry? How easy is it work with vendors in that industry? And find the right people who would work with you?
These are some of the questions that entrepreneurs need to research, before they decide to come up with a product or service that falls into a particular industry sector. We will learn how to do this in Module 4.
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