fbpx
Day 1 Business Activity And Classification Of Business
Day 2 Enterprise, Business Growth and Size
Day 3 Types of Business Organisation
DAY 4 Business Objectives and Stakeholder Objectives
Day 5 1 Case Study
Day 6 Motivation
Day 7 Organisation and Management
DAY 8 Recruitment, Selection And Training Of Employees
DAY 9 Internal And External Communication
Day 10 2 Case Study
DAY 11 Marketing, Competition And The Customer
DAY 12 Market Research
DAY 13 Marketing Mix
DAY 14 Marketing Strategy
DAY 15 3 Case Study
DAY 16 Production Of Goods And Services
DAY 17 Costs, Scale Of Production And Break-Even Analysis
DAY 18 Achieving Quality Production and Location Decisions
DAY 19 4 Case Study
DAY 20 Business finance: needs and sources
1 of 2

1.3.1 Enterprise and Entrepreneurship


In this lesson you will learn:

✅ Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
✅ Contents of a business plan and how business plans assist entrepreneurs
✅ Why and how governments support business start-ups, e.g. grants, training schemes

1.3.1 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is someone who invests capital, takes a risk and starts up and operates a new business venture.

Entrepreneurship drives business growth and innovation. You need to be able to identify and explain four different characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

⭐⭐⭐Top Tip ⭐⭐⭐
It’s helpful to have an entrepreneur who has inspired you in mind when thinking of examples, like Mark Zuckerberg or Michelle Phan.  

Creativity, also known as innovation or vision, is the ability to generate new ideas or fresh thinking for new products or services to gain competitive advantage.

Resilience,  also known as optimism or the ability to bounce back. All entrepreneurs will face many setbacks and have to overcome these and not give up on their aims.

Hard Working,  entrepreneurs often have to work long, irregular hours late into the night and on weekends, especially during the start-up phase of the business.

Multi tasking,  also known as problem-solving or independence. Before they can afford to hire experts, entrepreneurs will have to juggle all the tasks of the business and develop skills in many different areas like marketing, finance and operations.

Contents of a business plan and how business plans assist entrepreneurs

“Failing to plan is planning to fail” and a business plan is no exception. It is considered crucial if a business is going to survive.

Business plan questions can come up as simple knowledge questions on the contents of a business plan, or you may have to explain how a business plan increases the chances of a startups’ success.

You may be asked longer Paper 2 question or shorter knowledge based Paper 1 questions like this one:

Past Paper Question Example  
Paper 1 (b) Identify four different sections of a business plan.  
Section 1:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
Section 2:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..   
Section 3:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
Section 4:………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. [4]  

business plan is a document setting out a business’s objectives and how it will achieve them.

It is usually drawn up when starting up a new business or when there will be an important change in how the business is run, like starting a new service or investing in a new outlet.

We will run through four of the most common sections, but other sections could be included depending on the type of business.

Finance concerns how much capital the business will need and where will it come from. For example, $10,000 start-up capital required from a bank loan.

It will also look at forecast revenue and costs so the business can estimate how much profit they will make. It makes sure there is enough capital to start the business.

It can also show banks or potential investors the business has a solid plan to control costs, earn revenue and repay loans.

The Marketing Plan involves researching the market and planning how to sell a product or service. It ensures there is a sufficient budget in place to pay for marketing campaigns and outlines strategies for building a customer base. It can also help forecast future volume demand.

The Operations section shows how the product or service will be produced. It ensures the firm can find suppliers, and produce effectively at the output needed to ensure the customer demand is satisfied.

Human Resources outlines the employees that will be required, and what skills or training they will need. It means entrepreneurs can employ the right people for the job and the business can be productive quickly. For example, a restaurant will have to find skilled chefs and train service staff.

Why and how governments support business startups

Governments around the world spend billions of dollars helping startups and entrepreneurs. There are a number of ways governments can help startups.

Training schemes help entrepreneurs draw up a business plan and forecast their sales and costs for the first year.

Grants are payments for equipment or to help with start-up costs.

Governments can also offer tax breaksfree office space, and subsidies for hiring new employees.

So why do governments help?

Link  Unit 6.1 Government control over the economy

This links with Unit 6 and government objectives, because successful startups help governments achieve many of their targets.

Employment creation: successful startups employ workers and reduce unemployment.

Economic growth: entrepreneurs contribute to developing economic activity by creating profits, and paying employees and suppliers.

Innovation and technological change: often entrepreneurs come up with new ideas which can inspire other startups, and make the economy more competitive and productive.


Scroll to Top

WHERE CAN WE SEND YOUR EXAM SKILLS GUIDE?

Join our newsletter and improve your grades – fast! 🎁
A-level and IGCSE Sign Up Jan2022 (#29)