Previously, the question of opening a new venture was put forward to students enrolled in Jibs, studying entrepreneurship. A month has passed by, since the time we arrived in Jonkoping, Sweden… a whole new unexplored world with plenty of challenges and demands still awaits us.
Many times, a particular fact was highlighted in lectures, seminars and articles; i.e. the individual’s decision to become an entrepreneur was solely his or her own. It’s quite obvious that one thought this was being referred to the position of a founder for a new venture. However, after several detail reading and discussion with my teachers/entrepreneurs, I realized this fact had a deeper importance, value and impact on our daily decision skills and on our personality and not just limited to opening a new venture.
According to (Stevenson & Gumpert, 1985), an entrepreneurial managerial behavior is based on two extremes of the same spectrum: the promoter at one end and the trustee on the other. The promoter is one who looks for an opportunity first and resources later (opportunity orientation), while the trustee look at his resources first and then the opportunity (resource orientation). (Wiklund, 1998) concluded that many entrepreneurs are in the middle of the spectrum and they keep a balance between both the internal focus on resources and an outward focus on the opportunity in the market.
The personality traits and the two extremes for the potential entrepreneur were further elaborated and the conclusion mentioned above was confirmed in the debates”Opportunity identification vs opportunity creation”, “Are Entrepreneurs born or made?” The question is then; did this change our early perceptions?
An entrepreneur by definition and practice is someone who moves towards an opportunity and who keeps a watchful eye for his surrounding market. The industry changes very rapidly and in order to survive the entrepreneur needs to envision and anticipate before the changes are required ( Kuratko &Welsch, 2004).
So, what does this have to do with our personal experience and what personal value, impact and importance is being referred?
I have to give credit to the administration of this course, because from my perspective I think besides the theoretical knowledge, the design of the course has also trained us to think as an entrepreneur. I don’t think completely because it’s a learning process and analogous to the success of a new venture it takes time to be the ideal entrepreneur (if any exists).