COMPETENCIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHICAL ENTREPRENEURS

COMPETENCIES 

      The success or failure of an enterprise depends upon the entrepreneurial values, attitudes and competencies. It is almost necessary that the entrepreneur possesses the necessary competencies then only he will be able to carry on his venture successfully. In the absence of these competencies, the entrepreneur may fail in his venture. Some people feel that these competencies are inherited or come by birth only. But this is not true. These competencies can be acquired through proper education, training and practice. 

     The entrepreneurial competencies can be classified as:

          1. Behavioural Competencies. 

          2. Enterprise Launching Competencies. 

          3. Enterprise Managing Competencies.

1. BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

    These competencies relate to the type of behaviour exhibited by the entrepreneur in performing various tasks. Some of these competencies are present in entrepreneur but need to be identified and nurture while others competencies can be acquired through training and practice. These competencies are related to entrepreneur and enterprise. These are must for all the entrepreneurs irrespective of the size, location and economic dimension of their enterprise. These are fundamental and basics attributes, which every entrepreneur must possess.

THE MOST COMMON BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES ARE:

1. INITIATIVE

      One of the basic competencies of an entrepreneur is taking initiative. It is the first step to find the foundation of an enterprise. One has to take initiative to achieve goal. People will not move according to your wish. The entrepreneur has to understand the need and wishes of people and take the initiative to satisfy them.

Taking initiative is not only necessary in setting enterprise, but it is a must in all our basic activities. For example, when one feels hungry he has to take initiative to look for food. If food is available, he has to make an efforts to eat it. For moving from one place to another, one has to make an effort to go to bus stand, railway station, airport etc. Without making and effort nothing happens. So an entrepreneur must take initiative to make an effort. 

        The entrepreneur must scan the environment. He must understand and analyse the needs,wants and demand of consumers. He must observe other products, trends and technology prevailing in the market and then only he should take the initiative to set up his enterprise. To take the right initiative, the entrepreneur must analyse whether the area where he is planning to take initiative has been attempted by other persons and he must see their experiences. He must have complete knowledge of the area where he is planning to take initiative. He must have complete knowledge of the area where he is planning to take initiative. He must be aware of the present situation and also have information about the products and services. He must understand the tools and techniques involved in it. He must completely understand the area, region and locality where he is going to take initiative. He must know the needs, wants and desires of the consumers. He must have relevance of the new products, which he is planning to introduce in the market. 

 After doing the above, the entrepreneur takes the initiative. He must take the initiative before the others to get a first mover advantage. The quickness of taking initiative depends upon the alertness, agility and dynamism on the part of entrepreneur. The entrepreneur should study the the profile of successful pioneers. 

2. SYSTEMATIC PLANNING 

     The entrepreneur must think in advance what is to be done, when it is to be done and how it is to be done and by whom it will be done.He must try to bridge the gap between the present and the future. With systematic planning, the actions is predetermined and accordingly resources are arranged and no time is wasted in "hit and trial" method. Systematic planning brings efficiency. Before starting the work, the entrepreneurs must prepare a blueprint for this. He must clearly state his main objective, derivatives or supportive objectives, identify  various alternatives and obstacles  which he might have to face, arrange resources and use all possible information to see that the strategy is built on paper. First, he must use his planned strategy on smaller projects and then only he should try it on big projects. The feedback of implementation of strategy provides the base for developing systematic planning in future. 

3. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION 

      The entrepreneur must have the quality of creativity and innovation. Most often people feel that creativity and innovation mean same thing but they are different. 

Creativity refers to doing a thing in a different manner and not in a usual or routine manner. Whereas innovation refers to practical use of new idea, new technique or new process. Innovation can also be considered as a process that transforms creative ideas into reality. So, creativity is the prerequisite of innovation. 

An entrepreneur must have both, i.e., creativity as well as innovation. A creative person may have new idea but he may not have the necessary resources to convert the idea into reality. Whereas if a person is innovative, he transforms creative ideas into actions. A good entrepreneur always combines the qualities of creativity and innovation. 

Sometimes the entrepreneur adopts new ideas to get the first mover advantage . He uses creative ideas and innovation products and services to meet the challenges. He must have the ability to get the advantage of utility of new ideas or products. Many individual have these basic trait of creativity and innovation. An entrepreneur can develop these competencies by observation, practice and by scanning of new economic opportunities. 

2. RISK TAKING AND RISK MANAGEMENT

    By Adopting ventures of new ideas,new product or new services,the entrepreneur has to face an element of risk. Risk taking and risk management are important aspect of and entrepreneur.

The areas where element of risk are involved are:

1. Acceptability of products or services with new designs.

2. Availability of resources

3. Market share

4. Understanding consumer expectation

5. Change in trend ,fashion

6. Demand and supply situation

7. Availability of finance 

8. Use of tools, equipments and machinery

9. Social and political environment.

There are many other areas which are risk prone. So entrepreneur should be careful in calculating risk and should go for activities with moderate risk only. He must take decisions in right the light of available facts and figures and the circumstances. To get the quality of calculating risk and risk management, an entrepreneur must practise few functions like:

• Analysing various policies, programmes and situation.
• Trying to anticipate all the roadblocks.
• Planning actions.
• Going for crisis management.

Being aware of possibilities of hijacking of ideas and services by other powerful individuals or system. 

The entrepreneur must know that there is an inverse relationship between the risk of winning and satisfaction level. If the risk of winning is low then there is high level of satisfaction on attaining success. When the risk of winning is high, success brings low level of satisfaction.

         The entrepreneur must consider difficulties as a source of motivation and must use his competencies for achieving high performance. 

5. PROBLEM-SOLVING AND DECISION-MAKING.

     Once the entrepreneur starts the venture which involves risk then, he must be aware that he will have to face problems, hindrance and hurdles. He cannot run away or escape from these problems. He must acquire necessary competencies to face the problems courageously and confidently. 

Another important competency, which an entrepreneur must possess is that he must be able to take right decisions at right time. The ability to take decisions shows the amount of control an entrepreneur can exercise on his operations. When an entrepreneur takes wrong decisions and incurs loss or bears huge cost for taking wrong decision, then also he should not hesitate in taking decisions in future rather he should learn from past mistakes and take decisions in future with more confidence. To get the expertise in taking decisions, the entrepreneur should acquire certain basic competencies such as :-  

• complete and detailed knowledge about the enterprise.
• complete understanding of hardware, software of the system
• all resources are required with their flow and mobility
• types of hindrance and hurdles he might have to face in the operating process
• effects of decision o clients, customers and society
• future impact of decisions

 6. PERSISTENCE

Persistence of behavioural skill even when the failure is visible is one of the qualities of a successful entrepreneur. The ability of persistence indicates the confidence level of an entrepreneur. Most of the time entrepreneur pursues new task, new idea, new services and sometimes need an appropriate climate for acceptance. To create a need in the market, the enterprise requires intensive perseverance on the part of the entrepreneur. 

It is very difficult for an entrepreneur to be successful in his first attempt. Therefore, the failures, hurdles, roadblocks  or hindrance  should not discourage him. 

The quality of persistence in an entrepreneur indicates the following:

1. The faith of entrepreneur in the system 
2. The suitability of tools used in the system 
3. The confidence in the quantity of products or services 
4. The understanding of entrepreneur about market

The confidence of entrepreneur to succeed 

7. STANDARD OF QUALITY OF WORK PERFORMANCE 

     The entrepreneur must have the sensitivity and concern for the standard of quality of work. He must attain certain standard of excellence. 

He should not work for work sake of only rather he must set up a goodwill and reputation of quality goods supplied. He must compare the quality of the products or services with certain standards. These standards can be set up by himself or by others. He must value outstanding work. 

2. ENTERPRISE LAUNCHING COMPETENCIES

     Apart from behavioural competencies, the entrepreneurs must have the competency to launch or start the enterprise. Many opportunities exist in the environment but all entrepreneurs are not sensitive towards these opportunities. Resources are available in the market but very few people use them. So entrepreneurs must have the competency of sensing opportunity. They must use the availabe resources and must have the capability of selecting suitable projects, prepare project report, arrange plant and machinery and finally launch the enterprise successfully. 

3. ENTERPRISE MANAGING COMPETENCIES

     After launching the enterprise, it is not easy to run or manage the enterprise. Whether big or small, the enterprise demands managerial competencies to run the enterprise successfully. 

The sustainability of enterprise depends upon the managerial competencies. Managerial skill of entrepreneur raise their expectation and this brings growth in the enterprise. Although, the extent of managerial skill varies from enterprise to enterprise. It depends upon its size, nature, type etc. The common managerial skill a person must possess are:

1. Planning
2. Organising 
3. Controlling 
4. Coordinating 
5. Decision-making 
6. Production management 
7. Financial management 
8. Marketing management, etc.