Enterprise and Innovation: Lecture 2, Ideas and Opportunities..

Notes:

- What is an idea? occurs anytime, to anybody, anywhere, randomly, seldom materialise

- What is an oppportunity? environmental factors emerge, the right conditions, the right place, the right time

- converting idea into opportunity, knowledge needed

- to convert an idea into an opportunity you need to find out infromation to see if your idea would be practical and realistic

- supply and demand: whose already supplying a service similar to your idea

- P.E.S.T: politics, economics, socialialogical factors and technology, you can apply a pest ananlysis can be applied to anything

- idea/ opportunity that worked at the right time: the concorde

- with any idea/ opportunity you need to be aware of whats going on around you, are you aware? do you have an informed opinion, politics are local, national and international.

- you will need to consider things like trade laws, tax breaks, human rights and legislation

- other things to consider are: work/life balance, eco awareness, ageism, debt recovery etc

- what kind of creative are you? revolutionary or evolutionary

- are you a manager or an opportunist?

- are you cautious or a risk taker?

- what is a creative entrepreneur?

- own worker: one man bnad type thing/ freelancing, you are in charge, downfalls you are limited by your own capacity but you are in charge of your destiny.

- owner manager: this is where you still are in charge but you have an assistant to, things like this work in small creative practises or business partnerships.

- owner entrepreneur: project managers, coordinators, directing other people to create work for you, for example Damian Hirst is an owner manager, he finds others to do their work whilsts they come up with the concepts.

- where do opportunities come from?

- trends, technical development, political change, economic boom and slump, human need, problems

- Nike had a problem with the grip on their shoes, they found an opportunity to convert an idea they had and thats when the waffle sole was born

- Innocent smoothies found a problem, its hard being healthy in modern society, they started their business at music festivals selling smoothies, theyre recipes then hit high supply and demand thus giving them a successful business now. They looked at what the customer wanted and delivered.

- opportunities: technological push and market pull, the pull is a new product/ service or concept and the pull is what the market demands

- where does the creative fit in?

- project management, you need to know how to find the right people to help you, you need to know where to source stuff, work with a team, you need to be able to work with all kinds of people, be optimistic and have good communication skills.

- project management skills;

- 1: define the problem
- 2: build confidence
- 3: problem solving
- 4: risk analysis
- 5: physical resources
- 6: planning skills
- 7: human resources
- 8: quality control

- all = communication

- so you think you've spotted an opportunity?

- look at the skills, technicals and process

- appitudes: teamworking: entrepreneurs do not do it alone

- predisposition: risk/caution, evolution/revolution, manager/opportunist

- how do you know if you have a good opportunity?

- you need to look at competitors: how many already provide a similar service to yours? how well are they doing it? what do they do well? what could you improve upon with your service?

- supply and demand factors:

- assessing competitors: their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, what threats do they bring, do a PEST ananlysis and remember the four P's, use all this to examine your competitors to determine whether or not the opportunity is worth it.

- asses the quality of the opportunity for the benefits of yourself, the customer, the planet and other stakeholders and anybody who would be effected by your business.

- internal environment: your skills, resources and lifestyle
- micro environment: network of friends, competitors, suppliers, local community and stakeholders
- macro environment: world market conditions, economics, technology, social trends, politics, the environment and anything that is out of your control.

- SWOT analysis:

- strengths
- weaknesses
- opportunities
- threats

- PEST: step, steep, steeple
- SWOT analysis for personal, own business and opportunity spotting