Entrepreneurial Practice Assignment Sample

INTRODUCTION

The objective of entrepreneurial activity is to initiate new enterprises that will enable a group of potential customers to receive innovative products and solutions while taking into account stakeholder concerns and risk assessment (Wiklund et al., 2018). The secret to creativity, productivity, and efficient competition is an entrepreneurial venture. In order to continuously advance the global economy, entrepreneurs make discoveries that will have a positive impact on future development since free enterprise is considered an important factor for prosperity worldwide(Kuratko, 2016). This report analyses BOXRAW’s case study, identifying key issues and challenges, and evaluating leadership and communication models, employee performance, and organisational culture. It provides recommendations to enhance Reliance Housing’s performance and sustain in the competitive market environment

Overview of the organisation

BOXRAW is a British boxing lifestyle brand that was founded in 2017 by Ben Amanna. The company’s mission is to “pioneer the boxing lifestyle” by providing boxing apparel, equipment, and experiences that inspire and connect people who love the sport. BOXRAW is available in over 100 countries and partners with boxing gyms around the world to provide free boxing classes and other programs. The company also supports charities that work to improve the lives of boxers and their families.

Strategic analysis of the challenges of the organisation

Ø  Boxraw’s challenges in the area of business

• The impact of the Covid19 virus epidemic is one of Boxraw’s biggest issues in its business. Covid19’s impact on the world has been devastating, and its dangerous effects are visible in China. Boxraw, a pioneer of lifestyle brands, is run from the United Kingdom but has four main production plants in China. With the advent of Covid-19, large-scale production of boxing equipment is greatly affected. Consequently, the Boxraw producers in China were not able to keep up their production, and this has had a major impact on the operation of brick kilns in that country. Boxraw relocates its plants to Turkey as a result of problems with suppliers on the Chinese market.

• On the other hand, Boxraw is having difficulties in making its products from Turkey due to the fact that this process has become too costly on the Turkish market. In spite of the fact that production in Turkey is very good, but high costs pose a problem for Boxraw’s continued business operations. According to the case study, due to the drastic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, global fashion brands such as Zara and H&M moved their production from China to Turkey, resulting in an increase in the production process in Turkey.

• In Boxraw, it can be inferred from that paragraph that profits are declining because of the higher cost of production in its business. This issue has impacted not only the profit level of this boxing equipment organisation Boxraw, but also the marketing of its business on a large scale.

• Boxraw’s business situation has been complicated by the lack of experience in handling a part of its supply from an employee of Boxraw. Managing production, supplies, maintaining communications with the suppliers and such matters are made difficult by this person’s lack of practical experience. This has resulted in a large level of planning problems for Boxraw’s project management, which includes the lack of controls over its production areas.
• Due to the absence of support in the Chinese market, large businesses are moving their activities from China to Turkey and Vietnam. From the business continuation of it in the market of China, it can be stated that the requirements, as well as the demand for boxing items in China, have been slowed down.It shifts its business to the Chinese market in order to maintain the prices and costs of Boxraw’s production.

Evaluation of challenges using the Cross Sheet tool:

Using cross sheet tool for Boxraw’s issue analysis.

Table 1: Boxraw Cross Sheet Analysis of Business Issues

Leadership approaches and Communication strategies and its effects on the employees, organisational culture as well as performance

Ø  Leadership approaches

Ben Amanna, the founder of Box Raw, incorporates both the democratic and coaching leadership style. He values his employees’ opinions and takes their input and criticism. He’s running this firm in a very transparent way, with each of them held accountable for the tasks that he or she performs, and everyone knows if an employee is slacking. He’s been training employees and interns in how he wants them to behave.

Figure 1: Model of Democracy Leadership

In a democratic leadership style, the group’s leader shares responsibility and encourages its members to participate in decision-making. Open communication, cooperation and inclusion are characteristic of this style. On the other hand, the leadership style of coaching involves the leader guiding and supporting team members to achieve their objectives. The emphasis on personal development, skills building and feedback is characteristic of this style.

Ben Amanna’s leadership excels in open communication, collaboration, and employee satisfaction. He ensures alignment with objectives and standards, trains workers and interns, and fosters a culture of accountability and ownership.

Ø  Communication strategies

Ben would like to emphasise the use of Social Media as a communication medium. For Boxraw’s operations, you can use Telegram as a phone app in the same way that Whatsapp does. The case study also shows the use of a user interface on laptops, desktops and smartphones to maintain communication. Finally, Boxraw is using the service Monday.com as a communication medium. This has a high impact on Boxraw’s staff because, in doing so, they achieve their business goals through the maintenance of these communication channels. They’re expected to help Boxrow make an annual profit of 2 million pounds in 2022. It is the culture of this organisation which has been placed on a priority basis by its leader, Ben, both in leadership and communication strategies. These are crucial to bringing the results of Boxraw forward.

Three recommendations that will facilitate and improve the performance of organisations

Employees training arrangements

The case study shows that Boxraw employees who manage production do not have the necessary practical experience in this area. Under this scenario, Boxraw’s management could be expected to facilitate training sessions for its staff so that they can gain a better understanding of the duties it carries out . The absence of experience in Boxraw reduces the efficiency of this employee, and there is a need to provide training for employees so as to make Boxraw more efficient.

Production and profitability improvements for Boxraw

As a result of the Chinese flu pandemic, Boxraw’s production has shifted to Turkey, and costs have increased in Turkey. At this stage, Boxraw should be advised to make a choice which can help maintain the costs of production on an efficient basis at another location for its production. The profitability of Boxraw’s operational activities decreases as a result of large production costs in the Turkish market.  It may be recommended that a strategy of cost-effectiveness should be supported by this organisation in order to manage the situation. This strategy can bring well-being in the generation of profit with the maintenance of product expenses, and through that, the performance of Boxraw can be improved.

Growing consumer demand for products

The case study indicates that there has been a decrease in the demand and necessity of boxing items in China’s market. In such a case, it is proposed that the organisation, Boxraw should take the initiative in order to increase demand for boxing equipment. There is a need to improve the marketing segment in order to achieve this.  In this context, it is also appropriate to recommend an improvement of brand awareness in order to understand the essential properties of products contained in Boxraw. In the UK and China as well, this can help improve Boxraw’s performance.

Conclusion

Boxraw is a British boxing lifestyle brand that has faced a number of challenges in recent years. However, the company has a number of strengths, including its strong brand, loyal customer base, and innovative products. In order to overcome its challenges and continue to grow, Boxraw should focus on improving its production efficiency, growing its market share in the UK and China, and developing new products. The company should also focus on improving its customer service. By addressing these areas, Boxraw can build a strong foundation for future growth and success.

Entrepreneurial practice

Phase 1: Formal foundation concept

Under the formal foundation business idea, the business organisation will be highly concerned to provide effective training to employees on the basis of management of production and enhancing the supply process and maintenance of communication process. The managerial bodies of the business organisation will be highly focused on strengthening the training and development under the business idea of formal foundation. This will be a strategic aspect to enhance the knowledge level of employees regarding the strong communication process. As opined by Widjaja et al., (2020), strong consideration of communication process and development of supply process helps in enhancing the overall business process and growing the overall business of the firm. It can be understood that an effective way of delivering the business process and enhancing the knowledge level of employees and providing them with practical experience could be a supportive factor for the firm to develop the overall business.

Phase 2: Development phase

In the context of design and effective development process, the business organisation will follow significant phases such as proper analysis, design, development, implementation and proper evaluation. Under the formal foundation, the business organisation will be highly concerned to develop the overall internal business framework and training process. This will further ensure an improved and increased level of operational efficiency in different units like the management of production technique and business communication process. As mentioned by George et al., (2019), increased production system and overall operational efficiency help the firm to gather significant competitive advantages such as increased growth and improved productivity and profitability of the firm in the competitive market. From this information, it is clear that suitable approaches including the way of providing training to employees and developing strong relationships with them can be strong and most effective factors. This will further support in managing the overall business and overcoming the key issues such as lack of handling the technical equipment within the workplace.

Entrepreneurial phase 3: Growth

In regard to the growth factor, the business organisation needs to follow significant stages such as expanding business process, organising process, marketing process, controlling process and feedback process. Under the business expansion process, the managerial bodies of the firm will be concerned with providing training and practical experiences to employees so that they are able to handle the technological equipment. Under the organising and marketing process, the responsible bodies of the firm will be highly concerned with organising different activities and targeting the most appropriate employees. As suggested by Karim et al., (2019), providing regular basis training to employees and enhancing their knowledge level are significant perspectives of the business organisation to ensure the improved level of business process. In this regard, it can be mentioned that suitable approaches including the way of developing the business process and regular basis monitoring the employee performance level could be supportive factors for the business organisation to gain competitive advantages. Under the marketing process, social media platforms can be used to share business ideas and develop business products. Under the controlling step, the managerial bodies of the firm will be highly concerned to effectively monitor and control overall activities which will be most supportive technique to ensure improved business process.

Strategies for addressing or managing risk

Under the risk management strategy, the strategy regarding the regular basis cross checking the attendance of employees can be considered to overcome the key risk such as shortage of staff within the firm. As suggested by Kuswati (2020), observing the employee performance and ensuring the overall attendance of employees are the most significant perspectives to ensure the improved business process and overall operational procedure. This will have a strong and positive impact on the overall business performance level of the firm. On the other hand, the business organisation can effectively create a proper budgeting process based on which proper estimation of the budget can be done effectively. This will further confirm an effective way of avoiding the key risk regarding the shortage of funds which is required for training and overall development process. In this context, it can be confirmed that consideration of two strategies such as regular basis cross checking the internal business performance level and ensuring the effective budget forecasting could be supportive factors. This will further support the firm to gain high level of competitive advantages such as high productivity and profitability in the competitive market. This further helps in developing the business and enhancing the overall market volume strategically.

Entrepreneurial traits and characteristics

Having three important traits such as resilient, confident and innovative are most significant perspectives to ensure the improved level of managerial processes which will have strong and effective impact on the overall business process. As suggested by Acar et al., (2019), the strong traits regarding confidence and innovation are supportive factors to bring the creativity and innovation in the business process based on which overall business framework can be developed significantly. The effective way of having resilience within the entrepreneurial traits can be supportive tactics to overcome critical situations like the shortage of staff within the business firm. This will further support in ensuring the effectiveness of the formal foundation. In this context, it is clear that having strong traits like confidence and innovation help the entrepreneurs to ensure the improved way of tackling the challenging situation and completing the business process effectively.

In regard to characteristics, creativity and professionalism will be significant characteristics. This will further confirm the effective way of maintaining ethical integrity within the workplace and influencing other employees of the firm. As suggested by Del Giudice et al., (2019), strong characteristics such as passion, key planning and effective knowledge are the most helpful characteristics to ensure an improved way of handling business processes and overcoming different challenges. In this way, the effective way of handling the tough situation and managing the business process could be supportive factors for the entrepreneurs to ensure a high level of competitive advantages. This could include a high level of business process and increased profitability of the firm in the competitive market. On the other hand, Prayetno & Ali (2020) commented that having key characteristics such as developed knowledge level and key intention of knowing the social factors could be supportive factors to ensure the improved level of managerial process. This will further support in handling the overall barriers and developing the business process.

Task 2b: Executive Summary

The new business idea which is suggested to the organisation is to develop a training and development centre to the unskilled and inefficient employees. In this context, the organisation can deal with the reputed as well as small and medium types of organisations. The new business idea can benefit the organisation in many ways such as improving revenue segment through developing the employee’s productivity. At the same time, with the new business side of delivering training and development programmes to the unskilled employees. As stated by Buheji & Buheji (2020), employees these days face immense issues in relation to skills development. In this way, delivering training and development programs to the unskilled employees can prove effective in terms of increasing the revenue by delivering training services to the inefficient and unskilled employees.

With reference to the risk involvement, it has been recognised that the lack of funding is a potential risk that can be faced by the organisation at its initial time. According to Wilson et al., (2022), investors are one of the key stakeholders of an organisation. At the initial time, the organisation may faced issues in terms of funding appraise investors which might impacted on the business fatally. A lack of funding create resistance for the organisation to successfully operate in the market and lose the market opportunity to facilitate new clients. In this context as stated by Freudenreich et al., (2020), customers are also other key stakeholders of the business. Thus, lack of customers for the organisation can affect the financial perspective of the business.  On the other hand, reflecting on the funding program, 40% of the funding collected from the investors and 60% of the capital invested by the owners.

In order to mitigate the risks the organisation can first identify their potential investors and conduct meetings with them which can be helpful for the organisation to acquire funding in the initial stage. In this way, the organisation can deal with the funding issues at its initial stage.On the other hand; efficient employees will be recruited to successfully operate in the market. As per the views of Cherif (2020), efficient employees significantly contributed in improving productivity of the organisation.

In order to make a strategic position in the market, the organisation can impose better management. As stated by Muriithi (2021), management of an organisation plays a crucial role in order to gain competitive advantages in the cutthroat market. Thus, the organisation can recruit efficient leaders in its management. At the same time, the organisation also needs to demonstrate innovation and creativity in order to attract more clients in the business. Moorever, in order to impose creativity and innovation the organisation needs to deliver effective training and development programs to the employees. On the other hand, the organisation needs to be acquiring effective knowledge about the current market which will deliver insights about the demand and preferences of the clients which will be significant for gain a competitive advantage.

Task 3: Personal and Professional Account

Reflecting on personal and professional accounts is essential in order to highlight the key issues which can be helpful for the individuals to take essential actions to bring improvement in their skills or knowledge. Owing to the significance of personal and professional development I have decided to use Gibbs reflective model in order to identify the key areas of challenges and take necessary actions for further improvement. According to Oviawe (2020), Gibbs reflective model offers a framework in order to examine the personal experiences through six stages including Description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan. An application of the model has been done in the below section,

Description:

Feelings: Once professor deliver speech on the classroom and ask me to a questions and started communicate with I have noticed that I could not able communicate properly with the professor and my professor asked me to work on my communication capability. On the other hand, while doing teamwork in a team for a university group project I was not able to collaborate effectively with the other team members and my teammates advised me to work on team working skills.

Evaluation: Reflecting on the situation has proved effective in terms if recognising the issues which can create resistance in my professional development. In this context as per CMI code of conduct Behave in open and good manners with the people is necessary for individuals (Managers, 2023). In this way, identifying issues in my team working skills has proven beneficial to develop my professional competencies as per CMI code of conduct.

Analysis: By analysing the situations I can make sense that lack of active listening skills is the key reason for ineffective communication skills. Therefore, I have also identified that my nervousness is another issue which creates barriers for communicating with individuals. On the other hand, I have also noticed that my short tempered issue is a significant issue which creates challenges to behave with the other individuals effectively. I have also realised that as I want to become a business consultant thus developing communication skills enable me to effectively communicate with the clients and deliver effective solutions to them. Therefore, developing team working skills will help me to deliver unique and innovative solutions to the clients which are necessary for customer satisfaction.

Conclusion: By analysing the above discussion it can be concluded that in order to comply with the CMI code of conduct it is necessary for me to develop my team working skills and communication skills. At last I have decided that in order to develop my communication and team working skills.

Figure 1: Gibbs Reflective model

(Source: Inspired by Oviawe 2020)

Action plan:

Table 1: Action plan

(Source: Self-Developed)

References 

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Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2019). Interpersonal relationships e-book: professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences. Retrieved on July 25 2023, from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XC2GDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=communication+skills+is+essential+for+professionals&ots=Nq_g21ZQRW&sig=mqDazxZal10jV8ehejpX46ftqGU

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Del Giudice, M., Garcia-Perez, A., Scuotto, V., & Orlando, B. (2019). Are social enterprises technological innovative? A quantitative analysis on social entrepreneurs in emerging countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 148, 119704. Retrieved on: 11 July, 2023, from: https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/files/40575717/Binder7.pdf

Freudenreich, B., Lüdeke-Freund, F., & Schaltegger, S. (2020). A stakeholder theory perspective on business models: Value creation for sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics, 166, 3-18. Retrieved on July 25 2023, from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-019-04112-z

George, B., Walker, R. M., & Monster, J. (2019). Does strategic planning improve organizational performance? A meta‐analysis. Public Administration Review, 79(6), 810-819. Retrieved on: 17 July, 2023. From: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/puar.13104

Karim, M. M., Choudhury, M. M., & Latif, W. B. (2019). The impact of training and development on employees’ performance: an analysis of quantitative data. Noble International Journal of Business and Management Research, 3(2), 25-33. Retrieved on: 16 July, 2023. From: https://napublisher.org/pdf-files/NIJBMR-517-25-33.pdf

Kuswati, Y. (2020). The effect of motivation on employee performance. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal), 3(2), 995-1002. Retrieved on: 18 July, 2023. From: https://www.bircu-journal.com/index.php/birci/article/viewFile/928/1247

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Muriithi, S. M. (2021). Organisational Culture: The Root of Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Retrieved on July 25 2023, from: http://repository.daystar.ac.ke/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/3656/Organisational%20Culture%20The%20Root%20of%20Sustainable%20Competitive%20Advantage.pdf?sequence=1

Oviawe, J. (2020). Application of Graham Gibbs Model of Reflection to Improve Teaching Understanding among Technical Education Students in Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma Edo State. Sumerianz Journal of Education, Linguistics and Literature, 3(2), 1201-2617. Retrieved on July 25 2023, from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jane-Oviawe/publication/342106724_Application_of_Graham_Gibbs_Model_of_Reflection_to_Improve_Teaching_Understanding_among_Technical_Education_Students_in_Ambrose_Alli_University_Ekpoma_Edo_State/links/5ee24e07299bf1faac4b244b/Application-of-Graham-Gibbs-Model-of-Reflection-to-Improve-Teaching-Understanding-among-Technical-Education-Students-in-Ambrose-Alli-University-Ekpoma-Edo-State.pdf

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