Extraordinary Entrepreneurship: The Professional's Guide to Starting an Exceptional Enterprise

ISBN-13: 9780470087275 / Angielski / Miękka / 2006 / 512 str.

Stephen C. Harper

Opis

The 21st Century brings all new rules. Entrepreneurs are challenging conventional wisdom and thinking outside the box. One of the first challenges involves challenging the assumption that a business has to be big to be successful. While most of the 20th century heralded big businesses, it is clear that businesses no longer have to be big to do big business. Now it is possible for a handful of people to operate a global business from virtually any place on the planet. Today, the keyboard has overtaken the boardroom. Financial markets, alliances, and joint ventures have eliminated the need for entrepreneurs to put up substantial capital investments. Today's businesses are driven by ideas, innovation, and execution. This book will show entrepreneurs and business leaders will provide CEOs and entrepreneurs with the tools that they will need to become leaders in their market.

Spis treści

About the Author.

Foreword.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction: The Nature of Entrepreneurship.

1 Essential Entrepreneurial Qualities and Capabilities.

2 What Type of Venture Do You Have in Mind?

3 Identifying New Venture Opportunities.

4 Ventures that Capitalized on Market Gaps.

5 Evaluating New Venture Opportunities.

6 Developing the Business Plan.

7 Components of the Business Plan.

8 Sources of Funding.

9 Debt Financing.

10 Seeking Investors.

11 Going the Angel Route.

12 Venture Capital Funding.

13 Initial Public Offering.

Epilogue Entrepreneurial Dos and Don ts.

Index.

O autorze

STEPHEN C. HARPER is President of Harper and Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm. He is also Progress Energy/Betty Cameron Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Steve has worked with entrepreneurs in the United States and Canada for more than thirty years. He is on the editorial review board of the Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship and serves on the board of directors of Wachovia Bank (Wilmington area) and the Coastal Entrepreneurial Council, of which he is a cofounder and a former president and executive director.

Blurb

Don′t Let Your Innovative Business Idea Sit on the Shelf One More Day!

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is not for people who want to start a mom–and–pop type of business. Instead, it is written for people who want to start an exceptional enterprise. It is written for executives, managers, engineers, scientists, inventors, and other professionals who want to break away from their organizational boxes, who want to seize the moment, and who want to experience the thrill of creating an exceptional enterprise. This book is also a valuable resource for bankers, attorneys, accountants, consultants, and educators who want to assist people who are about to embark on the entrepreneurial journey.

This entrepreneurial road map guides prospective entrepreneurs through its 14–step New Venture Creation process by offering timely and practical guidance for identifying and evaluating market opportunities, systematically developing a business plan, and securing the appropriate level and type of funding.

Extraordinary Entrepreneurship is for professionals who want to create a business that: Capitalizes on lucrative market opportunities Is positioned to achieve a high rate of growth Offers goods and/or services that are in sync with its target market Has significant and sustainable competitive advantages Generates considerable wealth for the founder(s)

With insights into the qualities and capabilities entrepreneurs must have to start a successful venture, Extraordinary Entrepreneurship applies the latest accounting, finance, and marketing practices to the entrepreneurial process. It illustrates how having a keen sense of timing, doing perceptive market research and test marketing, analyzing key feasibility and logistical issues, and having a flexible funding plan prepared in advance are essential before launching the venture. It also demonstrates how using kaleidoscopic thinking, developing competitive matrices, being the first mover, bootstrapping, and establishing a network of value–added advisors will enable prospective entrepreneurs to boldly go where no venture has gone before.